The Crucible

Arthur Miller’s account of the infamous Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

Miller---on the play’s focus:

“It’s about panic, paranoia, about people believe in things that don’t exist and going a little crazy because of that, “said Miller. “And I’m afraid it doesn’t go away.”

Arthur Miller (1915-2005)

Miller originally wrote The Crucible as a response to the anti-Communist hysteria stirred up in the 1950’s by Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

The Red Scare Senator Joseph R. McCarthy was a little-known

junior senator from Wisconsin until February 1950 when he claimed to possess a list of 205 card-carrying Communists employed in the U.S. Department of State. From that moment Senator McCarthy became a tireless crusader against Communism in the early 1950’s, a period that has been commonly referred to as the “Red Scare.”

Senator Joseph McCarthy As chairman of the Senate Permanent

Investigation Subcommittee, Senator McCarthy conducted hearings on communist subversion in America and investigated alleged communist infiltration of the Armed Forces.

McCarthyism

The American Heritage Dictionary gives the definition of McCarthyism as:

1. The political practice of publicizing accusations of disloyalty or subversion with insufficient regard to evidence.

Accusation Without Proof

During this period, people from all walks of life were suspected of being Soviet spies or Communist sympathizers and were the subjects of investigations and questioning regarding their beliefs, affiliations and statements.

The Results of McCarthyism The punishments were primarily economic. People

lost their jobs. It is hard to come up with accurate statistics for

the number of politically motivated dismissals during the McCarthy period, for both the employers and the people they fired tried to conceal what was happening—the former to protect themselves against charges of violating civil liberties, the latter obtain future jobs.

Yale Law School professor Ralph Brown, who conducted the most systematic survey of the economic damage of the McCarthy era, estimated that roughly ten thousand people lost their jobs.

Parallelism=Likeness

McCarthyism simply stated means accusation without proof.

During the Salem Witch trials, Puritans were accused without proof.

Miller wrote The Crucible to demonstrate how McCarthy’s accusations in the 1950’s paralleled another time in history: the 1692 Salem witch trials.

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692

The events which led to the Salem Witch Trials actually occurred in what is now the town of Danvers, then a parish of Salem Town, known as Salem Village. Launching the hysteria was the bizarre, seemingly inexplicable behavior of two young girls; the daughter, Betty, and the niece, Abigail Williams, of the Salem Village minister, Reverend Samuel Parris.

Dialogue based on the examination of Sarah GoodWhat evil spirit have you familiarity with?

None.

Have you made no contract with the devil?

No.

Why do you hurt these children?

I do not hurt them. I scorn it.

Why do you imploy then to do it?

I imploy no body.

What creature do you imploy then?

No creature. I am falsely accused.

The Result of the Accusations

From June through September of 1692, nineteen men and women, all having been convicted of witchcraft, were carted to Gallows Hill, a barren slope near Salem Village, for hanging. Hundreds of others faced accusations of witchcraft; dozens languished in jail for months without trials until the hysteria that swept through Puritan Massachusetts subsided.

Causes for the Outbreak of Witchcraft Hysteria in Salem

Strong belief that Satan is acting in the world.

A belief that Satan recruits witches and wizards to work for him.

A belief that a person afflicted by witchcraft exhibits certain symptoms.

Teenage boredom.

Why the Hysteria Ended

Doubts grew when respected citizen are convicted and executed.

Modern Day Witch Hunts McCarthy “Communist hunts” of early 1950’s

(event that inspired The Crucible) Day care abuse trials of 1980’s (child witnesses

accusations multiply, people afraid to support accused, unbelievable charges, hysteria).

The McMartin Preschool Abuse Trial 1987-1990

The McMartin Preschool Abuse Trial, the longest and most expensive criminal trial in American history, should serve as a cautionary tale. When it was all over, the government had spent seven years and $15 million dollars investigating and prosecuting a case that led to no convictions. More seriously, the McMartin case left in its wake hundreds of emotionally damaged children, as well as ruined careers for members of the McMartin staff. No one paid a bigger price than Ray Buckey, one of the principal defendants in the case, who spend five years in jail awaiting trial for a crime (most people recognize today) he never committed.

McMartin juror Brenda Williams:

“I now realize how easily something can be said and misinterpreted and blown out of proportion.”

Daycare Parallels to Salem Both the Daycare Abuse Trials (McMartin,

Michaels, and others) and the Salem Witchcraft Trials placed heavy reliance on the testimony of children.

In both sets of trials, accusations multiplied over time.

In both sets of trials the extent of the injustices was increased by the unwillingness—or fear—of enough persons to step forward and say, “This is crazy!”

Key Characters in Key Characters in The The CrucibleCrucible

John Proctor

Although he is considered a good man in Salem, Proctor considers himself a fraud.

John Proctor states:

“I have three children. How may I teach them to walk like men in the

world and I sold my friends .”

Reverend HaleReverend Hale

He is summoned to Salem because he is an expert on witchcraft. Notice the heavy books he totes with him to Salem.

Reverend Hale says to Reverend Hale says to Elizabeth:Elizabeth:

“…Woman, life is God’s most

precious gift. No principle, however

glorious, may justify the taking

of it.”

Reverend ParrisReverend Parris Reverend Parris

discovers his young daughter, Betty, and his niece, Abigail, dancing in the woods with several other Salem girls. Betty falls ill upon his discovery, and he suspects that it has to do with witchcraft.

Judge DanforthJudge Danforth The Deputy Governor of Massachusetts and the

presiding judge at the witch trials. Honest and scrupu-lous, at least in his own mind, Danforth is convinced that he is doing right in rooting out witchcraft.

Elizabeth ProctorElizabeth Proctor

John’s wife, Elizabeth, chooses to forgive her husband and stands by him when he must make a prodigious (extraordinary, remarkable) decision.

Elizabeth Proctor ends the play with this powerful proclamation:

“He have his goodness now, God

forbid I take it from him.”