... mass hysteria present in the witch trials of the period and the Red Scare during the Cold War. The play's central character and tragic hero is John Proctor. Through Proctor, Miller highlights how people speaking out against mass hysteria and in a society "gripped between two diametrically opposed absolutes," are "always marked for calamity." Although Proctor is an immensely proud man, ... evident in the confident way he readily challenges Reverend Parris' superficial beliefs and corrupt conduct, even in a time and society where such outspoken reason could lead to dire consequences. 5. ...

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• Grade Level: High School

... to succumb to the preposterous charges brought forth by McCarthy displaying resemblance's to that of the Salem community in 1692 (Carey 51). In Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, there is evidence of parallels between the Salem of 1692 and America of the 1950's, the American Government of the 1950's ... On September 23, 1949, President Truman reported that the Soviet Union had developed an atomic bomb striking fear into the American nation (Martine 8). Miller even acknowledged this fear when he said, America had just finished fighting World War II with the help of the Soviet Union agains...

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• Grade Level: High School

... partisans without drawing their deepest anger. "In his presence, a fool felt his foolishness instantly; consequently, a Proctor is always marked for slander and defamation" (Miller 20). Although he may come across as a steady mannered individual, Proctor is not an untroubled man. His was a sinner against his wife, a sinner ... had created a time of fear and suspicion, trust and loyalty were lost and we were in a time of turmoil (Oshinsky 549). Miller's play could have been interpreted as a message to people about the problems with McCarthyism. In The Crucible, it is simple to find events...

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• Grade Level: High School

... , and therefore relevant to any audience in any society it is being read. Through a combination of black-and-white characters and timetested themes, Miller creates a play that can appeal to the imagination and conscience of any reader. Throughout all of history, there has always been discord between the ... and dilemmas the text raises are important to any society in any time, and as such are brought to the reader's attention by Miller. Miller originally wrote The Crucible as an allegory about the 1950s American fear of Communism. During the Cold War there was an exaggerated fear ... to...

• Word Count: 1435
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... 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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... 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

... 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...

• Word Count: 1767
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• Grade Level: High School

... with prayer and especially with the commandments. An example of this is when Revered Hale questioned John Proctor to recite the Ten Commandments. (Arthur Miller, Act II).  Any departure from the "normal way'' of Puritan life resulted in strict objection and chastisement. Religion has a direct relationship ... taken very seriously. ''Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam's dead sisters''(Abigail, Act I, Arthur Miller"). The actions that Abigail and the other young women had indulged in were extremely looked down upon and would lead to great suspicion, ...

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... play and what actually occurred during the pandemonium of this many of which can be attributed to the poetic license taken by the author, Arthur Miller. These changes make for an interesting story, but are not ideal for learning about the true events of the events that occurred in Salem Village ... trials. Parris is depicted as a power hungry widower who fails to fulfill the parental role and shows no interest in his children or their wellbeing (Miller 3). In reality, however, Parris' wife was alive and well until four years after the trials ended, and she went through the same turmoil a...

• Word Count: 1257
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... it, "She thinks to dance with me on my wife's grave." For both to gain support, they fed on the fears and worries of the public. Arthur Miller almost fell victim to the HUAC and blacklisting after the release of The Crucible. He was hoping a "John Proctor" would shed light for Americans on the unjust ... extremities of the anticommunist movement. This may be the reason Miller made Proctor the center character of stability in the play. When Miller characterizes Proctor, he makes him the tragic hero, who tries to redeem himself from a bad trait. In the end of the ... six months to a year ...

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• Grade Level: High School

... human relationship, from lying to cheating, distrust and keeping of secrets. In the two novels, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and The Crucible by Arthur Miller, betrayal can be seen as the base of the stories as characters like Abigail Williams, John Proctor, Baba and Amir destroy the trust they have with their ... do so, Abigail first betrays the trust she has with Tituba: "She made me do it. She made Betty do it!...She makes me drink blood" (Miller 40). This simple lie, forces Tituba to mention the names of innocent people, accusing them of being witches. It is because of this one...

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... a person has to make a decision that can be critical to his morals and principles. There are many interpretations of the word crucible as there is for the theme of Arthur Miller's, The Crucible. Closely related to the word "crucifixion", The Crucible is about a man put in a crucible situation, who is forced to choose between life and morality, just as Jesus Christ ... did. Miller interweaved these scenarios to form the main themes of the play - the problem of making the right moral choice and the necessity of sacrifice as a means of redemption. Both of ... right and that there is still...

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The Crucible The Crucible is a great play written by Arthur Miller. I am going to write about Arthur Miller's representation of good and evil in his play the Crucible, paying particular attention to his characterisation. The Crucible's main purpose was to show the mass hysteria, which led to the ... ...

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• Grade Level: High School

The Crucible is a story that takes place in Salem Massachusetts in 1692. It was written by Arthur Miller during the 1950's. A play is to act especially in a dramatic way. A number of characters come together to form a performance of entertainment. A play can be filled with tragedy, comedy, drama, or ... ...

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... were deemed unfit for society. Two works of literature that display both aspects of this society very accurately are The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. The Scarlet Letter displays a society that treats two people very differently who commit the sin of adultery together. The woman, Hester Prynne, admits her sin, is forced to always wear ... ...

• Word Count: 1327
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• Grade Level: High School