research on the crucible

The Crucible: the real witch hunt that inspired Arthur Miller’s play

Emeritus Professor, School of Art, Media and American Studies, University of East Anglia

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In the mid 1960s, the American actress Joan Copeland was finding it increasingly difficult to secure parts. One day, though, she was up for a major television role and met with the writer, producer and sponsor. They were enthusiastic. Rehearsals were planned.

Then she was asked if she was related to the playwright Arthur Miller. She confessed that he was her brother. She never heard from them again. Copeland was not alone. Other actors, directors and producers found themselves blacklisted, alongside others from Broadway and Hollywood, who had been members of the communist party in the 1930s and 1940s, or espoused radical causes.

Meanwhile, people were summoned before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) or its Senate equivalent. The latter was chaired by a junior senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy. There, they were required to confess to their “sins” and to name others who had been party members.

During the second world war, the Soviet Union had been an ally to the United States. After the war, however, it was seen as the enemy. In August 1949, four years after Hiroshima, the then USSR exploded an atom bomb at a remote test site in Kazakhstan.

A year later, McCarthy claimed to have a list of 205 state department employees who were “known communists”. US president Dwight D. Eisenhower failed to denounce him and, indeed, supported legislation which facilitated investigations into communist activities. Two spies, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were unearthed (he, it later transpired, guilty, she not) and executed.

Arthur Miller’s inspiration

Miller watched on as those he admired were named. Lee J. Cobb, who had played protagonist Willy Loman in the original production of Miller’s Death of a Salesman, held out for two years, but finally capitulated and offered up names for fear his career would end – as the careers of many writers, actors and singers did.

In response, Miller decided to investigate writing a play about an earlier witch hunt, which had occurred in Massachusetts in 1692. Before setting out to look through records in Salem, however, he was called by his friend, Elia Kazan , the director of Death of a Salesman.

He went to meet him in his nearby home, only to be told that he had decided to name names, as had Clifford Odets , the playwright who Miller had most admired.

On his return from Salem, Miller turned on his car radio and heard the names Kazan had offered in a supposedly secret hearing, just as the names of those who were supposedly witches in Salem had been read out in the court. Ten years passed before Miller could bring himself to speak to Kazan again.

Miller wrote The Crucible with a sense of urgency. Two of his central themes – betrayal and guilt – were braided together in a play which reflected his belief (underscored, for him, by the Holocaust) that civilisation is fragile.

He was writing, Miller told me, at the “edge of a cliff”.

Miller also confessed to me that he was not prepared for the hostility with which the play would be received. As the audience realised that they were being invited to see a parallel between the events of 1692 Salem and the Hollywood witch hunt then being played out in contemporary America, in his words, they froze.

Standing in the lobby as they left, he was ignored by those he had thought his friends. Actor Madeleine Sherwood, who played Abigail Williams, had a similar experience .

The Crucible’s legacy

The Crucible went on to be Miller’s most produced work. The central character, John Proctor, believes it is possible to declare his own separate peace, as others are swept up by moral anarchy masquerading as justice. But he comes to understand that no man is an island.

The play, it seems, could be reinvented in every country at every time. In China, it was seen as a comment on the Cultural Revolution , in which the young gained power over the old. Its portrait of a man who marches to a different drummer, who resists the power of the state to define reality, found parallels around the world.

Miller was not called before the HUAC himself until 1956 and then largely because of his relationship with Marilyn Monroe , as the committee was desperate for publicity. He refused to name names and was cited for Contempt of Congress , sentenced to prison and fined, though this was reversed on appeal .

In 1999, Elia Kazan was awarded a lifetime achievement Oscar. The theatre was picketed by many of those who had been blacklisted. Inside, some refused to stand or clap . Miller, though, supported him. The fault, he insisted, lay not with Kazan, but with those who put him and others in a position where betrayal seemed an option.

• The Crucible
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The Crucible Research Paper Topics

The Crucible research paper topics provide a vast array of options for students to delve deeply into the many aspects of this significant play by Arthur Miller. From exploring the historical context of the Salem witch trials, the themes of mass hysteria and deception, to dissecting the complexities of its key characters, there is an abundance of directions one can take while diving into The Crucible . This play not only offers a profound look into the human psyche and the impacts of societal pressures but also provides a lens through which we can analyze the past and draw parallels to the present day. As an essential piece of literature, The Crucible holds immense value for academic exploration and research.

100  The Crucible Research Paper Topics

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a rich piece of literature that delves into themes of mass hysteria, the Salem witch trials, and the McCarthyism era. The variety of themes and characters present in the play allows for a wide range of The Crucible research paper topics that can be explored by students. This list is divided into ten different categories, each offering an array of intriguing subjects for your research paper.

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• Comparison between the real history of the Salem Witch Trials and the events in The Crucible .
• The influence of religion on 17th-century society as depicted in The Crucible .
• Societal norms and customs of 17th century New England and their portrayal in The Crucible .
• A history of witchcraft accusations before the Salem witch trials.
• The role of land disputes in fueling accusations during the Salem witch trials.
• The impact of the Puritan belief system on the events of the Salem witch trials.
• The role of the judicial system in the Salem witch trials.
• A comparison of the Salem witch trials and McCarthyism.
• The historical repercussions of the Salem witch trials.
• The societal reaction to Arthur Miller’s The Crucible during its initial release.

Character Analysis

• The evolution of John Proctor throughout The Crucible .
• The role of Abigail Williams in the events of The Crucible .
• The character of Reverend Hale and his journey from certainty to doubt.
• The significance of Elizabeth Proctor’s character in The Crucible .
• The role of Deputy Governor Danforth in The Crucible .
• The character analysis of Mary Warren in The Crucible .
• The motivations of Thomas Putnam in The Crucible .
• The portrayal of Reverend Parris and his role in the Salem witch trials.
• The character of Tituba and her role in the events of The Crucible .
• The role of Giles Corey in The Crucible and his historical counterpart.
• The theme of mass hysteria in The Crucible and its relevance in the modern world.
• The role of reputation and integrity in The Crucible .
• The theme of power and authority in The Crucible .
• The portrayal of gender roles in The Crucible .
• The exploration of guilt and remorse in The Crucible .
• The theme of revenge in The Crucible .
• The role of fear and its effects on society in The Crucible .
• The theme of deception and lies in The Crucible .
• The exploration of justice and the legal system in The Crucible .
• The theme of superstition and its influence on the events in The Crucible .
• The symbol of the witch trials in The Crucible .
• The use of names as symbols in The Crucible .
• The symbol of the courtroom in The Crucible .
• The use of the poppet as a symbol in The Crucible .
• The significance of the title The Crucible .
• The symbol of the forest in The Crucible .
• The use of the Bible and religious imagery in The Crucible .
• The symbol of fire in The Crucible .
• The use of children as symbols in The Crucible .
• The symbolism of the characters’ names in The Crucible .
• The significance of the setting in The Crucible .
• How the setting influences the characters’ actions in The Crucible .
• The role of the community in shaping the setting of The Crucible .
• The contrast between the private and public settings in The Crucible .
• The role of the natural world in the setting of The Crucible .
• The influence of historical events on the setting of The Crucible .
• The significance of the courtroom setting in The Crucible .
• The role of religion in shaping the setting of The Crucible .
• The contrast between the Salem village and the surrounding forest in The Crucible .
• The influence of the setting on the development of themes in The Crucible .

Literary Devices

• The use of irony in The Crucible .
• The role of dialogue in character development in The Crucible .
• The use of foreshadowing in The Crucible and its impact on the plot.
• The role of imagery in setting the mood in The Crucible .
• The use of allegory in The Crucible and its relevance to the McCarthy era.
• The role of metaphor and simile in conveying themes in The Crucible .
• The use of dramatic monologue in The Crucible and its effect on character portrayal.
• The role of allusion in The Crucible and its significance.
• The use of symbolism in The Crucible and its impact on the narrative.
• The role of conflict (internal and external) in shaping the characters in The Crucible .

Comparison with Other Works

• A comparative analysis of The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter .
• Comparing the theme of witchcraft in The Crucible and Macbeth .
• A comparison of the portrayal of mass hysteria in The Crucible and The Lottery .
• Comparing the theme of power and authority in The Crucible and Animal Farm .
• A comparison of the portrayal of women in The Crucible and A Doll’s House .
• Comparing the theme of revenge in The Crucible and Hamlet .
• A comparison of the exploration of fear in The Crucible and 1984 .
• Comparing the theme of deception in The Crucible and Othello .
• A comparison of the exploration of justice in The Crucible and To Kill a Mockingbird .
• Comparing the theme of superstition in The Crucible and Huckleberry Finn .

Social Commentary

• The commentary on McCarthyism in The Crucible .
• The critique of Puritan society in The Crucible .
• The portrayal of the judicial system in The Crucible .
• The exploration of mob mentality in The Crucible .
• The critique of religious hypocrisy in The Crucible .
• The portrayal of gender dynamics and sexism in The Crucible .
• The exploration of the consequences of mass hysteria in The Crucible .
• The critique of authoritarianism in The Crucible .
• The portrayal of the dangers of false accusations in The Crucible .
• The exploration of the conflict between personal integrity and societal expectations in The Crucible .

Modern-Day Parallels

• The relevance of The Crucible in the modern era of fake news.
• The parallels between the witch trials in The Crucible and modern-day conspiracy theories.
• The relevance of the theme of mass hysteria in The Crucible to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The parallels between the power dynamics in The Crucible and modern-day politics.
• The relevance of the theme of reputation and integrity in The Crucible to the era of social media.
• The parallels between the religious hypocrisy in The Crucible and modern-day religious extremism.
• The relevance of the theme of fear and its effects on society in The Crucible to the post-9/11 era.
• The parallels between the deception and lies in The Crucible and the era of fake news.
• The relevance of the exploration of justice and the legal system in The Crucible to the modern-day Black Lives Matter movement.
• The parallels between the superstition in The Crucible and modern-day conspiracy theories.

Impact and Legacy

• The impact of The Crucible on modern literature.
• The legacy of The Crucible in popular culture.
• The influence of The Crucible on subsequent portrayals of witchcraft and mass hysteria in literature and film.
• The impact of The Crucible on the perception of the Salem witch trials.
• The legacy of The Crucible in the context of the McCarthy era.
• The influence of The Crucible on modern drama.
• The impact of The Crucible on the portrayal of historical events in literature.
• The legacy of The Crucible in the exploration of themes such as power, deception, and integrity in literature.
• The influence of The Crucible on the portrayal of women in literature.
• The impact of The Crucible on the exploration of religious themes in literature.

In conclusion, The Crucible offers a vast range of topics for research papers, from historical context to character analysis, themes, and symbolism. This comprehensive list of The Crucible research paper topics will help students explore various aspects of the play and gain a deeper understanding of the themes and characters Arthur Miller portrayed.

The Crucible

And the range of research paper topics it offers.

The Crucible , a play written by Arthur Miller, is a timeless piece of literature that is still widely studied in schools and universities around the world. One reason for its enduring popularity is the range of research paper topics it offers. This article will explore some of these topics and explain why The Crucible is such a rich source of inspiration for students and researchers alike.

The Crucible was written in 1953, at the height of the McCarthy era in the United States. This was a time of intense fear and suspicion, as people were accused of being communists and traitors without any solid evidence. Miller wrote The Crucible as a response to this hysteria, drawing parallels between the witch trials in Salem in the 17th century and the communist witch hunt in the 20th century. This makes The Crucible not only a historical drama but also a political allegory, and opens up a range of research paper topics on the themes of hysteria, fear, and authority.

One important theme in The Crucible is the role of fear in society. The characters in the play are constantly afraid – of the witches, of the authorities, and of each other. This fear drives them to make irrational decisions, accuse innocent people, and even commit murder. A research paper could explore the psychological and sociological aspects of fear, using The Crucible as a case study. For example, how does fear affect individual decision-making? How does it spread in a community? What are its long-term effects? These are just a few of the many questions that The Crucible raises about fear.

Another important theme in The Crucible is the abuse of authority. Several characters in the play misuse their power to manipulate others, advance their own interests, or avoid punishment. For example, Judge Danforth uses his position to intimidate others and suppress any opposition to the witch trials. Abigail Williams manipulates the court to get rid of Elizabeth Proctor, whom she sees as a rival for John Proctor’s affection. A research paper could examine the different ways in which authority is abused in the play, and the consequences of this abuse. This could include a discussion of the historical context, as the McCarthy era was also marked by the abuse of authority.

The Crucible also raises important questions about integrity and deception. Many characters in the play lie or deceive others, sometimes with disastrous consequences. For example, John Proctor lies about his affair with Abigail, which ultimately leads to his own downfall. Conversely, some characters, such as Elizabeth Proctor and Rebecca Nurse, maintain their integrity even in the face of death. A research paper could explore the different ways in which characters in The Crucible approach the concepts of truth and lies, and what this says about their moral character.

In addition to these thematic topics, The Crucible offers a range of research paper topics related to its historical and literary context. For example, a research paper could examine the historical accuracy of the play, and the extent to which Miller took creative liberties with the facts. Another possible topic is the influence of The Crucible on subsequent literature and popular culture, including films, TV shows, and other plays. Finally, a research paper could explore the critical reception of The Crucible when it was first performed, and how this has changed over time.

To summarize, The Crucible is a rich source of research paper topics due to its thematic depth, historical context, and literary influence. Whether you are interested in psychology, sociology, history, or literature, The Crucible offers a range of topics that can be explored in a research paper. With its timeless themes of fear, authority, and deception, The Crucible remains as relevant today as it was when it was first written.

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Why I Wrote “The Crucible”

As I watched “The Crucible” taking shape as a movie over much of the past year, the sheer depth of time that it represents for me kept returning to mind. As those powerful actors blossomed on the screen, and the children and the horses, the crowds and the wagons, I thought again about how I came to cook all this up nearly fifty years ago, in an America almost nobody I know seems to remember clearly. In a way, there is a biting irony in this film’s having been made by a Hollywood studio, something unimaginable in the fifties. But there they are—Daniel Day-Lewis (John Proctor) scything his sea-bordered field, Joan Allen (Elizabeth) lying pregnant in the frigid jail, Winona Ryder (Abigail) stealing her minister-uncle’s money, majestic Paul Scofield (Judge Danforth) and his righteous empathy with the Devil-possessed children, and all of them looking as inevitable as rain.

I remember those years—they formed “The Crucible” ’s skeleton—but I have lost the dead weight of the fear I had then. Fear doesn’t travel well; just as it can warp judgment, its absence can diminish memory’s truth. What terrifies one generation is likely to bring only a puzzled smile to the next. I remember how in 1964, only twenty years after the war, Harold Clurman, the director of “Incident at Vichy,” showed the cast a film of a Hitler speech, hoping to give them a sense of the Nazi period in which my play took place. They watched as Hitler, facing a vast stadium full of adoring people, went up on his toes in ecstasy, hands clasped under his chin, a sublimely self-gratified grin on his face, his body swivelling rather cutely, and they giggled at his overacting.

Likewise, films of Senator Joseph McCarthy are rather unsettling—if you remember the fear he once spread. Buzzing his truculent sidewalk brawler’s snarl through the hairs in his nose, squinting through his cat’s eyes and sneering like a villain, he comes across now as nearly comical, a self-aware performer keeping a straight face as he does his juicy threat-shtick.

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McCarthy’s power to stir fears of creeping Communism was not entirely based on illusion, of course; the paranoid, real or pretended, always secretes its pearl around a grain of fact. From being our wartime ally, the Soviet Union rapidly became an expanding empire. In 1949, Mao Zedong took power in China. Western Europe also seemed ready to become Red—especially Italy, where the Communist Party was the largest outside Russia, and was growing. Capitalism, in the opinion of many, myself included, had nothing more to say, its final poisoned bloom having been Italian and German Fascism. McCarthy—brash and ill-mannered but to many authentic and true—boiled it all down to what anyone could understand: we had “lost China” and would soon lose Europe as well, because the State Department—staffed, of course, under Democratic Presidents—was full of treasonous pro-Soviet intellectuals. It was as simple as that.

If our losing China seemed the equivalent of a flea’s losing an elephant, it was still a phrase—and a conviction—that one did not dare to question; to do so was to risk drawing suspicion on oneself. Indeed, the State Department proceeded to hound and fire the officers who knew China, its language, and its opaque culture—a move that suggested the practitioners of sympathetic magic who wring the neck of a doll in order to make a distant enemy’s head drop off. There was magic all around; the politics of alien conspiracy soon dominated political discourse and bid fair to wipe out any other issue. How could one deal with such enormities in a play?

“The Crucible” was an act of desperation. Much of my desperation branched out, I suppose, from a typical Depression-era trauma—the blow struck on the mind by the rise of European Fascism and the brutal anti-Semitism it had brought to power. But by 1950, when I began to think of writing about the hunt for Reds in America, I was motivated in some great part by the paralysis that had set in among many liberals who, despite their discomfort with the inquisitors’ violations of civil rights, were fearful, and with good reason, of being identified as covert Communists if they should protest too strongly.

In any play, however trivial, there has to be a still point of moral reference against which to gauge the action. In our lives, in the late nineteen-forties and early nineteen-fifties, no such point existed anymore. The left could not look straight at the Soviet Union’s abrogations of human rights. The anti-Communist liberals could not acknowledge the violations of those rights by congressional committees. The far right, meanwhile, was licking up all the cream. The days of “ J’accuse ” were gone, for anyone needs to feel right to declare someone else wrong. Gradually, all the old political and moral reality had melted like a Dali watch. Nobody but a fanatic, it seemed, could really say all that he believed.

President Truman was among the first to have to deal with the dilemma, and his way of resolving it—of having to trim his sails before the howling gale on the right—turned out to be momentous. At first, he was outraged at the allegation of widespread Communist infiltration of the government and called the charge of “coddling Communists” a red herring dragged in by the Republicans to bring down the Democrats. But such was the gathering power of raw belief in the great Soviet plot that Truman soon felt it necessary to institute loyalty boards of his own.

The Red hunt, led by the House Committee on Un-American Activities and by McCarthy, was becoming the dominating fixation of the American psyche. It reached Hollywood when the studios, after first resisting, agreed to submit artists’ names to the House Committee for “clearing” before employing them. This unleashed a veritable holy terror among actors, directors, and others, from Party members to those who had had the merest brush with a front organization.

The Soviet plot was the hub of a great wheel of causation; the plot justified the crushing of all nuance, all the shadings that a realistic judgment of reality requires. Even worse was the feeling that our sensitivity to this onslaught on our liberties was passing from us—indeed, from me. In “Timebends,” my autobiography, I recalled the time I’d written a screenplay (“The Hook”) about union corruption on the Brooklyn waterfront. Harry Cohn, the head of Columbia Pictures, did something that would once have been considered unthinkable: he showed my script to the F.B.I. Cohn then asked me to take the gangsters in my script, who were threatening and murdering their opponents, and simply change them to Communists. When I declined to commit this idiocy (Joe Ryan, the head of the longshoremen’s union, was soon to go to Sing Sing for racketeering), I got a wire from Cohn saying, “The minute we try to make the script pro-American you pull out.” By then—it was 1951—I had come to accept this terribly serious insanity as routine, but there was an element of the marvellous in it which I longed to put on the stage.

In those years, our thought processes were becoming so magical, so paranoid, that to imagine writing a play about this environment was like trying to pick one’s teeth with a ball of wool: I lacked the tools to illuminate miasma. Yet I kept being drawn back to it.

I had read about the witchcraft trials in college, but it was not until I read a book published in 1867—a two-volume, thousand-page study by Charles W. Upham, who was then the mayor of Salem—that I knew I had to write about the period. Upham had not only written a broad and thorough investigation of what was even then an almost lost chapter of Salem’s past but opened up to me the details of personal relationships among many participants in the tragedy.

I visited Salem for the first time on a dismal spring day in 1952; it was a sidetracked town then, with abandoned factories and vacant stores. In the gloomy courthouse there I read the transcripts of the witchcraft trials of 1692, as taken down in a primitive shorthand by ministers who were spelling each other. But there was one entry in Upham in which the thousands of pieces I had come across were jogged into place. It was from a report written by the Reverend Samuel Parris, who was one of the chief instigators of the witch-hunt. “During the examination of Elizabeth Procter, Abigail Williams and Ann Putnam”—the two were “afflicted” teen-age accusers, and Abigail was Parris’s niece—“both made offer to strike at said Procter; but when Abigail’s hand came near, it opened, whereas it was made up into a fist before, and came down exceeding lightly as it drew near to said Procter, and at length, with open and extended fingers, touched Procter’s hood very lightly. Immediately Abigail cried out her fingers, her fingers, her fingers burned. . . .”

In this remarkably observed gesture of a troubled young girl, I believed, a play became possible. Elizabeth Proctor had been the orphaned Abigail’s mistress, and they had lived together in the same small house until Elizabeth fired the girl. By this time, I was sure, John Proctor had bedded Abigail, who had to be dismissed most likely to appease Elizabeth. There was bad blood between the two women now. That Abigail started, in effect, to condemn Elizabeth to death with her touch, then stopped her hand, then went through with it, was quite suddenly the human center of all this turmoil.

All this I understood. I had not approached the witchcraft out of nowhere, or from purely social and political considerations. My own marriage of twelve years was teetering and I knew more than I wished to know about where the blame lay. That John Proctor the sinner might overturn his paralyzing personal guilt and become the most forthright voice against the madness around him was a reassurance to me, and, I suppose, an inspiration: it demonstrated that a clear moral outcry could still spring even from an ambiguously unblemished soul. Moving crabwise across the profusion of evidence, I sensed that I had at last found something of myself in it, and a play began to accumulate around this man.

But as the dramatic form became visible, one problem remained unyielding: so many practices of the Salem trials were similar to those employed by the congressional committees that I could easily be accused of skewing history for a mere partisan purpose. Inevitably, it was no sooner known that my new play was about Salem than I had to confront the charge that such an analogy was specious—that there never were any witches but there certainly are Communists. In the seventeenth century, however, the existence of witches was never questioned by the loftiest minds in Europe and America; and even lawyers of the highest eminence, like Sir Edward Coke, a veritable hero of liberty for defending the common law against the king’s arbitrary power, believed that witches had to be prosecuted mercilessly. Of course, there were no Communists in 1692, but it was literally worth your life to deny witches or their powers, given the exhortation in the Bible, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” There had to be witches in the world or the Bible lied. Indeed, the very structure of evil depended on Lucifer’s plotting against God. (And the irony is that klatches of Luciferians exist all over the country today; there may even be more of them now than there are Communists.)

As with most humans, panic sleeps in one unlighted corner of my soul. When I walked at night along the empty, wet streets of Salem in the week that I spent there, I could easily work myself into imagining my terror before a gaggle of young girls flying down the road screaming that somebody’s “familiar spirit” was chasing them. This anxiety-laden leap backward over nearly three centuries may have been helped along by a particular Upham footnote. At a certain point, the high court of the province made the fatal decision to admit, for the first time, the use of “spectral evidence” as proof of guilt. Spectral evidence, so aptly named, meant that if I swore that you had sent out your “familiar spirit” to choke, tickle, or poison me or my cattle, or to control my thoughts and actions, I could get you hanged unless you confessed to having had contact with the Devil. After all, only the Devil could lend such powers of invisible transport to confederates, in his everlasting plot to bring down Christianity.

Naturally, the best proof of the sincerity of your confession was your naming others whom you had seen in the Devil’s company—an invitation to private vengeance, but made official by the seal of the theocratic state. It was as though the court had grown tired of thinking and had invited in the instincts: spectral evidence—that poisoned cloud of paranoid fantasy—made a kind of lunatic sense to them, as it did in plot-ridden 1952, when so often the question was not the acts of an accused but the thoughts and intentions in his alienated mind.

The breathtaking circularity of the process had a kind of poetic tightness. Not everybody was accused, after all, so there must be some reason why you were . By denying that there is any reason whatsoever for you to be accused, you are implying, by virtue of a surprisingly small logical leap, that mere chance picked you out, which in turn implies that the Devil might not really be at work in the village or, God forbid, even exist. Therefore, the investigation itself is either mistaken or a fraud. You would have to be a crypto-Luciferian to say that—not a great idea if you wanted to go back to your farm.

The more I read into the Salem panic, the more it touched off corresponding images of common experiences in the fifties: the old friend of a blacklisted person crossing the street to avoid being seen talking to him; the overnight conversions of former leftists into born-again patriots; and so on. Apparently, certain processes are universal. When Gentiles in Hitler’s Germany, for example, saw their Jewish neighbors being trucked off, or farmers in Soviet Ukraine saw the Kulaks vanishing before their eyes, the common reaction, even among those unsympathetic to Nazism or Communism, was quite naturally to turn away in fear of being identified with the condemned. As I learned from non-Jewish refugees, however, there was often a despairing pity mixed with “Well, they must have done something .” Few of us can easily surrender our belief that society must somehow make sense. The thought that the state has lost its mind and is punishing so many innocent people is intolerable And so the evidence has to be internally denied.

I was also drawn into writing “The Crucible” by the chance it gave me to use a new language—that of seventeenth-century New England. That plain, craggy English was liberating in a strangely sensuous way, with its swings from an almost legalistic precision to a wonderful metaphoric richness. “The Lord doth terrible things amongst us, by lengthening the chain of the roaring lion in an extraordinary manner, so that the Devil is come down in great wrath,” Deodat Lawson, one of the great witch-hunting preachers, said in a sermon. Lawson rallied his congregation for what was to be nothing less than a religious war against the Evil One—“Arm, arm, arm!”—and his concealed anti-Christian accomplices.

But it was not yet my language, and among other strategies to make it mine I enlisted the help of a former University of Michigan classmate, the Greek-American scholar and poet Kimon Friar. (He later translated Kazantzakis.) The problem was not to imitate the archaic speech but to try to create a new echo of it which would flow freely off American actors’ tongues. As in the film, nearly fifty years later, the actors in the first production grabbed the language and ran with it as happily as if it were their customary speech.

“The Crucible” took me about a year to write. With its five sets and a cast of twenty-one, it never occurred to me that it would take a brave man to produce it on Broadway, especially given the prevailing climate, but Kermit Bloomgarden never faltered. Well before the play opened, a strange tension had begun to build. Only two years earlier, the “Death of a Salesman” touring company had played to a thin crowd in Peoria, Illinois, having been boycotted nearly to death by the American Legion and the Jaycees. Before that, the Catholic War Veterans had prevailed upon the Army not to allow its theatrical groups to perform, first, “All My Sons,” and then any play of mine, in occupied Europe. The Dramatists Guild refused to protest attacks on a new play by Sean O’Casey, a self-declared Communist, which forced its producer to cancel his option. I knew of two suicides by actors depressed by upcoming investigation, and every day seemed to bring news of people exiling themselves to Europe: Charlie Chaplin, the director Joseph Losey, Jules Dassin, the harmonica virtuoso Larry Adler, Donald Ogden Stewart, one of the most sought-after screenwriters in Hollywood, and Sam Wanamaker, who would lead the successful campaign to rebuild the Old Globe Theatre on the Thames.

On opening night, January 22, 1953, I knew that the atmosphere would be pretty hostile. The coldness of the crowd was not a surprise; Broadway audiences were not famous for loving history lessons, which is what they made of the play. It seems to me entirely appropriate that on the day the play opened, a newspaper headline read “ALL THIRTEEN REDS GUILTY” —a story about American Communists who faced prison for “conspiring to teach and advocate the duty and necessity of forcible overthrow of government.” Meanwhile, the remoteness of the production was guaranteed by the director, Jed Harris, who insisted that this was a classic requiring the actors to face front, never each other. The critics were not swept away. “Arthur Miller is a problem playwright in both senses of the word,” wrote Walter Kerr of the Herald Tribune , who called the play “a step backward into mechanical parable.” The Times was not much kinder, saying, “There is too much excitement and not enough emotion in ‘The Crucible.’ ” But the play’s future would turn out quite differently.

About a year later, a new production, one with younger, less accomplished actors, working in the Martinique Hotel ballroom, played with the fervor that the script and the times required, and “The Crucible” became a hit. The play stumbled into history, and today, I am told, it is one of the most heavily demanded trade-fiction paperbacks in this country; the Bantam and Penguin editions have sold more than six million copies. I don’t think there has been a week in the past forty-odd years when it hasn’t been on a stage somewhere in the world. Nor is the new screen version the first. Jean-Paul Sartre, in his Marxist phase, wrote a French film adaptation that blamed the tragedy on the rich landowners conspiring to persecute the poor. (In truth, most of those who were hanged in Salem were people of substance, and two or three were very large landowners.)

It is only a slight exaggeration to say that, especially in Latin America, “The Crucible” starts getting produced wherever a political coup appears imminent, or a dictatorial regime has just been overthrown. From Argentina to Chile to Greece, Czechoslovakia, China, and a dozen other places, the play seems to present the same primeval structure of human sacrifice to the furies of fanaticism and paranoia that goes on repeating itself forever as though imbedded in the brain of social man.

I am not sure what “The Crucible” is telling people now, but I know that its paranoid center is still pumping out the same darkly attractive warning that it did in the fifties. For some, the play seems to be about the dilemma of relying on the testimony of small children accusing adults of sexual abuse, something I’d not have dreamed of forty years ago. For others, it may simply be a fascination with the outbreak of paranoia that suffuses the play—the blind panic that, in our age, often seems to sit at the dim edges of consciousness. Certainly its political implications are the central issue for many people; the Salem interrogations turn out to be eerily exact models of those yet to come in Stalin’s Russia, Pinochet’s Chile, Mao’s China, and other regimes. (Nien Cheng, the author of “Life and Death in Shanghai,” has told me that she could hardly believe that a non-Chinese—someone who had not experienced the Cultural Revolution—had written the play.) But below its concerns with justice the play evokes a lethal brew of illicit sexuality, fear of the supernatural, and political manipulation, a combination not unfamiliar these days. The film, by reaching the broad American audience as no play ever can, may well unearth still other connections to those buried public terrors that Salem first announced on this continent.

One thing more—something wonderful in the old sense of that word. I recall the weeks I spent reading testimony by the tome, commentaries, broadsides, confessions, and accusations. And always the crucial damning event was the signing of one’s name in “the Devil’s book.” This Faustian agreement to hand over one’s soul to the dreaded Lord of Darkness was the ultimate insult to God. But what were these new inductees supposed to have done once they’d signed on? Nobody seems even to have thought to ask. But, of course, actions are as irrelevant during cultural and religious wars as they are in nightmares. The thing at issue is buried intentions—the secret allegiances of the alienated heart, always the main threat to the theocratic mind, as well as its immemorial quarry. ♦

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Themes and Analysis

The crucible, by arthur miller.

Through 'The Crucible,' Miller explores several important themes, such as the power of fear and superstition and the dangers of religious extremism.

Article written by Emma Baldwin

B.A. in English, B.F.A. in Fine Art, and B.A. in Art Histories from East Carolina University.

Arthur Miller’s ‘ The Crucible ‘ is one of the most powerful and poignant plays ever written . Set in the Puritan town of Salem during the 1690s, the play focuses on a series of trials that ultimately reveal the dangers of fear and ignorance. The play is filled with important symbols and themes that drive the narrative, many of which are highly relatable, even today.

The Corruption of Power

In the story of ‘ The Crucible ,’ power corrupts absolutely. In the village of Salem, the court proceedings are directed by those in authority, such as Reverend Parris and Deputy Governor Danforth. They misuse their power to further their own personal agendas, leading to false accusations and wrongful executions. The corruption of power serves as a warning against allowing authority figures to control everyday life without consequence.

The Dangers of Hysteria

‘ The Crucible ‘ demonstrates how quickly hysteria can spread and affect a community. With the accusations of witchcraft, fear and paranoia spread like wildfire among the citizens of Salem. This leads to even more accusations and further isolation of those thought to be guilty. The play warns readers against succumbing to hysteria and shows the real danger it can pose when left unchecked; this relates directly to McCarthyism in the 1950s in the United States.

Ignorance and Intolerance

Many of the characters in ‘ The Crucible ‘ are ignorant and intolerant of others, especially those they view as outsiders. This is demonstrated through the character of Reverend Parris, who is deeply suspicious of anyone who is different or opposes him. Similarly, intolerance is shown when those accused of witchcraft are assumed to be guilty despite a lack of evidence. The play emphasizes the need for tolerance and understanding in order to prevent further strife.

Key Moments

• Reverend Parris discovers his daughter and niece dancing in the woods with Tituba, his slave, and other girls from the village. Betty falls into a coma.
• Parris questions the girls about witchcraft.
• It’s revealed that Abigail had an affair with her former employer John Proctor. She still wants to be with him.
• Betty wakes up screaming.
• Tituba confesses to witchcraft. Abigail joins her.
• Abigail and the other girls begin to accuse various citizens of Salem of witchcraft.
• Mary Warren, now a court official, testifies against John Proctor in court. 
• Elizabeth urges John to go to town and convince them that Abigail is not telling the truth. She is suspicious of their relationship.
• Mary gives Elizabeth a poppet.
• John is questioned by Reverend Hale.
• The town marshal arrests Elizabeth and finds the poppet, which has a needle in it.
• Mary admits she made the poppet in court, and Elizabeth claims she’s pregnant.
• The girls start screaming in court, saying that Mary is sending her spirit to them.
• Elizabeth convinces John to admit to witchcraft.
• John Proctor signs a confession but then rips it up before it can be used as evidence against him. 
• John Proctor is put to death after refusing to lie about being a witch.

Tone and Style

The tone of Arthur Miller’s ‘ The Crucible ‘ is serious and intense due to the subject matter of the Salem Witch Trials. Miller captures a sense of urgency and fear that pervaded the small town of Salem at the time, which amplifies the drama and tension between the characters. This serves as a reminder of the underlying paranoia that can quickly infect a community.

The writing style of Miller’s play is direct and succinct. Miller deliberately focuses on dialogue and action, allowing for a natural flow to the story as it unfolds. He also uses strong language to draw attention to the ways in which fear and paranoia can lead to injustice. Through this approach, Miller effectively conveys the consequences of these events. In part, this is due to the format of the story. It’s a drama, meaning that it is almost entirely composed of only dialogue.

Witchcraft is the most obvious symbol in ‘ The Crucible ‘, representing the fear and paranoia of the characters during the Salem Witch Trials. Miller uses it to reflect the rampant hysteria of the time and how quickly false accusations spread throughout Salem. Witchcraft can also be seen as a metaphor for the powerlessness of individuals in the face of a repressive and superstitious society. 

Proctor’s House

John Proctor’s house serves as a symbol of both the struggles and the strength of his marriage to Elizabeth. It is not only a physical representation of their relationship but also an example of their commitment to one another. As their relationship unravels, so does their home, until it is eventually burned down by the townspeople. This symbolizes the breakdown of their marriage and the ultimate downfall of their relationship. 

The forest is a symbol of freedom in ‘ The Crucible .’ It represents the escape from repression, control, and oppression in Salem. By venturing out into the woods, characters like Tituba, Abigail, and Parris are able to reject societal norms and restrictions, allowing them to find their own paths. It is also a sign of hope for those who are struggling against the unjust and oppressive nature of Salem society.

What is the most important theme in The Crucible by Arthur Miller?

The most important theme in “The Crucible” is the power of public opinion and hysteria. It demonstrates how an environment of fear and superstition can be manipulated to create a situation of paranoia and distrust. 

Why is The Crucible by Arthur Miller important?

‘ The Crucible ‘ is important because it explores themes of morality, justice, and personal responsibility. It also examines the effects of unchecked hysteria and paranoia on individuals and society as a whole.

Why did Arthur Miller write The Crucible ?

Arthur Miller wrote ‘ The Crucible ‘ as a metaphor for McCarthyism, which was a period of intense anti-communist sentiment in the United States during the 1950s. He wanted to illustrate how similar events could happen again if unchecked fear and paranoia were allowed to spread.

Who are some of the main characters in The Crucible ?

Some of the main characters in The Crucible include John Proctor, Abigail Williams, Elizabeth Proctor, Reverend Parris, Reverend Hale, and Judge Danforth.

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The World of Miller’s The Crucible: A Cognitive-Historical Approach

• S. S. Farshi , M. Sabbagh
• Published 24 October 2017

22 References

Arthur miller’s the crucible: witchcraft and mob hysteria in america, history and other spectres in arthur miller's the crucible, social hysteria versus individual dilemma: a pragmatic study of character relationship in arthur miller's the crucible, using the past to intervene in the present: spectacular framing in arthur miller's the crucible.

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Witchcraft, magic, and religion in 17th-century Massachusetts

Arthur miller’s the crucible and nathaniel hawthorne: some parallels, social cognition and discourse processing goals in the analysis of `ex-gay' rhetoric, arthur miller's the crucible: background and sources, cognitive psychology. (book reviews: cognition and reality. principles and implications of cognitive psychology), a dictionary of stylistics, related papers.

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Guide to The Crucible

Arthur Miller’s THE CRUCIBLE A Guide for Teachers Written and Compiled by Jere Pfister Edited by Eleanor Colvin © Alley Theatre, 2005

The Life of Arthur Miller “By whatever means it is accomplished, the prime business of a play is to arouse the passions of its audience so that by the route of passion may be opened up a new relationship between a man and men, and between men and Man. Drama is akin to the other inventions of man in that it ought to help us know more, and not merely to spend our feelings.” 
–Arthur Miller, from the “Introduction to his Collected Plays” Since achieving fame with his plays All My Sons (1947) and Death of a Salesman (winner of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama), Arthur Miller has inspired audiences with a body of work that deftly examines the disillusioned terrain of the human heart as well as “the work of the individual conscience when pitted against the uniform thinking of the mob” ( New Yorker ). As a result, Miller has been a principal pioneer in the development of a distinctly American form of theatre. Born in Manhattan in 1915 to Jewish immigrants, Miller was shaped by the failure of his father’s garment manufacturing business in the late 1920s. Witnessing the social decay caused by the Depression and his father’s desperation had a tremendous impact on Miller and his writing. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1938, Miller began writing in earnest. His first Broadway play, The Man Who Had All the Luck (1944), about an incredibly successful man who is unhappy with that success, opened to horrible reviews. Its unfavorable reception disheartened Miller, and he decided he would write one more play. If that were not successful, he would give up playwriting. Fortunately, All My Sons was a huge Broadway hit. Concerned with issues of morality when faced with desperation, All My Sons appealed to audiences who had just suffered through a war and a depression.

Miller was launched into the realm of the greatest living American playwrights with his masterpiece Death of a Salesman , which follows the tragic Willy Loman, a failed businessman attempting to remember and reconstruct his life. As Cold War paranoia pervaded the country, Miller penned his third major play, The Crucible (1953), as a response to 1950s McCarthyism. Three years later, he was called to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) and was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to name those he knew to have Communist sympathies (he was eventually cleared of the charges). His next long play was not produced until 1964. After the Fall , a highly inventive work about a lawyer named Quentin coming to grips with his turbulent past and self-perceived moral inadequacy, was influenced by Miller’s tumultuous five-year marriage (1956-1961) to pop-icon Marilyn Monroe.

Among Miller’s other plays are A View from the Bridge (1956), Incident at Vichy (1964), The Price (1968), The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991), Broken Glass (1994), and Resurrection Blues (2002). His autobiography Timebends was published in 1987, and his most recent play, Finishing the Picture –based on the making of the 1961 film The Misfits , which Miller wrote for Marilyn Monroe–premiered in October 2004. The Alley’s long series of productions of Miller’s plays began 50 years ago, when founding Artistic Director Nina Vance directed his Death of a Salesman in February 1954. Since that time, the Alley has mounted 11 productions of plays by Arthur Miller, including a co-production of All My Sons with the University of Houston in 2000. Miller was also the recipient of the 1984 Alley Award, which honored his distinguished body of work.  Miller was married three times. In 1940, he married his college sweetheart Mary Slattery, with whom he had a daughter and a son. After their divorce, he later married Marilyn Monroe. At the time of her death by suicide, they were separated. His last wife, Inge Morath, a professional photographer, with whom he had another two children, died in 2002. Arthur Miller died on February 10, 2005 at his home in Connecticut. He was 89. Miller’s Production History at the Alley Theatre o Death of a Salesman in 1954 and 1997

o All My Sons in 1955 and 1984 and 2000*

o A View From the Bridge in 1957, 1989, and 1999

o After the Fall in 2005

o The Crucible in 1959, 1994 and 2005 
*Co-production with the University of Houston Playwright’s Perspective In writing The Crucible , Miller went to the source of the Salem Witch Hunts by reading the recorded transcripts of the trials.  After much research, he struggled with the dilemma of how to make this more than an interesting historical play with connections to the House of Un-American Activities Commission Hearings that were ongoing during the time he was writing the play. He was struggling with how to connect the play to his own story in such a way that audiences over time could connect it to their own life. He writes about his struggle in his autobiography, Timebends : One day, after several hours of reading at the Historical Society […] I got up to leave and that was when I noticed hanging on a wall several framed etchings of the witchcraft trials, apparently made by an artist who must have witnessed them. In one of them, a shaft of sepulchral light shoots down from a window high up in a vaulted room, falling upon the head of a judge whose face is blanched white, his long white beard hanging to his waist, arms raised in defensive horror as beneath him the covey of afflicted girls screams and claws at invisible tormentors. Dark and almost indistinguishable figures huddle on the periphery of the picture, but a few men can be made out, bearded like the judge, and shrinking back in pious outrage. Suddenly it became my memory of the dancing men in the synagogue on 114th Street as I had glimpsed them between my shielding fingers, the same chaos of bodily motion – in this picture, adults fleeing the sight of a supernatural event; in my memory, a happier but no less eerie circumstance–both scenes frighteningly attached to the long reins of God. I knew instantly what the connection was: the moral intensity of the Jews and the clan’s defensiveness against pollution from outside the ranks. Yes, I understood Salem in that flash; it was suddenly my own inheritance. I might not yet be able to work a play’s shape out of this roiling mass of stuff, but it belonged to me now, and I felt I could begin circling around the space where a structure of my own could conceivably rise. As Miller spent hours pouring over the testimony of the participants in the trial, he tried to catch their speech patterns, reading out loud and listening to old time residents. Then he followed the train of testimony against one of the executed, a farmer named John Proctor. He realized there was a connection between Abigail and Parrish and that they were some-how connected to the Proctor family. There were sexual innuendos throughout the transcript. So in his play he fictionalized the adulterous relationship between John Proctor and the young Abigail. He knew that would create the dramatic energy and a reason for Abigail to attack Elizabeth as a witch. Like many writers, Miller became attached to his characters and to the real people they represented. He wrote the following while standing on the rock at Gallows Hill: Here hung Rebecca, John Proctor, George Jacobs, people more real to me than the living can ever be.  The sense of a terrible marvel again that people could have such a belief in themselves and in the rightness of their consciences as to give their lives rather that say what they thought was false. Or, perhaps, they only feared Hell so much? Yet, Rebecca said, and it is written in the record, I cannot belie myself. And she knew it would kill her […] The rock stands forever in Salem. They knew who they were.  Nineteen. Synopsis Set in the village of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, The Crucible tells the story of what happens when the town’s Pastor, Reverend Parris, spies his young daughter, Betty, and a group of other girls from his church, dancing in the woods. Betty is in a coma and her cousin, Abigail, admits that they were indeed dancing and accuses Betty of faking her illness to escape punishment. A neighbor, Ann Putman arrives and says that her daughter is behaving strangely also, and that she has heard the rumor that Betty has been seen flying like a witch. She declares her suspicion that Parris’s slave, Tituba has been introducing the girls to native spiritual rituals and practices. She, herself, has sent her servant girl to Tituba to find out why she has lost so many of her babies. Reverend Hale is called in for a consultation on whether this is a case of some evil invading the community. Once the charge of possible witchcraft is leveled, there is no turning back for the people of Salem. As the play progresses we learn of the disputes and jealousies that resided in this farming community whose law is the dogma of their faith and whose judges must uphold not only the law but the authority and power of the church. Abigail and the other young girls enter into a deadly game of naming as witches, the townspeople who try to reason with the court. Many prominent and successful families are destroyed, giving rise to the question of why the young girls have been given so much power. Why does the court believe adolescent girls over the stability of church members, who by all accounts, have led good and productive lives? We begin to see that what the court wants is the confessions of those who stand accused. It matters not if they are guilty or innocent. It is the authority of the court that cannot be questioned. Finally, John Proctor is faced with the decision to tell the truth, plead his innocence of witchcraft and hang, or to tell a lie and live. Elizabeth Proctor, who tells the only lie of her life in an attempt to save her husband, escapes the hangman because she is pregnant. When John Proctor declares he will plead guilty, Rebecca Nurse, the town’s midwife, is brought in from her prison cell to witness his declaration in hopes that she too will also plead guilty. She refuses and is shocked by Proctor’s willingness to confess to a lie. When the Judges try to force Proctor to name others and post his confession in public, he refuses because he has confessed to them before God. He admits that his confession is a lie. He is taken to be hanged with the other accused. 
* In the earliest published edition of The Crucible, playwright, Arthur Miller, wrote commentary about the actual events and people of seventeenth century Salem, Massachusetts. List of Characters Reverend Samuel Parris 
The New England minister who discovered his young daughter Betty dancing with other young girls in the woods. He is the person most responsible for the belief in witches having read a copy of “The Hammer of Witches” (Malleus malefi-carum), 1486. 
Betty 
His daughter age 10. Betty has pretended to be ill because she afraid of the beating and punishment she will receive for being caught. She goes along with the rest of the girls. 
Tituba 
Rev. Parris’ Negro slave from Barbados who has taught the girls about spirits. 
Abigail Williams 
An orphan and Rev. Parris’ 19-year-old niece, who leads the other girls in the accusations. She has recently left the service of the Proctors and hates Elizabeth Proctor. 
Susanna Walcott 
Abigail’s friend, who also joins in the game to be part of the group. 
Thomas Putman 
A mean spirited and wealthy landowner who covets his neighbors’ property. He is accused of coercing his daughter to accuse people in order to gain their land. 
Ann Putman 
His wife, who is embittered by the still births of seven babies. She blames Rebecca Nurse and supernatural forces for their deaths. 
Mercy Lewis 
A servant to the Putmans, she gladly goes along with the other girls. 
Mary Warren 
She works for the Proctors and struggles to tell the truth during the trial. 
John Proctor 
Married to Elizabeth and accused by her of adultery. He is outspoken and well respected. He has stopped going to church and wrestles with telling the truth or protecting his wife. 
Elizabeth Proctor 
John’s wife who has discovered the affair. She never lies. 
Giles Corey 
A farmer and one of the oldest men in the community, he is brutally put to death because he challenges the proceedings 
of the court. 
Reverend John Hale 
A self appointed expert on witchcraft, he is the minister who is first called in to investigate the happenings in Salem. 
Francis Nurse 
One of the most respected elders in town, he is the husband to Rebecca. 
Rebecca Nurse 
A much revered woman in the town who is a midwife and mother of 17 children. She is eventually tried as a witch. 
Ezekiel Cheever 
The clerk of the court, he is responsible for the warrants and arrest of the accused. 
Deputy Governor Danforth 
He is the judge at the witch trials. He rules by law and will not allow exceptions or allow anyone to undermine his authority and his court. Major Themes in The Crucible An overriding theme of The Crucible is the abuse of power. The power of the church and its ministers to the Puritan community is paramount to the whole witchcraft trial. Arthur Miller creates a world where the authorities of the church and town use fear as a method of controlling the people of the town and the townspeople use the compensating defense of invoking the power of gossip and slander. The hero of the drama, John Proctor has abused a young girl who works for him, by committing adultery with her. She is portrayed as the stereotypical other – a conniving woman. But in reality she is compensating, for her loss of innocence and respect, by leading the other children in a game of sticking together for safety sake, no matter what. Scholar and philosopher, Lord Actin (1834-1902) has been credited with the saying; “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In the story of the Salem witch trials, Miller is able to show the domino effect of that corruption. In the end the only people left standing are awaiting the hangman’s noose. The Crucible reminds us that we must always question the status quo, as well as the power structures and authorities that we allow–by our vote and consent–to govern us. The role of women and the theme of misogyny or distrust of women is an undercurrent theme in The Crucible. Almost all of the accused who were imprisoned and executed for the crime of witchcraft were women. Miller does not tell us what happens to the children of the accused. When Rebecca Nurse was accused, who stood up for her? Why were so many women accused? Were they condemned for standing up for the midwife who had helped them bear children? It is the untold story of the play and one that deserves a follow-up discussion. Historical Perspectives

1. What is the world of the play and its story? 
2. What was happening in the world of the playwright at that moment in history? 
3. What is happening in the world of the audience or reader? When attending a performance of The Crucible , consider the time and setting of the play; the 17th century in Salem, Massachusetts. Also take a look at the 1950s and the world concerns of the playwright and the audiences of that time. And, examine it from the current time period. Does the play connect to any thing happening in our contemporary world? The Puritans 
The Puritans were a group of Christians who wanted the Church of England purified of any liturgy, ceremony or practices that were not found in scripture. They thought the Anglican Church was still too close to the Catholic Church. The Bible was their sole authority and they believed that it applied to every level of their lives. They left England and migrated first to Holland and then to the new colonies that were being formed in America. The Puritans were stockholders in the Massachusetts Bay Company, which had received its charter from King Charles of England in the early 1620s. The Puritans arrived in groups and organized into towns and settlements. They were very fearful in this new land. They were afraid of nature and the unknown. In England, they had been people of wealth and political influence. Here, they had to survive in totally foreign and inhospitable terrain. For survival in this life and for the salvation of their souls they set up their towns under the laws of scripture in order to both prosper and show gratitude to God. They did not accept non-members of the church into their towns. Either you belonged to their church and believed their teachings or laws or you moved elsewhere. The Puritans feared annihilation. That fear opened them to the possibility that evil might exist inside their community. Did witchcraft trials really occur in America?

o    In January 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts a group of adolescent girls became ill with a strange illness.

o    By March, the first examinations for suspicions of witchcraft had begun to take place in Salem. By April, over 300 suspected witches were in jail.

o    In June, the courts legalized the death penalty for the crime of witchcraft and Bridget Bishop was hanged.

o    In July, Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Good and three other women were hung. John Proctor petitions the minister of Boston to investigate the legality of the trials because torture is being used in order to elicit confessions. He wants the trial moved to Boston but he receives no reply.

o    John Proctor and four others are hung in August. His wife escapes death because she is pregnant.

o    In September, eight more people are hung, mostly women. These were the last hangings in Salem, for 
the crime of witchcraft. Why did the hangings in Salem stop?

The Governor of Massachusetts’ wife was accused of witchcraft along with Rev. Hale’s wife. The judges finally began to question the witnesses’ credibility. They found the young women to be guilty as “distempered persons.” In January 1693 the court reconvened and eventually released 150 persons who were still in jail on charges of witchcraft. In 1697 the General Court set aside a day of fasting in repentance for wrongs committed in the witchcraft trials. It took another 14 years before the falsely accused and their dependents were awarded any recompense. John Proctor’s wife and children receive the largest settlement –150 pounds. The 1950s 
The end of WWII had brought prosperity back to the country. Young families were buying houses and cars and televisions. They were having babies. Weekends were for dancing and going to the drive in movies with the whole family. Father Knows Best was the best loved family series. “Gorgeous George” was the prince of wrestling and the Dodgers and the Yankees were the best game in town. Catholic Bishop Sheen and Evangelist Billy Graham were regulars on the family TV bringing church to the home. It was a white world though in TV land. There was another world out there. African American soldiers returned from WWII and moved back into “colored towns.” But they had the same GI Bill as the white veterans and they went back to school too. And slowly people’s attitudes would begin to change and unrest with the status quo was beginning to rise. In response to the unrest, Congress voted to insert the words under God into the Pledge of Allegiance. Change and disruption was in the air. Americans were afraid in the 1950s of losing what they had worked so hard for. They were afraid of Communism and of nuclear weapons. After WWII the Soviet Union was gathering up countries throughout Eastern Europe and it was announced that the Russians had developed their own nuclear bomb. The United States no longer had control over the use of the bomb. Americans feared annihilation. That fear drove them to accept the leadership, and charges made 
against innocent people by Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who in turn played on their fears. McCarthyism 
Kenneth C. Davis writes in his history, Don’t Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About History But Never Learned : “In the 1950’s ‘McCarthyism’ meant a brave, patriotic stand against Communism. It had the support of the media and the American people. Now it has come to mean a smear campaign of groundless accusations from which the accused cannot escape, because professions of innocence become admission of guilt and only confessions are accept-ed.”  Many who came before McCarthy, as well as many who testified before the powerful House Un-American Activities Committee (HUCA), were willing to point fingers at others to save their own careers and reputations.” (Davis, 326)  Another historian of the 1950s, David Halberstam, writes that McCarthyism crystallized and politicized the anxieties of a nation living in a dangerous new era. “He took people who were at the worst, guilty of political naïveté (innocence, gullibility) and accused them of treason. He set out to do the unthinkable, and it turned out to be surprisingly thinkable.” (26) The 21st Century 
Fear persists. As the old millennium ended everyone who owned a computer had a new one, just in case the old computer lost all of its data because it’s built in clock wasn’t programmed past the end of 1999. People didn’t fly on January 1, 2000, just in case the computers in the plane and the control towers didn’t work. And when everything worked, Americans let out a big sigh of relief that another disaster had been overcome with American ingenuity. It was an election 
year and things were good. Three major surprises of the new millennium

o  The country woke up on the day after the November 2000 presidential election and for the first time in recent history, did not know who won the election. This showed that there were major flaws in the American election process and that our system of government might be in danger.

o  September 11, 2001 revealed America’s vulnerability to outside forces. It was a dual loss of innocence and a false sense of safety.

o  In November 2001, Enron Corporation suffered a financial and corporate melt down. The stock market that was wheezy after the events of 9/11, came tumbling down after Enron, as did consumer confidence. Where has our fear led us?

o  Increased security that infringes on rights of privacy to the masses and the loss of rights for the many people wrongly suspected of terrorism.

o  Washington, D.C. tourists can no longer get a clear view of the White House.  For security reasons, it has been surrounded by barricades.

o  The acknowledgement by the government of the abuse and torture of prisoners at the hands of American troops. This is calling forth national debate on proposed torture policy and its consequences.

o  A pervasive fear that is fed by 24-hour news accounts of the latest atrocities. Discussion Questions & Activities The Kobe Bryant case has many of the same elements of the John Proctor and Abigail Parris relationship.  How are these cases similar? A man who is in a position of power seduces a young woman, or is she the seducer? And does it matter if she was physically forced to engage in activity she said no too. Examine the different sides of the case or others where misuse of power is evident. Mohammed Ali is a well-respected former athlete. But in the 1960s his heavy weight crown was taken away because of his objections to America’s involvement in Vietnam. What was his birth name? Why was the changing of his name so upsetting to so many people? Was he a hero for standing for his 
believes? What recent stories of other citizens might you find in the newspapers? Women’s Issues 
–Using Margaret Atwood’s poem, “Half Hanged Mary,” which is based on the life of Mary Murray, have the students pick other historical or contemporary women whose lives parallel the women of Salem. They could write a monologue or poem that gives the women who suffer injustice a voice. 
Check out: http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/01/277707.shtml  (This site is provocative.) –Find information that explores how women were treated in Afghanistan during the rule of the Taliban. Separation of Church and State

Have your students explore how the happenings in Salem influenced the thinking of the writers of the Constitution of the United States nearly 100 later.

o   Stage a mock trial debating if there should be a separation of church and state.

o   Consider the preamble to the United States Constitution: 
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. 
Have your students rewrite the preamble as if they were a descendant of one of the accused or the accusers during the Salem Witch Trials. 
(Go to Contents at the top of the web page and scroll down to Study Guides. These are very interesting sites to explore the basis for the constitutional arguments that are currently being decided by the US Supreme court as well as lower courts.) 
www.constitution.org 
(Copy of an article to the National Gazette, written by James Madison and published December 20, 1792, “Who Are the Best Keepers of the People’s Liberties?”) •     Have your students explore how the happenings in Salem influenced the thinking of the writers of the Constitution of the United States. •    Have them do a mock trial. •    Provide several examples so that they can see the differences in focus of different publications and then have the students write a letter to the Editor of their choice. •    Which witch is real? Explore connections between literary and historical understanding of characters. The settings of the play Act I. – A room with a ray of morning sun light shining through a window.     There are many books in the room, spring of 1692. 
Act II. – A room of twilight, shadow, eight days later. In the fireplace, a pot is seen hanging on a swivel hook. 
Act III. – A vestry of the Salem Meeting House, ante room without windows lit only with candles and light that seeps through doorways. It is two weeks later. 
Act IV. – A dark, moonlit cell in the Salem jail, three months later. Note how the lighting in each scene changes denoting the seasons.  We begin in the morning, move to evening, then an interior room scene that has no windows, then a dark prison.  The seasons move from spring to early winter or late fall. What do the seasons and light make you think of? In some versions of the play it is divided into two acts with an extra scene. 
Act I ? Scene 1: A bedroom in Reverend Samuel Parrisí house. 
Act I ? Scene 2: The common room of Proctorís house, eight days later. 
It is daylight. Instead of a cooking pot, Proctor washes his hands. 
Act II ? Scene 1: Five Weeks later.  A clearing in a wood. A large log and a whip. (Miller moved the scene between Proctor and Abigail) 
Act II ? Scene 2: The vestry of the Salem Meeting house, two weeks later. 
Act II ? Scene 3. A cell in Salem Jail, three months later. Suggested Discussion 
1.  Why do you think the Playwright changes the setting? 
2.  Which one do you like best? 
3.  Where do you find different symbols within these descriptions? Symbolism in The Crucible The Play’s Title 
Crucible – A crucible is a container that can resist severe heat, or the bottom of an oven used to fuse or calcify metals. It also means a great trial or test.  How many times can you find a prop, or setting or action in the play that contains the symbol of a crucible? Also consider: 
Dolls – in voodoo rituals the dolls represented the person needing healing from some illness, or as a means of bringing about illness or a curse on the person that the doll represented. 
Hanging – a way of keeping evil hanging between heaven and earth. 
Rope – like a chain it represents both bonding and connecting. 
Night – is related to the passive principle, the feminine and the unconscious. Within the tradition of symbology it has the same significance as death and the color black. 
Whip – is a sign of domination and power or authority. 
Wood – a mother symbol. Suggested Student Activity 
1. Find three symbols in each act. How do the symbols make the play’s meaning clearer? 
2. Create a collage of photos and pictures representative of the play’s symbols. Hints: 
–John Proctor thinks that Rev. Parrish is like Pontus Pilate. But in the second act Proctor washes his own hands. What does that symbolize within the context of the scene with his wife Elizabeth, and later with Abigail? 
–John Proctor tastes the soup Elizabeth has made, makes a face and adds a pinch of salt. What does adding salt to something signify? How does the action reveal the relationship between Proctor and Elizabeth?   Is he thinking that his wife like her cooking is not spicy enough?  Is that his justification for having an affair with Abigail? See how simple finding a symbol is?  Try it and see if that makes the playís meaning clearer to you? Useful websites for Miller 
http://www.webenglishteacher.com/miller.html  (Links to many excellent sites including the official Miller web page. This site is the most complete. The two following entries here are examples of the other sites webenglishteacher will link you too: 
http://www.umich.edu/~amfiles/timeline.swf  (includes a time line of photographs of Millerís life and works over a historical line of photos.  Pop up explanations make this a fun site and is appropriate for middle school.) Also look at: 
http://www.curtainup.com/miller.html  (Internet Theatre Magazine of Reviews and Articles. Great source for understanding the choices that directors and designers make.) 
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/witches1.html  (Mid-evil sources for books and maps, includes extracts from The Hammer of the Witches [Malleus Maleficarum], 1486) 
http://www.areasearchguide.com/crucible.html (good search engine) 
http://www.curriculumunits.com/crucible/  (great study guide with pictures, activities, as well as production notes.  ) 
http://www.english.upenn.edu/-afilreis/50s/miller-mccarthyism.html (teacherís guide with good primary and secondary sources) 
http://www.17thc.us/docs/fact-fiction.shtml  (good historical site with interesting links) 
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/crucible/ (study guide for students, character lists, themes, synopsis) Book Resources Abbotson, Susan C.W. Student Companion to Arthur Miller . Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood, 2000. 
(Has good activities and ideas for Drama classes as well as criticism for English classes.) Asimov, Isaac. Asimov’s Chronology Of  The World: The History of the World to Modern Times . New York, Harper Collins, 1991. 
(Asimov was more widely known as a writer of science fiction.  This is an example of his grasp of history and its significance for today’s world events. Easy to read and short blocks of history going back to the “Big Bang.”) Bloom, Harold, Ed.  Modern Critical Interpretations: Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.  Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1999. 
(Includes a wide range of essays that are very helpful in seeing The Crucible’s range of themes and concerns: Jungian, feminist, historical, cultural.) Davis, Kenneth C. Don’t Know Much About History: Everything You Need to  Know About History But Never Learned. New York: Crown, 1990. 
(A concise but good overview of history and its consequences. Easy to read.) Halberstam, David.  The Fifties. New York: Villard Books, 1993. 
(The definitive book on the 1950ís. Everything from politics to poodle skirts and rock and roll.) Meltzer, Milton. Never to Forget: The Jews of the Holocaust . New York: Harper Collins, 1976. 
(Milton Melzer has written over 50 titles, many for young students.  He is a wonderful historian.  Never to Forget is filled with letters and stories of people whose lives were suddenly turned upside down by the rule of slander and fear and hatred.) Miller, Arthur. Timebends: a Life . New York: Grove Press, 1987. 
(Miller’s autobiography is packed with stories and commentary on his writing and the people whom he met on the way)

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First, The Crucible is developed with a sole focus on understanding a leader’s potential to be successful in a rigorous, private equity backed environment. Rather than taking a broad approach to assess all executives, the Crucible is uniquely calibrated for those leaders existing within “the crucible” of private equity. 

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Salem Witch Trials

• Accusers and Accused
• Officials and Others
• Descendants

Very Loosely Based on a True Story

Resources at the bpl.

• Other Resources
• Research Services at the BPL

Elizabeth Proctor- “I do not judge you. The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you. I never thought you but a good man, John – only somewhat bewildered.”- Arthur Miller

John Proctor- "Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!" - Arthur Miller

Rebecca Nurse- "A child’s spirit is like a child, you can never catch it by running after it; you must stand still, and, for love, it will soon itself come back." -Arthur Miller

Abigail Williams- "I want to open myself! . . . I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him, I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!" -Arthur Miller

Reverend Hale- "Until an hour before the Devil fell, God thought him beautiful in Heaven." -Arthur Miller

Written in 1953 by playwright Arthur Miller, The Crucible is a heavily fictionalized dramatic depiction of the events of the trials.

Miller made several changes to serve the artistic needs of the story he was writing and also made several possibly unintentional errors. His primary goal in writing the play was for it to serve as an allegory for the anti-Communist crusade of Senator Joseph McCarthy, which was itself called a witch-hunt.

The play became a success and an enduring part of the canon of American drama, and has gone through many adaptations in the past few decades including film, television, theater, and opera.

• The Crucible, or How Arthur Miller Got the Salem Witch Trials Wrong From the New England Historical Society
• Arthur Miller's The Crucible: Fact & Fiction (or Picky, Picky, Picky...) By Margo Burns, Associate Editor and Project Manager of Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt (and descendant of Rebecca Nurse)
• Is The Crucible Based on a True Story? From the Massachusetts History Blog

• Print editions of The Crucible held by the BPL Some editions include analysis and critical essays.
• Digital editions of The Crucible via the BPL catalog

• << Previous: Descendants
• Next: Resources at the BPL >>
• Last Updated: Jun 1, 2024 12:43 PM
• URL: https://guides.bpl.org/salemwitchtrials

The Crucible: Critical Insights - Table of Contents

• August 2019
• Publisher: Salem / Grey House
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Dramatizing History in Arthur Miller's The Crucible

"The Witch No. 1" - An accused witch testifying in front of a crowd at a courthouse. 

Library of Congress

"Witchcraft was hung, in History, But History and I Find all the Witchcraft that we need Around us, every Day" — Emily Dickinson, #1583.

In their book Salem Possessed , Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum remark upon the prominent place the Salem witch trials have in America's cultural consciousness. They observe, "for most Americans the episode ranks in familiarity somewhere between Plymouth Rock and Custer's last stand" (22). Moreover, they note that because of the trials' dramatic elements, "it is no coincidence that the Salem witch trials are best known today through the work of a playwright, not a historian . . . When Arthur Miller published The Crucible in the early 1950s, he simply outdid the historians at their own game" (22).

This lesson plan's goal is to examine the ways in which Miller interpreted the facts of the witch trials and successfully dramatized them. Our inquiry into this matter will be guided by aesthetic and dramatic concerns as we attempt to interpret history and examine Miller's own interpretations of it. In this lesson, students will examine some of Miller's historical sources: biographies of key players (the accused and the accusers) and transcripts of the Salem Witch trials themselves. The students will also read a summary of the historical events in Salem and study a timeline. The students will then read The Crucible itself.

By closely reading historical documents and attempting to interpret them, students will be able to put themselves in the place of playwrights; that is, they will be able to look at historical events and the people involved with them and ask, what makes these trials so compelling? What is it about this particular tragic segment of American history that appeals to the creative imagination? How can history be dramatic, and how can drama bring history to life? A reading of The Crucible will reveal how one playwright not only "outdid the historians at their own game," but also created an authentic American tragic hero.

As students examine historical materials with an eye to their dramatic potential, they can also explore the central questions of psychology and society that so fascinated Miller. Why were the leaders of Salem's clerical and civil community ready to condemn to death 19 people, who refused to acknowledge being witches, based on spectral evidence and the hysterical words of young girls? Why would the church and government authorities continue to credit these wild and unsubstantiated stories as respectable people from all walks of life—landowners, women of independent means, neighbors, even clergy—were arrested and brought to trial? What was it about the time period that made such hysteria, and ultimately tragedy, possible?

Guiding Questions

How well does history lend itself to art?

In what ways do historical events lend themselves (or not) to dramatization?

How does Arthur Miller use history to create a play that continues to speak to audiences today.

Learning Objectives

Examine the historical context of a consciously historical work of literature.

Compare facts with the fictional or dramatic treatments of the facts.

Ponder the differences between history and literature.

Discuss what makes a drama or tragedy compelling.

Recognize the close ties between a nation's history and culture and the literature it produces.

Consider the ways in which an historical event and a work of literature may mean different things for different generations of citizen readers.

Lesson Plan Details

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.1.A Introduce precise claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that establishes clear relationships among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.3 Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.6 Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.2 Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.9 Analyze seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century foundational U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (including The Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address) for their themes, purposes, and rhetorical features.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.5 Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3 Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).

• To help students complete their research for activity 1 and activity 5, download and make copies of the .pdf worksheet, Researching the Salem Witch Trials: Inference and Evidence . The worksheet is provided to help students organize their research, distinguish inference from direct evidence, formulate a main point, and develop supporting evidence. The completed worksheet might also be useful to students as they complete the final written project described in Activity 5.
• There is a section devoted to religious beliefs in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century America on Divining America: Religion and The National Culture , a resource from the EDSITEment-reviewed TeacherServe: From the National Humanities Center . (The site contains useful tips for teachers.) TeacherServe also makes available an essay entitled " Witchcraft in Salem Village: Intersections of Religion and Society ," a good introduction to the themes addressed in Miller's play, as well as " Puritanism and Predestination ," for a discussion of Puritan religious beliefs.
• For general background on this period, the EDSITEment-reviewed Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive is an invaluable source, and will be the principle resource for the student research described in activity 1. This website contains such resources as seventeenth-century documents, including court records and personal letters, and historical maps, including an interactive map of Witchcraft Accusations from February 29 to March 31, 1692  (interactive download).
• Before assigning The Crucible to students, help them to enter the mental world of Puritan New England. Contrary to their stereotype, the Puritans were not killjoys when it came to appreciation of art and music; nor did they disapprove of the enjoyment of sex within marriage. The Puritans did, however, hold firmly to their faith and disapproved of other avenues to knowing God's will (for example, the teachings of Anne Hutchinson, Quakerism). Puritans believed in the depravity of man, and they believed that only God's chosen elect would be saved. Moreover, they truly believed that God and Satan were active presences in the natural world around them; natural signs must be read to see God's will or to discover Satan's tricks. The Salem Puritan community was keenly aware of its own insecure position in regard to faith (who was saved? who wasn't? how could you tell?), good health, financial position, social status, and geography. Old England was a long way away, and the new world was fraught with peril, not the least of which was the harsh terrain itself and the Native peoples. Anything or anyone that attempted to undermine the church, civic authority, or the cohesion of the community was viewed as a threat. Indeed, fear—of isolation, of death, of chaos, of loss of faith—was very real. To the Puritans, tragedy could occur in the blink of an eye.

"Tragedy, then, is a process of imitating an action which has serious implications, is complete, and possesses magnitude; by means of language which has been made sensuously attractive, with each of its varieties found separately in the parts; enacted by the persons themselves and not presented through narrative; through a course of pity and fear completing the purification of tragic acts which have those emotional characteristics."

As you and your students discuss Aristotle's ideas and their relevance to Miller's tragedy, you may also want to share with them Miller's essay, The New Yorker , October 21, 1996, " Why I Wrote the Crucible: An Artist's Answer to Politics ." While Miller's essay does not explicitly discuss Aristotlian aesthetics, he does have interesting things to say about pity and, especially, fear.

Activity 1. Historical Figures Research: Biography and Court Transcripts

Having learned a little about the mindset of a seventeenth-century Puritan (see Preparing to Teach This Lesson for resources and ideas), students should choose one person from the following group of historical figures upon which to do research:

• Cotton Mather
• Bridget Bishop
• Rev. Samuel Parris
• Judge John Hathorne
• Abigail Williams
• Mercy Lewis
• Mary Warren
• Rebecca Nurse
• John Proctor
• Elizabeth Proctor
• Martha Cory

Students will have in-class time to do Internet searches for their historical figure. The research they do will manifest itself in first a written and then an oral report presented to the whole class. Both written and oral reports should respond to the questions: What about your character seems especially interesting or compelling? How would you dramatize your character to make him or her come to life for a contemporary audience?

For both the oral and written reports, biographical information may be found on any of the sites described in Preparing to Teach. In particular, students should visit Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive to see if their figure is included in the 3 lists of court room transcripts available; if the answer is "yes," the student should print out the transcript for his or her chosen figure's case. This transcript may give more insight into the figure's life and will certainly be a helpful source of comparison when the class begins to read The Crucible .

Written Reports —To help guide student research for the written report, download the worksheet for this lesson, Researching the Salem Witch Trials: Inference and Evidence Chart . Here are some of the questions (reproduced on the chart provided on the worksheet) that can help guide students as they gather information on their historical figure:

• What was your historical figure's social and economic status in the Salem community? That is, what did your character do for a living? Was he or she well off? Would he or she be considered educated, upper class, middle class, lower class, poor?
• How old was your character at the time of the trials? Was your character married or single?
• Was your character regarded as a good Christian?
• Was there any gossip swirling about your character?
• What was your character's reputation in the community?
• Did your character suffer from ill health or any other sort of hardship?
• Did your character bear a grudge against anyone in the community?
• Was your character accused of witchcraft? Or was he/she an accuser?

Oral Reports —The purpose of the oral report is to think like a dramatist: what aspects of this character are most interesting or engaging? The oral reports may be delivered straight or with a dramatic flair--by telling the audience what is interesting about this character, or by showing . Those students inclined to high drama should feel free to "become" their historical figure and address the class as such.

Activity 2. Reading the play

As students read the 4 acts of The Crucible , they should keep a daily journal. In this journal, students should focus on the portrayal of their historical figure. How is the character similar to the person revealed in the court transcripts or biography? How is the character different? Then they should ask the key question: Why has Miller chosen to portray a historical figure in a certain way? How has he embellished the figure to suit his own dramatic aims? And what are Miller's dramatic aims? Finally, do you agree with how Miller has presented the figure? How would you have presented the figure any differently? ( Note: Make sure the students have carefully read Miller's prefatory material, "A Note on the Historical Accuracy of the Play." Also, make the students aware that Miller offers his own interpretations of the historical figures in his digressions in Act I.) Students should be prepared to discuss their findings in class.

At some point in your discussion of the play--perhaps as an anticipatory set prior to reading the drama, or perhaps as a discussion arising naturally from your reading of and response to Miller's play--consider as a class some general questions about the nature and purposes of drama and tragedy. Students should think back to movies or books they have seen and read and ponder what kept them watching or reading: this brainstorming should lead into a discussion of what is effective drama. You should also remind students that in The Crucible , Arthur Miller was writing a tragedy. Discuss as a class the meanings of "tragedy" and "tragic hero." What understanding do students have of these terms? What do students think is the purpose of tragedy? That is, why would audiences willingly want to spend their time witnessing painful and terrible events unfolding on the stage? What makes a tragedy effective?

For further ideas about how to help students think about Miller's dramatic purposes in writing this tragedy, see the section "Defining Tragedy" in Preparation Instructions.

Activity 3. Acting out key scenes

Study of The Crucible will involve acting out 2 to 3 key scenes that bring to life what the historical transcript cannot. Indeed, each of Miller's four acts has at least one section that could be effectively acted out in class. Possibilities include:

• Act I, Betty Parris's bedroom—the girls, led by Abigail, form a conspiracy to save themselves from being punished for dancing naked in the woods.
• Act I, Conflict between Reverend Hale and Tituba. Tituba "confesses" and the girls begin their chorus of hysterical accusations.
• Act II, Elizabeth and John Proctor talk around his adultery, and John accuses Elizabeth of showing him no mercy or charity.
• Act II, Hale confronts Elizabeth and John over their Christian beliefs; John cannot remember all of the 10 commandments—particularly the one against adultery.
• Act III, Proctor calls Abigail a whore and declares that he himself is a lecher; states that his wife will vouch for his guilt.
• Act III, Elizabeth unexpectedly and ironically lies for her husband; the girls begin their hysteria against Mary Warren.

After acting out one, some, or all of the above scenes, the teacher and students should discuss how effective these scenes are as drama and how they bring to life history. Another question would be what, if anything, is Miller inventing to make history more dramatic or enticing? Are you more likely to remember one of the court transcripts or Arthur Miller's play?

Activity 4. Specific Analysis of Act IV—John Proctor as Tragic Hero

Students should focus on the following questions in their reading of this act. Their responses should be written in their journal.

• What is John Proctor's dilemma in Act IV?
• What motivates Proctor's initial decision to lie?
• What does Proctor mean when he refuses to let Danforth take his signed confession and explains, "Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!" Pay especial attention to Proctor's emphasis on his name and his distinction between it and his soul.
• How are Elizabeth Proctor's final lines—the final spoken lines of the play—essential to our understanding of John Proctor? "He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!"
• Finally, how does this act illustrate the paradox that Arthur Miller highlights in Act I: "for good purposes, even high purposes, the people of Salem developed a theocracy, a combine of state and religious power whose function was to keep the community together, and to prevent any kind of disunity that might open it to destruction by material or ideological enemies. It was forged for a necessary purpose and accomplished that purpose. But all organization is and must be grounded on the idea of exclusion and prohibition, just as two objects cannot occupy the same space. . . The witch-hunt was a perverse manifestation of the panic which set in among all classes when the balance began to turn toward greater individual freedom."

Activity 5. Final Project

The final project will be an essay that each student will write. Students who have completed the worksheet, Researching the Salem Witch Trials: Inference and Evidence (see Activity 1), will find it a useful aid for developing and supporting a thesis.

Possible topics include:

• Further exploration of the comparison between the student's historical figure and its dramatic counterpart. In a well-argued analysis, show the reader how Miller works with a historical figure to make him or her a compelling, dynamic, dramatic figure. Point to examples from history and from the play text.
• How or why does The Crucible still speak to audiences today? Students who are particularly savvy about current events could begin with Miller's own quotation in the introduction of this lesson plan and spin a paper off from it.
• Analysis of The Crucible as an American tragedy with John Proctor as an American tragic hero.
• Pretend that you are a playwright who has a keen interest in history. Tonight is the night that your writers' group meets to discuss individual projects. Your goal is to present to your group your idea for dramatizing a past event—it may be a recent current event. Describe, in writing, why you think the event would make good drama and how you would dramatize it. Be sure to think carefully about story, conflict, character, and resolution.

Miller's The Crucible and Cold War America

Many teachers use The Crucible with their discussion of McCarthyism. Another interesting connection would be to teach the play with a film that is very much about McCarthyism—John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate . Students could make very profitable comparisons between the film's tragic hero, Raymond Shaw, and The Crucible 's John Proctor.

Miller himself suggests that one reason why his play remains a popular version of history is that the fears and paranoia that brought about the witch trials are still with us today. Consequently, not only is his play about history, his play has made history. In an article for The New Yorker Miller writes, "The play stumbled into history, and today, I am told, it is one of the most heavily demanded trade-fiction paperbacks in this country; the Bantam and Penguin editions have sold more than six million copies. I don't think there has been a week in the past forty-odd years when it hasn't been on a stage somewhere in the world" (164).

The Crucible engages its audience with its treatment of the subversive and the potentially transgressive; in short, evil. Through the play, Miller clearly suggests that history never really dies; rather, to use a cliché, it repeats itself. Witchcraft, as Dickinson poetically observes, may have been "hung" in history, but that does not mean it has been silenced. Indeed, Miller uses witchcraft and the Salem witch trials simply as a metaphor for situations wherein those who are in power accuse those who challenge them of suspect behavior in order to destroy them. Salem is an early example of what Miller saw around him in the 1950s—the communist witch hunts and McCarthyism. Miller explains,

"I am not sure what "The Crucible" is telling people now, but I know that its paranoid center is still pumping out the same darkly attractive warning that it did in the fifties. For some, the play seems to be about the dilemma of relying on the testimony of small children accusing adults of sexual abuse, something I'd not have dreamed of forty years ago. For others, it may simply be a fascination with the outbreak of paranoia that suffuses the play—the blind panic that, in our age, often seems to sit at the dim edges of consciousness. Certainly its political implications are the central issue for many people; the Salem interrogations turn out to be eerily exact models of those yet to come in Stalin's Russia, Pinochet's Chile, Mao's China, and other regimes . . . . But below its concerns with justice the play evokes a lethal brew of illicit sexuality, fear of the supernatural, and political manipulation . . . . (p. 164)." -Arthur Miller on The Crucible,  The New Yorker (v. 72, Oct. 21 & 28, 1996)

Selected EDSITEment Websites

Arthur Miller, "Why I wrote The Crucible ."

American Studies at the University of Virginia

•   Pilgrims and Puritans: Background

TeacherServe from the National Humanities Center

• Divining America: Religion and The National Culture
• " Witchcraft in Salem Village: Intersections of Religion and Society "
• " Puritanism and Predestination "

Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive

Materials & Media

Dramatizing history in arthur miller's the crucible: researching the salem witch trials - inference and evidence, related on edsitement, understanding the salem witch trials, salem witch trials: understanding the hysteria, arthur miller’s the crucible : witch hunting for the classroom.

Literary English

Introduction and Historical Background to The Crucible

Introduction to Author of The Crucible

Arthur Miller was born on October 17, 1915, in Harlem. He was the son of Isidore and Augusta Miller, who were Polish immigrants. He graduated in 1933 from high school in New York. He applied to several universities but could not get admission. Miller had multiple talents and worked a variety of odd jobs. He worked for hosting a radio program then he was accepted by the University of Michigan. He studied journalism at school and worked as editor of the Michigan Daily.

Miller’s writing career expands over sixty years. During this span, he has written twenty-six plays, a collection of short stories, several travel journals, a novel, and an autobiography. The central theme of Miller’s plays generally revolves around social issues, or an individual at the mercy of society.

Miller’s play, The Crucible, 1953, reveals the witchcraft trials held in Salem, focusing on paranoid hysteria as well as the individual’s struggle to remain true to ideals and convictions. Miller also wrote the screenplay of The Crucible for the movie version, which was produced in 1996.

Major works of Arthur Miller

• No Villain, 1936
• Honors at Dawn, 1937
• The Great Disobedience, 1938
• The Golden Years, 1940
• The Man Who Had All the Luck, 1944
• All My Sons, 1947
• Death of a Salesman, 1949
• The Crucible, 1953
• After the Fall, 1964
• Incident at Vichy, 1964
• The Price, 1968
• The American Clock, 1980
• Elegy for a Lady, 1982
• Some Kind of Love Story, 1982
• The Ride Down Mountain Morgan, 1991
• The Last Yankee, 1993
• Broken Glass, 1994

Introduction and Historical Background to the play The Crucible

Arthur Miller’s was inspired by the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s. His play “The Crucible” highlights inconsistencies of the witch trials held in Salem causing extreme behavior resulted from malicious desires and hidden plan.

Witchcraft Trail in “The Crucible”

The play “The Crucible” is bases on the historical event of the witch trials in Salem. Miller lights on the discovery of some teenage girls dancing in the woods in attempt to conjuring spirits. He highlights the point that rather than having severe punishment, the girls accused other individuals of practicing witchcraft. The situation was very ironical that the girls avoided punishment by accusing other individuals who were not involved in the guilt. The young girls’ falsely accusing resulted in mass paranoia and an environment of terror and fear in which every person was a potential witch. A self-perpetuating cycle of doubts, accusations, imprisons, executions, and convictions emerged. By the end of 1692, the court had charged and hanged nineteen men and women in Salem witch trail. 

The Crucible

• Brief Introductions To The Characters
• Introduction And Historical Background 
• Summary Of The Crucible By Arthur Miller
• Character Analysis Of John Proctor
• Character Analysis Of Abigail Williams

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The Theater Lab produces vital and timely 1953 play, ‘The Crucible’

“The Theater Lab, a District 214 Community Education program, is committed to producing works from the canon of American Theater,” says John Meyers, director of the production and artistic director for The Theater Lab. “Regardless of how one curates it, ‘The Crucible’ by Arthur Miller is one of the core plays of our culture.”

“The Crucible” is commonly interpreted as a reenactment based on the historical events of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692-93. “The playwright, Arther Miller, traveled to Salem to do thorough historical research,” says Meyers.

Historical facts included in “The Crucible” based on the Salem Witch Trials include the names of the characters of the play, who are all based on real people.

History also shows that during the Salem Witch Trials, hundreds were accused, 19 people were hanged, one was pressed to death with weights while refusing to confess, and at least five others died of disease in the filthy jails.

Meyers comments, “It was an episode of mass hysteria orchestrated by amoral cynics seeking personal power and wealth that destroyed the lives of innocent people.”

“Though referring to real-life events and individuals who were part of the historical Salem Witch Trials, ‘The Crucible’ is not a documentary,” continues Meyers. “And though characters in “The Crucible” are based on real people involved in the Salem Witch Trials, there are some crucial differences, particularly in the characterizations of John Proctor and Abigail Williams.” At the time of the trials, Abigail was 12 and John Proctor was 61.

“Although Williams charged Proctor with lechery there is no reason to believe this any more than her accusations of witchcraft,” says Meyers. “Elizabeth Proctor had been accused for questioning whether there was witchcraft at all, and John defended his wife, but the Proctors’ possessions were sold off cheaply and they were both hanged. The playwright, Miller, slanders John Proctor by having made his affair with Abigail a fact in the play; Miller’s reasons for doing so were intimate.”

In 1940, Miller, married Mary Slattery and had two children with her; Jane, in 1944, and Robert in 1947. Then, in 1951, when Miller was 36 he had an affair with Marilyn Monroe, who was 25 at the time. Miller would later divorce his wife in 1956 and marry Monroe in 1956.

“What this means,” says Meyers, “is that when Miller wrote the play in 1953, he had been a family man who had an affair with a much younger woman a few years earlier. An affair that was still very likely weighing on his heart, mind and marriage. It is not difficult to draw a connection between the fictional John Proctor as more of a reflection of how Miller saw himself than who the real-life John Proctor of The Salem Witch Trials really was.”

“The Crucible,” was written and produced in 1953, and while it may have been written under the guise of the Salem Witch Trials, it was also written during a “real life witch hunt.” Miller himself would have been living through the “Red Scare” of McCarthyism, when Elia Kazan was providing the names of supposedly “communist” writers and artists to the House Committee on Un-American Activities. As a part of these accusations, Miller was brought before Joseph McCarthy and his Un-American Committee in 1956, where Miller was found in contempt of Congress for refusing to give the names of other artists who shared his views. Miller was sentenced to a fine, prison, blacklisted from Hollywood and denied a passport.

“In this, too,” says Meyers, “Miller portrayed himself in the character of John Proctor of the play who refused to give the names of others to save himself.”

What we see in “The Crucible” then, is a play that, on the surface, appears to tell the story of a historical event, The Salem Witch Trials. When we dig deeper, we realize that interwoven is another historical witch hunt, McCarthyism, that the playwright personally experienced, as well as some of the artist’s personal challenges. As is often the case with artists, it’s a story of atonement and foreboding.

“Ultimately, the play is therefore about much more than a case of adultery,” Meyers concludes. “It is about a community that tears itself apart looking for witches. It is about how a slave-holding minister utterly failed to be a moral leader. It is about how the powerful exploit the weak and how easy it is for a lie to overcome the truth, particularly when it suits the powerful for it to do so. And this, especially, is how it is a piece of theater that is as vital and timely today as it was in 1953.”

The Theater Lab will present a limited four-performance run of “The Crucible”: Friday, Aug. 16 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 17 at 3 and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Aug. 18 at 3 p.m. All performances will take place at Forest View Educational Center Theater, 2121 S. Goebbert Road, Arlington Heights.

Tickets for The Theater Lab’s production of “The Crucible” can be purchased through District 214 Community Education’s registration system at links.d214.org/thecrucible or by calling (847) 718-7700.

General admission tickets in advance are $22 in for adults, $20 for seniors, and $16 for students. At the door prices are $24 for adults, $22 for seniors, and $18 for students, and District 214 Gold Card Members receive 15% off.

To find out about ticket promotions, special performances, learn more about The Theater Lab, and go behind the scenes of its production of “The Crucible,” follow “District 214 Community Education's The Theater Lab” on Facebook and Instagram.

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At a Festival Amid Industrial Ruins, Ivo van Hove Takes Charge

For the Belgian director’s first edition as leader of the Ruhrtriennale, abandoned sites are “the starting point and the end point,” he says.

By Elisabeth Vincentelli

The calling card of the Ruhrtriennale Festival of the Arts is to present shows in former industrial sites, like power stations or coal plants, among cities in the Ruhr region of northwestern Germany. For the theater-maker Ivo van Hove, who is presenting his first season as the festival’s artistic director, this is churning up feelings of déjà vu.

“I was 20 years old at a time in Belgium when theater was the most old-fashioned thing you could imagine,” van Hove, 65, said. “My generation made a real change and we did that by, for instance, not playing in theaters. My first production was in an abandoned laundry. We played for 30 people and we had 30 actors onstage.”

The scale is much larger at the Ruhrtriennale , but at least van Hove had staged five productions at the festival before taking the helm, so he is familiar with the artistic parameters.

One of them is paying attention to musical theater, which can take on vastly different forms in Europe compared with English-speaking countries. According to Krystian Lada, a Polish director who helped van Hove put together the slate, the Ruhrtriennale is known for presenting “a new vision of music theater” in Germany, where so-called high and low cultures are often rigidly separated. Lada’s own entry in the 2024 festival, “ Abendzauber ,” combines works by Bruckner and Björk.

Van Hove’s “ I Want Absolute Beauty ,” which kicks off the festival on Friday, revolves around the “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest” star Sandra Hüller (whom he had directed in Eugene O’Neill’s play “Strange Interlude” in 2013) performing a song cycle pulled from P.J. Harvey’s back catalog. (Van Hove’s take on musical theater, or any theater for that matter, is often divisive : A recent review in The New York Times called his musical adaptation of the film “Opening Night,” with new songs by Rufus Wainwright, “ a travesty .”)

Other offerings of note at the festival include “ Legende ,” the dissident Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov’s take on the filmmaker Sergei Parajanov’s work; Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s new dance piece “Y”; and Philip Venables and Ted Huffman’s music-theater work “ The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions .”

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