The Crucible

By Arthur Miller

The word crucible has many meanings and connotations, including• A container that resists heat• A melting pot• A fire or furnace• A trial or difficult ordeal

Theme DevelopmentTrace the following themes as you examine the play•Hypocrisy•Guilt•Revenge•Hysteria•Authority•Integrity and courage•Judgment•Power

Symbols and Motifs• Crucible• Poppet• “God’s icy wind”• “my name”• Golden candlesticks• Look for other motifs as you read

Poppet – a small doll• Given to Elizabeth

as a peace offering

• Corrupted by Abigail and used as a weapon against Elizabeth

Arthur Miller

Born in 1915 to Jewish immigrant parentsAfter graduating from the University of Michigan, Miller worked as a freelance writer in New York

Miller’s Plays• 1944 – The Man Who Had All the Luck

opened to horrible reviews• 1947 – All My Sons – instant success –

concerned with morality in the face of desperation

• 1949 – Death of a Salesman – Pulitzer Prize winner

• 1953 – The Crucible – set in Salem in the late 1600s – served as an indictment of McCarthyism of the 1950s

Miller’s Life• 3 marriages – Mary Grace

Slattery, Marilyn Monroe, Inge Morath

• won a Pulitzer Prize, 2 Drama Circle Critic Awards, 7 Tony Awards, an Obie, the JFK Lifetime Achievement Award, and others

• holds honorary doctorates from Harvard University and Oxford University

• Miller died Feb. 11, 2005

Miller on The Crucible"A political policy is equated with moral right, and opposition to it with diabolical malevolence."

The Crucible serves as an allegory for the activities of Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee.

McCarthyism? Never heard of it.

McCarthyism“In the 1950s McCarthyism meant a brave, patriotic stand against Communism. It had the support of the media and the American people. Now it has come to mean a smear campaign of groundless accusations from which the accused cannot escape, because professions of innocence become admission of guilt and only confessions are accepted.” - Kenneth C. Davis in Don’t Know Much About History

McCarthyismm• McCarthyism is the term used to describe a period of

intense suspicion in the United States during the early 1950s.

• It began when Senator Joseph McCarthy, a U.S. senator from Wisconsin, claimed that communists had infiltrated the Department of State. McCarthyism is the term used to describe a period of intense suspicion in the United States during the early 1950s.

• It began when Senator Joseph McCarthy, a U.S. senator from Wisconsin, claimed that communists had infiltrated the Department of State.

• A special House Committee on Un-American Activities was formed to investigate allegations of communism.

The House UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC)

• Established in 1937 to investigate subversive activities

• investigated both left and right wing political groups (investigated Klan activities at one point, but closed the case without finding any evidence of subversive activities – the committee chairman, Martin Dies, was a Klan member)

• in 1947 began an investigation of the Hollywood motion picture industry

• required those who testified to admit to Communist party affiliations and to “name names”

• “blacklisted” writers – over 300 barred from work in film

The Hollywood 10• accused of Communist

activities in 1947 by HUAC

• refused to answer Committee questions, citing the 5th Amendment

• found guilty of contempt of Congress and sentenced to 6 –12 months in prison

1957: Arthur Miller guilty of contempt

Arthur Miller had close associations with the

Communist party

US playwright Arthur Miller has been convicted of contempt of Congress. The

conviction relates to an investigation last year by the House of Representatives' Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) into

a Communist conspiracy to misuse American passports.

During the investigation 41-year-old Mr. Miller, who is married to Hollywood movie star Marilyn Monroe, refused to reveal the names of alleged Communist writers with

whom he had attended five or six meetings in New York in 1947.

He was said to be co-operative in all other aspects of the hearing but told the

committee his conscience would not permit him to give the names of others and bring

possible trouble to them.

1958: Arthur Miller cleared of contempt

Washington's Court of Appeals has quashed playwright Arthur Miller's conviction for contempt of Congress after a two-year legal battle. In May last year, a judge convicted Mr Miller for refusing to tell

the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) the names of alleged Communist writers with whom he attended five or six meetings in New York in

1947.. He had been questioned by the HUAC in 1956 over a supposed Communist conspiracy to misuse American passports and willingly answered all questions about

himself. But the playwright, married to actress Marilyn Monroe, refused to name names on a point of

principle saying: "I could not use the name of another person and bring trouble on him."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/7/newsid_2946000/2946420.stm audio file of Miller discussing his play

Arthur Miller later said his trial only went ahead because he had refused one of the members of the HUAC permission to be photographed with Marilyn Monroe.

ALLEGORYAllegory is a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance.

Thus an allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.

. . .and finally• Although some critics have suggested that The Crucible is an historical allegory for the McCarthy period, it can be examined more fruitfully as a play about the human condition. McCarthyism, as Miller himself said, is the backdrop for the play, but is not its theme.