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The Crucible. By Arthur Miller. Arthur Miller (1915 - 2005). Leading American playwrights of the 20 th Century Father manufactured women’s coats Mother was a schoolteacher Grew up during the Great Depression Shaped by poverty Worked to pay for his tuition to the University of Michigan – .
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The Crucible By Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller(1915 - 2005) • Leading American playwrights of the 20th Century • Father manufactured women’s coats • Mother was a schoolteacher • Grew up during the Great Depression • Shaped by poverty • Worked to pay for his tuition to the University of Michigan –
Arthur Miller (1915 - 2005) • Worked to pay for his tuition to the University of Michigan • Worked as a mouse tender in the university science lab • Also the night editor of The Michigan Daily • Started writing plays in college
Arthur Miller(1915 - 2005) • Most important works: • All My Sons (1947) • Death of a Salesman (1949) • The Crucible (1953)
Key Facts The Crucible
Key Facts • Type of work – play • Genre – tragedy, allegory • Time and Place written – America, early 1950s • Date of first publication – 1953, Viking Press • Narrator – Play is occasionally interrupted by an omniscient, third-person who fills in the background for the characters
Key Facts • Climax – John Proctor tells the Salem court that he committed adultery with Abigail Williams • Setting – 1692 in colonial Salem, Mass • Point of view – a play, so the audience and reader are entirely outside the action • Tense – present • Tone – serious and tragic – language is almost Biblical
Key Facts • Foreshadowing - little time for it • the time frame of the play is extremely compressed • Action proceeds so quickly • Themes • Intolerance • Hysteria • reputation
Key Facts • Motifs • Accusation • Confession • Legal proceedings in general • Symbols • Entire play is symbolic • Its witch trials standing in for the anti-Communist “witch hunts” of the 1950s • Typical witchcraft symbols • Rats, toads and bats
Key Facts • About a witch hunt • Salem, Massachusetts • 1692 • Miller found similarities in the Modern day “Red Hunt” • Conducted in the 1950s • Washington, DC • House Un-American Committee
Key Facts • House Un-American Activities Committee • People were summoned to appear • Included actors, writers and politicians • Were asked “Are you now or were you ever a Communist?” • Were also asked to inform on neighbors and friends or be sent to jail
Key Facts • Three years after the publication of The Crucible: • Miller was called to testify before the committee • Refused to name people he allegedly saw at a Communist writers’ meeting a decade before • Was found in contempt of Congress • Conviction was later overturned by the Supreme Court
Climate • Theocracy • Rule by God through religious officials • Legal system based on the Christian Bible • Moral laws and state laws are the same • Public concerns • Sin • Status of an individual’s soul • Regulating the morality requires surveillance • No free speech, saying the wrong thing can land you in jail
Climate • Moral laws and state laws are the same • Public concerns • All punishment is to shame the lawbreaker • Remind the public that when they disagree, they are disagreeing with God’s will • State’s role is to police belief • Pressure on Salem’s citizens to tattle on their neighbor in the name of Christian duty
Climate • So, • Feuds and grudges over property, religious offices and sexual behavior begin to rise above the theocratic surface • Town no longer has hardships (like famine, settlement, or war) to keep the community together • Tension combined with paranoia about supernatural forces, shake the town’s religious sensibility • Provided ammunition for the hysteria of the witch trials
Climate • Witchcraft • Allowed citizens to place blame on the supernatural • Political failures, deaths of children, and land disputes • Nobody had to accept individual responsibility of conflicts or confront anyone else over personal issues • “The Devil made me do it”
Salem Witch Trials • History of European Witch Hunts • Started at the end of the 15th century • Peaked during the first half of the 17th century • Origination • Belief that women were sinful • Had the power of the devil within them • Eve led Adam into temptation • Witches represented the devil
Salem Witch Trials • Accused • Rural, poor and single women • Evil, unclean people whose weakness was for fleshly desires • Hunts were seen as a massive effort to keep women in their place • Accusers • Hysterical children • Nuns who accused relatives and neighbors
Salem Witch Trials • Witnesses • Bribed and threatened to prosecute the accused • Accused • Tortured until they confessed • Some died from the torture • Were set free if they survived the torture
Salem Witch Trials • The Trial • AFTER the forced confession, they would have the trial • Ran by genuine believers of witchcraft • Guilty • Executed by being hanged, burned or pressed • Deaths • Fewer than 100,000 • Large number considering the population at that time • Only a few men were executed • Trying to protect the accused from the hunters
Salem Witch Trials • Puritans • Believed humans were all born sinful because of the original sin • Original Sin • Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden • Adam was tempted by Eve • Damned most people for eternity • The “Elect” • Predestination
Salem Witch Trials • The “Elect” • The “saved” • Vs. the “unregenerate” (the damned) • No real factual way to tell who was one or the other • Predestination • God chose whether you were saved or damned at birth: destiny/fate
Salem Witch Trials • Salem Witch Trials • Lasted January 20, 1692 – November 1692 • 8 months • More than 150 people imprisoned • 27 people convicted • 19 were hanged • 1 pressed to death • 50 confessed • More than 100 were awaiting trial
Salem Witch Trials • Burial of the victims • Not allowed to be buried in a normal cemetery • It was considered holy ground • Gallow Hills • Where the victims were hanged • Claimed by their relatives and buried privately • Memorial built in Salem in 1992 • 300 years later to honor the victims of the witch trials
