Crucible: A Play in Four Acts by Arthur Miller
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(Paperback - Penguin Plays)
- Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
- Pub. Date: October 1976
- ISBN-13: 9780140481389
- Sales Rank: 5,496
- 152pp
- Series: Penguin Plays Series
- Edition Description: Penguin Plays
Synopsis
"I believe that the reader will discover here the essential nature of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history," Arthur Miller wrote in an introduction to The Crucible, his classic play about the witch-hunts and trials in seventeenth-century Salem, Massachusetts. Based on historical people and real events, Miller's drama is a searing portrait of a community engulfed by hysteria. In the rigid theocracy of Salem, rumors that women are practicing witchcraft galvanize the town's most basic fears and suspicions; and when a young girl accuses Elizabeth Proctor of being a witch, self-righteous church leaders and townspeople insist that Elizabeth be brought to trial. The ruthlessness of the prosecutors and the eagerness of neighbor to testify against neighbor brilliantly illuminate the destructive power of socially sanctioned violence. Written in 1953, The Crucible is a mirror Miller uses to reflect the anti-communist hysteria inspired by Senator Joseph McCarthy's "witch-hunts" in the United States. Within the text itself, Miller contemplates the parallels, writing "Political opposition...is given an inhumane overlay, which then justifies the abrogation of all normally applied customs of civilized behavior. A political policy is equated with moral right, and opposition to it with diabolical malevolence."
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Loved this book!by Anonymous
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June 02, 2008: The Crucible was a great book in my opinion. This is one book that I really enjoyed. I liked how it was based on a true story which makes it more interesting. It kept me wondering what was going to happen to the people being accused and if Abigail would finally admit to what she was doing.
Amazing Story with Many Different Levels!by Anonymous
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May 18, 2002: I really enjoyed this play! By the end of the second act, I couldn't put it down! I was amazed by the complex characters and felt emotionally attatched, for better or worse, to all of them. I began to fear the hatred and evil nature of the judges,Paris, and Abagail. I felt pity and respect for the matyrs that died such noble deaths. The personal story of John Proctor and his wife, Elizabeth,was deeply moving; it taught the reader about nobility and goodness. On that level alone, the play was very powerful, but when the reader realizes that the play was written in the wake of the Red Scare, the images of red, of accusing innocent people and excusing them if they condemn another, and of noble people standing up for what they know to be true becomes even more profound. All in all, this play is an amazing work of literature!
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