The Crucible

Title: The Crucible
Author: Arthur Miller
ISBN: 0142437336

Plot Summary: In Colonial-Era Salem, Massachusetts, trouble is brewing when a group of adolescent girls accuse various members of the community of practicing witchcraft. Accusations fly of lying, land-grabbing, adultery, and even being in league with Satan. In the midst of it all, John Proctor, a decent if imperfect member of the community, attempts to repair his marriage and help justice be done while protecting himself from Abigail Williams, his charismatic former mistress and ringleader of the girls, who is determined to bring him down along with the people accused of witchcraft.

Critical Evaluation: Miller's use of authentic period language is nothing short of masterful, and he paints a vivid picture of the circumstances and atmosphere surrounding Colonial-era Salem. His characters are strongly etched and multifaceted, men and women alike, and one gets a real sense of how the more charismatic and forceful community members ended up manipulating the others. The fact that Miller wrote this play as an allegory for McCarthyism should not be ignored, either: those who are familiar with these events will find the parallels eerily similar. However, the ultimate lesson this play teaches lies in the inherent danger in letting fear overwhelm reason.

Reader's Annotation: During the Salem Witch Trials in Colonial New England, paranoia runs rampant. The characters who tell the truth must figure out ways to defend themselves against those who would either ignore, distort, or manipulate it for their own purposes.

About the Author: Arthur Miller was born in New York in 1915. His family lost almost all its assets in the stock market crash of 1929, and Miller had to work odd jobs after graduating from high school to save for college tuition. He graduated from the University of Michigan with an English degree, then worked with the Federal Theater Project until it was shut down for suspected Communist sympathies. Miller was later called to testify in front of HUAC, but refused to implicate any other suspected Communists. He died in 2005, leaving behind a writing legacy spanning over 70 years.

Genre: Drama, Fiction: Historical

Curriculum Ties: American History, World Religions

Booktalking Ideas:

Hook: Abigail Williams: victim or ringleader?
Approach: Character-based
Ideas for Booktalk: Abigail was orphaned when Indians murdered her parents right in front of her. Has affair with John Proctor, an older, married man, but whether he seduced her or vice versa is not clear, especially after she tries to win him back. Plays the "bewitched" girl masterfully in court, is let off the hook when Elizabeth Proctor refuses to implicate her as having seduced her husband. Although her ultimate fate is not known, she is clearly a girl with survival skills, whatever else may be said about her personality.

Hook: Tituba is interrogated and threatened by Reverend Hale until she gives the answers he requires.
Approach: Scene-based.
Ideas for Booktalk: Pay attention to the things Tituba says the devil promises her: material possessions, a return to her homeland, all the things she cannot have. Claims to reject the devil and love God; although it is doubtful that the opposite is true, she is a woman under great fear for her own safety. Shifts accusations of witchcraft onto others in order to save herself. Desire for honesty versus desire for self-preservation.


Reading Level/Interest Age: Grades 7-12

Challenge Issues: Offensive language, violence, sexual content, religious viewpoint, witchcraft.
Although witchcraft is the central issue of this play, no actual magic takes place either on or off-stage, except in townspeople's wild accusations of each other. Various characters are beaten or tortured to get the desired answers. Abigail is frequently referred to as a "whore" or "harlot" that John says he "knew;" another character receives a threat from her master to "show [her] a great doing on [her] arse." The language, although salty, is authentic to the period from whence it came, as is the play's treatment of the subject of adultery. The forces of established justice and religion in the play come across as strongly authoritarian, and more concerned with receiving the answers it expects than the truth. The play's ultimate message, though, is that the Trials presented the world with an object lesson in how not to abuse powers of faith and justice, particularly to achieve selfish means.

Why I Chose This Book: I first read this play at a time in my life when I knew more about the Salem Witch Trials than about the McCarthy era. Although rereading the play with this added perspective gave me new insight into the events it depicts, its air of mass hysteria and baseless accusation could be applied to any number of eras, including the present. The strength of Miller's play, in the final analysis, is neither the degree to which it captures an historical event nor its use of one era's hysteria to parallel another, but rather in how the dangers it cautions against are relevant regardless of time period, geographic location, or even specific political situation.