The Crucible By Arthur Miller

It’s 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, an extremely pious Puritan settlement in the New World. You are a woman in this strict society, and you are expected to keep your mouth shut and please your husband. You have virtually no power and your opinion is often overlooked, even when you are permitted to express one. This ideal for a woman is what was present in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. While the women of Miller’s play are diverse, they were generally treated as inferiors and expected to be subservient, although most of the women were adamant to express their opinions when given the chance, and some even went to great lengths to attain power. Some of the key female characters that embody specific archetypes of women are Abigail, Mary Warren, Elizabeth, and Rebecca Nurse, and Miller uses these characters to convey both a message within the play as well as a larger message about society as a whole.

The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller, depicts the hysteria that came to Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. Miller attempts to combine the idea of witchcraft illustrating a similar modern day example, called McCarthyism. In the mid twentieth century, Senator John McCarthy, an advocator of the Red Scare, used similar tactics to hunt communists and send them into exile. These communists then used the same defense mechanisms as citizens in Salem, to clear their names and put the liability on someone else. In the play, a young orphan, named Abigail Williams, felt inclined to attack others in order to dismiss the accusations made against her, and she did so successfully. In order to clear her name, Williams framed many people and victimized herself. As a result of her cruel tactics, Abigail is characterized as a selfish, merciless, and destructive villain. Abigail Williams is the antagonist of the play because she manipulates the other young girls, the court judges, and the life of John Proctor through malicious lies.

After reading “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller I could not believe that some elements from this story actually happened. The book is filled with evil deeds, deception, manipulation, witches, witchcraft and terrible lies that cause destruction in the little village of Salem. It’s rather scary to think that the work of the devil was so prominent during this time period and in other times in history. In the 1950’s it was as if history was beginning to repeat itself; witch hunts were happening again, but this time the cause was different. World War two just ended and the fear of communists in the United States was running high. This time is known for being the era of McCarthyism and the Red Scare, which greatly inspired Arthur Miller to write “The

Long ago in the quiet town of Salem Massachusetts, witchcraft was of major concern. Throughout the chaos, keeping your name free from the attention of the village was what the townspeople wanted to do The varying degree of pride throughout the village was overpowering. If you could save yourself by throwing the blame on someone else.

Liu XiaoBo, a Chinese literary critic, writer, professor, human rights activist who called for political reforms and the end of communist single-party rule once said, “Hatred is corrosive of a person’s wisdom and conscience; the mentality of enmity can poison a nation’s spirit, instigate brutal life and death struggles, destroy a society’s tolerance and humanity, and block a nations progress to freedom and democracy.” (www.brainyquotes.com) He asserted that hatred is what erodes and causes harm to a person’s own self-being, their friends and family, and the environment around them. Hatred can blind a person from seeing the truth, and instead of helping, they cause more harm. The Crucible, a playwright by Arthur Miller, illustrates the effects of what revenge, fear, and hatred has a role on hysteria. In Salem, Massachusetts, 1692, a community of strict Puritan rules had to be obeyed. Playing around, having past times were strictly not allowed, as many thought doing these things were related to the Devil, or Satan. They were strong believers in Christianity, and anyone who showed signs of evil, would be placed in jail or executed for the whole town to see. Reverend Parris, a minister of Salem discovered his daughter, Betty Parris, and her friends including Abigail Williams, dancing naked in the woods. The woods were seen as the only place to still be inhabited by the Devil. Abigail was in fear of what would happen to her if people were to find out what she had done. Betty

In the novel The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the main character Abigail Williams is presented as a mischievous girl who feels superior over many. She is responsible for the court trials, accusations, and deaths of many people in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. Abigail is the puppeteer, who pulls the strings to deceive and twist every accusation that is thrown at her. She uses threats and intense behavior to control her friends around her, as many accuse each other for performing witchcraft. Abigail is quite the sinner rather than a saint, as she creates almost all the complications in the town. Along with the help of the girls around her, they lie and name people who they

In Arthur Miller’s historical fiction play The Crucible (1953), witchcraft surfaces in the town of Salem leaving everyone to fend for themselves. Generally, people will do whatever they can to save their lives. In The Crucible, a group of girls are found dancing in the woods and are caught by Reverend Parris, minister of the Salem church and uncle to Abigail Williams. One of the girls, Betty, faints and draws many to visit and try to find the source of her illness. Reverend Parris has Reverend Hale, a minister well versed in affairs of the devil, to come and cure Betty. Many people accuse Betty’s symptoms of witchcraft, including Hale. This witchcraft conviction starts the “witch trials”. Abigail and the girls are

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible takes place in a puritan 17th century Salem town, where a distinct line separates right from wrong. Puritan ideals define the individuals living in Salem, and John Proctor, the protagonist, finds himself struggling to realize and act on these ideals. Miller portrays Proctor in different lights throughout the course of the play, as Proctor often finds himself engrossed in the heat of the hysteria driven town. His character starts out lacking any heroic or admirable features, as his disloyalty to his wife is immediately apparent. Nevertheless, Proctor means to mend his marriage as he diverts his sinful relationship with Abigail Williams, and slowly his goodwill is depicted. In spite of his admirable personal growth, Proctor’s punishment through his wife’s coldness is not the end, as his punishment becomes far more severe. Abigail’s tactics to regain the love of Proctor result in the exposé of his adultery in the town, and her claim concerning witchcraft leads to Proctor’s trial—and eventual death. Proctor was given the choice to admit to witchcraft and spend his days in jail, yet he defends his friends and his name by choosing death over submission, and prioritizes righteousness over admitting to a lie. A metamorphosis of John Proctor lies first in his devotion to his wife, Elizabeth, and finally in his decision to choose honor over blasphemy, which undoubtably result from his bold, proud, and Puritan mannerisms through which he manifests a

Our choices define who we are, but what many don 't understand is that our life experiences have lead us to the path we’re on. Sometimes bad things happen that torment us daily and effect our decisions and actions; however, this does not justify our behavior. In the play “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, Abigail, a young girl that lives in Salem, has done many crucial things that have affected many people of her village. She has experience trajec situations but this does not excuse her from being guilty. Abigail Williams is indeed the person to blame for all the horrible things that occurred in this play, but not fully responsible.

Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible develops characters that portray problems with their identities. This inner struggle is clearly seen in the main character John Proctor. He is the man Miller has chosen to struggle with “the dilemma of men, fallible, subject to pride, but forced to choose between the “negative good” of truth and morality, and the “positive good” of human life.” (Internet, Arthur Miller Home Page) In order for this character to develop, Miller had to create Proctors wife, Elizabeth. She would be the catalyst in making John Proctor deal with his inherent identity dilemma. With out her, Proctor would not be a central character, and would have never needed to deal with the inner

The earliest dramatic works enlisted the use of a three act structure, consisting of Aristotle’s divisions of a beginning, middle, and end. These divisions were later named by Aelius Donatus, a Roman, and were given the names Protasis, Epitasis, and Catastrophe. In the midst of the European Renaissance in the 1500s, Shakespeare developed the five act structure, consisting of an exposition, a rising action, a climax, a falling action, and a final resolution. This became the standard structure for plays of the time and in years to come. The Crucible by Arthur Miller was written as a parallel between the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and the fear of communism that was widespread through the United States after the Second World War. Although it was written with a four act structure, the plot of the play is able to fit the standard five act structure.

The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a very dramatic and partly fictional play written in 1953 about the Salem Witch Trials. Which took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay between 1692 and 1693. Arthur, got inspiration for this story from McCarthyism, which is when the U.S. government blacklisted implicated communists. Miller was questioned by the House of Representatives’ Committee on Un-American Activities in 1956 and convicted of compete of Congress for denying to identify others present at meetings he had appeared at. The play had been performed at Martin Beck Theater on Broadway in 1953, on January twenty-second. This play starred E.G. Marshall, Beatrice Straight, and Madeleine Sherwood. But, Arthur Miller felt that the

The performance of Arthur Millers drama, The Crucible, put on by the WolfPack Players is one that has taken a fair bit of polishing to go from an average high school show, to a great show; the director, Patrica Scarborough, can certainly attest to such a bold claim. While we were held back by petty issues such as lines, we were, as a company, able to pull it together, just in time for opening. I can honestly say, in my heart, that this show could have gone better. In no way am I marking this a shameful show, nay, in my opinion, the show is quite good. I, for one, love the cast that had been assigned to perform this drama. But the basic act of line memorization had bogged us down, and I primarily attribute that to the language of Arthur Miller's piece; The Crucible is indeed a heavy show, the Director had announced to us that many times before. Even for myself, The Crucible is a dense, heavy story. From my transition from the auditions to the performance, I can say that personal growth had happened, not continuously, but in small spurts. At the audition, I had felt like this wasn't really my show. That feeling I had made me nervous and uncomfortable about auditioning, but I had decided to keep at it; I put on a straight face and acted happy to be there, auditioning, even though I was unsure about the show. I had learned, later on, that even if insecurity strikes during an audition, that its always better to act like its not there at all. Keeping a straight face, as opposed to

The action “takes place in 1692 at a time when people were living in a very closely knit society, based on Puritan principles, and, consequently, prone to a certain amount of intolerance towards any form of opposition or dissent” (Bonnet, 33). So, basically, in 17th century Salem, Massachusetts, a group of teen girls had been caught in an innocent act of love potions when the ceremony is witnessed by the town minister, who happened to also be Abigail’s uncle. As the girls run away as Parris’ daughter falls over unconscious. The girls are then accused of witchcraft but they then play it off and claim that the devil had possessed them to do those rights and started going around town accusing innocent townspeople of witchcraft as the accused were then sent to trial to be hanged. Parris questions Abigail about the events that took place in the woods and to save herself and the other girls from punishment, Abigail claims that Tituba was working with the devil. After a brutal whipping, Tituba confesses to being a witch. Struck by their newfound power,

The play, ‘The Crucible’, illustrates how people react to mass hysteria created by a person or group of people, as people did during the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s and the Salem witch hunts of 1962. Many Americans were wrongly accused of being Communist sympathizers. The activities of the House of Un-American Activities Committee began to be linked with the witchcraft trials that had taken place in the town of Salem. This provided Miller with the catalyst to write ‘The Crucible’. Without the knowledge of the McCarthy hearings and the Salem witch hunts, ‘The Crucible’ may be seen as a melodrama and the events in the play, sensationalised. It is not a melodrama because it is not overly dramatic; the