The Crucible

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The Crucible

• Arthur Miller

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Arthur Miller

•  Arthur Miller was an American playwright who was
  born in 1915.  His Death of a Salesman won the
  Pulitzer prize in 1949.  Miller wrote The
  Crucible in 1953 during the McCarthy period when
  Americans were accusing each other of
  Pro-Communist beliefs.  Many of Millers friends
  were being attacked as communists and in 1956,
  Miller himself was brought before the House of
  Un-American Activities Committee where he was
  found guilty of beliefs in communism.  The
  verdict was reversed in 1957 in an appeals
  court.   

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Plot

• The Crucible is set against the backdrop of the
  mad witch hunts of the Salem witch trials in the
  late 17th century.  It is about a town, after
  accusations from a few girls, which begins a mad
  hunt for witches that did not exist.  Many
  townspeople were hanged on charges of
  witchcraft.  Miller brings out the absurdity of
  the incident with the theme of truth and
  righteousness.  The theme is conveyed through the
  struggles of Millers main character, John
  Proctor.

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Plot (cont.)

• There is a feud between the Putnam and the Nurse
  families. They are both wealthy land owners and
  the Nurses are very respected in town. These
  families each supported a different minister. The
  Nurses supported Reverend Parris.
• The Proctors preferred to worship in their own
  house. They felt that the church under Reverend
  Parris was becoming too materialistic and drifted
  away from the purpose of the church. Rebecca
  Nurse was the midwife to the Putnams, she aided
  the delivery of the babies. Mrs Putnam had eight
  children, seven of which died, and the Putnams
  felt that Mrs Nurse had put a curse on the
  children when they died.

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Background Information

• The play occurs during the seventeenth and
  eighteenth century Salem Witch trials and
  involves the Puritan beliefs and religion. They
  were very religious. They felt that people could
  form pacts with the devil. The devil would do
  actions for them in this life and then when they
  died he would have their souls. They believed in
  witches and felt that they could cast spells on
  people. The Puritans believed that there were
  certain signs of a witch.

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Characters

• Each character in the play has his own distinct
  quality.  Most characters are distinctly good or
  evil, though few characters are really
  developed.  The reader is only able to see one
  side of each character. 

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Setting

•  The play takes place in Salem, Massachusetts
  during the 17 century.  Since this play is based
  on a true story, the setting is real. The events
  within this play occur in a Puritan society where
  the community is very superstitious and gullible.
  Due to these facts, the people are very fearful
  of witches. People in the story were too
  supernatural to believe the girls in the play. 

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Style

•  Millers style is very simple.  He uses simple
  sentences and words which are easy to
  understand.  He brings out the evil quality of
  Abigail and the other girls as well as the
  gullibility of the judges.  While using a simple
  style, Miller maintains the suspense in the
  plot.  The dialogues of his characters are
  created to sound like actual speech. 

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Theme

• The theme of the play is rising over adversity
  and standing for truth. Through Proctors
  struggle, Miller displays the struggles within
  each of our own hearts.  Many times we witness
  some sort of wrong-doing to another person and
  choose to not get involved.  However, some people
  fight to do what is right, just like John Proctor
  in the story. Would you quit after only saving
  someone close to you, like Proctor could have
  done, or would you go for the entire community as
  Proctor did?

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Conclusion

• The story reminds its readers of an ugly blemish
  on human history.  It reminds us that man is not
  perfect, and that we can make mistakes.  However,
  even with these mistakes, we can overcome them by
  making what is wrong right.  The sufferings
  become to the sufferer like a crucible.

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The Salem Witch Trials

• The people of Salem who believed in witches
  were no different from their counterparts in
  England and the rest of Europe. Belief in the
  existence of witches had been prevalent
  throughout the earlier centuries and continued
  into the 17th century. Salem was simply a
  microcosm of the larger macrocosm.

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McCarthy Hearings

• During the McCarthy
  hearings (1950s) many innocent people were
  accused of being traitors (communists, mainly) to
  our country and, while they were not physically
  harmed, their professional and personal lives
  were ruined by this adverse publicity, which was
  often untrue. During this period also (as in
  Salem) many supposed good people participated
  in the accusations against others because they
  were afraid that if they refused to do so their
  own lives would be ruined. Miller is thus drawing
  a parallel between two periods of hysteria in our
  country, though far apart in time, that are
  dangerously close in ideology. (Guidon study
  materials)

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Historical Applications

• The McCarthy trials were in full force when
  Miller wrote this story, so this story closely
  relates to these trials. During the 1950's,
  Senator Joseph McCarthy accused many American
  leaders of being communists. This led to many
  unfounded accusations of people being communist
  party members. Some people believed McCarthy
  because they were fearful of communism and he
  played on those fears. McCarthy was, in effect,
  conducting "witch hunts". If any person opposed
  the Salem Witch trials, he or she was accused of
  being a witch. If any person opposed the McCarthy
  investigations, he or she was accused of being a
  communist.