Crucible Term Paper

A detailed Summary of Crucible Term Paper

Miller captured the paranoia and hatred of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials and made a controversial reference to his own society's Witch Hunts during McCarthyism in the 1950s. In only 146 pages, Miller told us the stories of the lives of John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, Abigail Williams and others during the 1692 Witch Trials in Salem Massachusettes. The quiet Salem community was living happily in their own sleepy world, until several local girls fell ill as their sickness was blamed on witchcraft.

John Proctor was a farmer in his middle thirties. He did not have to be a partisan of any faction in the town, but there was evidence in the books that he could not tolerate hypocrites. This is perhaps the one thing that Proctor was afraid of becoming. He was a kind man who could not refuse support to 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, "The Crucible" 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 against his community, a sinner against his own morals, and a sinner against his Puritanic

Basically, John Proctor's affair with Abigail Williams was the indirect cause of the Salem Witch Trials. Had the affair not occurred, Abigail would not have gotten involved with Proctor, she would not have gotten angry with his ignorance of her, and she would not have accused him and his wife of witchcraft. John Proctor's decision to either lie and save his life or tell the truth to save his reputation is the center theme of the play. The following speech by Proctor summarizes the point Miller was laboring to make excellently:

"The social drama, as I see it, is the mainstream and the antisocial drama a bypass. I can no longer take with ultimate seriousness a drama of individual psychology written for its own sake, however full it may be of

The Crucible, more than anything else, was a kind of a social commentary on the era of McCarthyism that swept through the America in the 1950s. Senator Joe McCarthy accused many people of being Communist and spreading Communist ideas. Many of those people were Blacklisted and had their careers ended by McCarthy's wild imputations. Miller compared this era of paranoia to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Thus, The Crucible was born. Miller used the tragic theme of the chose of reputation or death many times, including in another of his famous works, Death Of A Salesman. This underlying theme is snared perfectly in another one of Miller's plays, The Pussycat and the Expert Plumber Who Was a Man: ". . .the one thing a man fears most next to death is the loss of his good name. Man is evil in his own eyes. . .and the only way he can find respect for himself is by getting other people to say he's a nice fellow."(Miller, "The Pussycat and the Expert Plumber Who Was a Man" 37)

Such a wonderfully written play as The Crucible can only be complemented by wonderfully written criticisms. Many of Miller's plays, The Crucible in particular, have been compared to the works of Sophicles and Ibsen. The premise that was absorbed by this play was the most valid and fertile subject for the drama, that of th

Some common words found in the essay are:
John Proctor, John Proctor's, Witch Trials, Williams Proctor's, Judge Danforth, Social Plays, Proctor Crucible, Miller Crucible, Proctor John's, Despite Miller, witch trials, salem witch, salem witch trials, abigail williams, save reputation, john proctor, save life, save life tell, truth save, tell truth, life tell, local girls, tell truth save, lie save life, pussycat expert plumber,

Approximate Word count = 1391
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels