Critical Criticism Of The Crucible

The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a rich and enticing play set in the late 1600’s describing the epic horrors and emotions through the events of the Salem witch trials. The Crucible, focuses primarily on the inconsistencies of the Salem witch trials and the extreme behavior that can result from dark desires and hidden agendas. The play begins with the discovery of several young girls and an African American slave, Tituba, in the woods just outside of Salem, dancing and pretending to conjure spirits. The Puritans of Salem stood for complete religious intolerance and stressed the need to follow the ways of the bible literally without exception. The actions of the women in

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a historical play set in 1962 in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. As you may know, you've all placed your trust in the words and actions of someone close to you. And what do they do? They betray you! It's rarely justified, and can happen to the best of us. Based on authentic records of witchcraft trials in the seventeenth-century this play explains how a small group of girls manage to create a massive panic in their town by spreading accusations of witchcraft. These rumors in turn are the causes that many citizens are hung for. This essay will show how the lies and betrayal of a few individuals eventually leads to the downfall of Salem and its society.

The novel, The Crucible was written in 1953 by Arthur Miller, which was based on the Salem Witch Trials existing in the late 1600s. In the play, Abigail and several other young women accuse innocent citizens of Salem for the action of witchcraft. During the trials, many individuals were unfairly persecuted; such as John Proctor. This event in history may be associated with the Red Scare, in which individuals were tried for their questionable influences of communism in the United States. When Miller compares the character of John Proctor to himself, the reader is able to relate the similar experiences that both men faced. The Crucible demonstrates the struggle against corruption involving the court, which lead to the death of many innocent individuals in Salem. The Crucible generates an allegory for Arthur Miller’s struggles with McCarthyism because of his similar experience relating to John Proctor’s battle against the Salem Witch Trials, and the relation between the actions of the court in both situations. Arthur Miller uses several writing methods in order to convey The Crucible as an allegory for his struggles with McCarthyism. Miller demonstrates how the Crucible represents an allegory for his conflict with McCarthyism by relating his experiences with the plot of the novel. Miller relates the novel to his struggles by stating, “Should the accused confess, his honesty could only be proved by naming former confederates.” (Are You Now… 34) Miller is explaining how the court

The year is 1692. Throughout the small, Puritan, seaside community of Salem, rumors and accusations fly like gusts of ocean wind. Neighbors turn on neighbors, and even the most holy church-goers are accused of being the devil’s servants. The Crucible details this real-life tragedy of the Salem witch trials, in which nineteen members of the Salem community were hanged for alleged witchcraft. Abigail Williams, a seemingly innocent girl, accuses dozens of Salem’s citizens of witchcraft through the support of her mob of girls and the complicity of the court officials. The title of this play gives significant insight into the experiences of several of these Salem citizens. Although a crucible is often used in chemistry for heating up substances, the title of the play carries a much greater weight. In his famous play The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses the title of “crucible” to signify the severe and unrelenting tests of faith and character that many of the community members endure throughout the Salem witch trials, which he achieves through the use of figurative language and fallacies of relevance and insufficiency.

The Crucible is one of the most notable classics in American literature. Written by Arthur Miller, the story takes place during 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. It’s a story about witch hysteria that caused the trials and executions of many innocent people. Furthermore, it’s filled with many intriguing characters, symbolism, and themes that keep the book on the shelves of American high schools everywhere. Similarly, the Second Second Red Scare in the United States during the 1950s was also time of hysteria and fear of communism. Intriguingly, to consider that Arthur Miller lived during most of the twentieth century, there must be a correlation between The Crucible and the Second Second Red Scare. Therefore, other than the fact that Arthur Miller’s

During the 1690’s people had to deal with the Salem witch trials and during the 1950’s they had to live in the McCarthy Era. Despite the time difference, both correlate with each other. The Salem witch trials are hearings that were conducted in several towns in Province of Massachusetts with little or no proof. McCarthyism is accusations of treason without proper evidence. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller creates a story about McCarthyism, Puritan lifestyle, and witchcraft that can only exist with the historical time period of 1690’s.

The Crucible is a play by Arthur Miller about the Salem witch trials, written in 1953 as an allegory to the McCarthy “witch hunts” against communism. Both the Salem and McCarthy “witch hunts” created a “mob mentality” through fear that led to trials against the accused. The girls in The Crucible, when they were discovered dancing naked in the woods and having fits, claimed that witches were responsible for their “sickness.” The powerful personality of one of the girls, Abigail, created a kind of hysteria in the other girls that led them to point fingers at specific women in Salem.

Who remembers hearing stories about witches when we were children? We all thought of them as fairy tales, no one would have believed that “witches” were a part of daily life back in Salem Massachusetts in the year 1692. In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, these were no fairy tales to the inhabitants of Salem. This alluring play is established on an authentic story. The story commenced like this, A girl named Abigail who is seen acting in a bizarre manner, is accused of practicing witchcraft. The only way that Abigail could save herself was by confessing and accusing other people so therefore, she did. This started a wide outbreak of mass accusations of witchcraft. This effectively initiated the witch trials. Arthur Miller really tries to teach us lessons that he integrated in the book. Fear, reputation and intolerance are the three major themes this essay will delve into.

Arthur Miller’s play ‘The Crucible’ is based on the Salem witch trials of the late 1600s. It is also a symbol of the 1950s Communism trials in America, which Miller was questioned in. The play begins with the town reverend’s daughter laying unconscious, supposedly bewitched, after being caught dancing naked in the forest with numerous other girls, one of which was Reverend Parris’s niece, Abigail Williams. This false accusation, and numerous others, lead to many being condemned to death. In addition, it is the beginning of a series of false accusations that control Salem, spreading paranoia and frenzy throughout the village, before resulting in the deaths of the play’s foremost moral characters,

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible reveals the true colors of society and the desperation to dispel fear in any possible way. The witch trials of Salem killed many innocent women in hopes to protect the town from evil created by a group of girls who tried to hide their own mistakes. Miller incorporates many allegories to the McCarthy trials which possessed the same reasoning for unjustified trials. Miller uses syntax, the complexity of his characters and the political battle of his time to portray in his play The Crucible how environment and social pressure can blur the lines of personal morals and society’s hunger for justice.

Possibly one of the worst feelings is when you are accused of something you have not done. Now, imagine being accused of something so heinous that you are then sentenced to death because of it. This was the reality for many characters in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. The consequences of mass hysteria and corrupting power of authority go head-to-head for prominence in the play. Arthur Miller centralizes the idea of McCarthyism and the events play out as a result.

Proctor. For the first and only time in the play we see Abigail as her

The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, provides a dramatic demonstration of the horrors seen through the execution of accused witches in the late seventeenth century. Miller intended his work towards the common people in order to clarify the irrational selection of identifying someone a communist is no different from colonists informing the court of witchcraft. Rather than giving a drama of the witch trials, Miller emphasizes the so-called “ideological war” to express the inner conflicts early colonists had (2). By having an academic, informal tone, he initiates with a background of the social instability of the country due the peak of communism. Besides, Miller’s capacity of making a linkage with the Salem witch trials with the 1950’s provides solid reasoning for making his well known play. Accounting from Miller’s past from the film production covering communists into the plot along famous producers who were assumed alliances with the Communist Party.

One of the many works written and driven by Puritan influence, The Crucible by Arthur Miller has continued to influence life and thinkings. Its story tracing the 1692 Salem Witch Trials has been widely read, received and understood, along with influencing the reader and their ideals. The play has manifested into more than words on a page and has become of the greatest influences, even sixty years after its publication. Though its story has not changed and is merely a retelling of the original itself, its themes have greatly impacted its universal and enduring state.

The Crucible, a play composed of utter panic and paranoia written by Arthur Miller, is an allegory to the McCarthy trials of the 1950’s. An allegory is a story with two levels of meaning-literal and symbolic. In an allegory the characters, events, and instances all relate to real people, events and instances (“Definition of Allegory” R104). Characters like John Proctor, Abigail Williams, and Mary Warren represent Arthur Miller, Senator Joseph McCarthy, and Elia Kazan. Corresponding events that happened in the 1690s and the 1950s include the reputation of the congregation’s “low lives” were ruined just like people were blacklisted during the Red Scare also, the people who were put on trial (including victims from both The Crucible and the McCarthy era) were expected to give names yet if they failed to do so, consequences arose. Instances when Abigail had no concrete proof of any witchcraft lingering the community is in comparison to the unsubstantiated accusations McCarthy made towards supposed Communists. Addingly, the vast majority of people were not willing to confront against the court of Salem compares to when the public wasn’t inclined to address the government. Miller wrote The Crucible as an allegory to show what happens when individuals give into fear, to teach how people can be untrustworthy and disloyal, and criticize the court vs. the HUAC.