Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #143900 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Customer Reviews

"Show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it."
When John Proctor says these words to his wife Elizabeth at the conclusion of this play, he has faced accusations of being in league with the Devil and is ready to face consequences meted out by the religious tribunal he has faced. Though he has sinned by committing adultery with Abigail Williams, he believes the witchcraft trials which have ultimately consumed him to be the result of human, rather than godly, forces. Playwright Arthur Miller sets the scene for this action in an Overture explaining the theocracy which controlled Salem. Powerful clergymen, some more rigid in their interpretations of Scripture than others, "protected" citizens by enforcing conformity with the church's teachings.

Through detailed character sketches inserted into the structure of the play, Miller broadens the realism, and when a group of hysterical young women makes accusations of witchcraft, resulting ultimately in the deaths of nineteen of their fellow-citizens, Miller has prepared his audience to accept the trials and the behavior of the characters as plausible. His straightforward prose, use of homely details, and simple sentence structure (despite its archaic tone) further add to the realism. When the affair between John Proctor and Abigail Williams, who precipitates and then promotes the hysteria among the young "afflicted" girls, is revealed within the play, the modern reader is given a "hook" with which to identify with characters and situations which might otherwise feel foreign.

Miller's play is a powerful revelation of themes involving mass hysteria, fear of the unknown, and a belief in the essential evil hidden within the hearts of men. As the accused are required to prove their innocence, questions regarding the role of individualism within this society, its intolerance of differences, its justice as defined by the state and by clergymen who differ, and the hysteria which grows from repression all surface within the dramatic action, leading to an intensity of feeling rare in modern theater. When John Proctor is faced with a choice of telling the truth and being sentenced to death or lying and being saved, the ironies of the play are fully revealed.

Written in 1952, slightly before the McCarthy era, Miller's depiction of these trials presages the McCarthy hearings and illustrates his belief that the fear of Communism is the equivalent of fear of the Devil in colonial times. Miller, however, has selected facts which illustrate his point of view and his themes, making no pretense of accuracy regarding the witchcraft trials themselves. In reality, Abigail Williams was eleven, and John Proctor was sixty, quite different from the dramatic circumstances here. Mary Whipple

AMAZING
This is by far one of my favourite plays ever- the characters are all amazing, written in true Miller style. The play is set in Salem, Massachusets in the 17th Century- paralleling the real witch hunt which happened in the strict puritan village with the McCarthy trials of America's Red Scare during the Cold War. I personally think of Miller as a genius and this play is perfect both on the stage (if performed well) as it is on the page. The language is simply beautiful.

A Great Play Based On The Salem Witch Trials Of 1692
'The Crucible' is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1953, based mainly on the historical events of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. These were classic examples of mass hysteria which resulted in a great many respectable men and woman, charged with being in league with the devil. The play also includes elements of the Macarthy Hearings, which dominated America during the 1950's, where many suspected of being related to communism were interviewed and forced to give up names of others, or they were imprisioned and their names black-listed. Arthur Miller actually lived through these hearings, and was himself accused.

This is a very clever play in that it not only uses historical events as it's background, but it uses names of real people who were caught up in The Salem Witch Trials. For example John Proctor, Abigail, Paris, and Hale all appear in old documents written back in 1692, connected with the trials. Their fate is also mentioned in such documents, and Miller has used these in his play.

In 'The Crucible' Arthur Miller tried to use 17th century lanuage in order for it to appear realistic to the reader. He uses old fasioned, archaic words such as 'Bid' (which means 'told'), 'Aye' and 'Nay' (for 'yes' and 'no'), and 'hearty' (for 'well'). There is unfarmilliar use of the verb 'to be' for example; 'it were' instead of 'it was', and 'there be' instead of 'there is'. He makes use of double negatives, for example; 'he cannot discover 'no' medicen', and 'I don't compact with 'no' devil'. Most of the speech is also spoken in the second person, for example; 'Let you strike out'.

Character development, as in most good books and plays, seems to be a big thing in 'The Crucible' and the audiences responce to each character changes from act to act. For example the audiences responce to John Proctor, who is the main character in the play, changes quite a lot between Act one and Act four.

As you can see, 'The Crucible' is a superb play which is different in that it is based on the true historical facts of not only the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, but also of the Macarthy Hearings of the 1950's. Both these things were similar in more than one way, hence why Miller combined them in this play. A great read, and probably the only play or story ever written about the Witch Trials. Not only a good read, but also a good insight into the events of 1692.