The Crucible

The Crucible – Arthur Miller

Main Aims:

· What are the relationships between the characters of TheCrucible?
· What contributed to the events leading up to the real witch trials of 1692?
· How do the political events of the 1950s contribute to our understanding of The Crucible?

Context
E arly in the year 1692, in the small Massachusetts village of Salem, a collection of girls fell ill, falling victim to hallucinations and seizures. In extremely religious Puritan New England, frightening or surprising occurrences were often attributed to the devil or his cohorts. The unfathomable sickness spurred fears of witchcraft, and it was not long before the girls, and then many other residents of Salem, began to accuse other villagers of consorting with devils and casting spells. Old grudges and jealousies spilled out into the open, fueling the atmosphere of hysteria. The Massachusetts government and judicial system, heavily influenced by religion, rolled into action. Within a few weeks, dozens of people were in jail on charges of witchcraft. By the time the fever had run its course, in late August 1692, nineteen people (and two dogs) had been convicted and hanged for witchcraft.
More than two centuries later, Arthur Miller was born in New York City on October 17, 1915. His career as a playwright began while he was a student at the University of Michigan. Several of his early works won prizes, and during his senior year, the Federal Theatre Project in Detroit performed one of his works. He produced his first great success, All My Sons, in 1947. Two years later, in 1949, Miller wrote Death of a Salesman, which won the Pulitzer Prize and transformed Miller into a national sensation. Many critics described Death of a Salesman as the first great American tragedy, and Miller gained an associated eminence as a man who understood the deep essence of the United States.
Drawing on research on the witch trials he had conducted while an undergraduate, Miller composed The Crucible in the early 1950s. Miller wrote the play during the brief ascendancy of Senator Joseph McCarthy, a demagogue whose vitriolic anti-Communism proved the spark needed to propel the United States into a dramatic and fractious anti-Communist fervor during these first tense years of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Led by McCarthy, special congressional committees conducted highly controversial investigations intended to root out Communist sympathizers in the United States. As with the alleged witches of Salem, suspected Communists were encouraged to confess and to identify other Red sympathizers as means of escaping punishment. The policy resulted in a whirlwind of accusations. As people began to realize that they might be condemned as Communists regardless of their innocence, many “cooperated,” attempting to save themselves through false confessions, creating the image that the United States was overrun with Communists and perpetuating the hysteria. The liberal entertainment industry, in which Miller worked, was one of the chief targets of these “witch hunts,” as their opponents termed them. Some cooperated; others, like Miller, refused to give in to questioning. Those who were revealed, falsely or legitimately, as Communists, and those who refused to incriminate their friends, saw their careers suffer, as they were blacklisted from potential jobs for many years afterward.
At the time of its first performance, in January of 1953, critics and cast alike perceived The Crucible as a direct attack on McCarthyism (the policy of sniffing out Communists). Its comparatively short run, compared with those of Miller’s other works, was blamed on anti-Communist fervor. When Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were accused of spying for the Soviets and executed, the cast and audience of Miller’s play observed a moment of silence. Still, there are difficulties with interpreting The Crucible as a strict allegorical treatment of 1950s McCarthyism. For one thing, there were, as far as one can tell, no actual witches or devil-worshipers in Salem. However, there were certainly Communists in 1950s America, and many of those who were lionized as victims of McCarthyism at the time, such as the Rosenbergs and Alger Hiss (a former State Department official), were later found to have been in the pay of the Soviet Union. Miller’s Communist friends, then, were often less innocent than the victims of the Salem witch trials, like the stalwart Rebecca Nurse or the tragic John Proctor.
If Miller took unknowing liberties with the facts of his own era, he also played fast and loose with the historical record. The general outline of events in The Crucible corresponds to what happened in Salem of 1692, but Miller’s characters are often composites. Furthermore, his central plot device—the affair between Abigail Williams and John Proctor—has no grounding in fact (Proctor was over sixty at the time of the trials, while Abigail was only eleven). Thus, Miller’s decision to set sexual jealousy at the root of the hysteria constitutes a dramatic contrivance.
In an odd way, then, The Crucible is best read outside its historical context—not as a perfect allegory for anti-Communism, or as a faithful account of the Salem trials, but as a powerful and timeless depiction of how intolerance and hysteria can intersect and tear a community apart. In John Proctor, Miller gives the reader a marvelous tragic hero for any time—a flawed figure who finds his moral center just as everything is falling to pieces around him.

· Read the play CAREFULLY.

When you finish each act, read the Summaries and Analysis at http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/crucible/


· Vocabulary study: Glossary: these words are defined for you.

1. theocracy: governed by religion
2. providence: God’s will; God’s intervention in human affairs
3. Puritanical: strict in morality and religion; this term has come about since the reign of the Puritans
4. inculcation: impress with insistent urging; convince
5. propitiation: win good will
6. ameliorate: improve
7. theology: the study of a religious doctrine; what a particular sect believes
8. vestry: the room in the church where robes are kept
9. apparition: ghost
10. trafficked: have dealings with
11. blink: tolerate


· Study Questions: Answer each fully
Act I
1. What was Samuel Parris’s attitude toward children?
2. Why do you think Rev. Parris has many enemies?
3. After Parris begins to believe his daughter to be afflicted by witchcraft, what is Thomas Putnam’s advice to him?
4. What truths come out when the adults leave the girls alone?
5. What’s going on between Abigail and John Proctor?
6. Why does Betty start screaming?
7. Why are some people, including John Proctor, inclined to stay away from Sabbath meeting?
8. Why does Hale believe the Devil would strike Rev. Parris’s house?
9. Though Rev. Hale is trying to get Tituba to name her accomplices, who is the first person to actually mention names?
10. Why isn’t it difficult for Ann Putnam to believe that Goody Osburn is a witch?


Act II
11. What do you know about the relationship between John and Elizabeth Proctor from the stage action and opening dialogue of Act II?
12. Describe the power Abigail has in the court room.
13. What’s going on between the Proctors on pages 52-53 (________)?
14. Though Mary Warren cannot say who accused Elizabeth Proctor, who do you believe accused her and why?
15. Ironically, which commandment can John not remember?
16. John Proctor seems to be the only voice of reason in the confusing end of Act II. What are some examples to support this idea?
17. Why is Mary Warren afraid of telling the truth about Abigail, for herself and for John?

Act III
18. Over and over, Danforth says that the good have nothing to fear. What evidence can you give to show that the opposite is true?
19. On pages 95-96 (_______) Danforth gives the premise for judging a witch. Summarize his guidelines.
20. Mary Warren's testimony is destroyed in the end because she cannot do something. What? How does she explain the problem?
21. Finally, Proctor admits that he and Abigail have been lovers. This truth could be the end of Abigail’s control. Why isn’t it?
22. What is the importance of John Proctor’s last speech (in Act III)?

Act IV
23. What is Hale’s mission in Act IV?
24. Parris tells Danforth, “You cannot hang this sort” (123). What does he mean?
25. Why won’t Danforth pardon the prisoners?
26. Do you think Elizabeth Proctor would confess if she were in her husband’s place? Explain.
27. In the end, what is it that is of utmost importance to John Proctor?


· When you finish the Play read and study about Themes, Motifs and Symbols and Analysis of Major Characters at http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/crucible/


· Character study: For each of the following characters, write who she/he is, what relationship to other characters, any important character or personality traits and any other important information.


Who is he/she?
Relationship to whom?
Problem? Acts of courage/cowardice?

Reverend Samuel Parris

Betty Parris

Abigail Williams

Tituba

Mrs. Ann Putnam

Thomas Putnam

John Proctor

Elizabeth Proctor

Rebecca Nurse

Reverend John Hale

· Think of what you mean when you use the words “honor,” “truth,” “justice,” or “courage.” Choose one character that exemplifies your idea of one of these ideals and explain how he/she lives up to your standards (or do the reverse: fails to live up to your standards).