http://www.17thc.us/docs/fact-fiction.shtml
http://college.cengage.com/english/heath/syllabuild/iguide/miller.html
http://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar?q=cache:WnWmTev_swAJ:scholar.google.com/+arthur+miller+%2B+%22the+crucible%22&hl=en&as_sdt=0,33
http://www.amielandmelburn.org.uk/collections/ulr/07_34.pdf
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Literary Techniques and Elements
John Procter, as described above, is an honest, hard-working man, who has committed adultery. There are several instances in the book in which Proctor’s character is tested, each of which provide clearer insight into his persona. Firstly, after his wife is arrested for witchcraft and Judge Danforth offers him a year with his wife before she is tried, Proctor refuses to accept the deal and drop his denial of the charges. In this situation, we see Proctor’s loyalty towards his friends who are also on trial. Similarly, in order to save his wife’s life and show the illegitimacy of the court, Proctor acknowledges his affair with Abigail Williams. Although against his wishes, this action provides a possibility of clearing his wife’s name, again displaying his loyalty for his wife and friends, in addition to his honest nature. Finally, after being condemned to hang, Proctor takes back his false confession of contact with the devil, which he intended to clear him of charges. Rather than pretend to have seen the devil to save his own skin, he decided that it was best to keep his conscience clean. This thereby illustrates a sense of honesty in Proctor that defines his life.
In addition to the development of John Proctor, Miller portrays a clear evolution in the character of Reverend Hale over the course of the play. Hale arrives at Salem as a highly touted Reverend who would be able to detect the presence of witches in Salem, specifically Reverend Parris’s daughter, Betty. After finding such witchcraft, he soon brings about multiple confessions in Salem, leading to the creation of a court meant to deal with the issue. However, Hale slowly loses faith in the claims of witchcraft and the court itself, citing the accusatory nature of the court and the evidence presented by Proctor. As such, Hale eventually leaves the proceedings all together due to uncertainty, coming back only to try to save the lives of Rebecca Nurse and the Proctors. Therefore, Hale’s personality experiences a major shift as he alters his convictions due to evidence, proving him to be a logical and rational man, and not a stubborn religious zealot.
Beyond his use of characterization, Miller also employs the technique of irony, particularly dramatic irony. Miller uses this technique to alter the way the reader looks at each character. An example of this in the play is in John Proctor’s reciting of the Ten Commandments. A man who has committed adultery, Proctor can recall all of the commandments except for the very one that he violated. Similarly, Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, provides an example of both irony and dramatic irony in her testimony in court, in which she states that she had no knowledge of John’s indiscretion with Abigail. This is ironic in the sense that John stated to the court that Elizabeth never lies; as it turns out, the only situation in which she does lie is the time she most needs to tell the truth. This scenario involves dramatic irony in the sense that the reader and the court all know that John has already confessed to adultery, but Elizabeth does not and subsequently lies in front of the court. Miller’s use of irony in these examples allows him to incite certain reactions from the reader, including pity and empathy.
A final key technique Miller employs, though somewhat more sparingly than character development and irony, is symbolism. Specifically, symbolism is used in the title of the play and in its final scene. By definition, the word “crucible” refers to a difficult test or trial. This is exactly what John Proctor faces on several different occasions, described above, which test Proctor’s beliefs, attitudes, and integrity, just as the Red Scare tested Miller in the 1950’s. In addition, Miller displays symbolism in the form of John Proctor’s name, which becomes evident during the final moments of Proctor’s life and the play. In this scene, Proctor recants his testimony due to Danforth’s insistence of placing a signed copy of the testimony on the door of the community church. The reason Proctor takes back the false testimony is that the signed copy would tarnish his name, which, more than anything, represents Proctor’s character, values and everything else in his life. Proctor’s name therefore symbolizes his person, and Miller uses symbolism to illustrate a key message of the play, integrity and staying true to one’s word and one’s self.
Summary of Act IV
The final act of the play is set at one of the Salem jail cells. Beginning with Tituba yelling incessantly for the devil to come get her, Danforth soon comes to the jail, where he finds out that Reverend Hale has returned to Salem. Irritated by the news, he summons Paris to explain why he has allowed Hale to return. He replies that Hale has returned to get Rebecca Nurse to confess, as well as several others. He also tells Danforth that his niece, Abigail, and Mercy Lewis have stolen from him and run away. He believes that this was a sign of a possible rebellion occurring in Salem, a notion that Danforth dismisses. Paris then asks for the postponement of the hangings scheduled for the morning, specifically those of John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse. Danforth refuses. Hale enters and asks Danforth to postpone the hangings to give him more time. Danforth again refuses, citing the possibility that postponement could cause some to see him as weak and lead to a revolt. Instead, he suggests the Elizabeth speak to John. Hale pleads with her to save John’s life by convincing him to lie in his testimony. Elizabeth speaks with John and tells him that Giles has been killed and the circumstances under which he died. John then asks her if he should lie and confess, to which she replies that it is his decision and she will not judge him. He decides to confess, and as he is confessing, Rebecca Nurse walks in, astonished. Danforth then asks John if he had seen anyone with the devil, beginning with Rebecca, to which he responded he did not. Annoyed, Danforth proceeds to ask for John’s signature on a confession, which was to be posted on the door of the church. John refuses, believing that it was enough that Danforth, Hale, Parris, Cheever, and Herrick had seen him confess. Danforth insists that he sign, causing Proctor to become increasingly angry, to the point that he refuses to sign and takes back his confession, citing that by signing it, he was losing his name and all that it entailed, including the betrayal of his friends. Hale pleads with John and Elizabeth to have him confess, but Elizabeth refuses, leaving John to keep his goodness.
Commentary Connected to Themes and Morals
Fear/Hysteria:
Fear and hysteria are majors themes in the crucible because the only reason that the witch trials were able to occur was by the fear of the people and the hysteria of the teenage girls. The fear of witchcraft in Salem rapidly spread throughout the community and thus people to escape being accused turned on their neighbors. The best example of this was with the teenage girls who were caught in the forest. They turned on the innocent and used their seeming innocence to cry and moan and exclaiming that they were forced to do what they did. The hysteria that rooted from these girls turned almost everyone in the town against each other. In the end of the novel the fear would lead to the innocent being killed for sins that they were falsely accused of.
Reputation:
Reputation is another major theme of the novel due to the effect reputation house on the outcome of certain situations. For example John Proctor wanted to keep his reputation of a good and honest man, but in order to save his wife he gave up his reputation and admitted to having an affair with Abigail. The need to keep the reputation of his wife as a moral Christian outweighed the need to keep his reputation as a moral man. Another major effect reputation had in the novel was with judge Danforth. On the day of John Proctors execution judge Danforth was begged to release Proctor; but as he needed to uphold his reputation as a judge that would uphold the law, he had to allow Proctor to be executed (This was also because Danforth had signed the death of many other men and women and could not risk his reputation).
Character Analysis
Abigail Williams - As Reverend Parris' niece, Abigail once worked for the Proctors'. However, Elizabeth Proctor fired her after she discovered that Abigail was having an affair with her husband, John. Abigail proves to be manipulative and keeps up her lies to implicate different women in the town.
Reverend John Hale - From the town of Beverly, Hale is a supposed expert on dealings with the Devil. He is called to Salem to examine Parris’s daughter Betty. Hale is a religious man who despises the acts of witchcraft. Hale is one of the few characters who sees through Abigail's lies and he, along with Proctor, try to save the innocent in Salem.
Elizabeth Proctor - Married to John Proctor, Elizabeth fired Abigail when she had an affair with her husband. Elizabeth is loyal and truthful, always standing by her husbands side and never telling a lie. The only lie Elizabeth tells is when she covers for her husbands affair.
Reverend Parris - As the minister of the church in Salem, Reverend Parris troubled by paranoia and the need to keep uniformity in his town. He is disliked by many, especially John Proctor, and he is constantly worried about his reputation in the community.
Rebecca Nurse - An elderly and caring woman who is married to Francis Nurse. She is held in high regard by the people in Salem. However, even Rebecca is not safe as in the 2nd act Francis reports that his wife has been named by the girls. Unfortunately, Rebecca is a victim of the fear in the town of Salem.
Francis Nurse - Francis is the husband of Rebecca Nurse and is widely respected amongst people in the town. He does, however, have a rocky relationship with Thomas Putnam.
Judge Danforth - Danforth is the deputy governor of Massachusetts and the presiding judge at the witch trials. Danforth is partisan towards his beliefs and truly thinks he is doing justice in the town of Salem.
Giles Corey - A farmer in the town, Corey is married to Martha Corey. She is eventually convicted in the witch hunts and Giles himself is arrested for contempt of the court .
Summary of Act III
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| Elizabeth Proctor |
At the beginning of Act 3, Danforth asks Proctor to drop the charges in return for Elizabeth. However, Proctor says he cannot do a disservice to his friends like that. Instead, Proctor presents a petition protesting that Elizabeth, Martha and Rebecca are all good citizens innocent of witchcraft. However, Parris combats this by saying that everyone who has signed it should be arrested and Danforth agrees. Danforth is a firm believer that a person can either be for the court or against the court. Therefore, when Giles asserts that the girls are lying Danforth calls contempt of the court upon him. Danforth thinks that there is a plot in the town to overthrow the court and Giles is arrested for his behavior. Danforth then hears Mary Warren confess that she lied about witchcraft and calls in the other girls to hear them speak. However, Abby says that Mary is lying and stays true to what she said before. Mary says that her fainting in the courthouse was fake and Danforth tells her to faint for them to prove it. However, Mary says she cannot and the girls say that Mary is sending their spirit out at them. John finally loses it and leaps at Abby, calling her a whore. At this allegation, John is forced to describe his affair with Abby to prove that she is a whore. He says that Abby is now trying the get revenge on Elizabeth for dismissing her by accusing her of witchcraft. After this, Danforth wants to talk to Elizabeth and question her. However, remaining faithful to her husband, she denies that her husband ever cheated on her. The girls then pretend there is an evil spirit that Mary is sending after them and John tries to comfort her. However, Mary tells John that he is the Devil, which shocks both Danforth and Proctor. Proctor is so angered that he proclaims God is dead and he is arrested along with Giles. Hale is also done with the madness of Salem and quits the court.
Summary of Act II
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| John Proctor |
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| Abigail |
Act 2 starts in the Proctor household when John comes in from working on the farm. Elizabeth asks where he has been all night, suspicious because of his previous affair with Abigail. Proctor is sick of being questioned and compares the atmosphere of the household to winter. The Proctors’ find out that their servant, Marry Warren, has been called to the Salem courthouse and Proctor is angered because of the chaos amongst the town. Abby has been naming many people in the town as witches, including Elizabeth. Elizabeth asks John to tell Ezekiel Cheever that Abby is a liar and John replies that he will think about it. This angers Elizabeth because she takes this as meaning that he is still in love with Abby. John gets mad for Elizabeth’s judgment and they bicker for a little while over John’s allegiances. When Mary Warren comes home, John asks why she went to Salem when she was forbidden to do so and she replies that she is an official of the court. She brings news that 39 women have been arrested and the Goody Osborn will hang for her spell casting. Mary also reports that she saved Elizabeth’s life when she was mentioned in the court by Abby. Elizabeth pleads with John to tell Abby to stop her lies and John reluctantly complies. After this is settled, Reverend Hale comes the to Proctor household to question how religious they are. Since Elizabeth was mentioned in the court, Hale asks them to recite their 10 commandments. Also, when Proctor is asked why his Church attendance is sporadic, Proctor responds that he does not believe that Parris has the light of God in him. Elizabeth is even offended that Hale suggests the Devil would be present in her household. Later in the act, Giles Corey and Francis Nurse arrive with the news that their wives had been arrested. The town has officially fallen into madness and Hale is convinced that the court will make a just decision. Then, however, Cheever and Herrick enter with a warrant to arrest Elizabeth from Abby’s implications. Proctor explains that Abby has been making it up as an attempt to get rid of Elizabeth and rips up the warrant. Nevertheless, Elizabeth agrees to go with Cheever and Herrick. Proctor wants to go to the court to say Abby is a fraud, but Mary warns that Abby will go public about their affair. However, John has little to lose and yells at Mary as the scene ends.
Summary of Act I
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| Reverend Parris with his slave Tituba |
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Introduction
Arthur Miller was born on October 17, 1915. Well known for his plays, such as Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, he was summoned by the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1956. At his meeting, he was asked and proceeded to refuse to identify communist writers, leading him to be held in contempt of court. During this time period known as the Red Scare, there was much fear of communism and being labeled as a communist. Similar to the witch hunts in Salem, anyone who went against the grain faced arrest and interrogation. In Salem, however, these people also faced the possibility of being hanged. For this reason, Miller wrote the Crucible about the Salem trials as an allegory for McCarthyism, the prevailing notion of the Red Scare led by Joseph McCarthy. In one instance, Miller stated that, "A political policy is equated with moral right, and opposition to it with diabolical malevolence." Essentially, this is a direct comparison between the Salem witch trials and McCarthyism as he states that repudating common political stances is similar to repudating moral beliefs. In both cases one is thought of as morally unsound. Miller equated the fear of communism in the 50's to the Salem Witch Hunts of 1692 due to these experiences with HUAC in 1956. On the other hand, in Salem, a group of young girls accused many of partaking in activities with the Devil. These actions were heavily frowned upon in Salem, a Puritan society, causing many to face incarceration or possibly death. At the end of the ordeal, 20 people were executed and 200 were accused.
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| Arthur Miller |
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| Salem Witch Trials |
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