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 thru Stock Market Crash
Activist & playwright
Transformed American theater

3. Arthur Miller cont.
Struggled financially & faced anti-semitism (hatred of Jews)
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
HUAC: House Un-American Activities Committee
Miller convicted of Contempt of Congress
Hollywood Blacklist

5. The Crucible & the Salem Witch Trials
The Crucible = metaphor
Salem Town Mass, 1692
Cautionary tale
Religious extremism no due process
False accusations - individual liberties
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. 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

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

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

9. Overview… The Crucible is both a Puritan & 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.