1. The Crucible refers to a melting pot, a test of endurance, and the carrying of the cross. Explain why this is an appropriate title for this play.
Essay on The Crucible
When Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible he intended to create a symbolic story. An obvious sign of The Crucible having a deeper meaning is that it was written to satirize the Red Scare of the 1950s. In addition the powerful title of The Crucible has several meanings that relate back to the play. The first meaning of the Crucible is “a container for melting or purifying metals,” and the second meaning is “a severe trial or test.” As a third meaning one could also say that the word “crucible” is related to the word “crucifix” and by extension the word “bible” if we extrapolate. Fourthly and lastly the Crucible can also be thought of as a literal kettle. Upon analysis it is striking at how aptly the title fits the story.
One of the meanings of the word "crucible" is "a container for purifying metals", which could be interpreted as a figurative meaning behind the name of the play. While there isn't an actual container that purifies metals in the story, the title symbolizes how the characters are stripped of their pride and dignity reducing them down to the core of their beings. However they aren't being "purified" in a noble manner that readers may be led to believe or hope for, though. Despite the fact that the Courts believed what their actions were "purifying" Salem, when in reality, they were making an already bad situation worse. The characters weren't being purified, rather events in the story stripped them of what defined them causing them to look deep within their hearts and question a corrupt society in order to not lose themselves in the surrounding...
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...finitions can apply on a more general level.
Upon analysis Arthur Miller’s choice of the title ”The Crucible” is not coincidental but one of logical reasons. It is obvious that any of the four definitions of a crucible relates directly to the story because the citizens of Salem were melted down to their true colors and put through a severe trial or test with the theme of religion and the symbolism of a crucible present throughout the story. The word 'purify' is very significant in The Crucible. Purification is the main theme that the whole story revolves around, whether it being the courts purifying the citizens or the citizens purifying themselves.
Based on the above it is evident that given the 4 varied definitions of a crucible and their applicability in all cases, there is no choice of wording that would result in a deeper meaning title for this story.
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, is about mass hysteria of witches being in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. An educated man named Revered Hale arrived in the town with his exclusive knowledge of witches to help the town eliminate the presence of the Devil. He became a member of the court and aided in putting innocent people in jail or hung. As Hale started to see the consequences of his actions, he struggled with fixing his mistakes. The change in his perspective of the witch trials caused his overall personality and attitude to change as well. Hale’s dialogue, stage directions, and other people’s perceptions of him reveal a man motivated by good intentions; furthermore, his mission to help Salem destroyed evil in the beginning and his attempts
The Crucible is an incredibly influential play no only in the fact that it displays many important themes, but it also portrays how a theocracy impacts societal actions. The Salem witch trials were the culmination of the problems with theocracy. The actions of society, not only are impacted by their personal thoughts, but also in religious undertones affect them. Act two in the play portrays not only all of these themes, but also some important events leading towards the witchcraft hysteria. Act two in the play portrays how theocracy ultimately leads to chaos.
What does the word crucible mean? The word crucible means a severe test or trial. Throughout the novel, The Crucible, many of the characters go through their own crucible. These trials have a major or minor impact on the characters life throughout the novel. These trials all come together creating the story based on the calamity in America around 1952, which inspired Arthur Miller to write this well known novel. In the novel, there are many different examples from various characters about life lessons and choices. Although the book and play are very similar they do share many differences.
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.
The Crucible is a play with many underlying messages and themes. One of which is the idea of power. Power is a very important term in this play in that whoever holds the power, holds the fates of others. The hysteria within Salem has directly effected society. Everything has turned upside down and has gotten distorted. Arthur Miller is telling us that all the power in Salem is given to those who are corrupt and their abuse of it is directly shown through: the actions of Abigail throughout the play, the corruption and desires of Parris, as well as the witch trials held by Judge Danforth.
The Crucible - Form and Structure Arthur Miller uses various different techniques in the form and structure of ‘The Crucible’ to create suspense and maintain the audience’s interest. Of course, one of the main factors of the form and structure of the play is its genre. ‘The Crucible’ can be described as being a symbolic play, a tragedy, a political play, an historical play and a narrative play in naturalistic form. It is symbolic, political and historic as although the story revolves around the Salem witch trials, the ideas and morals behind the plot can be viewed as Miller’s criticism of McCarthyism. The play can also be seen as being narrative in a naturalistic form due to the lengthy set descriptions and stage directions followed by regular, natural yet stylised conversational prose.
The Crucible is a play which brings to our attention many timeless issues. The nature of good and evil, power and its corruption, honour and integrity and our tendency to create scapegoats for all manner of problems are all brought up through the course of the play - sometimes in very dramatic fashion.
A crucible refers to a harsh test, and in The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, each person is challenged in a severe test of his or her character or morals. Many more people fail than pass, but three notable characters stand out. Reverend John Hale, Elizabeth Proctor, and John Proctor all significantly change over the course of the play.
Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, and the movie with the same name have many differences and similarities, all of which contribute to the individual effectiveness of each in conveying their central message.
A crucible is a severe test as of patients or belief, a trial. The play The Crucible is a journey through the trials of many townspeople caused by the superstitious belief of witchcraft. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller progresses and evolves the outlooks and views of the townspeople of Salem and shows how events, people, and catastrophes cause the characters to change their views on whether the people prosecuted were guilty or innocent of witchcraft. Reverend John Hale changes his view, more and more drastically as the play advances, as a result of the events that he underwent and the experiences he had. Soon he had total belief in the innocence of all those convicted and hung in Salem.
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.
Crucible- a severe test, a hard trial or also could be define as a pot for melting metals. A severe trail could be as other then a physical it also could be mentally a severe trial like person verses self. In The Crucible, Miller reflects the theme that pressure can force people from there can force their morals. The characters in The Crucible have morals that they must up hold to be accepted into the town and church. It is a struggle to keep these values when there are moral hazards like desires, greed, hate, and obsession.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller raises many thought provoking issues throughout the play, including the importance of personal integrity, injustice in society and the rights of the community versus the rights of the individual.
The Crucible is a famous play written by Arthur Miller in the Early 1950’s. It was written during the “Red scare, when McCarthyism was established. Many anti-communists wanted to prevent communism from spreading just like in The Crucible many wanted to get rid of witchcraft. Many would accuse others of witchcraft in order to not be accused just like many would accuse people of communism. In The Crucible witchcraft would be punishable by death. Many were scared to be accused; therefore many would admit practicing witchcraft in order to save their lives. The Crucible is considered a good play because it is based on real life events during the Salem witch Trials and shows how fear played a role in the individual’s life just like during the “Red” scare.
Arthur Miller cleverly picked the title "The Crucible" for his play about the Salem witch hunts of the 1660's because of the word's many meanings. Throughout the play, Miller has characters face severe tests that make them question their own self. A crucible is also an earthen pot that is used for melting metals. In a way the town of Salem was a crucible as people were brought before the court and blasted with allegations from others as being witches. They were either forced to give in and live a lie or be hanged.