Paper Topic:

The Crucible

Running Head : THE CRUCIBLE

The Crucible

Name

School

Professor

Subject

The Crucible

The Crucible is Arthur Miller 's most impressive play with its subject and theme raising continuous fascination and interest throughout the world . It tells the story of the Salem witch trials of 1692 , centering the attention on the effect these trials had on the Proctor family , as well as making an analogous critical commentary on the actions of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC ) in the 1950s . Miller initially did not aimed at depicting the

HUAC hearings in the form of an old-fashioned witch trial . However , as the HUAC hearings grew more ritualistic , and more pointless , he could no longer resist

The play contains a lot of notes detailing the historical background of Salem society in the 1690s , and detailed facts regarding the actual lives of the main characters involved . Miller wanted to show that he had not made up these events , but that people really allowed such things to occur . These notes illustrate the extensive research which Miller undertook to write The Crucible . There are many details in the play which are firmly backed up by trial transcripts and other records of the time . However there are also notable details which arose from Miller 's imagination , like the presentation of Abigail and her lust for Proctor

The Crucible depicts how unscrupulous people , from the Putnams to the trial judges , declare the presence of evil and the Devil to harm whoever disagrees with them , not just religiously , but politically and socially Such people assume a moral high position , and anyone who disagrees with them is deemed immoral and damned . Tituba and the children were certainly trying to commune with dark forces , but if left alone , their exploits would have bothered no one--their actions are an indication of the way people react against repression rather than anything truly evil But Miller does view evil as being at large in the world , and he believes that anyone , even the apparently virtuous , has the potential to be evil given the right circumstances , even though most people would not admit this . Miller offers Proctor as proof : a good man , but one who carries with him the guilt of adultery . But men like Danforth also fit this category , because they do evil deeds under the pretence of being right

In The Crucible , Miller centers this study on John Proctor , a man with an initially split personality , caught between the way in which others see him and the way he sees himself . His private sense of guilt leads him into an ironically false confession of having committed a public crime , although he later recants . What allows him to recant is the release of guilt given to him by his wife 's confession of her coldness and inability to blame him for his adultery . Elizabeth insists that he is a good man , and this finally convinces him that he is . In The Crucible , Miller explores what happens when people allow others to be the judge...

3 pages

113.5 KB

Free sing-up