Arthur Miller

The Crucible

Arthur Miller (1915-2005) Born in New York Family lost fortune in the crash

of 1929. Disinterested in school Worked at one time on NY city

waterfront

Writings… Met and learned about many

American jobs. Wrote about the common man.

University of Michigan – graduated in 1938 and returned to NY.

Career… Involved with theatre and

radio. First drama –ALL MY SONS:

concerned capitalist society which Miller saw all around him.

Death of a Salesman Most popular play.Won Pulitzer

Prize in 1949. Film version won first prize at the

Venice Film Festival. Concerned common man defeated

by a society which drains the youth of energy and then discards him.

Communism… Concern for common man made

him briefly consider becoming communist.

Investigated in 1947 by House Committee on UnAmerican Activities.

Completely cleared of charges.

The Crucible Critics called it his best play. Performed first on Broadway in

1953. Ran for 197 performances. Later ran for 500 performances in

an Off-Broadway production.

McCarthyism… Joseph Raymond McCarthy

(R-Wisconsin) was elected to Senate in 1946.

Launched crusade in 1953 against what he called “internal subversion.”

Internal Subversion… Charged that there were a large number of

“known Communists” employed in the State Department.

Democratic majority claimed his charges were “a fraud and a hoax.”

McCarthy was listened to because he came at a time when America feared a Communist takeover. Called the “Red Scare.”

1950 – McCarthy’s re-election… Proceeded to investigate the

“Communist threat.” Similarities between

McCarthy’s Communist hunt and the Salem witch hunts is uncanny.

Witch hunts = Commie hunts Both hearings got out of hand,

with people accused of witchcraft/communism if they questioned the authority of the hearings.

Guilty until proven innocent… Anyone was subject to being

questioned, and if they refused to cooperate, then they were considered guilty.

McCarthy accused politicians, actors, writers (Miller included) and many others.

Televised hearings… McCarthy’s dispute with

Eisenhower administration came to a head in 1954 with televising of Committee on UnAmerican Activities hearings.

McCarthy’s downfall… Similar to witch trials. Went too far and accused too many

people to maintain his credibility. Senate voted in 1954 to condemn

McCarthy for certain of his activities.

Influence declined, and died in 1957.

Salem Witchcraft Trials… Actually happened in Salem,

MA in 1692. Nineteen people hanged as

witches, along with two dogs who were thought to be witches familiars.

Confessions… Fifty-five people confessed to

being witches, because it was easier to confess than to endure the torture of people who were accused but who denied being witches.

Governor of the colony gone… Governor was absent from

colony. Assistant was a strong believer in witchcraft and in Puritanical religious beliefs.

Issued first death warrant and saw it carried out.

Public outcry… Public pressure put a stop to the

hangings as the Minister’s began to doubt the young girls’ credibility.

Girls made the mistake of accusing the Governor’s wife, a much loved figure in the colony, and that was the last blow to their credibility.

Why it ended--- (Don’t Copy) 1.  Doubts grow when respected citizens are convicted and

executed. -Rebecca Nurse (jury first acquits, then told to reconsider) -George Burroughs (recites Lord's Prayer perfectly at hanging) -Giles Corey (81-year-old is pressed to death) 2.  Accusations of witchcraft include the powerful and well-connected. (Wife of Governor Phips)3.  The educated elite of Boston pressure Gov. Phips to exclude spectral evidence. 4. Increase Mather points out the Devil could take the shape of an innocent person: "It were better that 10 suspected witches should escape than one innocent person should be condemned." 5.  Gov. Phips bars spectral evidence and disbands the Court.

The Crucible Literally a tragic account of the Salem Witch

Trials. Interpretively, it concerns the condition

caused by mass hysteria of a nation and puts forth the idea that wickedness is within the national character of a people. Also shows man’s courageous and never-ending fight against mass-pressure to bow to conformity.

Doctrines of Puritanism

The Crucible

ORIGINAL SIN This was the belief that

Adam’s sin was passed down to each individual thereafter, and that all humans share Adam’s guilt.

PREDESTINATION No one is saved by merely being

good. There would be a few elect going to Heaven and no-one knew who they would be. Puritan’s toiled to God’s will to prove to God that he could live up to God’s commands and then he could safely assume that he would be one of God’s elect.

FEAR OF DAMNATION Obsessive fear that worried

every true Puritan. This, perhaps, is why the Puritan “Fire and Brimstone” sermon was so effective. Puritans thought that they needed to know of God’s condemnation.

INFALLIBILITY OF THE CHURCH

Nothing was permissible unless the Bible specifically stated that it was good, and the church was the final judge. This gave the minister much power.

NO EMOTIONAL RESPONSE

The purpose of the church was to learn and to follow God’s law, not to create a personal, emotional response to God.