... as some plays and stories are more personal than others are. A clear example of this is The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Miller uses the historical characters of John Proctor and Abigail Williams to represent the early stages of his relationship with Marilyn Monroe. By the early 1950 ... actuality; however, Proctor was around sixty and Abigail was eleven when the witch-hunt occurred in the spring of 1692. There are two possible reasons Miller may have done this. One plausible reason is that the age difference makes the extramarital affair more scandalous within the context of the story, as...

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• Grade Level: High School

... she decides to repeat Tituba's actions in order to save herself. She understands that in order to prevent being accused she must become the accuser. Miller emphasises this as immediately after Hale states "God will bless you for your help ", Abigail rises and is quoted as "staring as though inspired ... time in a collapsed state, also chanting confessions. Betty and Abigail exclaim the names of people who they claimed to have seen with the Devil, and Miller once again uses stage directions to show the craziness by describing them as "calling out hysterically " and "rising to a great glee...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... within and the contempt of people who chose different beliefs. These connections show in each situation, both escalated into complete and undoubted paranoia However Miller changed a number of things about the story to make it into an engaging and thought provoking play. He creates a much more intense ... year old girl, where as in reality she was simply a twelve year old child. This change in age and increase in beauty allows Miller then to manufacture a love triangle into the story involving Abigail, John Proctor and Goody Proctor. This adds further drama to the scenes incorporating ......

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• Grade Level: High School

... things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. Arthur Miller's community does not except laughter and frivolity dancing or having any sort of fun was strictly forbidden. Abigail and her friends went to the woods at ... midnight to have fun because the community does not allow any free expression. Arthur miller says in his commentary. Their creed forbade anything resembling a theatre or vain enjoyment This community feels threatened by the surrounding of the red Indians. ... Outside the community are red Indi...

• Word Count: 483
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• Grade Level: High School

In Miller's "The Crucible" the pride of the people of Salem leads to a massacre of innocent lives. Pride is delight or elation arising from some act, possession, or relationship. One of the main characters, John Proctor, has pride in his beliefs of purifying the Church of England. His wife, Elizabet...

• Word Count: 662
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• Grade Level: High School

... view concerned with social criticism, it has scenes that are especially fascinating. There is undeniable dramatic attraction in the whole matter of witchcraft and strange vigils in the forest. Although Miller uses a playwright's privilege to handle material freely, he deals largely with historical figures. There was, for instance, a real Rebecca Nurse (or Nourse). She was the wife of Francis Nurse ... . The hysteria goes along everywhere, mostly with Tituba's confession and Abigail's frightening Mary, suggesting uncontrolled emotions can make a large group behave unreasonably. Miller not...

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• Grade Level: High School

... torn apart by the whim of a group of young girls; ultimately sentencing twenty-five innocent persons to their deaths. Throughout the play, Arthur Miller makes it known to the reader that there are natural explanations, not supernatural ones, for the tragedy that occurred in Salem in 1691. There ... It becomes apparent that the grudge Abigail feels is stronger than suspected when she makes the horrible accusation condemning Elizabeth Proctor as a witch. Miller makes it clear that Abigail is lying right from the start of the novel. In a private conversation with John Proctor, she claims "...

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• Grade Level: High School

... 1600's, most commonly in Salem, Massachusetts. Does witchcraft still exist today? In the Crucible, plenty of different stories circulated of people changing, being arrested, and just simply accused. Arthur Miller, the author of the Crucible, shows the transactions that the characters go through using direct and indirect characterization; He shows how Abigail's manipulation, Proctor's withholding, and Elizabeth's loving ... and choosing her words wisely Abigail states: "oh posh! Winningly she comes a little closer, with a confidential wicked air we were dancing in the woods last night" (M...

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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... hidden communists in the United States government. He falsely accused numerous Americans of being Communist spies and ruined their reputations in the process. Although Miller set the play in the late 1600's, he wrote it to address these current issues facing the country. He illustrates the detrimental effects on ... people are wrongly accused. He also shows that the accusers are often those that can gain something by ruining others reputations. In The Crucible, Miller illustrates through the Salem Witch Trials the mass paranoia and hysteria that occurs when people blindly accuse others of...

• Word Count: 491
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• Grade Level: High School

... was brought up on charges of improper means of investigation and the charges were dropped. One will see in the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, that the United States basically despised Russia during the 1950's because Russia was a communist state. The United States named Russia The Devil (according ... , a weapon designed and used time and time again in every age to whip men into surrender to a particular church or church-state. Besides what Miller's idea of what communism is, he also has an idea that if one is not communist, or against communism, then they are for the United States...

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• Grade Level: High School

... the government of the United States. This anger with the events that transpired during the middle of twentieth century was what motivated Miller to write The Crucible. (Miller, "Why I Wrote" 160) Also, when observing the discrimination that has occurred as a result of the recent terrorist attacks on ... of these three time periods in American history, it is apparent that when a community feels threatened, they often blame the innocent. Arthur Miller's The Crucible reveals the human tendency to point the finger at others when one feels threatened. Often times, those blamed are completely...

• Word Count: 1838
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... hero of Salem, sacrificing his public reputation for his personal integrity. Rebecca's presence at Proctor's confession convinces him of what he must do. This shows Miller's representation of Rebecca as signifying truth, morality and logic. Her 'great charities' have all been 'heard ofin Beverly', as mentioned by ... is prodigious danger in the seeking of loose spirits', stating a witch hunt could 'set [them] all to arguin' again in the society'. Miller presents Rebecca Nurse as very mindful and respectable, leaving people to 'feel resentful of her note of moral super...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... pervaded America in the  1950s. Several parallels exist between the House Un-American Activities Committee's rooting out of suspected communists during this time and the seventeenth-century witch-hunt that Miller depicts in The Crucible, including the narrow-mindedness, excessive zeal, and disregard for the individuals that characterize the government's effort to stamp out a perceived social ill. Further, as with ... the alleged witches of Salem, suspected Communists were encouraged to confess their crimes and to "name names, " identifying others sympathetic to their radical cause. S...

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• Grade Level: High School

... coupled with the heavy religious overtones create the feeling, right for the start of the play, that the people speaking are irrational, and dangerously so. Miller also can use the theme of witchcraft and Heaven vs. Hell to create scenes including vivid imagery. In Act 3 Abigail tells the court that ... that there is no bird the suggestion of one coupled with evil spirits looming over the court heightens the tension with massive dramatic effect. Miller also uses characters such as Proctor to heighten the tension at the end of each act. Proctor being the main protagonist is involved in .....

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... cannot charge murder on Abigail, she"ll kill me for sayin" that! Abby"ll charge lechery on you, Mr Proctor! I cannot, they"ll turn on me." (Miller 80) The audience can really feel the fear in the tone of her voice. When it comes to pride Giles Corey sure shows this trait. The audience can feel ... "You know I never hired a lawyer in my life, and always plaintiff, too. I am never put - upon, I know my rights, sir, and I will have them." (Miller 95) This allows the audience to feel his deep pride for himself. The dialogue between characters in the play is very good also in this aspect Arthu...

• Word Count: 688
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... arose in this little town, people were shocked and amazed, especially because it was the children that were involved. In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, he retells history, but modifies a few minor details, and adds in a few from his own imagination along the way. The one main detail that ... her maturity level, and to also raise her leadership abilities as an older woman. Now, as audiences have also discovered happens in Hollywood remakes of history, Miller wanted to add some sort of element of excitement to this period in time by adding in a romance between two characters. In...

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... are the particular characteristics of the play which make its story timeless and universal?" The Crucible highlights the tendency in America to witch-hunt. Miller's play came at an appropriate time in history. The court system in America in the 1950's was failing in its duty to safeguard the ... innocent people losing there lives. Many American's in the 1950's were blacklisted and had their careers ended by the accusations of Joe McCarthy. Miller himself was dragged into the spot light by the House Un-American Activities Committee, he was put in the exact same place were John Proctor .....

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... political investigation of Senator McCarthy in 1950's America. What are the particular Characteristic of the play which make its story timeless and universal?" Miller shows his integrity by this quote. The court system in America was failing in its duty to safeguard the system of justice by ... allowing McCarthy to ride rough shod over all authority. In this respect Miller's determination to make a stand against corruption is epitomized by several characters in the play, for example John Proctor who shows him self to ... managed to send 19 innocent people to their deaths, before running ...

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... and McCarthyism. The Crucible is based on a true story therefore he based his story on real life events in Salem from the 17th century. Miller had to hide the true meaning of the play because he would have been accused of being a communist himself and would have probably been deported. ... weeping" the main concentration of the audience is on him. In The Crucible there are a variety of different styles of language used. Arthur Miller used repetition, Shouting and crying to build up atmosphere. The language adds to the atmosphere because it builds up suspense and the audience can ... Proc...

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• Grade Level: High School

... years unless it is attacked from within or by unjust hostile forces. Where such attacks occur, will primarily target well-known and respected authoritative members of the society. In Arthur Miller's The Crucible a small lustful unacceptable love story between John Procter and Abigail Williams transforms into a sinful plot that implicitly illustrates that in a theocratic society, heavy influence of religion constitutes ... nothing more than a set of unjust lies the entire society agreed upon. Lying is done through the manipulation of words, but also through plain silence. In The Crucible...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... During this time he accused many of the public servants including teachers and civil servants as well as more prominent personalities of having pro-communist beliefs. Miller himself was accused of this and was called before the Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1956 to testify and when he had refused to apologise, ... he was sent for trial. Initially they fined him and gave a suspended prison sentence, which he appealed to and was later acquitted of. Miller fought to maintain his dignity and his principles, like his John Proctor in the play who stood up to what he believed in t...

• Word Count: 2628
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• Grade Level: High School

... is a fictional re-call of events in the American history surrounding the Salem witch trials of the seventeenth century which also provide the metaphor for Miller's parable of the Mc Carthy trials of the 1950s, John Proctor's agonising struggle with guilt emphasises the restrictive nature of the Puritan society. The ... During this time he accused many of the public servants including teachers and civil servants as well as more prominent personalities of having pro-communist beliefs. Miller himself was accused of this and was called before the Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1...

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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... he didn"'"t really have an affair with Abigail Williams, although it isn"'"t mentioned that Elisabeth is his third wife. He was also much older than Miller portrayed him as. In '"'The Crucible'"', Proctor is suppose to be around 40 years old. He was actually closer to 60. Other things were ... affair with John Proctor. Abigail was only 11 years old in 1692. If Abigail and John never had an affair, than that eliminates most of Miller"'"s reasoning for Abigail to call witchcraft on Elisabeth. Abigail is repeatedly called Reverend Paris"'" niece. Although she was somehow related to him, it ...

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• Grade Level: High School

... often underestimated. It only takes the greed and self-interest of one person to begin an irreversible process of decay. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, this is the dilemma that faces Salem. Early one morning, the daughter of Reverend Samuel Parris, Betty Parris, is found in her bed, ... at risk and he is willing to compromise what he claimed he stood for in order to save himself, which is something that neither Arthur Miller, nor John Proctor believed in. Eventually, this belief system backfires on him and he is voted out of office and leaves Salem. Reverend Parris ... arguing with ...

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• Grade Level: High School

... that the court systems and the federal government did not exist, but rather each town has their own court; based off of their own ruling. In Arthur Miller's drama, The Crucible, the tragic hero, John Proctor, suffers at the hand of the Puritan theocracy because of the lies and selfish behaviors in Salem; ... to Thomas Putnam about the girls' actions in the woods, "In my house? In my house, Thomas! They will topple me with this" (Miller. I. 23). During court, Reverend Parris called out words and phrases to try and convince Judge Danforth that John was trying to overthrow the court, when J...

• Word Count: 803
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• Grade Level: High School