The Crucibleby Arthur Miller

Bio

• Born October 17, 1915

• Middle-class upbringing in Jewish faith

• Studied as little as possible – school was an interruption

• Great Depression – needed an education

Bio

• Did not go to college until 19 – University of Michigan – wanted to write

• Playwright

• All My Sons; Death of a Salesman• 1953 – The Crucible >>> lukewarm reviews• 1958 – successful revival

Crucible

• Earthenware pot or bowl used for melting

• Whatever is in a crucible is subject to intense heat

• Metaphysical – a severe, even, agonizing test

McCarthy Era

• Senator Joseph McCarthy (R, WI)• House Un-American Activities Committee,

1953• Communist hunt• America in danger from a Communist

conspiracy to take over the world• “witch hunt”• Black listed – ended careers

Salem Witch Trials v McCarthyism

• Climate of fear • Wholesale suspension of rational judgment • People who challenged the authority of the court found themselves under

suspicion of guilt • “Notion that conscience was no longer a private matter but one of state

administration • People’s questions of authority found themselves under suspicion • Disregard for legal rights: no counsel, guilty by association

Causes for the Outbreak of Witchcraft Hysteria in Salem

• Strong belief that Satan is acting in the world “The invisible world”: disease, natural catastrophes, and bad fortune attributed to work of the devil

• Belief that Satan recruits witches and wizards to work for him. Prior witchcraft cases in N.E. and Europe

• Belief that a person afflicted by witchcraft exhibits certain symptoms

Cotton Mather’s Memorable ProvidencesMost symptoms can be feigned

• Time of troubles, making it seem likely that Satan was activeSmallpoxCongregations strife in Salem VillageFrontier wars with Indians

• Stimulation of imaginations by Tituba – charismatic• Convulsion ergotism, disease caused by eating

infecting rye (ergot) that can produce hallucinations, causing strange behavior (interesting theory – but likely?)

• Teenage boredomNo forms of entertainment (CD, TV, etc) – lots of Bible readingStrict and humorless Parris household (as well as Puritan households)

• Magistrates and judges receptive to accusations of witchcraft

Seen as way to shift blame for their own wartimes failures

Admission of “Spectral” evidence – spectral means spirit

• Confessing “witches” adding credibility to earlier charges

• Old feuds (disputes within congregation, property disputes) between the accusers and the accused spurring charges of witchcraft

Why the Hysteria Ended

• Doubts grow when respected citizens are convicted and executedRebecca Nurse (jury first acquits, then told to reconsider)George Burroughs (recites Lord’s Prayer perfectly at hanging)Giles Corey (81 year-old is pressed to death)

• Accusations of witchcraft include the powerful and well-connectedWife of Governor PhipsMary and Philip English (and others)

• The educated elite of Boston pressure Gov. Phips to exclude “spectral” evidence

Rev. Samuel Willard and othersIncrease Mather points out the Devil

could take the shape of an innocent person: “It were better that 10 suspected witches should escape than one innocent person should be condemned.”

• Gov. Phips bars spectral evidence and disbands the Court of Oyer and Terminer

Lessons Learned from Salem?

• Hysteria happens• Children (especially) can be influenced by

suggestion and peer pressure to say things that are not true.

• We should be skeptical of confessions when the confessions are the result of torture or when the person has a self-interest in confession.

• A cooling off period can sometimes prevent injustices

Lessons

• Trials should be fairEvidence introduced should be reliable

Witnesses should be subject to cross- examination

Defendants should have legal assistance and be allowed to testify on their own behalf

Judges should be unbiased

Modern-day witch hunts?

• HUAC/McCarthy “Communist hunts of early 1950s (events that inspired The Crucible)

• Day care abuse trials of 1980s (child witnesses, accusations multiply, people afraid to support accused, unbelievable charges, hysteria)

• McMartin Preschool Abuse Trial (longest and most expensive criminal trial in American history)

The Crucible – Literary Terms

• Style• 3 ½ months time frame• 1 week between acts• Action in 4 places – all around Salem • POV• John Proctor – victim• Feel his suffering• Good, honest but not perfect

• Allegory – expended metaphor>>>persons and objects in story represent meaning outside of the storySurface>>>>Salem Witch TrialsAllegorical>>>>McCarthy Era

• Exposition – part of the play which is not presented

dramaticallyDirect statementsSet stage“Greek Chorus”

• Antecedent Actions – action that occurs before the play opens (i.e. dance in the woods)

• Symbolism – something that stands for or represents something else

• Conventional – widely known or accepted (universal)

• love, heart

• no, not

• Personal – developed on a personal level

• SymbolsCandlesticks, title to house, firewood – Parris’ materialismDancing – pleasure (forbidden)Strength – John Proctor’s resolveVoice of reason – Rebecca NurseEvil - ????????????????Self-sacrifice – Giles CoreyAbuse of authority – Judge DanforthWhat is “right” – Rev. Hale

Form and Structure

• 21 characters• Act I – sets up terrible possibility• Act IV – brings terrible thing to pass>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>• Act I – Will town leap to witchcraft?• Act II – Will the Proctors get caught up in the witch

hunt?• Act III Will Abigail foil John’s attempt to discredit

her?• Act IV – Will John Proctor hang?

Themes

• Individual conscience and guilt by association

• Individual commitment to the society in which one belongs

• No man can live his own personal life, ignoring the events around him

• Hypocrisy• Revenge

Themes

• Abuse of authority• Guilt• Hysteria• Integrity and courage

Theme Statements

• It is possible for human beings who appear to be agreeable and normal to be knowingly fully committed to evil.

• A mounting tide of evil within a society can gain ascendancy disproportionate to the evil in any one member.

• Truth has no meaning when men believe only what they want to believe.

• Honest common sense is impotent against unyielding fanaticism.

Theme Statements• Men can insulate themselves from truth and

rationality by a chauvinistic confidence in their own judgment.

• The infection of evil may spread by ordinary people who are both the mindless agents and victims.

Theme Statements

• Long-suffering may instruct that moral integrity, human dignity, and spiritual freedom are of more value than a life without them.

• All evil needs to succeed is for good men to stand by and do nothing.