Let Us Grieve for the Women of Salem

1687 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Analysis of the Crucible by Arthur Miller

Featured in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a powerful dynamic between the levels of a maintained social hierarchy. There are shifts in the social hierarchy in the town of Salem even though the social hierarchy has been maintained and has existed for a long length of time. The attempts on this maintained structure are met with powerful retaliations that draw in all the members of the town of Salem, resulting in the deaths of many woman and men in the town. The Crucible reflects on the historical context of this struggle and shows what would happen if the status quo were changed. The play presents what people would do in order to hold on to the power that they are slowly losing through false pretense. The Salem witch trails were a society’s way of attempting to maintain a structure they are used to, using hysteria to help them grasp onto a dying conscience they once had and to explain what could not be explained. Today, the issues that are presented in this play, the social hierarchy and what is done to maintain it, still exist. The University of Toronto – Scarborough Campus’s theatre company performed The Crucible. The production followed Arthur Miller’s play showing the audience the fear and hysteria that ran through Salem during the witch trails. The importance of religion was evident just as the play opens up to hearing a prayer being spoken. Themes of paranoia, religion, and McCarthyism were present throughout the presentation. The overall acting and set provided the audience with a more intimate viewing of what happened throughout the Salem witch trails. The Crucible follows the events that occurred before and during the Salem Witch Trials. John Proctor, the protagonist of the play has to fight the hysteria that has t... ... middle of paper ... ...Social welfare policy from colonial times to the present. South End Press, 1996. Web. 3. Apr. 2014. Jenrette, Jerra, et al. "Teaching the Salem witch trials through place and time." Historical Journal of Massachusetts 40.1-2 (2012): 212+. Academic OneFile. Web. 3 Apr. 2014. Kocić, Ana. "Salem Witch Craft Trials: The Perception of Women in History, Literature and Culture." Facta Universitatis 3.1 (2010): 17. Print. Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. N.p., 1953. Print. Miller, Arthur. "Why I Wrote The Crucible: An Artist's Answer to Politics." The New Yorker27 Oct. 1996: n. pag. Print. The Crucible. By Miller. Dir. Paula Sperdakos. Leigha Lee Browne Theatre, UTSC. Friday, March 21, 2014. Performance. Schissel, Wendy. "Re(dis)covering the Witches in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible: A Feminist Reading." Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations (2008): 55-67. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Annotated Bibliography On The Crucible

    399 Words  | 1 Pages

    The focus of Miller’s The Crucible is an appalling witch trial that morfs the once-peaceful town of Salem into a cutthroat slaughterhouse. As a lucrative playwright and a not-so-subtle allegory author, Miller is a seasoned wordsmith who addresses people akin to himself, and is not secretive about that information. The Crucible best serves its purpose as a learning device and a social statement, especially at the time of its publishing. Miller‘s piece showcases the appeals in an easy-to-identify manner that is perfect for middle or high school students who are new to the appeals, or for English majors who have no problem pinpointing them, making this play ideal for a classroom setting.

    Read More

  • Who Is Abigail Williams Angry In The Crucible

    580 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the early years of the colonies, there was a mad witch hunt striking the heart of Salem. Anger, reputation, and even religion play an important part during the play of The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller. The author allows us to witness the vivid idea of the hysteria taking place in Salem, Massachusetts, and why it was so vulnerable during the time.

    Read More

  • An Analytical Essay Explaining Why Arthur Miller Wrote The Crucible

    740 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Crucible by Arthur Miller

    1636 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Crucible by Arthur Miller The Crucible is a fictional retelling of events in American history surrounding the Salem witch trials of the seventeenth century, yet is as much a product of the time in which Arthur Miller wrote it, the early 1950s, as it is description of Puritan society. At that particular time in the 1950s, when Arthur Miller wrote the play the American Senator McCarthy who chaired the ‘House Un-American Activities Committee’ was very conscious of communism and feared its influence in America. It stopped authors’ writings being published in fear of them being socialist sympathisers. Miller was fascinated by the Salem Witch Trials and that human beings were capable of such madness. In the 1950s the audience would have seen the play as a parallel between the McCarthy trials and the Salem Trials.

    Read More

  • The Crucible

    1064 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through time it can be seen that the world’s history has a nature of repeating its self. Author Miller, was aware of this as he experienced a repitition of history of society’s flawed government. In the text The Crucible, the writer, Author Miller has identified and illustrated the problems society faced during the 1950’s setting by drawing parallels with the setting of the 1962 Salem witch hunt. This setting helps readers to understand the characters of John Proctor and Giles Corey.

    Read More

  • The Crucible - Emnity And Distrust

    1761 Words  | 4 Pages

    Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, is set in Salem village where an atmosphere of enmity and mistrust has been created through the conflicts and disagreements many villagers experience throughout the play. Many of these are caused by or, similar to the conflict between Parris and Proctor, are inflated by the many accusations of witchcraft occurring in the village.

    Read More

  • The Crucible: Hysteria And Injustice

    1618 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Crucible: Hysteria and Injustice Thesis Statement: The purpose is to educate and display to the reader the hysteria and injustice that can come from a group of people that thinks it's doing the "right" thing for society in relation to The Crucible by Arthur Miller. I. Introduction: The play is based on the real life witch hunts that occurred in the late 1600's in Salem, Massachusetts. It shows the people's fear of what they felt was the Devil's work and shows how a small group of powerful people wrongly accused and killed many people out of this fear and ignorance.

    Read More

  • The Role of Young Women in the Salem Witch Trials

    1318 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kocic, Ana. (2010). Salem Witchcraft Trails: The Perception of Women In History, Literature And Culture. Linguistics and Literature, Vol. 8 (Issue N1), 1-7. http://facta.junis.ni.ac.rs/lal/lal201001/lal201001-01.pdf

    Read More

  • How Does The Crucible Show The Nature Of Power And Authority

    2327 Words  | 5 Pages

    Explore Miller’s dramatic presentation and development of the theme of power and authority. Even though The Crucible is not historically correct, nor is it a perfect allegory for anti-Communism, or as a faithful account of the Salem trials, it still stands out as a powerful and timeless depiction of how intolerance, hysteria, power and authority is able to tear a community apart. The most important of these is the nature of power, authority and its costly, and overwhelming results. “But you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or against it,” says Danforth conceitedly. With this antithesis, Miller sums up the attitude of the authorities towards the witch trials that if one goes against the judgement of the court

    Read More

  • Salem Witch Trials: Fear and Faith in 1692

    845 Words  | 2 Pages

    Over two hundred years of history rests between the Salem witch trials and the publication of The Crucible, but innumerable resemblances rests between the times. From the wrongful deaths during the witch trials to the punishments throughout the reign of McCarthyism, all occurred without much validation other than someone’s word over someone else’s. Also, Miller possibly set his play hundreds of years ago to give a voice to the accused citizens of Salem who lost theirs in a similar way to those haunted by the accusations against them during the Red

    Read More

  • Examples Of Abagail In The Crucible

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    1. Bowers, Kristen. The Crucible by Arthur Miller: Literature Guide. San Dimas, CA: Secondary Solutions, 2006. Print.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Crucible

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    It’s the 1690’s in Salem Massachusetts and allegations are in the air; the town is tense and no one can be trusted. This is the setting of the play The Crucible which tells the story of the Salem witch trials. The play was written during the Red Scare, or the fear of communism, of the Cold War. This gave the play a double meaning. Instead of just being a historical play, to show how history always repeats itself. The Crucible, written in 1953 by Arthur Miller, reflects 20th century American plays and the time period by using the Salem witch trials to open the eyes of Americans to the Red Scare and McCarthyism.

    Read More

  • Arthur Miller's Criticism of Society

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Relations between the Salem Witch Trials and the Cold War

    382 Words  | 1 Pages

    In 1953, the play called “The Crucible” written by Arthur Miller created hysteria in all parts of the country. This play describes the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 and the irony of a terrible period of American history.

    Read More

  • Arthur Miller's The Crucible

    546 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Crucible is a 1953 play by Arthur Miller. Initially, it was known as The Chronicles of Sarah Good. The Crucible was set in the Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts. It talks of McCarthyism that happened in the late 1600’s whereby the general public and people like Arthur Miller were tried and persecuted. The Crucible exemplifies persecutions during the Salem Witch Trials. The people were convicted and hung without any tangible proof of committing any crime. Persecutions were the order of the day. When a finger was pointed at any individual as a witch, the Deputy Governor Danforth never looked for evidence against them or evidence that incriminated them; he ordered them to be hanged. This can be seen through his words “Hang them high over the town! Who weeps for those, weeps for corruption!” (1273), the people were persecuted aimlessly. The four main characters in the play, John Proctor, Abigail Adams, Reverend Hale and Reverend Parris, are caught in the middle of the witchcraft panic in the religious Salem, Massachusetts in late 1690’s. Persecution is the most important theme in the Crucible, the leaders and citizens of Salem attacks and persecutes one of their own without any tangible evidence against them.

    Read More

More about Let Us Grieve for the Women of Salem

Open Document