How Does Arthur Miller Create A Social Commentary On The Crucible

Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, communism was a major threat to the United States. Joseph McCarthy, a senator at the time, attempted to capitalize on this by accusing over two hundred men and women of sneaking communism into the United States government or for supporting the cause.* Among these two hundred men and women were several authors, including Arthur Miller. In explaining his reasoning for writing The Crucible, Miller said, ". . . my basic need was to respond to a phenomenon which, with only small exaggeration, one could say was paralyzing a whole generation and in an amazingly short time was drying up the habits of trust and toleration in public discourse."* After visiting Salem and researching the events of the Salem Witch Trials, Miller realized how the havoc of these events corresponded to the events in the 1940s and 1950s.*

Few people are willing to stand up to the overwhelming power of authority, especially during a time like the Red scare. Hardly any authors are able to recognize meaningful similarities between the present times and an event that happened many years ago—and write about it effectively. Only one has had the courage and intelligence to do both. Arthur Miller was an American author who wrote plays, essays, and stories and has published works dating from to 1936 through 2004. The Crucible, one of his most famous plays, premiered in New York on January 22, 1953 (InfoTrac). It is a historical-fiction story set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The witch hunt described in this play is similar to the Red Scare, an anti-communist movement led by

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’s play, The Crucible, focuses on the inconsistencies and injustice of the 1692 witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts. The restrictive Puritan society of Salem in the 17th century was based upon religious intolerance, where faith was demonstrated through physical labour and by strict adherence to religious doctrine. Material, physical and sexual desires were considered the Devil’s work and a threat to the very fabric of society. In summary, it is said that Puritanism discouraged individualism on all levels. The literal way in which the Bible was interpreted by the Puritans, provides a paradox within the play. This is because although the Bible says “thou shalt not kill,” the people of Salem are willing to sentence innocent

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, which were lead by Senator Joseph McCarthy; who with the help of the committee were “ruthlessly determined to hunt out communists as the Salem judges had been to hunt out witches”[2]. Miller used “The Crucible” to criticise this unmitigated

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible the witch trials in Salem were a devastating time. The entire community was in disorder and chaos because of personal vengeance. This included accusations of innocent town’s people being called witches, so they hanged and were jailed. Throughout the play certain characters help the rise of witchcraft as well as the disapproval of all the innocent people who were being convicted for no reason. Reverend Hale is a dynamic character whom comes to rid of the evil spirits in Salem, yet he later tries to end the trials. Hale realizes the accusations are false, attempts to postpone the hangings, and persuade the victims to lie conveys that he is a dynamic character and changes throughout the play.

Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953. He wrote this because of his personal experiences with the Communist Witch Trials. Miller was known for always sharing his opinion out to the community. During this time Senator Joseph McCarthy play a major role in trying to prevent communism from spreading. Miller was an easy target for McCarthy and was accused of being a Communist. This caused Miller to become one of many victims of the Communist witch trials and her served time in jail. The Communist witch trials was what influenced Miller to write his play about the Salem witch trials in the 1600’s.The Crucible mimicked issues that both societies had. The play also exposed Senator Joseph McCarthy for abusing his political power. The play is mainly

“Hale: Quail not before God’s judgment in this, for it may well be God damns a liar less than he that throws away for pride” (206). Reverend Hale’s eye-opening words make Elizabeth realize that John Proctor should do the right thing for God, even if that includes lying. This quote relates to the Salem witch trials because during this time, the court was getting involved with the town, so everybody had to constantly tell the truth. Overall, the play gives a feeling of the Salem witch trials by using facts and events relevant to the time period. On a similar topic, Arthur Miller feels that everybody is vindictive, manipulating, and betraying each other; therefore, Miller uses his troublesome experience to commemorate the demeaning investigations of witches. Miller’s high disapproval of the American government, especially how the court handles situations, is greatly represented in his play. The characters change throughout the story, and they start to realize that it is not all about what the government wants for their life. They soon enough start thinking and speaking for themselves which leads to big decisions and disapproval from the American government. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, he artistically manipulates the authentic facts of the Salem witch trials’ victim John Proctor to fiction in order to similarly represent his interrogation during the Red Scare while also putting a spin on the trials through his style, characterization and tone.

In Arthur Miller’s “Why I Wrote The Crucible”, Miller connects The Crucible and the Second Red Scare by highlighting his process of writing which in return displays the two different time era’s similarities. He states, “[W]hen I began to think of writing about the hunt for Reds in America, I was motivated in some great part by the paralysis that had set in among many liberals who, despite their discomfort with the inquisitors’ violations of civil rights, were fearful…of being identified as Communists” (Miller “Why I Wrote The Crucible”). Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is an effective allegory due to Miller connecting Salem to McCarthyism by the showing the people of Salem being driven into rash actions and unjust court systems because of

In Arthur Miller’s “Why I Wrote The Crucible”, Miller connects The Crucible and the Second Red Scare by highlighting his writing process which in return displays the two different time era’s similarities. He states, “[W]hen I began to think of writing about the hunt for Reds in America, I was motivated in some great part by the paralysis that had set in among many liberals who, despite their discomfort with the inquisitors’ violations of civil rights, were fearful…of being identified as Communists” (Miller “Why I Wrote The Crucible”). Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is an effective allegory due his parallelism of 1690’s Salem to that of 1950’s America. Miller creates the most connections through mirroring characters after real people, developing

American playwright, Arthur Miller, in his play The Crucible, implies that witch hunts still exist in American society. Miller supports this claim by drawing parallels between the Salem Witch Trials and the Senator Joseph Mccarthy Trials. His purpose is to warn his readers of the dangers of mass hysteria. He uses emotional appeals and logic to convince the reader that mass “hunts” are still a danger to Americans today. The central way, however, that Miller achieves his topmost goal of displaying the hazards of Individuality vs. Ideology is through the expressive characterization of Reverend John Hale. John hale is an example of outward conformity because he believes in the devil in the beginning, he sees that the girls are

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 Arthur Miller’s the Crucible, 17 year old, servant, Abigail Williams in Salem Massachusetts, 1692, that has an affair with John Proctor, is caught dancing in the woods along with other girls. Reverend Parris, the minister of Salem, is convinced that they are conjuring spirits because his daughter, Betty, is “bewitched.” Reverend John Hale is called as an expert in witchcraft and Abigail and the other girls convict 19 woman, including reputable people such as Rebecca Nurse and Elizabeth. Abigail’s jealousy leads her to believe killing Elizabeth will give her power, but she is not highly reputable. The strength of a character's reputation determines their power.

A second theme revealed in The Crucible is empowerment. During the trials in the play, many characters were given power, which they never had before. These characters were the women. Women in Salem are generalized to be governed by the men and have no choice in anything. The women either work as servants to men or get married and have children. An example of this theme is Abigail Williams. She’s seventeen-years-old and has a great amount of power with the witch trials. In one scene with Reverend Hale, Reverend Parris, Abigail, Mrs. Putnam and Tituba, Abigail is explaining to Reverend Hale about the incident with Betty. Once she sees Tituba, Abigail points at her and says to Reverend Hale, “She made me do it! She made Betty do it!” Abigail also says, “She sends her spirit on me in church, she makes me laugh at prayer!”With these serious accusations, Tituba is imprisoned just because Abigail accused her of practicing witchcraft. The idea of empowerment is universal and enduring because anyone in the world with no supremacy, can suddenly have all the power. Today in modern society, people all over the world set aspirations in order to gain authority and be ahead of everyone else. Furthermore, many people in the world have power and authority over others. Empowerment will always be in societies around the world.

The Crucible depicts the protagonist as having to come to terms with the community to understand themselves and their position within it. Miller uses the motif of social pressures and religious laws to set up the basis for the play, with the Salem citizens entrenched in a society that relies on strict social norms to maintain order in the community. An almost exact definition of tyranny of conformity. Individuality, here, is the ability to retreat into families and homes. In 1692, however, Salem is shaken at its foundations by greed for land from neighbours and insecurity in property. Furthermore, the Reverend Parris, head of the theocracy, is materialistic and is focused on his own needs over the communities. The struggle for the communities survival is what brings about the witch