Miller's Tension in Act I of The Crucible

Miller's Tension in Act I of The Crucible

The anti-Communist hysteria during the 1950's led to a mass

persecution of people associated with Communism. Post WW2 America was

a nation if fear and suspicion because of the on going cold war with

Russia, anyone one remotely connected to a known communist could be

persecuted, this sparked a fear that Russia could take over the world.

At the time a playwright, Arthur Miller could not express his feelings

due to society's strong support for McCarthyism. So Arthur Miller

wrote a play about the Salem witch-hunts during 16th century America.

Miller had to be subtle in how he expressed his feelings about the

political movement McCarthyism, so he used the play as an allegory.

This play uses the Salem witch-hunt, because of the similarities in

the unsupported accusations, and how people were encouraged to

denounce their friends and family if they were known witches otherwise

they could be portrayed as witches. The Salem witch-hunt was a lot

more savage and the behavior of the people was anthropomorphic, with

the "witches" being burned to the stake, with only people's

accusations as evidence. Salem was a theocracy and church was

considered to be the most important part of life. Miller had to

recontextualize the story, to make sure that the society didn't make

accusations towards him. The first words spoken being "My Betty be

hearty soon?" The title 'The Crucible' is appropriate because a

crucible is a container where metals are purified after heating. It

reflects how Proctor has been heated by his ordeal and came through to

die, his conscience clear, thus purified. The irony of the play is

that...

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...ions to show it to the audience.

This adds an extra dimension to the play, incorporating the prose,

with its history and explanations. Intertextualism is also used with

the themes that link Salem and McCarthyism, this sparks questions in

the audience or reader of how it is years since the Salem trials but

we still haven't learnt and that the human character remains

unchanged. The questions (dramatic devices) that go unanswered,

especially at the end with Proctor being hung, should he have been?

This shows Millers' feelings that he doesn't want to go back to the

same society that tried to hang a good lawful man. It is ironic that

the people that are making the accusations have themselves been

associated with Devil (Abigail). These themes mean more to a 1950's

audience and would have distorted their views on McCarthyism.