Maintaining Audience's Interest in The Crucible by Arthur Miller
There are many ways in which Arthur Miller Captures and maintains the
audience's interest in his 20th Century play, The Crucible. Right from
the start of the play Arthur Miller uses Dramatic devices such as
curiosity to capture the audience's interest. He maintains the
audience's interest right throughout the text by using themes, which
are still relevant today. He also uses the storyline to maintain the
audience's interest. Arthur Miller uses the language in a very
attention-grabbing way, as I have found that his description/portrayal
of characters and when he directly addresses the audience also helps
to maintain the audience's interest.
Arthur Miller wrote 'The Crucible' because he felt that McCarthyism,
(the hunting down of communists in his time) was wrong, just like the
witch-hunt trails in Salem in 1692. The play is based on the Salem
witch trails but it links the ideas how McCarthy was unjust to
communists because McCarthyists thought that foreigners were
communists and the people of old Salembelieved that people of a
noon-Christian upbringing practised witchcraft. They thought that
these people worshiped the devil and imprisoned or killed. I think
that Miller used the Salem witch trails as a parable to write about
McCarthyism in his present time in 1950-54. He felt that McCarthyism
was unjust and did not give foreigners or communists a chance. During
this period people accused others of being others of being communists
to get out of trouble themselves, this is also mirrored in the play.
This is still relevant today, as we are taught not to believe rumours
and what they can lead to. This also helps to keeps the audience
interes...
... middle of paper ...
...dy had captured the audience's attention before anything
starts and this is what he does at the start of every act. This
further helps to increase the effectiveness of Miller's Play.
I think that Miller succeeds in engaging the audience throughout the
play. This is because The Crucible contains dramatic devices that keep
the audience hooked to the play. Miller also used preoccupation that
are still relevant and that will still be relevant and engaging in the
future. Miller uses a range of dramatic devices in The Crucible that
combine to engage the audience. These include the shocking events in
the storyline, his fascinating portrayal of characters, especially Jon
Proctor and his effective use of language. We watch in horror as
events unfold and we admire proctor's integrity and accept the warning
that such witch hunts happened and can still happen today.
Miller presents the character of John Proctor in an important way to show two sides to his character. These qualities make him have the most important role in ‘The Crucible.’ The key events that show him in this way is when the audience find out about the affair, how he tries to defend his wife, his confession in court and his hanging for the sake of others. Through the events in The Crucible, Miller then portrays John Proctor’s character with tension and suspense. This then makes the audience question whether or not he is a good man.
Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible as a protest paper to the brutality of the Red Scare .The Red Scare was the inoperable fear of Communism within the United States. This scare was caused as a result of the Cold War in the 1950’s. During the Cold War the US was scared of an attack of the Soviets, and the Soviets were equally as scared of an attack upon them by us. Joseph McCarthy, a Senator from Wisconsin, saw this fear as an opportunity to rise to power. McCarthy had many supporters that were primarily Republicans, Catholics, Conservative Protestants, and Blue-collar workers. McCarthy ruthlessly utilized scare tactics to get people to believe and follow him blindly into his accusations as to innocent citizens supporting Communism and either having them jailed or killed by providing phony evidence. Arthur Miller was not intimidated by this he wrote the Crucible as “an act of desperation” (Miller). This desperation was to counteract the lack of speaking out about personal beliefs during the Red Scare for the fear of breaking the law. In The Crucible, Miller wrote about a character named John Proctor who is very similar to Miller himself. Both the author and the character had to overturn the same personal paralyzing guilt, not speaking out soon enough. Nonetheless, their eventual overcoming of this guilt leads them to becoming the most forthright voice against the madness around them.
Authors often have underlying reasons for giving their stories certain themes or settings. Arthur Miller’s masterpiece, The Crucible, is a work of art inspired by actual events as a response to political and moral issues. Set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, The Crucible proves to have its roots in events of the 1950’s and 1960’s, such as the activities of the House Un-American Committee and the “Red Scare.” Though the play provides an accurate account of the Salem witch trials, its real achievement lies in the many important issues of Miller’s time that it dealswith.
Many of the characters in Arthur Miller's The Crucible have specific human flaws that cause the tragedy of the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem villagers exhibit failings, including greed, vengeance, and fear, which eventually lead to the downfall of their town. Many villagers, especially Abigail Williams, take advantage of the opportunity to seek vengeance on others through the trials. Greed for power and land often holds precedence when the hysteria takes over. Fear of being arrested or put to death is the key motivation in turning others in as witches. From these three human flaws, the town of Salem falls into chaos with many innocent people paying the price.
The statement,“The Crucible is essentially about courage, weakness, and truth,” is proven true numerous times, throughout the play. The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller, about the true events that happened in Salem, Massachusetts, between the years 1692 and 1693. The Salem witch trials consisted of many hangings, lies, and complete mass hysteria. The citizens of Salem followed the religion of Puritanism, and the ideas of predestination. The root of the mass hysteria comes from their belief in the sense that in something happens then it must have been planned by God. In Miller’s portrayal of the story, Abigail Williams was the ringleader of the witch trials, and she used the idea of predestination to cover up her own sins. Abigail was a very manipulative girl and ruined many lives. John Proctor, Mary Warren, and Elizabeth Proctor were just a few of the victims in Abby’s game. John, Mary, and Elizabeth exhibit the traits courage, weakness, and truth, whether it was in a positive or negative way.
All in all Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible was written to be a perfect allegory to the McCarthy era. Many of the events, strategies and people on both sides are similar in the play and the McCarthy Era itself. Many similarities can be drawn between the two including the basis upon which of the victims were persecuted, the strategy to lessen their sentences and the driving factor behind both conflicts, fear. The Crucible was written as a silent but obvious rebellion to McCarthy because during the McCarthy Era Miller was accused of being communist as well. The Crucible was a play, an allegory and a rebellion to and about the McCarthy Era.
A 21st century audience would look at the play from the perspective of needless hysteria and accusations and would be amazed that human nature when put into these situations reacts the way it does in the play. In modern time we are able to appreciate the play without being concerned with the parallels of McCarthyism. Although my selected scene is only three-quarters way through the play it is very conclusive in the way that it shows the ability of the court to accept the condemnations of people looking for vengeance and the girls’ lies throughout the trials. The historical background to the play, although quite old still relates to human life and behaviour. It shows the willingness of human beings to blame anyone but themselves.
Life as a human is dictated by an inborn hunger or purpose, and people, in general, will act on this hunger for their own personal gain in their individual ways. This hunger, be it for wealth, land, love, power, revenge, or pride, can, and will be the undoing or failing of all mankind as Miller so clearly points out in his play 'The Crucible';. This essay will explore the motives of characters within the play and even the motives of Arthur Miller himself and therefore show how conflict stems from certain recognisable human failings including those mentioned above, fear, and hysteria.
Thou sable, luminous, hair which falls right below the arches in her broad shoulders. The shoulders toned by hard work to hold the town together. The deep black circles that cast deathly shadows under her eyes from lack of rest. The woman who turns all the heads of the people in this small town of Salem Massachusetts. I must come to encounter this woman who cast the beat to my heart.
The horrors of history are passed on from generation to generation in hopes that they will never occur again. People look back on these times and are appalled at how horrendous the times were; yet, in the 1950s, history repeated itself. During this time, Joseph McCarthy, a United States senator from Wisconsin, began accusing people of being communists or communist sympathizers, which is parallel to the Salem witch trials in the late 1690s when innocent people were accused of practicing witchcraft. One of the people McCarthy accused was author and playwright Arthur Miller. To express his outrage at McCarthy’s actions, miller wrote The Crucible, intentionally drawing similarities between the McCarthy hearings and the Salem witch trials.
The play “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller was written in response to McCarthyism in the 1950’s. In 1692 and 1693 the Salem witch trials took place in Salem Massachusetts. Girls believed to be involved in witchcraft were responsible for these trials. In the late 1940’s and early 1950’s senator McCarthy came to office. Senator McCarthy and some of his allies were responsible for hysteria in the United States of America in the 1950’s. The scare was also in result of a communist scare after World War II and leading to the cold war. The behavior of the people of the Salem witch trials and Americans in the 19050’s resulted in a big scare in reaction to hysteria.
Nine critical approaches are utilized when analyzing a piece of literature in order to appeal to a variety of critics. Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible can be interpreted from numerous approaches, but one lens that is unmistakable throughout is the psychological criticism. From a psychological standpoint, one gains access to the mindset of both the author and the characters within. In addition to this, the reader also acquires a greater understanding of the motivations, behaviors, and mental state that each character possesses. Through psychological criticism, one can obtain information on a character’s motivation, the likelihood of their actions, and which behaviors are consciously made.
“Well, all the plays that I was trying to write were plays that would grab an audience by the throat and not release them, rather than presenting an emotion which you could observe and walk away from.” by Arthur Miller. All great works provide a way to reach in and grab the audience through the reoccurring themes like, greed, jealousy, reputation and hypocrisy. Arthur Miller had one of those great works and it was called “The Crucible”. The play was based off of the witch trials that happened in Salem in the year of 1962. Some of the characters were actual characters involved in the witch trials. Arthur Miller wrote this play during the time of the “Red Scare”. Miller wrote The Crucible because he wanted to turn the The Salem Witch Trials into
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a play that was first performed in 1953 in the United States of America in the midst of the persecution of alleged communists during the era of McCarthyism. Although the play explicitly addresses the Salem which hunt, many find that the play is an analogy to McCarthyism due to the striking similarities in which the people behaved. Miller highlight the different groups of characters in order to reveal overlying ideas of the play such as: Self preservation, power, and hypocrisy.
Miller’s life paralleled The Crucible in many ways. The characters in the play had many traits that resembled his. He and the people of Salem were censored by the frenzy of the times they were living in. The hysteria and the mob mentality exacerbated the anticommunists’ and the witch-hunters’ philosophies. The Red Scare affected Miller in the same way the witch hunts affected the people of Salem. As long as there are people with authority in the world, there will be challengers of authority. Censorship will always be used to make others conform. A majority of the public is and always will be easily influenced by hysteria and the mob mentality. Miller used his own experiences to write The Crucible, a play that describes universal behavior and the human condition.