At the time of its first performance, in January of 1953, critics and cast alike perceived The Crucible as a direct attack on McCarthyism. This perception was caused by a number of factors, the main two being Millers public disapproval of McCarthyism and the parallels between the Salem Witch trials of The Crucible and the McCarthy hearings of Miller's time. He wrote The Crucible in an attempt to enlighten the public about the unjust persecution of "Communists" during the 1950s. By doing so, his goal was to reduce the unreasonable paranoia and fear of communists that was leading to panic and situations such as the McCarthy hearings.
It is clear that Miller's The Crucible parallels his life and times. The witch hunts are his 1600s version of the McCarthy hearings and persecution of communist spies during his time, the 1950s. There are some difficulties in interpreting The Crucible as a strict allegorical treatment of 1950s McCarthyism. For one, there were never any witches in Salem; however, there most definitely were Communists in the United States in the 1950s. While this undeniable fact remains true, the way in which Senator Joe McCarthy aroused paranoia and suspicion of Communists in the public was most definitely similar to Abigail's actions. Another very clear similarity between Miller's The Crucible and his actual life was the panic and hysteria caused by an unwarranted fear. Whether this fear is of Communists or witches, the effect was the same; many innocent individuals were brought to trial because of arising suspicions from the general public, and some were punished not because they had done something wrong, but because of the fear and paranoia of the people. 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 Communist sympathizers as means of escaping punishment.
"The Crucible" The movie "The Crucible" portrayed the Puritan lifestyle in many ways. It showed the beliefs of people, and how they easily gave into a lie if it was related to their religion. It's astonishing what people would give into believing back then. It's also amazing what one girl would ...
Film Review of The Crucible Salem was a town in which, perhaps like many others, various people held grievances or grudges against one another. ... While there are some obvious differences between the stage play and the film adaptation of The Crucible, the latter stays quite true to its original form. ... The movie version of The Crucible, having the advantages of film, conveys the story better than the stage play does. Because motion picture opens up the possibilities and mediums in which to get a message across, it has the potential to do so, and it does so quite well in The Crucible. ...
Towns from New York to Savannah participate in this outrageous behavior, and when it comes to films depicting such grand dissipation, one of the best is Nicholas Hytner's "The Crucible." Based on Arthur Miller's play of the same name, "The Crucible" is set in the small settler town of Salem, Massachusetts in the early 1690's, a town with many young ladies looking for love. ... Many of the people targeted in McCarthy's hunt were celebrities based solely on the reason that they spend a lot of time outside the country; Miller topped this exclusive list and in response he wrote...
Introduction Arthur Miller's play "The Crucible,"" was first published in 1953 during the politically tumultuous time of McCarthyist America. ... Throughout "The Crucible," John Proctor is not the same type of in his own eyes as others perceive him. ...
In the article, "Why I Wrote The Crucible,- originally published in The New Yorker, Miller explained how he came to write the drama: "The Crucible- was an act of desperation. ... Miller basically used information on the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy trials, in order to write The Crucible. ... There are many parallels to these two trials in The Crucible. ... Although most of Miller's thoughts in The Crucible are factual, some of them never actually took place in real life. All of the characters in The Crucible have distinct personalities, which truly bring this drama to ...
The Crucible In literal terms, a crucible is a little metal bowl used to heat metals to break them down into their original elements. In Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, the title plays a very important role in symbolizing what the characters themselves go through. ... Miller easily shows the crucible experience in 3 main characters. ... Once these characters were put through the crucible experience, their motivations changed in one way or another. ... All the changes made in these characters can easily be traced back to their crucible experience. ...
The title of the play being The Crucible, the term "crucible" is never actually mentioned. The word crucible, in simplest terms, means "a trial." ... Many of the characters in The Crucible face difficult decisions, or crucibles, piecing together the story. ... John Proctor has yet another crucible to overcome. ... He has conquered his final crucible. ...
The Crucible is a play that reveals the story of the famous witchcraft trials in Salem, Massachusetts. ... The settings in both The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible are similar in many ways. The Scarlet Letter takes place around the 1640s, as The Crucible occurs in 1692. ... The towns desire to seek out and personally condemn sinners is also the source of conflict in The Crucible. In The Crucible, the townspeople hunt out the witches in the community as an attempt to rid the town of evil. ...
The Crucible Arthur Miller's 1950 play The Crucible uses literary elements to mirror the Mc Carthy Ear. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a "witch hunt" play that takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. ... Miller's 1950 play The Crucible expresses a variety of themes. ... In The Crucible reputation is a fear of guilt by association becomes particularly pernicious. ...