The Crucible Essay Example

The Crucible Essay Example The Crucible Essay The Crucible Essay Essay Topic: The Crucible Arthur Miller wrote the play The Crucible in response to the red scare of the 1950s, in which he was was condemned for disrespect disapproval of the United States Congress for being unsuccessful in naming numerous individuals who had attended meetings with him. In a bid to not only secure his career as a Journalist play writer and also to alert the American people against the government misinformation propaganda that were headed their way. The characters in the play are faced with the same tragedies sentences that befell people during the McCarthyism trials; he ses the Salem Witch Trials as a metaphor to draw national attention towards the doings and executioners of the McCarthyism propaganda. Arthur Miller uses allegory in his play, The Crucible, to show the similarities between the Salem witch trials and the Red Scare. During the McCarthy era, freedom was a very important aspect in life; during the Salem witch trials, religion was a very important aspect of life. In both of these events, people are frightened. The Red Scare led to many people fearing others, thinking everyone was a Communist. In the Salem witch trials, itchcraft is threatening the village. Miller also wanted to show the similarity between both corrupt courts in these two events. In the Salem witch trials, all substantial evidence is through out of the window, and everything that supports witchcraft is valid. Much is the same with the Red Scare court system. The obvious connections between the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy era are illustrated throughout The Crucible, and one could argue Miller wrote the play to help Americans realize the wrong in accusing others without evidence. During both the itch trials and the chaos in the 1950s, innocent people were blacklisted, trivial actions became suspicious, and humans allowed their fear to run their actions. Miller ahs portrayed John as having tried the reasoned, co-operative approach and, this having failed, Johns desperate resort to open defiance to his understandable response to the sudden heightening of the stakes. However, some of the pauses in the scene also play on the emotions of the characters. When Cheever discovers a needle in the poppet that is in the Proctor household, he becomes wide-eyed. He then explains what had happened to Abigail earlier that day, John, infuriated, immediately turns to Hale asking if youre takin this for proof. Hales silence, struck by the proof, confirms that Elizabeth is now in his view guilty. Another example of how pauses mean something is just after Hale has asked John to recite his commandments, John either deliberately or accidentally forgets the commandment about adultery. The ambiguous smile, full of misgivings, with which Hale reacts to this slip, heightens the tension in the conversation, and reminds the audience that John and Elizabeth are in real trouble. The language of the characters is also characterised by a steady build-up of tension. On some occasions, the words used by a character are said just out of anger, whereas on other occasions, the characters give considered replies. A good example of a shrewd talker is Giles, as his arguments in favour of releasing his wife and the other accused women are fairly persuasive and clever. At one point, Giles tries to make Cheever feel bad about what he is doing: an honest tailor might have gone to Heaven must burn in Hell. This language causes the audience to feel real pity for Giles and commiserate with him. The timing and pace in this scene are mostly fast but sometimes quite slow. During the conversation between John, Elizabeth and Hale, the pace of the conversation is quite slow, as John and Elizabeth answer Hales questions and try to remain calm, whereas in the conversation between Cheever, Hale, Herrick and John, the pace is much faster. This is mainly because they are interrupting each other and disagreeing with various statements said, the conversation quickly becoming very heated. This makes for good drama, as the audience will want to see what happens next between these characters and how far John will go as the tension escalates. The two outstanding examples of the use of timing in this scene are Hales entrance, when suddenly as though by air, a figure appears by the doorway. The audience will inevitably wonder he has been standing there, as will John and Elizabeth. The other is the sudden arrival of Cheever to arrest Elizabeth: Enter Ezekiel Cheever. A shocked silence. The timing of Cheevers entrance is a turning point as up to this point, all disputes have been discussed in a civil way. But, at the same time, a lot of tension and anxiety must be going through Proctors head, so when Cheever and Herrick enter the conversation, it begins to get heated, as Proctor begins to lose his nerve, shout and get very angry with anything said about Elizabeth. There are a few moments of significant impact in this scene. Firstly, Hale has been told about why all the people have confessed to witchcraft, and this proves a quite major turning point as, Hale now begins to understand the peoples point of view. The reader would see that deep down, Hale knows that these people are most probably innocent: It is his own suspicion, but, he doesnt want to go against the court, so he has to put up an argument. Later, John makes Hale realise what is happening when he inquires about why Abigail is considered to be innocent: Is the accuser always holy now? The significance of this scene to the play as a whole is, that within this scene, people like Giles and Francis now want to go to Salem, to try to get the charges against their wives dropped. However, John Proctor at the beginning of the scene was very hesitant about going to Salem, but, now he willing to go to almost any lengths to free his wife. As a result, the details of his adultery get out. The Crucible Essay Example The Crucible Essay The Crucible Essay Essay Topic: The Crucible Arthur Miller wrote ‘The Crucible’ in 1953, during the McCarthy era, when there was an insane drive against supposedly ‘pro-communist’ people3. This was called The Red Scare, or McCarthyism3.   Many of Millers’ friends were blacklisted, and accused of harboring communist beliefs, and being a threat to the national security. In fact, Miller himself was charged guilty by the ‘House of Un-American Activities Committee3.’ The verdict was later reversed in 19573. Many, fearing the rage of the US Congress and courts gave in names to the Committee in order to save themselves from public humiliation. The play was first acted out on Broadway, at the Martin Beck4. It received great reviews, and became an immediate box-office success. Miller wrote the play in response to the then political scenario and ‘The Red Scare;’ political ire was obvious.‘The Crucible,’ based on a true event is set in the late 17th century village of Salem, Massachusetts, when after accusations by a few young girls; there was a widespread hunt for witches – who obviously, did not exist. Many innocent villagers were hanged on charges of witchcraft, because of baseless allegations made by a few girls. Even though it is based on true events, there are some changes which Miller made. The play was adapted on screen many times, mostly on TV and documentaries. There have been two movie adaptations. One in 1956, called â€Å"Les Sorcià ¨res de Salem,† and one in 1996, called â€Å"The Crucible3.† The main character of the crucible, John Proctor is an honest, upright, simple villager, except, that he has sinned. He has an affair with a minister’s niece, Abigail. Abigail is the girl who begins convicting others of witchcraft. Proctor, not knowing what to do, decides to stay out of the matters of the court, fearing that Abigail would ruin his good name, by telling of their affair if he exposed her3.Soon Abig ail holds his wife guilty of being a witch. This is when Proctor decides to stand for his beliefs. Being brought up in a staunch Puritanical society, we see how difficult it is for John to convince the court of the innocence of the ‘purported’ witches. Proctor, in order to save his wife, discloses his secret affair and is himself condemned as â€Å"The Devil’s man.† The Salem witch trials continue, until one of the girls, Mary Warren (servant of the proctors, and one of the girls accusing others) begins to see her evil doings, and decides to confess, and acknowledges that the group is lying. Proctor is eventually hanged, but leaves an indelible mark in the small town of Salem. He stood for honesty, integrity, and truth. Many parallels can be drawn between 1692, when this incident actually happened, and the 1950’s. Both represent different eras of American History, with different political satires. At that time, in Salem, most people held on to relig ion silently without raising controversial questions. The general society was quiet, religious and superstitious, which is how the girls were easily able to convince the court and the judges that there were witches in the village.The judges too believed the allegations, without further inquiry. In the 1950’s, the McCarthy and his collaborators held many innocent people responsible for being communists, with inadequate evidence. Both were very different times, in terms of religion, technological advancement, education and human rights, yet the underlying foundation of the events of the two periods of American history is the same false allegations. In both times, people were accusing each other to save their own skin. The two times also show how destructive rigid philosophical views can be. The movie adaptation though, did not impress all critics. Some believe that the movie was not powerful enough. â€Å"What was no doubt a powerful and emotive effort in the 1950s, when it w as written as a scathing critique of Senator McCarthys crusade against supposed communist sympathizers, falls flat in the 90s1.†Generally though, it received great acclaim and appreciation. The Crucible can also be compared to another movie called â€Å"Guilty by Suspicion.5† Made in 1991, this film deals with the rising tide of McCarthyism in the early 1950’s5. It is about a director, who returns to America to find it a changed place. He is not allowed to direct, unless he shows his colleagues to be Communists5.Arthur Miller’s play has made its place in Literature and History, and continues to be read widely. Many characters in â€Å"The Crucible,† like John and Elizabeth Proctor, Judge Danforth, and Abigail Williams did actually exist, and were a part of the Salem Witch trials, but were different from their counterparts depicted in the play, and the movie3. For example, in the play, John Proctor is a farmer in his thirties or forties, and Abigail is seventeen, and two have an affair3. Many events are triggered by this affair. The real Proctor though, was quite old, while Abigail was only eleven, and there is no evidence of any relationship between them3. Miller took great liberties in plotting the story in a most captivating manner, and so, many of the characters are works of fiction.As Miller said, The play is not reportage of any kind†¦what I was doing was writing a fictional story about an important theme3. After 9/11, America is again in the grip of fear. Critics have opinions from both sides. But it is indeed a fact, that many who are being convicted are innocent, and should not be held guilty without substantial proof. History has taught us priceless lessons, of due justice and equality, but mostly, we see they are conveniently ignored. From the two aforementioned eras of American History, we have learned not to point fingers at others, and become more tolerant and accepting. But much as we may want to ignore it, there does exist a silent â€Å"Salem,† in America even in the 21st century.