Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Arthur Miller's hidden meaning behind the crucible
Analysis of the Crucible by Arthur Miller
The salem witch trials vs arthur miller's the crucible
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Arthur Miller's hidden meaning behind the crucible
Human Nature in Sebastian Faulks' Birdsong and Arthur Miller's The Crucible Both The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, and the novel, Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks, are pieces of literature based around historical events. Miller's play is set during the Salem Witch trials of 1692 and Birdsong concentrates primarily on characters involved in the First World War which took place from 1914 to 1918. Both of these periods in history are examples of times when human beings have displayed the darker side to their nature: the capacity to kill. Both Faulks and Miller have attempted to explore the reasons behind their character's actions along with the mechanisms and strong emotions within humans that make ordinary people capable of committing atrocities. However, the authors also highlight the positive aspects of human nature, the great love, courage and loyalty which manages to emerge unscathed out of the most horrific circumstances. As I have already mentioned both The Crucible and Birdsong explore man's capacity to kill other human beings. The two pieces, however, approach this subject in very different ways. Arthur Miller's play, set during the Salem Witch hunt, concentrates on the various emotions, such as fear, greed and revenge, driving individuals to accuse their friends and neighbours of witchcraft. Birdsong, on the other hand, depicts a much larger conflict and focuses more on the ability of the soldiers to withstand the horrors that they are witnessing and committing everyday. In his play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller illustrates a great number of human emotions and tensions within the Salem community which, when combined, result in the execution of many people on the grounds that they are... ... middle of paper ... ...he dangers of forgetting the past. Elizabeth's life seems so tranquil compared to that of Stephen Wraysford but the fact that the Second World War followed so shortly after the First demonstrates how easy it is for mankind to repeat the errors of the past. Equipped with this knowledge the reader realises that even Elizabeth's comfortable, peaceful lifestyle is vulnerable and at risk. The Crucible and Birdsong, in their different ways, both highlight the complexity of human nature where love, loyalty and honesty co-exist with hatred, fear and suspicion. This means that even in times of conflict and slaughter people display the ability to love, trust and make sacrifices. However the greatest flaw in mankind's makeup is the ability to forget the horrors of the past, therefore allowing the continual repetition throughout history of the same, fatal mistakes.
The focus of Miller’s The Crucible is an appalling witch trial that morfs the once-peaceful town of Salem into a cutthroat slaughterhouse. As a lucrative playwright and a not-so-subtle allegory author, Miller is a seasoned wordsmith who addresses people akin to himself, and is not secretive about that information. The Crucible best serves its purpose as a learning device and a social statement, especially at the time of its publishing. Miller‘s piece showcases the appeals in an easy-to-identify manner that is perfect for middle or high school students who are new to the appeals, or for English majors who have no problem pinpointing them, making this play ideal for a classroom setting.
The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, exhibits the theocratic Salem village as chaotic and hysterical due to events that suggest the use of witchcraft. God’s orders and wills were really important in the village, however, the presence of the Seven Deadly Sins in this play were quite strong. The most relevant sin represented by the characters was pride.
The Crucible is a play in which Arthur Miller parallels events of the Salem witch trials of 1692 to the problems that were plaguing his own society. The statement that most readers today bring out of the play is that history has a way of repeating itself. Miller's play was an extreme hit upon release and won a Tony award. The play is so popular today that many teachers in secondary schools use it to base their lesson around when teaching their students about 1692 Salem and there are multimedia activities based on Salem through The Crucible's view. Miller is often asked to speak at events where similar "witch hunts" occur, acting as a sort of expert on the subject of Puritan Salem and acts of hysteria.
Honor, dignity, and integrity are traits that are becoming more and more rare in our society. The Crucible, a play written in 1952 by Arthur Miller, is based on the Salem witch hunts of 1692 and parallels the Red Scare and McCarthyism in the 1950s. In the play, Miller attempts to focus his themes around traits such as honor, dignity, and integrity, and as a result, the theme "is it better to die honorably or live dishonorably" becomes vital to the story and well conveyed throughout it. The characters that exemplify this idea are John Proctor and Giles Corey, both of whom die by the end of the play, and Reverend John Hale and Abigail Williams, who live through the trials.
Life as a human is dictated by an inborn hunger or purpose, and people, in general, will act on this hunger for their own personal gain in their individual ways. This hunger, be it for wealth, land, love, power, revenge, or pride, can, and will be the undoing or failing of all mankind as Miller so clearly points out in his play 'The Crucible';. This essay will explore the motives of characters within the play and even the motives of Arthur Miller himself and therefore show how conflict stems from certain recognisable human failings including those mentioned above, fear, and hysteria.
The Crucible: Hysteria and Injustice Thesis Statement: The purpose is to educate and display to the reader the hysteria and injustice that can come from a group of people that thinks it's doing the "right" thing for society in relation to The Crucible by Arthur Miller. I. Introduction: The play is based on the real life witch hunts that occurred in the late 1600's in Salem, Massachusetts. It shows the people's fear of what they felt was the Devil's work and shows how a small group of powerful people wrongly accused and killed many people out of this fear and ignorance.
The human lust and want for power has been and is the base of each and every witch-hunt. In the Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play that is based of 1962 Salem Massachusetts, the site of one of the worst witch-hunts in history. Abigail Williams was the main accuser of withes in Salem, and in her accusations she gained power in the town. In total 20 accused witches were hanged, and a total of about 200 people were accused. In a more modern witch-hunt, the Holocaust, Hitler also experimented with the limits of power and using power to control mass amount of people. Both Abigail and Hitler experimented and tested to true extent of power a single individual can use to control others. In the Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, the societal value of power was explored through the actions and repercussions of Abigail Williams, in the Holocaust the actions of Hitler illustrated the limits of power and to what extent power can be used to manipulate mass amounts of people. Both Hitler and Abigail used their power for control and to benefit themselves, but also they caused fear in the people and retaliation to some level.
The play, The Crucible, is a fireball of guilt, evil, and good compiled into one magnification. It is a play with tremendous feelings, with many inside twists hidden in the archives of the true story. It is a play with emotional feelings; feelings of anger, hate, and evil, yet also feelings of goodness, and pureness. Undeniably, The Crucible is a play illustrating good versus evil. The principal characters, Abigail Williams, John Proctor, Ann Putnam and Marry Warren all contain within them elements of good and evil.
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a play that was first performed in 1953 in the United States of America in the midst of the persecution of alleged communists during the era of McCarthyism. Although the play explicitly addresses the Salem which hunt, many find that the play is an analogy to McCarthyism due to the striking similarities in which the people behaved. Miller highlight the different groups of characters in order to reveal overlying ideas of the play such as: Self preservation, power, and hypocrisy.
Many people look back on the events of the Salem witch trials and laugh at the absurdity of the allegations. It seems crazy that society could be fooled into believing in things like witches and deal with the events in such an extreme manner. It is a common belief that witch hunts are things of the past. Many people would agree that they no longer exist today; however Arthur Miller, author of the play, "The Crucible", points out that society has not come very far from the days of the Salem witch trials. In his play, he used the Salem witch trials to represent the McCarthy Era because he saw that the nation was facing the same events that Salem went through back in the late 1600's. Arthur Miller wrote "The Crucible" in an attempt to create moral awareness for society. He did so by making a few small changes to the history and creating parallels in the play with racism, human tendencies, and H.U.A.C.
ruinously impact a whole community, is very aptly titled. By definition, a “crucible” is “a severe test,” and the challenges faced by Miller’s characters are many. The historical events dramatized in the play reflect how core human values, including truth, justice and love, are tested under life and death conditions. The trials of the characters and the values they hold dearly come when their simple, ordered world ceases to be black and white and easily deciphered, and is turned upside down in the gray shades of ambiguity.
Events have played out in history that made people realize the inhumane acts of people and the Salem witch trials and the McCarthy era were two of them. The Salem witch trials in 1692 were almost 260 years before the McCarthy “witch hunts” in the 1950s yet there are similarities between them. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller in 1953, is about the Salem witch trials and is an allegory to the practicing of McCarthyism during the Second Red Scare in the United States, which Miller was a victim of. Although there may be differences between “The Crucible” and McCarthyism, ultimately the anger, lack of evidence, and the people were alike in both events.
The play “The Crucible” is an allegory for the McCarthyism hysteria that occurred in the late 1940’s to the late 1950’s. Arthur Miller’s play “the crucible” and the McCarthyism era demonstrates how fear can begin conflict. The term McCarthyism has come to mean “the practice of making accusations of disloyalty”, which is the basis of the Salem witch trials presented in Arthur Miller’s play. The fear that the trials generate leads to the internal and external conflicts that some of the characters are faced with, in the play. The town’s people fear the consequences of admitting their displeasure of the trials and the character of John Proctor faces the same external conflict, but also his own internal conflict. The trials begin due to Abigail and her friends fearing the consequences of their defiance of Salem’s puritan society.
Although a strict society composed of high morality and disciplinary laws may be necessary for safety, it causes internal conflicts within the individuals. In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller a theocracy in Salem rules and guides the citizens into doing what is “right”, but eventually backfires due to issues of reputation and jealousy. Society has a lot of influence on the citizens, and with a bad reputation, it is nearly impossible to live in a Puritan society. Salem’s strict Puritanical social structure causes personal struggles for the individuals involved in the events of The Crucible, and then eventually these personal struggles affect the society overall.
The Crucible is a famous play written by Arthur Miller in the Early 1950’s. It was written during the “Red scare, when McCarthyism was established. Many anti-communists wanted to prevent communism from spreading just like in The Crucible many wanted to get rid of witchcraft. Many would accuse others of witchcraft in order to not be accused just like many would accuse people of communism. In The Crucible witchcraft would be punishable by death. Many were scared to be accused; therefore many would admit practicing witchcraft in order to save their lives. The Crucible is considered a good play because it is based on real life events during the Salem witch Trials and shows how fear played a role in the individual’s life just like during the “Red” scare.