What does the title of The Crucible add to symbolism in the themes and imagery i

Question: What does the title of The Crucible add to symbolism in the themes and imagery in the story!? !?

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A crucible is a kind of bowl used to heat up chemicals or metals in alchemy!.
Philosophically, the term crucible can refer to activities that are very difficult, but act as a refining or hardening process!.

So its a place where something is refined or purified through difficulty or heat!.

in those terms you can see the significance of the title in relation to John Proctor who is "purified", well regains his integrity and standing in the town, by refusing to confess!.

You can also see how the town itself acts as a sort of crucible, events "heat up" so quickly that soon the town decends in to madness, yet by the end we hope that the town has been cleansed, but we realise that it is the individuals who stand up for themselves and the truth that receieve the true redemption!.

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A crucible can also be a way of melting down materials with high heat to create something new and beautiful, or useful!. Something that is usually stronger then it was before!.

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Well the word crucible means a severe test or trial which was really what the book was about!. The witch trials were pretty harsh, with people accusing random innocent neighbors of being witches and hundreds were hung or burned alive!. Www@QuestionHome@Com