The Crucible
by Arthur Miller
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Book Reviews of The Crucible
Book Review: Meaningful Tragedy of Human Nature
Summary: 5 Stars
Miller's "Crucible" amazingly parallels the McCarthyism era and provides a frightful yet realistic account of the possibilities caused by human desires. Its short length combined with its easy-to-understand language allows the readers to become fully absorbed in the plot.
During the period of anti-communism, suspicions were placed among all types of people, ranging from outcasts of society to the most-trusted educators. The hysteria of the Red Scare spread rapidly through the belief of a necessary social conformity. Despite questionable evidence combined with exaggerated threats, suspicions were often deemed credible in a court of law. Consequently, once suspected, few individuals were able to completely clear their reputation. As with the witches accused, suspected Communists were given the chance to escape punishment through confession and identification of other Red Sympathizers. This gradually led to false accusations of others to save oneself, resulting in the condemning of many innocent individuals. Paralleling the Salem Witch Trials to the persecutions of the McCarthyism era, Miller emphasizes the ability of mass hysteria to overpower the apparent irrationality of the Red Scare.
Miller's outstanding use of historical context further emphasized the power of human nature to cause the spread of mass hysteria. When looking at the "Crucible" as a play, it seems too surreal and frightening to be true. Any reader could easily mock the people of the community for being naïve and hanging nonexistent witches. However, the scary irony that Miller uses is the fact that the whole scenario has happened before in history, numerous times. Not only did the settlers of Massachusetts hang supposed "witches", but also people in the twentieth century have allowed mass hysteria to spread unjustifiably.
"The Crucible" is an exciting play that fully grasps the attention of its readers. It is not only an entertaining book for any occasion, but is also a meaningful retelling of a tragedy of human nature.
Book Review: A wonderful play
Summary: 5 Stars
Written in the early 1950s, Miller's literary work was meant to be a parallel to the "Red Scare". He focuses on the 17th century witch trials in Salem where its citizens out of hysteria participate in wild witch hunts, acts that killed numerous innocent civilians.
His story focuses on John Proctor, a relatively honest and good man who had an affair once with his wife's helper. Out of this lust, he initiates the start of the mass hysteria because Abigail, the helper, has fallen in love with him and will stop at nothing to make him love her, even killing his current wife. Her jealous rampage snowballs into a full blown mass hysteria where she implants ideas of the presence of witchcraft into the minds of the small town's citizens and brings to trial many people, including his wife. Throughout the entire story, Proctor knows her true intentions and we see the inner struggle within himself: To either to keep his good name and let his wife die, or confess his adulterating sins and besmirch his good reputation that he holds dear.
Throughout the entire story, the reader is engulfed within Miller's storytelling, his writing style and sentence structure whirling us into the tense and upbeat atmosphere of those times. With his masterful use of short and repetitive sentence structures, he is able to make them feel this tenseness. With this kind of writing style, it makes The Crucible one quick and satisfying read.
Overall, I found The Crucible to be a fairly good book with an interesting plot and a classical heroic ending. I especially liked the fallen hero archetype that redeems himself in the end after struggling with his inner mind.
Although I was slightly perturbed at the fact that the author would play around with the historical facts, in order to make it more realistic, I feel that the story would have been of greater impact had he left the original details within, but other than that, this book is worth the time and money spent!
Book Review: morals? What morals?
Summary: 4 Stars
This book is first and foremost a test of morals.
Is it ok to kill other people if the evidence against them is not sound?
Is it ok to kill them at all?
How do you decide who will live and who will die?
These are the questions that make up the majority of this book.
The Crucible is set during the time of the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts in 1692. During that time, many women were hung under the assumption that they had dealings with the devil and had practiced witchcraft. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller depicts the constant struggle between the Lord and Satan. This universal theme is also seen in Steinbeck's East of Eden with a struggle between good and evil.
This has an allusion to the biblical story of the War in Heaven between Lucifer and God in order to steal God's throne. This biblical allusion summarizes the entire play in one sentence. People believed that women could be possessed by the devil and ordered to do witchcraft. If the women did this, they were turning their backs on God, as Lucifer did. After the war in heaven, Lucifer lost and was banished to Hell where his name became Satan. The people of Salem, Massachusetts believed that it was Satan, the devil, which inhabited women's souls. The play also symbolizes a struggle between good and evil, as does the war in heaven. The war was a struggle between God, good, and Lucifer, evil. Also, the characters in the play have to constantly decide whether they will be on Satan's side or on God's.
Put your own moral sense to test here.
Let you be the judge of who should live or die and see if you could do it.
As everything in society comes tumbling to the ground, who will be the people that are still sane and who will be the ones that betray their so called "loved ones"?
Book Review: A must read!
Summary: 5 Stars
This play is set during the time of the Salem witch trails in Salem, Massachusetts. Abigail is the leader of a group of young girls who start accusing other people in the town of being witches. Even though there was no real proof any of these people were witches, they were arrested, tried, and found guilty. The ones that confessed were allowed to live, but the ones that refused to confess were hung.
When Abigail accuses Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft, her husband, John, goes to the judge and tells him that Abigail accused Elizabeth of this crime because Elizabeth had discovered that he and Abigail were having an affair. The judge has Elizabeth brought to the courthouse, and he asks her if her husband had been unfaithful. She doesn't know John has admitted to this, and she lies in order to protect him. Then John is accused of being a witch and he is arrested.
John agrees to confess so that he can live, but he refuses to accuse anyone else of being a witch. But when they ask him to sign a public confession, which they plan to hang in the church, he refuses and retracts his confession.
I first read this book over 20 years ago in high school and recently re-read it. This was one of the few 'classics' that I was able to fully appreciate when I read it as a teen-ager.
The story is fascinating, even more so because it's based on real historical events and people, although some facts were changed. For example: In reality, Abigail was 11 and John was 60 (in the play their ages were 17 and 40) and they never had an affair.
The Crucible is a story of injustice resulting from mass hysteria. It's also about courage and honor. It took a great deal of courage for these people to die rather than to tell a lie so that they could live.
Book Review: A Moving and Brilliant Play
Summary: 5 Stars
The play's main narrative line tells the story of the Salem witch hunts which took place in Massachusetts, 1692. At a deeper level, Miller raises several powerful and important questions about human life and morality. But the play's most amazing quality is that it is not "deep" or "philosophical" by traditional standards. Miller has, in a short and easy-to-read manuscript, opened the door (or maybe I should say he presents the reader with a mirror) to modern political life.The play is essentially a crtique of McCarthyism and the the communist scare of the 1950s. Miller saw the parallels between the witch hunts and the McCarthy trials, and found the witch trials to be a compelling vehicle for discussing modern events. Key themes include:
1. People gaining absolution from the powers-that-be by confessing the sins of others.
2. The power of community rituals, such as confession.
3. The role of political opposition and the consequences of compliance (passive or active).
4. The consequences of a polarized world views and mass hysteria.
These are just a few of the themes. The play is quite clearly a great tragedy, but remains a tragedy for our times. Through characters we can connect with, Miller convincingly shows us that the lessons from the witch hunts still apply. As a reader, I am convinced that Miller's play remains relevant and powerful in the twenty-first century. Miller has left me with questions, regarding world events in 2002 and 2003, that I did not have before reading the play.
I read this play in only a couple hours. It is compelling, engaging, and difficult to put down. Personally, I feel this text stands a great chance of making it onto my "top ten" list of best manuscripts. I highly recommend this play.