1. The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Background & Pre-Reading Information

2. Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller: 1915-2005
Raised in Harlem & Brooklyn, New York
Child of Polish-Jewish immigrants
Loss of wealth through Stock Market Crash
Activist & playwright
Transformed American theater

3. Arthur Miller cont.
Struggled financially & faced anti-semitism (hatred of Jews)
B.A. English Literature, University of Michigan
Worked odd jobs/suffered through the Great Depression
Decay of the American Dream
Death of a Salesman
Plays dealt with reality of America instead of its idealization, particularly working class America

4. Miller & McCarthyism Senator Joseph McCarthy
Communist Paranoia: 1940s-1950s “McCarthyism”
Red Scare: period of anti-Communist suspicion)
HUAC: House Un-American Activities Committee
Miller convicted of Contempt of Congress
Hollywood Blacklist

5. The Crucible & the Salem Witch Trials
The Crucible = metaphor/allegory
Salem Town, Massachusetts, 1692
Cautionary tale
-religious extremism - no due process
-- false accusations - individual liberties
Both Salem & McCarthy trials used fear to control, accused innocents, created mass hysteria
All tried were convicted
Capital punishment
Power of accusation: just being accused enough to destroy a life: (guilty until proven innocent)
Aligns w/Puritan faith

6. The Stats
Before the court was discredited, 19 adults (14 women & 5 men) and 2 dogs were hanged
Another man was pressed to death
The girls in Salem originally accused 24 people, but over 150 were placed in jail
More than 55 escaped by confessing
The jury was 12 men

7. Historical Significance & Effects
Relatively historically accurate, save some ages
Still a piece of fiction
Fallout of Salem Witch Trials:
Beginnings of the crumbling of Theocracy in America & precursor to separation of church and state in U.S. Constitution

8. How it all begins… Tituba & Caribbean religions The girls…
Naked dancing!

9. The Players John Proctor Elizabeth Proctor Abigail Williams
Reverend Parris
Reverend Hale
Judge Hathorne
Rebecca & Francis Nurse

10. Overview The Crucible is both a Puritan & Modern/Post-Modern text
Reveals Colonial/Puritan values but also challenges a 1950s American society plagued by Cold War fears
The Crucible as act of protest
Miller vs. Kazan
FACT: Miller could not attend the opening of his play in London because the US would not allow him a passport due to his “communist threat”
Miller: wrote article entitled, “Why I Wrote The Crucible” after he was convicted of contempt of Congress
A thoughtful, educated, & scholarly response to the loss of individual liberties