1. Arthur Miller & The Crucible

2. Miller Born to Jewish immigrants in Manhattan in 1915
Family was well off until the Great Depression
Miller was highly influenced by the Depression as well as WWII

3. Miller Went to the University of Michigan, graduated in 1938
During his college years, he began working on several plays
His first few plays were not very successful

4. Miller In 1949 his play Death of a Salesman was produced
It was well-received and eventually made him a millionaire
He became very popular and even married Marilyn Monroe in 1956

5. Miller
Continued to write plays and do other notable work throughout the rest of his life
He won many awards and is considered to be one of the best American playwrights
He died in 2005

6. The Crucible The Crucible debuted in 1953
It is set during the Salem witch trials of the 1690’s
It is an example of historical literature

7. The Crucible Historical literature has the following:
real individuals from history or characters based on real people
a plot that accurately portrays events in history
an attempt to reveal some truth about that time period

8. The Crucible Miller wrote The Crucible as an allegory for McCarthyism
An allegory is when an entire text is a symbol for something else
I.e., Miller used the events in Salem as a way to point out the injustices of Sen. McCarthy and his followers

9. The Crucible
McCarthyism refers to the period in American history when people were falsely accused of being Communists (1950s)
Many people lost their jobs, their families, and their reputations

10. The Crucible
Miller was one of the many artists and Hollywood celebrities accused
He was never found guilty, but he did get in trouble for not naming other Communists

11. The Crucible
The Crucible is not a perfect dramatization of what happened in Salem
Miller based his characters on real people, but he made some changes, for example:
Changed the age of Abigail
Took the several judges and combined them into two characters
Miller did this for dramatic effect

12. The Crucible
The sentences given to the characters in the play, though, are the sentences given to the real-life people