Transcript THE CRUCIBLE

The Crucible
By
Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
 Born 1915 in New York
City.
 Miller saw stark
similarities between the
Salem witch trials and the
McCarthy Hearings.
 He refused to cooperate in
the investigations of the
House Un-American
Activities Committee.
 As a result of not
cooperating with the
committee, he was
accused of being
unpatriotic, and his career
suffered severely for years
afterward.
Literary and Critical Overview
 The Crucible exposes the
 The play’s main conflict
ignorance produced by
mass hysteria.
 Miller wrote the play as a
response to the McCarthy
investigations during the
1950’s of communism in
the government.
centers around the rights
of an individual versus
those in authority.
 The central theme of the
play deals with an
individual’s search for
self-awareness and selfrealization through
commitment.
Senator Joseph McCarthy
 Senator Joseph
McCarthy headed the
House Un-American
Activities Committee.
 He is responsible for
falsely accusing many
of Communism.
Salem, Massachusetts - 1692
 Site of mass hysteria due
to accusations of
witchcraft.
 Puritan community which
attempted to “purify” the
Church of England by
stripping away much of the
ritual, ceremony, pomp,
and paraphernalia of the
traditional church services
The Characters
Rebecca Nurse
Rebecca Nurse is the wife
of Francis Nurse. She is a
moral woman, and she
runs several charities. Her
husband’s enemies accuse
her of witchcraft. She
dies on the gallows because
she refuses to confess to
crimes she did not commit.
Francis Nurse
 Wealthy and influential man in Salem.
 He is well respected and many people ask
him to arbitrate their disputes.
 He is involved in a bitter land dispute
with the Putnam family. He also keeps
Thomas Putnam’s brother-in-law from
from being elected to the office of
minister.
 As a result of these disputes, his wife is
later accused of witchcraft.
Martha Corey
 Martha Corey is Giles
Corey’s third wife.
 Her reading habits lead
to her arrest and
conviction for
witchcraft.
 She dies on the gallows
because she refuses to
confess to crimes she
did not commit.
Giles Corey
 Elderly but feisty farmer in Salem.
 His offhand comments about his wife’s
reading habits lead to her arrest and
execution for witchcraft.
 He attempts to clear his wife’s name results
in his own persecution by Hawthorne and
Danforth.
 He refuses to plead guilty even after he is
subjected to torture.
John Proctor
 Elizabeth’s husband
 Had an affair with
Abigail when she was a
servant in his house.
 Hates hypocrisy, and his
hidden sin causes him a
great deal of moral
anguish.
Elizabeth Proctor
Elizabeth Proctor is John’s wife. She is
accused by Abigail of witchcraft because
Abigail wants John Proctor to herself.
She is convicted of the crime of which she
is accused, but her execution is delayed
because she is pregnant.
Abigail Williams
 Abigail is Rev. Parris’s
niece, and was once
the servant of the
Proctor household.
Elizabeth Proctor fired
her after she found out
Abigail was having an
affair with her
husband.
Abigail and Tituba
Tituba is Rev. Parris’s black slave from
Barbados.
She agrees to perform voodoo at the request of
Abigail and Ruth’s mother. Parris catches her
and the girls during a session which sparks the
entire witch hunt craze.
The Judges
 Hawthorne - Judge who
presides over the witch trials.
 Herrick - The marshal for
Salem
 Danforth - The Deputy
Governor of Massachusetts. He
presides over the witch trials
and is just as concerned about
maintaining him image as he is
about exposing sin.
Reverend Parris
 Minister for Salem.
 He is a paranoid man who is hungry for
power.
 He is more concerned about his own
reputation than his daughter’s and his
niece’s souls when the first rumors of
witchcraft first surface.
 He quickly learns to take advantage of
the witch hunt craze for his own personal
gains.
Ann Putnam
 Thomas Putnam’s wife.
 She has given birth to eight children, but only
Ruth Putnam survived.
 The other seven children died before they were a
day old.
 She is convinced they were murdered by
supernatural means, so she sends Ruth to request
that Tituba conjure their spirits in order to discover
who murdered them.
Sarah Good
 Old beggar woman
who is accused of
witchcraft.
 Here is her grave
site. Notice that it
says nothing
about her except
that she was
hanged.
The Stocks
 Many who were
accused of
witchcraft were
detained in
devices such as
this, often for
extended periods
of time.
Public Execution
 Often times, the entire
town came out to view
the “witches” trial and
their execution by
hanging.
 The victims not only
had to endure a horrible
death, they also had to
listen to the slanderous
cries of their friends and
neighbors.
THE END