“The Crucible” By Arthur Miller

Salem, Massachusetts, 1692 Early in 1692, a small group of girls in Salem fell ill, falling victim to hallucinations and seizures.

In extremely religious Puritan New England, frightening or surprising occurrences were often attributed to the devil or his cohorts.

The unfathomable sickness spurred fears of witchcraft, and it was not long before the girls, and then many other residents of Salem, began to accuse other villagers of consorting with the devil and casting spells.

Old grudges and jealousies spilled out into the open, fueling the atmosphere of hysteria. The theocratic Massachusetts government and judicial system soon became involved.

Within a few weeks, dozens of people were in jail on charges of witchcraft. The hysteria lasted from May to September of 1692. By the time it was over, 19 people (and two dogs) had been convicted and hanged for witchcraft, one elderly man was pressed to death by stones, and 150 prisoners were awaiting trial. Five more people died in prison.

Arthur Miller More than two centuries later, Arthur Miller was born in New York City in 1915. The relative prosperity of the Miller family during his early years ended abruptly with the stock market crash of 1929. The altered status of his family and the misery wrought by the Depression had a profound impact on the development of his social consciousness.

Miller wrote The Crucible in 1958 Miller wrote The Crucible in 1958. Although the play depicts the Salem witch trials of 1692, it was a response to the paranoid political climate that surrounded him. The 1950s saw the rise of Senator Joseph McCarthy, a demagogue whose paranoid hunt for Communists propelled the U.S. into a dramatic anti-Communist fervor. McCarthy conducted Senate hearings that were supposed to flush out suspected communists from government and other areas of American life, including the Arts.

The policy resulted in a whirlwind of accusations The policy resulted in a whirlwind of accusations. Many cooperated through false confessions, attempting to save themselves, creating the image that the U.S. was overrun with Communists, and perpetuating the hysteria.

Themes in The Crucible Hypocrisy Individual vs. the community (unity and exclusion) Authority Greed Justice vs. retribution and revenge Godliness vs. worldliness Ignorance vs. wisdom The Puritan Myth Order vs. Individual Freedom It is also a story about the struggle between good and evil inside the heart of one man.

Essential Questions What effect does fear have on a person? On a group of people? What comes of decisions based on fear? Why do good people do bad things? What does a group do that an individual won’t do?