The word "crucible" has two definitions that are especially pertinent to the play. First, it is a piece of lab equipment, a container that would be used to hold something that it is being heated to extremely high temperatures. This pertains to the play because, as fears and feelings come to a fever pitch in the community, hysteria spreads like wildfire, and it "heats up" all of the people in the town. And just as one might expect to witness...
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