The Crucible by Arthur Miller
"Societies often tend to suppress individual freedom in order to
maintain social order"
'Examine the key characters and their beliefs in The Crucible in the
light of this statement'
A crucible is a vessel in which metals are heated, melted down and
purified. The play 'The Crucible', by Arthur Miller shows a community,
which ignites and burns with the accusations of witchcraft, mass
hysteria and retribution.
Set in the small town of Salem Massachusetts in 1692, it explores the
struggle of one man with his conscience and his eventual purification.
A fictional play based on McCarthyism, a dark chapter in American
history. Miller uses 'The Crucible' as a mirror to reflect his views
on the anti-communist hysteria inspired by Senator Joseph McCarthy's
"witch hunts" in the U.S. Reissue. By using the historical and
controversial issue of the Salem Witch Trials, Arthur Miller's play
presents an allegory for the events in modern-day America. It exploits
these past events to criticize the moments in humankind's history when
reason and fact became clouded by unreasonable fears and the desire to
put the blame for societies dilemmas on others.
The phoney witch hysteria in Salem deteriorated the sensible, and
emotional stability of its citizens. Therefore exploiting the
population's weakest qualities and insecurities. This obvious collapse
in social order led to the tragedy, which saw twenty innocent people
hung on the allegation of witchcraft. A strict social system, fear and
confusion were apparent conditions that became prevalent before and
during the witch trials. However only contributing to th...
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... consorting with the devil. These names were given by all of the girls
present that took part in the ritual in the woods, in an attempt to
return to God and to be declared bewitched. This was a common reaction
that many had when accused of witchery. The clear destruction of
Salem's social order was due to fear of the unknown, and mass
confusion.
The inclination that Salem fell victim to, was the cause of a great
tragedy, which saw twenty townspeople hung at the hands of the state.
The Crucible written by Arthur Miller is a story of a great
catastrophe which highlights a "free man's courageous and never-ending
fight against mass pressures to make him bow down in
conformity"(intro. -x) and shows how hysteria can be used for evil
purposes in an atmosphere were there is a belief in freedom and right
of disagreement.
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, both pride and excessive pride influence the characters throughout the play. Pride is a sense of one's dignity and worth. Excessive pride is being overly confident of one's own self worth. Throughout, pride influences the actions, reactions, and emotions of the characters in such ways to establish the outcome of the story. Three characters are impelled by their pride. Hale, who takes pride in his ability to detect witchcraft; Elizabeth Proctor, whose pride makes forgiving her husband difficult; Proctor, whose excessive pride causes him to overlook reality and the truth.
Authors often have underlying reasons for giving their stories certain themes or settings. Arthur Miller’s masterpiece, The Crucible, is a work of art inspired by actual events as a response to political and moral issues. Set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, The Crucible proves to have its roots in events of the 1950’s and 1960’s, such as the activities of the House Un-American Committee and the “Red Scare.” Though the play provides an accurate account of the Salem witch trials, its real achievement lies in the many important issues of Miller’s time that it dealswith.
likelihood of victory is small.” It is a person’s mental or moral strength to resist extreme
The Crucible by Arthur Miller The Crucible is a fictional retelling of events in American history surrounding the Salem witch trials of the seventeenth century, yet is as much a product of the time in which Arthur Miller wrote it, the early 1950s, as it is description of Puritan society. At that particular time in the 1950s, when Arthur Miller wrote the play the American Senator McCarthy who chaired the ‘House Un-American Activities Committee’ was very conscious of communism and feared its influence in America. It stopped authors’ writings being published in fear of them being socialist sympathisers. Miller was fascinated by the Salem Witch Trials and that human beings were capable of such madness. In the 1950s the audience would have seen the play as a parallel between the McCarthy trials and the Salem Trials.
...in their family to become sick and possibly die. Many people were accused of witchcraft. More than twenty people died all together. One person was flattened to death because he was accused of witchcraft. When people were accused they had to go to jail, which the conditions were terrible. Then, they had to get a trial from the Court of Oyer and Terminer. After an accused witch had their trial, and went to jail, they would be carted off to Gallows Hill. This was the hill where all the witches were hanged. After a witch was hanged, later that night, their family would usually take the body down and give it a proper burial. The Salem Witchcraft Trials were one of the most terrible times in the history of America. As you can see the chaotic Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 were caused by superstition, the strict puritan lifestyle, religious beliefs, 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.
Seventeen others died in prison and the lives of many were irrevocably changed. To better understand the events of the Salem witch trials, it is necessary to understand the time period in which the accusations of witchcraft occurred. These were the ordinary stresses of 17th-century life in Massachusetts Bay Colony. A strong belief in the devil, factions among Salem Village fanatics, and rivalry with nearby Salem Town all played a part in the stress. There was also a recent small pox epidemic and the threat of an attack by warring tribes created a fertile ground for fear and suspicion.
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.
Both, people in the play The Crucible and Miller’s involvement with McCarthyism experienced mass hysteria. In societies from centuries ago, such as puritan Salem in 1692, fear ran all over the town when dozens of innocent people were accused of witchcraft causing nineteen people to be killed. When fear and rumors becomes prevalent and delusional as it had in Salem, it could be designated as mass hysteria. due to the reason that it is no longer just fear, it can be used as a contrivance for self-gaining; bludgeon to benefit in a political statues; and it can also be used as a weapon for revenge. In Arthur Miller’s well-known play The Crucible, mass hysteria lead to terrible events. Thomas Putnam fits
Arthur Miller's, The Crucible , is the role that hysteria and how it can use its deathly blade to slowly destroy a community or even a country. In The Crucible, Act I and II the audience begins to witness the extremist in religion, rebellion and hysteria of the Puritans. This act reveals how isolation, religious extremist and the abuse of power transformed men and women into demons and those accused and sentenced into victims while introducing the themes of deception, greed, possession, and not the hunt for witches but the hunt or quest for power. Miller reminds the readers about the Puritan community during the period in Salem Massachusetts in 1692. This community believed that physical labor and work and the rigid following of the religious doctrine was a sign of each person’s faithfulness and loyalty to God in addition to their integrity as a person. Any deviation from these principles could lead into one being accused of as unrighteous and any sickness or illness that enabled a person to carry
In 1953, the play called “The Crucible” written by Arthur Miller created hysteria in all parts of the country. This play describes the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 and the irony of a terrible period of American history.
The Crucible is a 1953 play by Arthur Miller. Initially, it was known as The Chronicles of Sarah Good. The Crucible was set in the Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts. It talks of McCarthyism that happened in the late 1600’s whereby the general public and people like Arthur Miller were tried and persecuted. The Crucible exemplifies persecutions during the Salem Witch Trials. The people were convicted and hung without any tangible proof of committing any crime. Persecutions were the order of the day. When a finger was pointed at any individual as a witch, the Deputy Governor Danforth never looked for evidence against them or evidence that incriminated them; he ordered them to be hanged. This can be seen through his words “Hang them high over the town! Who weeps for those, weeps for corruption!” (1273), the people were persecuted aimlessly. The four main characters in the play, John Proctor, Abigail Adams, Reverend Hale and Reverend Parris, are caught in the middle of the witchcraft panic in the religious Salem, Massachusetts in late 1690’s. Persecution is the most important theme in the Crucible, the leaders and citizens of Salem attacks and persecutes one of their own without any tangible evidence against them.
Being isolated from any other group of people with different beliefs created a church led Puritan society that was not able to accept a lot of change. The church was against the devil, at the same time it was against such things as dancing and other premature acts. The reputation of the family was very important to the members of the community. When the girls were caught dancing in the woods, they lied to protect not just themselves but the reputation of their families. They claimed that the devil took them over and influenced them to dance. The girls also said that they saw members of the town standing with the devil. A community living in a puritan society like Salem could easily go into a chaotic state and have a difficult time dealing with what they consider to be the largest form of evil.
Arthur Miller wrote plays as a way of showing people the real picture of what life was really like during the Great Depression and after World War II. Before the Great Depression many Americans were living in a significant time period, the Roaring Twenties. People had radios, automobiles, and movies with sounds. Then it all suddenly came to an end with the Stock Market Crash, leading to the Great Depression. During the Great Depression, Americans faced poverty, and had no income because jobs weren’t available. Throughout his life Miller influenced many people with his plays, and his contributions to this day because people want to read and understand what was truly happening in past history. For example, “The Crucible” is a play about the Salem Witch Trials, giving a good understanding of the basics that went on in this time period. Another example of Miller’s influential work is “The Death of a Sales Man”, which is his way of showing what life was like when people were struggling financially during the Stock Market Crash. Overall, Arthur Miller is one of the leading American playwrights of the twentieth century.
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.