The Crucible Literary Analysis

I shall endeavour to expand on all of these topics and their relevance to the play. Miller chose to write about a small settlement called Salem, in what was (at the time the play was set) the 'New World', North America. He had previously read a book entitled 'The devil in Massachusetts' by Marion

Ad Hominem: Latin for “against the man,” and refers to the logical fallacy (error) of arguing that someone is incorrect because they are unattractive, immoral, weird, or any other bad thing you could say about them as a person. (https://literaryterms.net/ad-hominem/)

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

Arthur Miller is the author of The Crucible, a play about the Salem Witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. This brilliant play served as an allegory for The Red Scare, an American crisis in the 1950’s that caused everyone and their neighbor to be accused of being a communist. These two events served as perfect allegories for each other due to their striking similarities. Both events caused mass hysteria and fear among the public, had people who doubted the validity of the accusations, and caused physical and emotional pain and suffering for those involved.

In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, many rhetorical elements illuminate the meaning behind the text. Examples of rhetorical elements in The Crucible are tone, author’s purpose, and the overall mood. During the closing scene and its final lines the tone might be described as suspenseful and melancholy, while Miller’s purpose relays the events in Salem to the accusations of Communists in 1950’s America. However, in the end of the play, the audience should feel pensive about the death of Proctor and what Proctor’s motives truly are.

Over the years many movies have been made based upon famous plays or books. Often times these movies are successful in portraying the play-writer 's images and thoughts for the play or book. Arthur Miller 's play, The Crucible and the movie version have many differences and similarities, all of which contribute to the individual effectiveness of each in conveying their central message. There are several additions and changes to the plot, characters, and mood of the play, which have been implemented into the movie.

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.

We can see that shifts are made as the narrator inserts times to describe characters and tell us what we should think about them such as when Miller tell us that Judge Hathorne is a bitter man. In addition, each inserted stage direction indicates exactly what a character is thinking or feeling. The narrator is able to jump into any character’s mind at any given moment in a justified way. Miller allowed the narrator to weave in and out of many characters’ internal workings, letting the audience see what drives them. This helps establish the tragic events throughout “The Crucible” and allows the audience to have a better understanding of the factors that led to the accusations and the impact of those actions. Arthur Miller shows the audience the good and evil within people and brings out the mad hysterical qualities in a mob. He displays that even deeply religious people make mistakes in their lives. He does this through his characters, who through their own imperfections and beliefs bring the witch-hunts to a complete

How many people have you met in your life that is stronger because of a difficult experience they went through? Most people are because we take these difficult experiences and grow from them and become better people. This is the exact case is expressed in the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. The story begins in Salem, Massachusetts 1692 right in the middle of a period of witchcraft hysteria. During this time many people were accused of being witches and wrongly convicted by judges Danforth and Hathorne. The characters in the story are struggling because of a girl named Abigail who gets caught practicing witchcraft and then starts naming and accusing others so that she doesn’t get in trouble; one of these people being a well-respected farmer, John Proctor’s, wife Elizabeth. The title, The Crucible, refers to a test, trial, ordeal, formation by fire, and vessel baked to resist heat, and the entire story is an allegory meaning it has a hidden meaning. John Proctor symbolizes a crucible by embodying the definition of one, as he went through a test and was formed by fire.

Arthur Miller writes about the tragic results of human failings in his play, The Crucible. He presents characters from the past and infuses them with renewed vitality and color. Miller demonstrates the horrifying results of succumbing to personal motives and flaws as he writes the painful story of the Salem witch trials. Not only do the trials stem from human failings but also from neglect of moral and religious considerations of that time. Characters begin to overlook Puritan values of thrift and hope for salvation. Focusing on the flawed characters, they begin to exhibit land lust, envy of the miserable and self-preservation.

In school, many students have been observed to drive into depression and sadness due to stress. Though many suffer through this in their life, there are many students that get inspired by other students through their methods of balancing life and school-work. Similarly, Arthur Miller, the author of The Crucible, talks about a producer’s predicament in talking about a historical event, emphasizing the issues of McCarthyism and its effects, and compares McCarthyism and witch trials in order to express the poor reality and life-impacting issues, impacting why he decided to write the Crucible. Arthur Miller starts his essay off by talking about his friend and what he recently told him. His friend talks about a producer from a Moscow theater “who is interested in putting

During the rise of European Fascism and brutal anti-semitism, Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible out of an act of desperation, by writing “The Crucible” he was able to express McCarthyism during the 1950s, When everyone accused each other of being a “Communist” the main fear during that time, that brings a unique smile to our generation. To write The Crucible Arthur Miller had to use a different language, a new language that set it apart from the 1950s, he created a story that could be teachable and relatable to the reader and himself. By using master characterization, false accusations, and confession, he was able to make The Crucible relatable to 1950s McCarthyism.

The play ‘The Crucible’ written by Arthur Miller is an allegorical reference to the McCarthyism of the 1950s. Set in the historical context of the 17th century Salem, this play explores several themes to point out how politics, greed and imaginative hysteria can tear a community apart. To further emphasize this, Miller uses different characters and develops them as the play progresses. In addition, his use of effective language intensifies the role of characters like John and Elizabeth Proctor, Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris and many others in the play.

The different settings shown throughout a play or book are key to how the writing comes alive. The settings in The Crucible, are just as important as the characters, if not more. Arthur Miller chooses to revolve each act around a main setting. Each individual setting brings alive new characters and a new plot to the play. The settings show four different perspectives of the lives in Salem. In the Crucible, Arthur Miller attempts to communicate to the readers the theme of hysteria through the settings of Reverend Parris’ house, John Proctors’ house, and the Salem meeting house.

Miller’s The Crucible, was written in 1953 to expose the horrors of ‘McCarthyism’. It is a play that deftly examines ‘the work of the individual conscience when pitted against the uniform thinking of the mob’ (New Yorker). According to Miller, ‘the prime business of a play is to arouse the passions of its audience.