Transcript The Crucible - Robbiedempsey's Blog

The Crucible
Revision
Context
• 1692 Salem, Massachusetts
• Strange sickness and hallucinations of some
girls lead to accusations within the village
• Nineteen people and two dogs hanged for
witchcraft
• Play written during early years of Cold War between
America and Russia (first performance in 1953)
• Senator Joseph McCarthy tried to root out
Communist sympathisers
• Suspected Communists were encouraged to confess
and to identify other Red sympathizers as means of
escaping punishment.
• As people began to realize that they might be
condemned as Communists regardless of their
innocence, many “cooperated,” attempting to save
themselves through false confessions, creating the
image that the United States was overrun with
Communists and perpetuating the hysteria.
• In 1957, Miller appeared before the House of
Un-American Activities Committee
• He refused to tell them he names of alleged
Communist writers with whom he attended
five or six meetings in New York in 1947.
• You can read more about this here:
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/sto
ries/august/7/newsid_2946000/2946420.stm
Structure
• Exposition- First act- girls practising witch craft
in forest, initial rumours of witchcraft, building
up to first accusations
• Development- The witch hunts, where several
women are tried and hung
• Climax- The courtroom scene, particularly
John’s confession to adultery and him being
accused of witchcraft.
• Denouement- John’s tearing up of his false
confession
Themes/ Central Concerns
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The danger of ideology
The damaging power of fear and hysteria
The conflict between truth and lies
The importance of individual conscience
The struggle of the individual in a repressive
society
Activity
• Choose two themes and add two appropriate
quotations for each to your mind-map.
The Danger of Ideology
• An ideology is a rigid set of beliefs that defines
what an individual or community thinks.
• In the Puritan theocracy of Massachusetts, the
dominant ideology held that the Puritans were a
chosen people that the devil would do anything
to destroy.
• Since religious men ran their government, the
Puritans considered all government actions to be
necessarily “good,” or sanctioned by Heaven.
• Any attempt to question the government/ court’s
actions was perceived as an attempt to overthrow
God
• Such government easily fall into corruption and
tyranny
• Deputy Governor Danforth and Judge Hathorne
believe that they’re emissaries of God, and
therefore that everything they believe must be true
and everything they do must be right.
• Characters like Abigail recognize the court’s narrowminded worldview and manipulate it to their own
selfish advantage
The Damaging Power of Fear and Hysteria
• Fear is used as a weapon in the play
• This overwhelms logic and leads to the
hysteria of the witch trials
• In The Crucible, hysterical fear becomes a
means of expressing the resentment and
anger suppressed by strict Puritan society
• The Crucible shows how religious fervour fuels
hysteria and leads to conditions that sacrifice
justice and reason.
The Conflict Between Truth and Lies
• Salem’s Theocracy creates a climate where
freedom of speech and truth are suppressed
• Abigail’s lies drive the tragedy
• Many characters lie to save their lives
• Elizabeth lies to save John, but in doing so
condemns him
• John reveals the truth of the trials- they are
motivated by vengance
The Importance of Individual Conscience
• John’s heroic act is to choose to die rather
than save his life by confessing to witchcraft
• Here, and when he challenges the court, he is
motivated by what he knows to be right,
rather than reputation or self-interest.
• Miller highlights how difficult it is to act
according to our own conscience in repressive
societies. He also highlights how doing so is
the ultimate challenge to such societies.
Setting in Place
• Salem, Massachusetts
• Repressive, theocratic society- governed by
the church on God’s authority.
• This repressive society and the hysteria of the
witch trials acts as a metaphor for the antiCommunist hysteria of 1950s America
• It also raises universal themes, such as the
conflict between the individual and society.
John Proctor
• Tragic hero- good man with one fatal flaw
• Suffers internal and external conflicts
• Adultery puts him at odds with values of his
society and starts the events which lead to the
witch trials
• It also damages his view of himself- leading
him to believe ‘I am no good man’.
• Guilt over this delays him from revealing the
truth about the witch trials until it is too late.
• When it is revealed that Elizabeth is pregnant,
passes up the opportunity to drop his challenge to
the court.
• At this point he is more motivated by justice than
reputation (start of his redemption)
• His view of himself has been so damaged that he is
willing to confess to witchcraft in order to save his
life
• By tearing up his confession, John becomes a
martyr: he gives his own life to end the witch trails
and break the power of the theocracy
Abigail
• The antagonist (the baddy!)
• Vengeful, selfish, manipulative, and a
magnificent liar.
• Uses her awareness of the hypocrisy and lies
of Salem society to manipulate it
• She actually encouraged Tituba to cast spells,
but is then the ringleader in accusing others
• She riles up the entire village’s hatred of
witches, just like Sen. Joseph McCarthy, riled
up Americans’ hatred of communists.
• Frames Elizabeth for witchcraft
• Also damns John, whom she claims to love
• Never displays any remorse
In Defence of Abigail
• "I saw Indians smash my dear parents' head
on the pillow next to mine" (I.119).
• As an unmarried, female orphan, she is close
to the bottom of the social hierarchy in
patriarchal Salem society.
• Through the accusations, she acquires power
that would otherwise be denied to her.
• John’s mistreatment of her
Elizabeth Proctor
• Depicted as a ‘cold’ wife
• Has not fully forgiven john for his adultery
• Lies in an attempt to defend John- with
disastrous consequences
• Refuses to insist that John lies to save his lifeis aware that it must be his decision.
Reverend Hale
• In the early going, he is the force behind the
witch trials, probing for confessions and
encouraging people to testify.
• Experiences a transformation over the course
of the play
• Belief in witch craft and the law falters
• Encourages the accused to confess in order to
save their lives.