Transcript Introduction to The Crucible

Introduction to The Crucible
Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
b. New York City, Oct. 17,
1915
 Miller began writing plays
while a student at the
University of Michigan

Background of author
His father, Isidore Miller, was a ladieswear manufacturer and shopkeeper who
was ruined in the depression. The sudden
change in fortune had a strong influence
on Miller
 To study journalism he entered the
University of Michigan in 1934, where he
won awards for playwriting
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AM and MM
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Miller married the motion-picture actress
Marilyn Monroe in 1956; they divorced in
1961.
Plays
first successes--All My Sons (1947) and
Death of a Salesman (1949)
 Miller condemned the American ideal of
prosperity on the grounds that few can
pursue it without making dangerous moral
compromises.

McCarthyism & the Cold
War
The Cold War in America
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At the end of World War II, the United States and the USSR
emerged as the world’s major powers. They also became involved
in the Cold War, a state of hostility (short of direct military conflict)
between the two nations.
Many Americans feared not only Communism around the world but
also disloyalty at home. Suspicion about Communist infiltration of
the government
A lot of Americans thought the Soviets got the atomic bomb by using
spies. It was charged that secret agents, working under cover, had
stolen our secrets and given them to the Enemy. Even worse, these
spies supposedly were hardly ever Russians themselves, but often
American citizens, the kind of people you see every day on the
street and hardly even notice.
a Communist could be anybody. It sort of makes a Communist
sound like the bogey-man, doesn’t it? To many people in 1953, a
Communist was just as scary as the bogey-man, and a lot more
real.
(HUAC)
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Congress began to investigate suspicions of disloyalty.
The House Un-American Activities Committee
(HUAC) sought to expose Communist influence in
American life.
Beginning in the late 1940s, the committee called
witnesses and investigated the entertainment industry.
Prominent film directors and screenwriters who
refused to cooperate were imprisoned on contempt
charges.
As a result of the HUAC investigations, the
entertainment industry blacklisted, or refused to hire,
artists and writers suspected of being Communists.
Joseph McCarthy
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Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin gained power by
accusing others of subversion.
In February 1950, a few months after the USSR
detonated its first atomic device, McCarthy claimed to
have a list of 205 Communists who worked in the State
Department.
Although his accusations remained unsupported and a
Senate committee labeled them “a fraud and a hoax,”
McCarthy won a national following. Branding the
Democrats as a party of treason, he denounced his
political foes as “soft on Communism” and called
Truman’s loyal secretary of state, Dean Acheson, the
“Red Dean.”
McCarthyism
McCarthyism came to mean false charges
of disloyalty.
 In September 1950, goaded by McCarthy,
Congress passed the McCarran Internal
Security Act, which established a
Subversive Activities Control Board to
monitor Communist influence in the United
States.
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McCarthy’s influence continued until 1954,
when the Senate censured him for
abusing his colleagues. His career
collapsed.
 Fears of subversion continued.
Communities banned books; teachers,
academics, civil servants, and entertainers
lost jobs; unwarranted attacks ruined lives.
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The HUAC and Hollywood
HUAC
investigated communism within Hollywood,
calling a number of playwrights, directors and actors
known for left-wing views to testify.
Some of these, including film director Elia Kazan,
testified for the committee to avoid prison sentences
 the Hollywood Ten, a group of entertainers, refused
to testify and were convicted of contempt and
sentenced to up to one year in prison.
The Hollywood Ten
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These industry workers called before the
HUAC to testify about their ties to communism
knew they had three options.
1.
2.
3.
They could claim they were not and never had been
members of the Communist Party (this would have
meant perjuring themselves)
they could admit or claim membership and then be
forced to name other members (and this would have
meant losing their jobs both because of their former
membership and their dubious position as informers)
or they could refuse to answer any questions (which
is the choice they made).
Blacklisting
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Over 300 entertainers were
placed on a blacklist for possible
communist views and were thus
forbidden to work for major
Hollywood studios (many of
these were writers who worked
under pseudonyms).
Arthur Miller was one of those
blacklisted.
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Miller admitted to the HUAC that he had
attended meetings, but denied that he was a
Communist.
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He had attended, among others, four or five writer's meetings
sponsored by the Communist Party in 1947, supported a
Peace Conference at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, and
signed many appeals and protests.
Refusing to name others who had associated
with leftist or suspected Communist groups,
Miller was cited for contempt of Congress
Even if you had no Communism in your own past, you
could easily be in the same position as Arthur Miller- you
knew someone who did. That was more than enough to
get you in trouble with Senator McCarthy and similar
investigators.
Imagine what it was like being called in to testify. McCarthy
or his aides might say, “Are you now, or have you ever
been, a member of the Communist Party?” No. “Do you
know anyone who is or was a Communist?” No. McCarthy
holds up some cards. “We have the names of people who
have already confessed.
Your name came up in connection with their testimony. Why do
you suppose that is?” You say you don’t know, but you can tell
that no one believes you. Maybe you’re not so innocent after
all, you think. Have you signed anything, donated any money,
said anything to anybody that might sound suspicious? You
begin to feel guilty either way: even if you don’t have any
Communist connections, you’ve done nothing to stop the
spread of this evil.
You did it, it’s your fault, their questions seem to say. And they
won’t let you go until you make up for it in some way. So you
tell them about your friend who’s never home on Tuesday
nights, or anyone you know who’s been acting a little odd the
last few weeks. You name names, and they let you go.
And afterward no one wants anything to do with you. You were
called in to testify, there had to be a reason. You must be a
Communist, or at least have been working for them. You lose
your friends, your job, sometimes even your family.
•Miller wrote The Crucible not simply as a straight
historical play detailing the Salem witch trials.
•a good deal of the information in the play
misrepresents the literal events of the trial: at the
time of the trial, John Proctor was sixty years old
and Abigail Williams only eleven.
• The play is a parable for the McCarthy era, in
which similar “witch hunts” occurred targeting
citizens as communists rather than disciples of
the devil.
What does “crucible” mean?
1.
2.
3.
a vessel of a very refractory material (as
porcelain) used for melting and calcining
a substance that requires a high degree
of heat
a severe test
a place or situation in which
concentrated forces interact to cause or
influence change or development
The Salem Witch Trials
1692: Salem, MA
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In the 1600s, Puritans settled on the East coast of
the United States.
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They brought with them the hope of religious
freedom, but instead became embroiled in hysteria
over the existence of witches.
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They had been persecuted in their native England,
but they created a theocracy and eventually
persecuted others.
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Most of those accused of being witches were
women.
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Many were healers, and used plants to heal people.
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Many were without family, and this made them
easy targets.
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They were people who did not fit in with the
mainstream for some reason.
Why Did It Happen?
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It began as a way for the oppressed girls to avoid
being punished.
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It then became an ideal way to get revenge on
anyone whom you disliked.
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People started accusing their neighbors of being
witches so they could steal their farmland.
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People accused others of being witches if they
wanted to steal their husbands or wives or
possessions.
Puritan Beliefs and the
Salem Witchcraft Trials
Who were the Puritans?
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They wanted to reform their national church by
eliminating every shred of Catholic influence
Their attempt to “purify” the Church of England
and their own lives was based on the teachings
of John Calvin
Left for the new world in 1620 to escape
religious persecution and established the
Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Puritan Beliefs
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Total depravity: “In Adam’s fall we sinned all”
Humankind is totally sinful through the fall of Adam
and Eve and damned for eternity.
Predestination: You are “elect” (saved) or
“unregenerate” (damned). Salvation belongs to the
“elect”, or God’s chosen. No good works will help
you become saved.
Limited atonement: Christ died only for the “elect”.
Grace: You could feel God’s grace in an intense
emotional fashion. After receiving grace, you were
“reborn” have thenceforth full power to do the will of
God and the ability to live uprightly to the end.
Puritan Beliefs Cont.
The Puritan community was a theocracy, a
government which blends church and state. The
church’s officials were the government’s officials.
Thus, church and state were not separate.
City upon a Hill Theory: That the new MA Colony
would be a place of complete reform (utopia) where
God would be found in scripture and a strong work
ethic.
Education: A strong belief in education was
established in order to read the Word of God. The
first public school was founded in 1635 and
Harvard College became an icon for educating
ministers
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American National Identity
What do we take away from the Puritans, Planters
and Pilgrims?
 Independence, patriotism, industry, practicality,
tolerance,
 These people were the first to build upon the
idea of the American Dream. The idea that a
new path could be forged and goals attained.
 We inherited an emphasis on hard work, a
strong sense of religion, duty to country and
freedom from oppression.
What do we know about
the Salem Witchcraft
Trials?
How it started . . .
Betty Parris became strangely ill. She dashed about, dove under
furniture, contorted in pain, and complained of fever. The cause
of her symptoms may have been some combination of stress,
asthma, guilt, boredom, child abuse, epilepsy, and delusional
psychosis.
Talk of witchcraft increased when other playmates of Betty,
including eleven-year-old Ann Putnam, seventeen-year-old Mercy
Lewis, and Mary Walcott, began to exhibit similar unusual
behavior.
A doctor called to examine the girls, suggested that the girls'
problems might have a supernatural origin. The widespread
belief that witches targeted children made the doctor's diagnosis
seem increasingly likely.
-Douglas Linder
Causes of Witchcraft Hysteria in Salem
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11. Strong belief that Satan is acting in the world.
---------"The invisible world": disease, natural catastrophes, and bad
fortune
2. A belief that Satan actively recruits witches and wizards
---------Prior witchcraft cases
3. A belief that a person afflicted by witchcraft exhibits certain
symptoms.
4. A time of troubles, making it seem likely that Satan was active.
---------Congregational strife in Salem Village
---------Frontier wars with Indians
5. Stimulation of imaginations by Tituba (slave).
6. Teenage boredom.
7. Confessing "witches" adding credibility to earlier charges.
8. Old feuds (disputes within congregation, property disputes)
between the accusers and the accused spurring charges of
witchcraft.
Witch Cake
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Tituba, a slave from Barbados, makes a witch
cake, drawing suspicion on herself.
A witch cake is composed of rye meal mixed
with urine from the afflicted children. It is then
fed to a dog. The person is considered
bewitched if the dog displays similar symptoms
as the afflicted.
Spectral Evidence
“The girls contorted into grotesque poses, fell down into frozen postures,
and complained of biting and pinching sensations. In a village where
everyone believed that the devil was real, close at hand, and acted in the
real world, the suspected affliction of the girls became an obsession.”
Douglas Linder
The Trials
By the end of 1692, over 200 people were jailed
and standing accused of witchcraft.
Hysteria Strikes
 Nineteen men and women were hanged, all
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having been convicted of witchcraft
Another man of over eighty years was pressed to
death under heavy stones for refusing to submit
to a trial on witchcraft charges
Many languished in jail for months without trials
At least four died in prison
Why the Hysteria Ended
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1. Doubts grow when respected citizens are convicted and
executed.
-------Rebecca Nurse (jury first acquits, then told to reconsider)
-------George Burroughs (recites Lord's Prayer perfectly at hanging)
2. Accusations of witchcraft include the powerful and wellconnected.
-------Wife of Governor Phips (and others)
3. The educated elite of Boston pressure Gov. Phips to exclude
spectral evidence.
-------Increase Mather points out the Devil could take the shape of
an innocent person: "It were better that 10 suspected witches
should escape than one innocent person should be condemned."
4. Gov. Phips bars spectral evidence and disbands the Court
The Crucible
Arthur Miller
Setting
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We begin with a play, set in colonial
America.
Arthur Miller’s drama The Crucible has its
feet in two eras of time, Puritanical New
England Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and Cold
War Washington of the 1950’s. Miller presents
America’s deepest past in order to make a
modern point. He saw that, as the saying goes,
“Those who do not learn from history are
doomed to repeat it.”
How the play begins . . .
Group of girls caught dancing in woods
with Tituba
 Among the group is the Daughter of Rev.
Parris and the daughter of Thomas and
Anne Putnam
 Girls feign sickness and possession
 Both families demand that the possessors
be found and punished
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Tituba
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Servant to the Parris
household
She is a native of Barbados.
She is enlisted by Ruth
Putnam and Abigail to cast
spells and create charms.
When Abigail turns on her to
save herself from
punishment, Tituba
confesses to all and saves
herself.
Reverend Parris
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Pastor of the church in
Salem
He is the father of Betty and
the uncle of Abigail Williams.
He believes that he is being
persecuted and that the
townspeople do not respect
his position as a man of God.
Deputy Governor Danforth
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He seems to feel
particularly strongly that
the girls are honest.
He is sensitive to the
presence of the devil
and reacts explosively
to whatever evidence is
presented.
The Girls
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Betty Parris- Daughter of the Reverend,
cousin to Abigail Williams. She is a weak
girl who goes along with her cousin as soon
as she is threatened.
Susanna Walcott-One of the girls. She is
initially sent between Parris and Dr. Griggs
to determine the cause of Betty's ailment.
She is easily guided by Abigail.
Mercy Lewis- Servant to the Putnam
household. She is a merciless girl who
seems to delight in the girls' activities.
Mary Warren-Servant to the Proctor
household. Abigail uses her to effectively
accuse Elizabeth. John Proctor takes Mary
to the court to confess that the girls are only
pretending. She is not strong enough to
fight Abigail and as soon as Abigail leads the
other girls against her, Mary caves and runs
back to her side by accusing Proctor himself.
Drama Basics
Drama Basics (cont’d)
American Drama
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Drama is probably the most difficult form of writing.
A play is not finished in the same way that a poem or novel is
because after it is written, it still needs to be brought to life on
a stage.
A play primarily engages the enthusiasm of directors, actors,
and technicians through the story.
The playwright makes the audience concerned for a
character by focusing on a conflict that involves something
important to the characters.
The protagonist of a play is the major character who usually
drives the action forward.
Exposition gives the audience background information.
Most of the plays that are produced in the United States
today are produced with the hope that they will make money.
American Drama (cont’d)
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Playwrights must usually find an agent who submits a play to
producers who are likely to consider it.
The producer . . . .
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advances money to finance a play.
meets with agents who represent the playwrights.
works with a playwright on changes to a play.
Theater is a collaborative medium.
A director and actors “take away” a play from its author.
Rehearsals are both pleasant and tense.
Producers seldom take risks on plays.
Thousands of plays are copyrighted each year.
The audience can contribute to a good performance.
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Works Cited

Famous American Trials. Salem Witchcraft Trials
1692 http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/
ftrials/salem/SALEM.HTM