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The Crucible

Arthur miller.

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Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Arthur Miller's The Crucible . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The Crucible: Introduction

The crucible: plot summary, the crucible: detailed summary & analysis, the crucible: themes, the crucible: quotes, the crucible: characters, the crucible: symbols, the crucible: literary devices, the crucible: theme wheel, brief biography of arthur miller.

Historical Context of The Crucible

Other books related to the crucible.

• Full Title: The Crucible
• When Written: 1950-52
• When Published: 1953
• Literary Period: Realist Drama
• Genre: Tragic Drama
• Setting: Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, when it was a Puritan colony
• Climax: The Crucible has an odd structure, in which each of the four acts ends on a climax. Act I: the girls scream out the names of witches. Act II: Proctor vows he will confront Abigail. Act III: Proctor reveals his adultery with Abigail, and Elizabeth Proctor lies. Act IV: Proctor rips up his confession.
• Antagonist: Abigail Williams

Extra Credit for The Crucible

The Real Salem Witch Trials. In his depiction of the witch trials, Miller took many major departures from fact. For instance, John Proctor was nearly 60 and Abigail Williams only 11 at the time of the witch trials. Any affair between the two is highly unlikely, to say the least. Miller was always open about the liberties he took with history, saying that he was writing "a fictional story about an important theme."

Some Like it Hot. Arthur Miller was not a star the way writers are stars today. He was much, much bigger than that. After he wrote Death of a Salesman , he was a tremendous national sensation. In fact, he was such a big star that he married Marilyn Monroe. The couple married in 1956, and stayed together until 1961.

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The Crucible Arthur Miller

The Crucible essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Crucible by Arthur Miller.

The Crucible Material

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The Crucible Essays

Conformity, imbalance of power, and social injustice geoff cowper-smith, the crucible.

A "Great Drama" is a play in which an audience can find personal relevance. It is something which an audience can relate to. A great drama should having meaning to audiences for multiple generations. Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" successfully...

Sins and Ambitions Anthony Haddad

"The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness." - Joseph Conrad

The Salem witchcraft trials illuminate a great human campaign to rid society of the wicked devil and his sinful...

The Stream of Conscience in Arthur Miller's The Crucible Anonymous

In Arthur Miller's powerful stage play The Crucible, written in 1953 as a metaphor for the McCarthy hearings on communism in America, the idea of conscience is greatly emphasized in many of the main characters. Miller himself once said that The...

The Crucible as an Allegory Anonymous

In his classic drama The Crucible, Arthur Miller chronicles the horror of the Salem witch trials, an embarrassing episode of colonial America's history. At first reading, one might only view Miller's work as a vivid account of the tragedy of...

Contemporary Events Leading to The Crucible Lee Wang

When The Crucible opened on January 22, 1953, audiences greeted it with lukewarm applause. Critics did what they do best by berating the new play. What is now arguably the most influential allegorical play on the subject of Communism written...

Society In The Crucible and Death of a Salesman Michael Brooks

Two plays by Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, both contend that society is the indifferent, sometimes brutal, force that crushes an individual. Although the plays take place in different time periods, they each convey the force...

The Evolution of Reverend Hale Matt Rigolizzo 11th Grade

How can a trial turn a religious minister into a man separated from a town’s power structure? In The Crucible, Reverend Hale is sent to Salem to deal with an alleged outbreak of witchcraft. At the beginning of the play, Hale is a confidant man,...

Puritans, the Devil, and American Literature Anonymous 11th Grade

“The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving and “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne are both short stories that illustrate Puritan ideas about the place of evil in human nature. Both short stories revolve around a central character...

Rev. Parris: Greed and Lies in The Crucible Anonymous 10th Grade

Human nature has a tendency, a fad if you will, to display traits of selfishness and a "me first, you later" attitude. This sort of thinking often leads people to do unjust or politically incorrect things, and it gets them in trouble with the law,...

Personal Expediency Among the Puritans Chloe Mourad 10th Grade

Within the Puritan society of the seventeenth century, the fear of the Devil fueled the actions of individuals; this idea is reflected in two significant works of literature, A Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks and The Crucible by Arthur Miller....

Fear is Something to be Feared Serena Huang 10th Grade

Fear is Something to be Feared

The word "fear" can be defined as: a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger or pain. In his play The Crucible, Arthur Miller addresses the fear embedded within Puritan society. According to the Public...

The Two Opposing Female Roles in “The Crucible” Sanya Helene Stern 11th Grade

“Does this dress make me look fat?” It’s a common conception; women tell each other to wear black because the contrast is slimming. Politicians run attack ads on components to make themselves look better in comparison. The literary technique of...

A New Perspective on Salem Anonymous College

The name Salem or any mention of the Salem witch trials almost always turns heads, and usually this sudden attention is not due to a reputable history. Most people think of the Salem witch trials and begin to picture an out of control environment....

The Crucible - Pure vs. Tainted Love Anonymous 9th Grade

The concept of redemptive and destructive love is common in all modes of texts, no matter the location or the time period. This is because love itself is timeless; it is a moving force that pushes people to act, an emotion which can cause both...

Hubris vs. Heroism : An Analysis of John Proctor’s shortcomings as Miller’s Tragic Hero Arthur Miller 11th Grade

The famous philosopher Aristotle formally defined the parameters of the tragic hero in his work On Poetics (335 B.C.). Aristotle based his tragic hero model on Oedipus, a king from Greek mythology. He defined the tragic hero as a man of noble...

Ambiguous Political Agendas: Historical Figures in Miller and Atwood Anonymous 12th Grade

Political agendas remain dubious and uncertain, but control is the eventual aim, almost by definition, of political activity. The Crucible by Arthur Miller and Margaret Atwood’s free-verse poem “Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing” expose innate...

The Crucible and Year of Wonders Anonymous 12th Grade

Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible and Geraldine Brooks’ novel Year of Wonders are both works that explore the treatment of individuals under oppressive theocratic ruling. Both Miller’s and Brooks’ works are aligned with key themes of superstition,...

How the Actions of the Court Amplified Hysteria and Expedited the Trials in The Crucible Anonymous 10th Grade

How is it possible that the actions of a single institution can completely decimate the physical and societal structure of an entire town? In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, this situation comes to pass in Salem, Massachusetts during the 1690’...

The "Weights" of the World: A Central Motif in 'The Crucible' Evan Kade Bridges 12th Grade

Arthur Miller confronts the “weight of truth," "weight of authority," and the "weight of law" in The Crucible. This play expresses the different complications that come along with having to bear each "weight." Many characters in the play conform...

Compare the ways in which The Crucible and Year of Wonders explore the conflict between appearance and reality. Kulin Gunathilake 12th Grade

Arthur Miller’s allegorical play, The Crucible , illustrates the parallels between the Salem Witch Trials and the HUAC communist crisis, highlighting the injustice of McCarthyism. Alternatively, Geraldine Brooks intertextually takes a cue from the...

A Study of People and Politics in The Crucible and Citizenfour Anonymous 12th Grade

Composers represent the ultimate powerlessness of ordinary people through the ways in which they explore the complex and dynamic relationship between people and politics. Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” written in a communist fearing period...

True character is revealed under pressure Grace Harrington 12th Grade

In both The Crucible and Year of Wonders , characters are put under pressure and in times of crisis their true character is revealed. Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible , showcases the grotesque nature of the human form and how it contorts when tempted...

Representation of gender in The Crucible and Macbeth Isabelle White 11th Grade

Drama is the performance of a narrative by actors on stage, and differs from prose fiction in that it is interpreted and presented by others rather than the individual viewer. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a drama that illustrates a...

Jealousy and the destructive nature of love in Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’, Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’, and Ian McEwen’s ‘Atonement’. Summer Jade Dolan 12th Grade

Compare and contrast the representation of jealousy and the destructive nature of love in Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’, Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’, and Ian McEwen’s ‘Atonement’.

When comparing themes of jealousy and the destructive nature of love...

Common Module – Practice Essay on “The Crucible”

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Practice Essay “The Crucible”

Arthur Miller’s 1952 dramatised tragedy ‘The Crucible’ extensively explores the significance of motivations and behaviours in a society ultimately driven by the search for power and honour, revealing the timeless complexity of the human condition. Based in the 17th century town of Salem, Massachusetts; the allegorical tale displays Miller’s renunciation of 1950s American McCarthyism – the policy of sniffing out communists to condemn them. This is revealed through the religious persecution of suspected witches in the play; ultimately sparked by the mass hysteria of a fearful society. The notions of fulfilling personal desires are illustrated through the absence of characters’ integrity,  the paradoxical deceit and lies saturating the highly religious society and the oddities of extraordinarily moral behaviours of certain characters within the play. Importantly, this engaging American Playwright highlights many ongoing human experiences faced by individuals everyday. 

INCONSISTENCIES Paragraph 

Inconsistencies of the character’s integrity is evident throughout the play, especially when reputation is at risk, displaying the human experience of being motivated by pride. 

– When Reverend Parris hears about the accusations of witchcraft coming about; he tells the girls to “speak nothing of unnatural causes” in fear of being “toppled[d]” by the people. The metaphor of him falling from his place of power as head of the church reinforces the inconsistency of his Christian faith, as his desire for authority is placed above the care for the people of the church. 

– Abigail also displays attributes of fickleness in her pursuit of power. Initially, she declares that she “never sold [herself]! [to the devil]” and is a “good girl!” a “proper girl!” – the repetition of exclamation marks conveying the urgency of her motivation to stay on the good side of authority. Inconsistently, she soon decides to admit that she “danced with the devil”, realising that this will put her in a position to accuse Elizabeth Proctor of “witchcraft”and be with John Proctor. 

– John Proctor; who is “respected… in Salem” is capricious in his “even-tempered” nature when Cheever arrives at his house with “a warrant for [Elizabeth]”, as he soon results in “(ripping the warrant)” in anger, the stage directions symbolising his contempt and anger with the law. This ultimately shows that Proctor is driven by the motivation to keep his wife’s reputation clean, leading to an inconsistency in his level-headed behaviour.

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