!!The Arthur Miller Play

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: The usually-omitted Act 2, Scene 2 provides a lot of additional material for some people who interpret Abigail as being completely insane, rather than coldbloodedly telling lies and playing the court to get what she wants.
** Some people feel that Act 2, Scene 2 actually makes it easier to understand Abigail, since even though her reasons are messed up, at least she has a reason to accuse so many people. Omitting this scene and she (and the other girls) will appear to accuse these people to death for almost no reason at all other than to win over Proctor's bed. Though the scene would have averted from empathizing the extent of the coldblooded cruelty that occurred in history.
* {{Applicability}}: When the play was staged in China in the early 1980s, people had just recovered from the pains of the "Cultural Revolution" (1966-76). In the play, they found the similarities between history and ''The Crucible''. This explained why the play received such a warm welcome at that time.
* CompleteMonster: Judge Hathorne clearly enjoys his power over life and death, and actively hobbles any attempt to stop the snowballing hysteria.
* FridgeLogic: John doesn't know his wife is pregnant. Assuming they're telling the truth, how exactly would that work?
** Either she had been in prison long enough that she didn't know herself when she was arrested, or she simply hadn't told him she suspected she was. There were no pregnancy tests back then, and bad nutrition can make you skip periods. Until recently, a woman wasn't positive she was pregnant until she was probably five or six months along.
* MagnificentBitch: Abigail Williams manages to use her intelligence, her sexual attractiveness, and her sense of humor to manipulate everyone around her, even arguably managing a KarmaHoudini after essentially achieving mass murder.
* TearJerker: Oh Proctor...
* TheWoobie: Proctor, Hale, and Mary. Also Rebecca, who was originally believed to be the nicest person in Salem.
** Elizabeth.

!!The Film Adaptation

!!The Korean Movie

* CompleteMonster: Park Bo-hyeon and the Lee twins (who all beat and sexually abuse their deaf students) and Yun Ja-ae, who dishes out [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown savage beatings]] bordering on torture to the children. If that wasn't enough, their clear lack of repentance and [[spoiler: successful manipulation of the trial proceedings to get themselves off the hook, including Yun intimidating Min-su's frail grandmother into settling outside of court, which she then taunts Yu-jin with,]] should convince you.
* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: And considering the recent ban on corporal punishment in South Korean schools, the scrapping of the statute of limitations on the reporting of sex crimes and the introduction of longer minimum sentences as part of overhaul on legislation surrounding abuse, the anvils seem to be having the desired effect.
* {{Squick}}: The movie is really graphic during the rape scenes.
* TearJerker: [[spoiler: The scene after Min-su commits suicide. Everyone who was protesting about the light punishment of the Lee twins gets hosed by the police. During the chaos In-ho holds up a framed picture of Min-su and brokenly says "This child's name is Min-su...he cannot hear or even speak.". It's heartbreaking because he keeps getting knocked over by the hose but he keeps getting back up.]]
* ValuesDissonance: Western audiences may be confused by In-ho's slow response to the obvious abuses occurring around him, but as corporal punishment was legal and widespread in South Korean schools until ''very'' recently, he's bound to be slow on the uptake.
* WhatAnIdiot: After [[spoiler: Min-su's suicide]], the police officer tries to break up the rally by speaking into a megaphone. ''To deaf people.''