In the early 1950s, America was thrust into a period of uncertainty and fear. Senator Joseph McCarthy had insinuated that the United States government was infiltrated with communists. As a result of this imprudent statement, Americans often reacted in superstitious mistrust. Everyone became suspect. In order to eradicate or at least lessen the public paranoia, Twentieth Century American author Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible as a warning of what could happen to innocent individuals in the 1950s.
It seems quite by chance that Miller visited Salem, Massachusetts in the spring 1952. Some 250 years before, Salem had been the setting of the most tragic legal miscarriage of justice in the United States history. 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. Much of my .
desperation branched out. I suppose, from a typical.
Depression "era trauma "the blow struck the mind by.
Rise of European Fascism and the brutal anti-Semitism it .
had brought to power. But by 1950, when I began to think.
of writing about the hunt for Reds in America, I was .
motivated in some great part by the paralysis that had set.
in among many liberals who, despite their discomfort with.
the inquisitor's violations of civil rights, were fearful, and .
with good reason, of being identified as covert Communists.
if they should protest too strongly The Red hunt, led by.
the House of Committee on Un-American Activities and by .
McCarthy, was becoming the dominating fixation of the .
American psyche I had read about the witchcraft trials in.
College, but it was not until I read a book published in .
1867 "a two volume, thousand page study by Charles W.
Upham, who was then the mayor of Salem "that I knew I .
Had to write about the period . I visited Salem for the .
"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. ...
He wrote The Crucible in an attempt to enlighten the public about the unjust persecution of "Communists" during the 1950s. ... It is clear that Miller's The Crucible parallels his life and times. ... There are some difficulties in interpreting The Crucible as a strict allegorical treatment of 1950s McCarthyism. ... As a result, writing The Crucible was his way of making a stand on the issue without being unjustly persecuted. After writing The Crucible, interviews with Miller revealed that the play was his answer to politics. ...
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. ...
