In the films Black Robe, The Crucible, The Patriot, The Alamo, and Cold Mountain, the authors created historical inaccuracies for the audience of the generation they were made for. This means they would change some details to fit their idea of what the people felt in that time in history, to grip the audience and give some insight to the characters. These inaccuracies also helped to develop a point, even though a few minor details were changed, the audience eventually saw the whole picture and knew the story.
In The Crucible, the director would have been hesitant to address the actual age of Abigail, 11, and John, 60, because the age difference of these two people being involved in a sexual relationship would have been so unacceptable. While the author certainly knew this was going on, it wouldn’t have been talked about in his day. This is why the director chose characters closer in age, to develop a point and show that those type of scandals had been occurring between younger women and older men since Puritan times, making the film also more realistic to its viewers.
