Transcript The Crucible by Arthur Miler

The Crucible
By Arthur Miller
Background Info Before You Read
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went to U. of Michigan and paid for it
himself...after the depression?
married Marilyn Monroe in 1956; they
divorced in 1961. At that time Marilyn was
beyond saving. She died in 1962.
won Pulitzer Prize for Death of a Salesman
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written in 1950s, but set in 1692
based on the Salem Witch Trials, which acted
as a parable for the McCarthy era, in which
similar * 'witch hunts' occurred targeting
citizens as communists rather than disciples of
Satan.
*According to American Heritage Dictionary, a
‘witch hunt’ is a political campaign launched
on the pretext of investigating activities
subversive to the state.
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Cold War
*Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy was
investigating people for their association with
COMMUNISM
There was a HUNT for communists in America
people became paranoid that communists were
among them
called the “Red Scare” or the “Hunt for Reds”
(reds refers to communists)
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The House Committee on Un-American Activities (generally
known as HUAC) also investigated communism within
Hollywood, calling a number of playwrights, directors and actors
known for left-wing views to testify. Although some of these,
including film director Elia Kazan, testified for the committee to
avoid prison sentences, but the Hollywood Ten, a group of
entertainers, refused to testify and were convicted of contempt
and sentenced to up to one year in prison. Over three hundred
other 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 at the time, including Dalton Trumbo and
Michael Wilson). Arthur Miller was one of these blacklisted. The
blacklist prevented these men from receiving screen credit during
this time, until actor Kirk Douglas pushed for Trumbo to receive
screen credit for his adaptation of Spartacus for Stanley Kubrick in
1960, thus finally breaking the blacklist.
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*Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy was an
undistinguished member of the Senate until
February 1950, when he made the public charge
that 205 Communists had infiltrated the State
department. Upon subsequent testimony before
the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations,
McCarthy proved unable to produce the name of
any "card-carrying" communists, but he gained
increasing popular support for his campaign of
accusations. Although he was later denounced, he
promoted unfounded accusations and suspicions
of communism in many quarters, and is best
known for his investigation of communists in the
United States Army.
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Miller saw a connection between the hunt for
communists and the hunt for witches
Following WWII, the Cold War of the 1950s
instilled a fear of Communism as an unseen
danger as strong as the fear of witches had been in
1692.
Some have criticized Miller for oversimplifying
matters, in that while there were (as far as we
know) no actual witches in Salem, there were
certainly Communists in 1950s America. However,
one can argue that Miller’s concern in The Crucible
is not with whether the accused actually are
witches, but rather with the unwillingness of the
court officials to believe that they are not.
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The church in 1692 was the political center, meaning, the
government in Salem is a theocracy—rule by God through
religious officials.
The Crucible is set in a theocratic society, in which the church and
the state are one, and the religion is a strict, austere form of
Protestantism known as Puritanism.
Because of the theocratic nature of the society, moral laws and
state laws are one and the same: sin and the status of an
individual’s soul are matters of public concern.
There is no room for deviation from social norms, since any
individual whose private life doesn’t conform to the established
moral laws represents a threat not only to the public good but also
to the rule of God and true religion.
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In Salem, everything and everyone belongs to
either God or the Devil; dissent is not merely
unlawful, it is associated with satanic activity.
This dichotomy functions as the underlying logic
behind the witch trials. “A person is either with
this court, or he must be counted against it.”
A common misnomer: witches weren’t burned,
they were hanged.
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While Miller based this play on actual historical
events, for creative purposes, many details in his
play are not historically accurate.
John Proctor was not a farmer, he was a tavern
owner
John Proctor was in his 60s not 40s
Elizabeth was his 3rd wife.
Abigail Williams was only 11
Cotton Mather created the hysteria that caused the
Salem Witch trials, but Miller excluded him from
the play.
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More than any other playwright working today,
Arthur Miller has dedicated himself to the
investigation of the moral plight of the white
American working class. With a sense of realism
and a strong ear for the American vernacular,
Miller has created characters whose voices are an
important part of the American landscape. His
insight into the psychology of desperation and his
ability to create stories that express the deepest
meanings of struggle, have made him one of the
most highly regarded and widely performed
American playwrights. In his eighty-fifth year,
Miller remains an active and important part of
American theater.
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Intolerance
Hysteria
Reputation/Appearance
Power
Moral Responsibility
Pride
Fear
Confession
Religion
Individuality/Repression