Examples Of Foreshadowing In The Crucible

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible focuses on the Salem Witch Trials along with the pointing of fingers that went along with it. Miller wrote this to reflect upon what was occurring during the Red Scare in the 1940’s and 1950’s. The Crucible is written in an ironic and cynical tone mocking the Red Scare.

Arthur Miller is considered one of the greatest American playwrights of the 20th century. He has written many acclaimed plays, including The Crucible. Written in 1953, The Crucible uses the historical perspective of the Salem Witch Trials which took place between 1962 and 1963. A lot of the inspiration for the events that take place in the play were from the McCarthyism era that was taking place at the time. It is evident that The Crucible is a critical look at the way the Communist hunt was handled, and used the hysteria and madness of the witch trials to show how history repeats itself. The relationship between men and women and the way the woman in the society is treated is also a prominent theme throughout the play.

The theme one could say in the play is, believing and spreading false accusations can be life threatening. In The Crucible, this happened quite often as people who had no relation to Abigail’s spell in the woods were accused of witchcraft. If they refused to confess to practicing witchcraft, they would be killed. If they confessed to practicing witchcraft, (even if it wasn’t true), they would be jailed and have their lives saved, but their reputations ruined forever. I think the author, Arthur Miller, is trying to teach readers and viewers a lesson that even innocent people can be accused of crimes they did not commit and to not believe everything we hear when people are panicking and are in fear. Abigail Williams is a prime example of spreading false accusations, even early on in the play when she falsely blames Tituba for everything Abigail says,“She made me do it! She made Betty do it! She makes me drink blood!”(23). In Salem, everyone was panicked and spreading rumors out of fear, and falsely accusing people of witchcraft, even unexpected people, like John Proctor’s maid, Mary Warren when she turned on him to save herself and said to him in court, “Don’t touch me - don’t touch me … you’re the Devil’s man!” (52). This betrayal and false accusation is what eventually causes Proctor to give up his fight.

As a result, Warren sides with Abigail to save herself and Abigail accepts her. Thus, Proctor gets angry. However, John proctor is disgusted by the outcomes of the accusations and the judges’ decisions since they do not see that the accusations are based on personal vengeance and benefits. Since the judges’ are supporting Abigail’s accusations they are pulling down heaven (good) and raising a whore (evil). The significance of this quote is that John Proctor is pointing out the truth to them, but the judges still do not see it.

She lies because if she does not, she will be hanged. Abigail would much rather other girls get hanged. She would say anything to make sure that she does not get hanged. Miller sends the message that evil is within all of us. Though evil is stronger in some than in others, it is still there.

The Crucible is play by Arthur Miller, made in 1953 and it is about a fictional story of The Salem witch trials that occurred in the late 1600’s. The film, The Crucible, was made in 1996, directed by Nicholas Hytner, and was made to show Miller's work on the big screen so it could appeal to the new generation. The film and the text, The Crucible, have numerous similarities, yet in addition the movie will give you a better understanding of Arthur Miller's work.

Foreshadowing can be talked about for a paragraph, or it will be mentioned in a sentence that can be easily missed.

Miller utilises Mary Warren's repeated refrain of "I cannot, I cannot" to reflect how crazy she has become. Despite Abigail's wrongdoings Mary states that she "cannot charge murder on Abigail" which shows how much Abigail has manipulated her. She then states that "they'll turn on [her]" which demonstrates the pressure placed upon Mary to lie to the court. Mary's mind has been twisted into believing that staying loyal to the girls is more important than saving the lives of innocent people accused of witchcraft and this gives the audience a glimpse of the absurd ideas implanted into the brains of the Salem community. The curtain falls on Mary repeatedly sobbing "I cannot, I cannot" and this tells the audience that the madness is not at an end but will continue into the scenes to come.

The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, is a chronological narrative including a large cast of characters with a constantly moving setting.* The Crucible is a dramatization of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and an allegory of the McCarthyism period. Throughout the play, Miller explores the destruction of freedom by the ignorant and tyrannical society in which his characters live.* By exhibiting how easily a member of the community can become an outcast, Arthur Miller displays social criticism in the Puritan society as well as in today's society in The Crucible.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a famous play which was written in the early 1950’s. The Crucible is a play based upon the events in 1692, which led to the ‘Salem Witch Trials’, a series of hearings before local magistrates to prosecute over 150 people accused of witchcraft. This was due to the hysteria caused by a group of girls accusing innocent people of witch craft. The play was set in Salem, Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. Salem was a very isolated and puritanical community, so their biggest fear was the devil and witchcraft. A person being accused of witchcraft was the worst thing possible in this society.

Once the people of Salem fully realize their fear, Miller shows how they try to justify this fear, but that they are in fact becoming more and more hysterical. They now try to find a justification for thoughts and their fear of evil. They need some solid proof to back up these accusations that they make, and they need to clear their own names as well. So, they arbitrarily start claiming that “[they] saw…with the Devil”, and that “[they] saw…with the Devil” (45). These unjustified explanations for their fears just shows how truly corrupted their minds become. They start naming their own friends, neighbors, and even their own family in order to clear themselves and more importantly to try to prove that this witchery is really upon them, and to prove that they are not just crazy. What it really does is show how hysteria is setting in, and how they have actually accepted these lies as the truth. While questioning each other on the matter, their breakdown can really be seen through their quick, almost sputtering manner of speaking:

The Crucible is a play written in 1953 by Arthur Miller. It is based off of the 1662 Salem witch trials written as a parallel between this time period and the Red Scare, the time period in which he was living. There are many topics explored throughout the play, but the most important is hypocrisy, which can be seen in several characters.

The dramatic tension first begins when the reader finds out that Elizabeth has been accused through Mary. This creates an argument between Proctor and Elizabeth because she wants him to break the "promise made in any bed"(50) but Proctor is angered which is shown in the quote "I see now your spirit twists around the single error of my life and I will never tear it free." (51) We can infer that Proctor feels that Elizabeth has become more paranoid so she only concentrates on the mistake she has made because she can no longer trust him. In between this argument, Hale enters which causes a switch in scenes and the reader begins to wonder why Hale is here which creates the tension. When Elizabeth says "If you think that I am on then I say there are none " (57), shocks Hale and the reader because she is going against the Gospel but this shows her independence of mind and more importantly her integrity because she sticks to her moral code and doesn't

Once Abby says her whole paragraph about her being very close with Jesus and admitting to witchcraft she tries to make the others sound like bad people. Abby then ends with

Arthur Miller is an American playwright who wrote The Crucible in 1952. The story is basically about a time of suspicion and accusation of many innocent women and men caused by a group of girls doing witchcraft that led to hysteria and complete turmoil in Salem village, and this exists in the late 1600s . It was actually written on the heels of World War II, during a time when the United States, especially Senator Joseph McCarthy as one of the most outstanding people at the time, was highly concerned about the rising power of the Soviet Union’s communism that would infiltrate the US leading to a significant amount of paranoia within the American government as compared to the paranoia about witchcraft in the play. Therefore, Arthur Miller must write The Crucible and mainly make a strong connection to this political and social event occuring after the World War II, and even relates that to himself.