Analysis Of The Crucible By Arthur Miller

The Crucible, a four-act play written by Arthur Miller in 1953, is only a slightly fictional reenactment of the Salem Witch Trials that took place in Massachusetts in 1692. In gory detail, Arthur Miller’s play not only captures the truth on the terrible events surrounding the Salem Witch Trials, but his inspiration for writing it, the McCarthy Trials, reminds us how quickly history is able to repeat itself. Miller begins The Crucible, “in the spring of the year 1692.” (Miller, 1953) Reverend Samuel Parris’s daughter and his niece Abigail Williams appeared to be experiencing fits of madness after they were discovered dancing naked in the woods. The girls presented with screams, convulsions, and even hallucinations. In reality, the Puritan girls feared being accused of witchcraft because not only was it against the law and punishable by death, but witchcraft was also a sin against God and would condemn their soul to hell. Once it was evident that they had been caught, the girls began pointing fingers to accuse others in the community of working with the Devil and casting spells upon them. The girl’s lies were fueled by fear, not only were they trying to save themselves from a death sentence, but also their souls from eternal damnation. However, Abigail, Ruth, and her guilty companions could not have foreseen the witch-hunt their lies produced, nor could the girls have known the amount of hysteria that would encompass the trial’s proceedings or how quickly it would spread throughout Salem. The Salem Witch Trials lasted eight months in total and during that time more than 150 people were imprisoned for witchcraft and a total of twenty people were killed. Among the twenty killed, fifteen women and four men were hung at the gallows while one man, Giles Corey, was stoned to death for refusing to give a confession. (American Masters, 2003) The trials had everyone panic-stricken, struggling to protect their good standing within the Puritan community and those in power fighting to stay in power. Eventually, the injustice of the trials was brought to light, their proceedings are stopped, and “Twenty years after the last execution, the government awarded compensation to the victims still living, and to the families of the dead.” (Miller, 1953) Arthur Miller was born to Jewish immigrants on October 17, 1915 in Harlem, New York. Miller grew up witnessing first-hand the immense impact the Depression had on American society and his family. After graduating from high school, Miller was determined to get more out of life so he worked multiple jobs and saved up enough money to put himself through college at the University of Michigan. Eventually, Miller became a …show more content…
The play also mimics the McCarthy era, emphasizing the campaign against alleged communists, as well as, its similarity with the historical Salem Witch Trials. In fact, Miller seamlessly defined every parallel between the McCarthy Trials and the Salem Witch Trials without having to directly connect the two events together. Although writing The Crucible got Miller blacklisted, he recovered his reputation and his career quickly took off as he became world famous. On the other hand, Senator Joseph McCarthy’s career of hunting infiltrated Communists was short lived. McCarthyism was especially difficult on the writers and entertainers labeling many of them as communist sympathizers. The blacklisted had their name and reputation slandered by the attention and heavy media coverage on the McCarthy Trials. Those blacklisted also had to give up their passports, as well as, other privileges like the right to work. Most were left without jobs, while many were sentenced to jail for not having names of other communists to give up as evidence. Some of those well-known artists that were called before the committee were, “Dashiell Hammett, Waldo Salt, Lillian Hellman, Lena Horne, Paul Robeson, Elia Kazan, Arthur Miller, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Charlie Chaplin and Group Theatre members Clifford Odets, Elia …show more content…
Dir. Michael Epstein. PBS, 2003. YouTube. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.
Biography.com Editors. "Arthur Miller Biography." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 14 Sept. 2016. Web. 23 Nov. 2016.
Brooks, Rebecca Beatrice. "History of the Salem Witch Trials." History of Massachusetts Blog. N.p., 18 Aug. 2011. Web. 20` Nov. 2016.
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. N.p.: n.p., 1953.