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Social implications of Arthur Miller
Literal and symbolic meaning of the crucible
Literal and symbolic meaning of the crucible
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Why is the play called the Crucible? Webster and his book the dictionary defines a 'crucible' as, 'A container in which metals are heated, involving a change. A severe test or trial.'; Author Miller in his play, uses the title 'The Crucible' as an analogy for the situation. The actual container- the crucible, is the town of Salem Massachusetts. The contents of the container are the people of Salem, the emotions and feelings of these people are what change. The events that take place in the town are what fuel and heat the people's emotions and are what affects their actions. Miller also puns on the other meaning of 'a crucible' which is: 'a severe test or trial'; to tie in with the events that take pace in the play- the trials of the accused witches and the extent of the consequences (death by hanging.) The 'severe test or trial ' referred to above is an inquiry carried out to see whether people's souls are still with God. This shows the extremity and extent of the trials. It shows how important a part religion plays in the community. Seeing as people's life styles revolved around working and praying. If people were not working or farming their lands, they are praying. On holidays they pray, there are hardly any moments of recreation or 'fun.' The people of Salem are deeply religious and to drift on to the side of the devil is the most serious 'sin' or 'crime' imaginable in the community. Just as it was a sin drift on to the side of the devil in the time of the crucible, it was the same to drift on to the side of communism in the 1950's, when Arthur Miller wrote this play. In the 1950's Senator Joe Macarthy set up a campaign to rid the United States of all communist supporters. These communist trials would be broadcast on national television. It would involve the accused to admit their guilt even though they were completely innocent, and give the names of 10 other would-be communists or face exile, torture, invasion of family privacy etc. Arthur Miller uses the events of the Salem witch-hunts to represent and show what the communist trials of the 1950's were. They were both based on false premises and paranoia, and as more people got involved, more people suffered, this can be summarised by calling it the 'Snowball effect.
At that time in American history, paranoia spread around the concept of communism and its potential threats. People began to wrongfully accuse others of being communist or supporting communism, similar to how the characters in the play wrongfully accused people of being witches. Just as those accused of being witches were asked to name whom else they knew of to be witches, those accused of communism were asked to do the same. With this system came the spread of uneasiness throughout the country of America and the town of Salem. Miller wished to showcase the crazy nature of McCarthyism in a way that people would be able to comprehend. The hysteria in both cases was caused simply by fear and not by actual
A crucible is a severe test as of patients or belief, a trial. The play The Crucible is a journey through the trials of many townspeople caused by the superstitious belief of witchcraft. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller progresses and evolves the outlooks and views of the townspeople of Salem and shows how events, people, and catastrophes cause the characters to change their views on whether the people prosecuted were guilty or innocent of witchcraft. Reverend John Hale changes his view, more and more drastically as the play advances, as a result of the events that he underwent and the experiences he had. Soon he had total belief in the innocence of all those convicted and hung in Salem.
In The Crucible, the mass hysteria surrounding the witch trials caused paranoia amongst the people of Salem. Miller uses the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 as a symbol and allegory of the fear surrounding the spread of communism during the 1950s in America. The community’s sense of justice was blinded by the mass hysteria and for some, a desire for vengeance and personal gain. The Putnams
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 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.
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.
Even though The Crucible is not historically correct, nor is it a perfect allegory for anti-Communism, or as a faithful account of the Salem trials, it still stands out as a powerful and timeless depiction of how intolerance, hysteria, power and authority is able to tear a community apart. The most important of these is the nature of power, authority and its costly, and overwhelming results. “But you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or against it,” says Danforth conceitedly. With this antithesis, Miller sums up the attitude of the authorities towards the witch trials that if one goes against the judgement of the court they are essentially breaking their relationship with God. Like everyone else in Salem, Danforth draws a clear line to separate the world into black and white. The concurrent running of the “Crucible” image also captures the quintessence of the courtroom as Abigial stirs up trouble among the people that have good reputation and loving natures in society. In a theocratic government, everything and everyone belongs to either God or the Devil.
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.
Arthur Miller cleverly picked the title "The Crucible" for his play about the Salem witch hunts of the 1660's because of the word's many meanings. Throughout the play, Miller has characters face severe tests that make them question their own self. A crucible is also an earthen pot that is used for melting metals. In a way the town of Salem was a crucible as people were brought before the court and blasted with allegations from others as being witches. They were either forced to give in and live a lie or be hanged.
Nicholas Hytner is the director of the film The Crucible. The movie came out November 27, 1996. The time frame in the film is 1953. The film gets more in depth of the Salem witch trial than the play. The Crucible film has more star reviews from professionals and random people than the play itself does.
The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller; he also wrote a screenplay. Arthur Miller was very purposeful when he wrote the Crucible. He encountered some incidents that related to this historical story, and that is where he got his inspiration. The text and the screenplay had some major differences between them, along with some minor differences. Some differences altered the story while others had little to no effect.
One definition of "crucible" is "a severe test of patience and belief, or a trial". This definition pertains to Arthur Miller's four-act play, "The Crucible." The definition is suiting, because it is during this play that the wills of innocent women and men are put to the test when they are accused of things they did not do. It was the ultimate trial of determination and willpower to withstand such a wretched ordeal. Abigail Williams, Elizabeth and John Proctor, Mary Warren, Reverend Parris and even Reverend Hale had changed drastically because of what they had to go through during the course of the play. However, other characters such as Ezekiel Cheever and Marshall Herrick did not really change noticeably. Reverend Parris and Reverend Hale are two characters in "The Crucible" that did change, and Ezekiel Cheever is one that did not.
John( Salem farmer) is a man that had a affair with a girl name Abigail
We often test the limits and try to see how far we can go. As you grow with age you realize how much your limits have been tested, but at least for me I haven’t been tested to the extreme of the death of you or others. The Crucible by Arthur Miller shows how far the falsely accused people of the Salem Witch Trials would go to prove their innocence; in some instances it required lying and damning themselves, similar to the situation created in Milgram's Experiment. The root of this conflict is in the pressure coming from the people whether to sacrifice themselves or others which can all be avoided if all sides were treated fairly and weren’t pushed to see how far they would go.
This world is not like what it used to be. Many people in today’s world are judgemental and not accepting. This world is full of hurting and sorrow. This world will forever be corrupt. When are people going to start getting along? Will there ever be peace? Will we ever live the life God wanted us to from the beginning?