What is the setting (time and place) of the story? Explain

The Crucible is set in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. In the author's notes in Act I, he describes the setting of Reverend Parris's home as having "stood in the 'town' - but we today would hardly call it a village. The meeting house was nearby, and from this point outward - toward the bay or inland - there were a few small-windowed, dark houses snuggling against the raw Massachusetts winter. Salem had been established hardly forty years before" (Act I, p. 4). The effects of this raw colonial setting can be seen in Abigail's description of her parents' murder: "I saw Indians smash my dear parents' heads on the pillow next to mine" (Act I, p. 20).

Religion plays a major role in the play, and this is directly linked to the drama's setting. The settlers of Salem, Massachusetts, and the characters depicted in the play were Puritans, and the Massachusetts government was dominated by conservative Puritan secular leaders prior to the 1680s. As the author notes in the text, "It was, however, an autocracy by consent, for they were united from top to bottom by a commonly held ideology whose perpetuation was the reason and justification for all their sufferings" (Act I, p. 6).