How does Arthur Miller create drama and tension in Act 1 of ‘The Crucible’? The Crucible is a play, which explores the witch- hunting hysteria that happened in Salem 1692. Miller uses this “organized mass-hysteria”[1] to comment on his own similar experience during the 1950s. Through “The Crucible”, Miller is able to draw an analogy between the hysteria of the Salem witch-trails and its modern parallel of the anti communist ‘witch-hunts’ which occurred due to the HUAC-House of un-American Committee
‘The Crucible’ is an allegory. An allegory is a story with an obvious meaning but if you look deeper into it, there is another meaning. In this case, the obvious meaning is the Salem witch-hunt and the hidden meaning is McCarthyism. McCarthyism started in the early 1950’s and it was governmental accusations with no evidence. Joseph McCarthy started doing trials on those he thought were communist, but he had no evidence for it. This is the same as the witch trials in The Crucible. Arthur Miller wrote
Opportunities, Fall Semester 2015 Extra Credit Opportunity #4: Attend a performance of “The Crucible” on one of the following performance dates: Oct 10, 15, 16, or 17 at 7:30pm or the matinee performance on Sunday, Oct 18 at 2pm at the SMSU Fine Arts Theatre Note: The performance on Thurs, Oct 15, is free to all SMSU students with a valid student ID. Admission at all other performances is $10. “The Crucible” is a fictionalized account of events that occurred during the Salem Witch Trials. Salem
In The Crucible there is a lot of tension that builds gradually throughout the play. Tension is a very important factor in The Crucible and Arthur Miller uses a lot of different techniques to create and illustrate it. The tension repeatedly rises, and then falls. This could be displayed in a graph. The graph would start with small peaks, and as the tension escalates the peaks would gradually become higher. Note every peak would be higher than the previous to show a gradual build of tension throughout
personal interpretations. It is inconceivable to imagine that each novel has only one prominent underlying message or theme. Arthur Miller, the American dramatist and playwright, out of The University of Michigan, was able to transform one of the most notable accounts of mass hysteria and loss of rational thought, and mold it into an elaborate and complex drama. Miller’s, The Crucible tells the story of the Salem witch trials that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts in the late seventeenth century. Literary
My time travel experience to the 1600’s started in Paul Green Theatre as I sat down to watch The Crucible. I was joined by Reverend Samuel Parris, Betty Parris, and audience members taking up all four corners of the Parris’ upper bedroom in 15th century Salem on the center stage during Act 1. The Parris’ house filled up quickly as we saw Betty Parris bed-ridden and dealing with an illness deemed as the devil’s work by members of the Salem community. The hysteria of witchcraft spread immediately throughout
citizens. Leaders of communism, including Hugo Chavez and Joseph Stalin, have perfected the art of exploitation of the mind through mob mentality, or the human tendency to take on certain emotional, violent behaviors in large groups. Arthur Miller in the play The Crucible and Ray Bradbury in his novel Fahrenheit 451 critique the negative effects of communism, especially the mob mentality its leaders create in
Evil is a strange subject for people but it is in everyone lives. The Village directed by M. Night Shyamalan and The Crucible by Arthur Miller both explore how evil is perceive to be outside of a society. Both authors agree evil is not just outside of a society but is within a community in the form of human nature. Evil is outside and inside a society and individuals. Both authors agree that evil perceived to be outside the community. Both authors utilise symbolism of a forest to demonstrate the
The Dilemma of Conscience that Proctor Faces in Arthur Miller's The Crucible Conscience is the awareness of right and wrong. In the Crucible, the idea of conscience is strongly emphasised. Throughout the play, John Proctor is faced with situations regarding his family, friends, himself and moreover his moral conscience. The idea of conscience in The Crucible is based very much on Christian concepts, firstly the idea of morality, or conscience of right and wrong,
Finding the Characters in The Crucible Sympathetic Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible', portrays the hysteria created in a paranoid society that is pent-up with vengeance and retribution, when 'the balance within a community begins to turn towards greater individual freedom'. When discussing this play we must look at the audience's awareness of the parallels between the period when the play is set and the time when it is written. The initial audience of the 1950's would be aware of the paranoia