The Crucible

For other uses, see The Crucible (disambiguation).

The Crucible
Written by	Arthur Miller
Characters	Abigail Williams Reverend John Hale Reverend Samuel Parris John Proctor Elizabeth Proctor Thomas Danforth Mary Warren John Hathorne Giles Corey Rebecca Nurse
Date premiered	January 22, 1953
Place premiered	Martin Beck Theatre, New York City
Original language	English
Subject	Salem witch trials, McCarthyism
Genre	Tragedy, drama
Setting	Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony

The Crucible is a 1953 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay during 1692 and 1693. Miller wrote the play as an allegory of McCarthyism, when the U.S. government blacklisted accused communists. Miller himself was questioned by the House of Representatives' Committee on Un-American Activities in 1956 and convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to identify others present at meetings he had attended.

The play was first performed at the Martin Beck Theater on Broadway on January 22, 1953, starring E.G. Marshall, Beatrice Straight and Madeleine Sherwood. Miller felt that this production was too stylized and cold and the reviews for it were largely hostile (although The New York Times noted "a powerful play [in a] driving performance"). Nonetheless, the production won the 1953 Tony Award for Best Play. A year later a new production succeeded and the play became a classic. It is a central work in the canon of American drama.

Synopsis

Act One

The Reverend Samuel Parris, watching over his sick daughter Betty, is wondering what is wrong with her. It is soon revealed that the entire town is talking about rumors that Betty is sick because of witchcraft. Rev. Parris had seen both Betty and his niece Abigail dancing in the forest with his slave, Tituba, the night before. That evening in the forest, he also saw Tituba waving her arms over a fire, a dress on the ground, and someone naked running around their circle. When first questioned, Abigail denies that she or Betty have been involved in witchcraft, but she admits that they were dancing in the forest with Tituba. Abigail lives in the Parris household. She used to live and work at the home of John and Elizabeth Proctor, but was dismissed over an illicit relationship with John Proctor.

When another couple, Thomas and Ann Putnam, arrives at the Parris household, they admit they had consulted Tituba, in the hope she could conjure up the spirits of their seven dead offspring. They wanted to find out why all seven babies died so soon after childbirth. To Reverend Parris's horror, the Putnams emphatically state that his slave Tituba consorts with the dead. The Putnams's only living child, Ruth, is now struck by a similar ailment as Betty Parris. When the minister and the Putnams are out of the room, Abigail threatens to harm the three other young girls in the room if they speak a word about what they did in the forest with Tituba.

John Proctor comes to see what is wrong with Betty. He confronts Abigail, who says that Betty is just pretending to be ill or possessed by evil spirits. As Proctor and Abigail have this conversation, it becomes clear that the two of them had had an affair while she worked in the Proctor household and Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, was ill. Abigail tries to flirt with Proctor, but he tells her the relationship is over. Proctor during this conversation does show slight signs of the feelings he once felt for Abigail but does well to hide them, as he regrets the affair. Abigail blames Elizabeth for John's behavior, and tells him they will be together again someday.

When Betty starts to fit, Parris and the Putnams return with Rebecca Nurse. She has had many children and grandchildren and knows that Betty and Ruth are pretending. She says they will stop when they tire of it. Soon, Rev. Hale arrives at the Parris home. Hale is a famed witch expert from a nearby town. Suddenly, in front of Hale, Abigail changes her story and begins to suggest that Tituba did indeed call on the Devil. Tituba, surprised at this accusation, vehemently denies it. But when Hale and Parris interrogate Tituba, under pressure she confesses to witchcraft, and fingers several other women as “witches” in the village, including Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. While Tituba and Abigail are accusing women in the town, several other young girls, including Mary Warren (who now works in John Proctor's household) follow Abigail's lead and begin accusing other women as well.

This act gives an introductory insight into Abigail's leadership, as she frightens the other girls into following her lead. The girls now have power and in Salem, a place where women, especially young girls, have little influence, they take this opportunity of power by the end of Act One by naming people in the town to be accused of witchcraft. These names have been mentioned, not by the girls or Tituba, but by Parris and others. The names the girls and Tituba mention are regurgitations of names given by the men.

Act Two

Proctor and his wife Elizabeth mourn that their own household helper, Mary Warren, is caught up in the frenzy of accusations. Elizabeth is afraid. They know that Abigail is behind these accusations, and Elizabeth urges Proctor to go to town and reveal Abigail's hoax. Elizabeth makes an allusion to the affair Proctor had with Abigail, and catches him in a lie – he told her he was not alone with Abigail at the Parris home, but in fact he was. Proctor, irritable and defensive, complains that Elizabeth still doesn't trust him and never will, even though he has been a good husband for the last eight months since Abigail left.

Mary Warren returns to the Proctors' home, exhausted from her day assisting in the trials. Proctor reprimands her for being away all day – after all, he declares, Mary is paid to help Elizabeth in the household and has been shirking her duties. Mary states that her work in the courts is of great significance; and, with an increased air of importance, Mary insists that she no longer should be ordered around by John Proctor. In a lighter moment, Mary gives Elizabeth a puppet doll that she stitched during the day – but, after heightened tension between Mary and Proctor, Mary claims she saved Elizabeth's life because Elizabeth's name came up in the trials that day. When Mary goes to bed, Elizabeth says she has known from the beginning that her name would come up. She tells Proctor that he needs to set things straight with Abigail. He committed adultery with her – and having sex with a woman, Elizabeth says, is tantamount to giving that woman “a promise” – an implicit promise that the two lovers will be together permanently some day. Elizabeth says Proctor must break this promise deliberately. Proctor becomes angry, and again accuses his wife of never forgiving him for his indiscretion.

At this inopportune moment, Reverend Hale arrives. He is investigating people whose names have turned up at trial. Several other figures from the court show up, including Giles Corey and Francis Nurse, whose wives have been arrested for witchcraft. Hale is looking for proof of Elizabeth's guilt, and inquire about any poppets in the house. She says she has no poppets other than the one that Mary Warren gave her that very day. Upon inspection, Mary's doll is shown to have a needle stuck in its center. Earlier that day, Abigail Williams claimed to have been mysteriously stuck with a needle, and accused Elizabeth Proctor of being the culprit. Although Mary does identify the doll as hers, the men cart Elizabeth Proctor off to jail against the angry protests of her husband.

Act Three

The court is in session. Giles interrupts the proceedings by shouting that Putnam is only making a grab for more land. He claims to have evidence to back up this assertion. Judge Hathorne, Deputy Governor Danforth, and the Reverends Hale and Parris join Giles and Francis in the vestry room to get to the bottom of the matter. Proctor and Mary Warren enter the room. Mary testifies that she and the other girls were only pretending to be afflicted by witchcraft. Judge Danforth, shocked, asks Proctor if he has told the village about Mary's claims. Parris declares that they all want to overthrow the court. Danforth asks Proctor if he is attempting to undermine the court. Proctor assures him that he just wants to free his wife. Danforth proceeds to question Proctor about his religious beliefs. He is particularly intrigued by the information, proffered by Rev. Parris, that Proctor only attends church about once a month and plows on Sunday, a serious offense in Salem.

Danforth informs Proctor that he need not worry about Elizabeth’s imminent execution because she claims to be pregnant. She will not be hanged until after she delivers. Danforth asks if he will drop his condemnation of the court, but Proctor refuses. He submits a deposition signed by ninety-one land-owning farmers attesting to the good characters of Elizabeth, Martha, and Rebecca. Parris insists that they all be summoned for questioning because the deposition is an attack on the court. Hale asks why every defense is considered an attack on the court.

Putnam is led into the room to answer to an allegation by Giles that he prompted his daughter to accuse landowners of witchcraft. Giles refuses to name the man who gave him the information because he does not want to open him to Putnam’s vengeance. Danforth arrests Giles for contempt of court. Danforth sends for Abigail and her troop of girls. Abigail denies Mary’s testimony, as well as her explanation for the doll in the Proctor home. Mary maintains her assertion that the girls are only pretending. Hathorne asks her to pretend to faint for them. Mary says she cannot because she does not have “the sense of it” now. Danforth pressures Abigail to be truthful. Abigail shivers and the other girls follow suit. They accuse Mary of bewitching them with a cold wind.

Proctor confesses his affair with Abigail and explains that Elizabeth fired her when she discovered it. He claims that Abigail wants Elizabeth to be hanged so that she can take her place in his home. Danforth orders Abigail and Proctor to turn their backs, and he sends for Elizabeth, who is reputed by Proctor to be unfailingly honest. Danforth asks why she fired Abigail. Elizabeth glances at Proctor for a clue, but Danforth demands that she look only at him while she speaks. Elizabeth claims to have gotten the mistaken notion that Proctor fancied Abigail, so she lost her temper and fired the girl without just cause. When asked if Proctor had committed adultery with Abigail, Elizabeth lies. Proctor cries out that he confessed his sin, but it is too late for Elizabeth to change her story. Hale begs Danforth to reconsider, stating that Abigail has always struck him as false and that he believes Proctor.

Abigail and the girls begin screaming that Mary is sending her spirit at them. Mary pleads with them to stop, but the girls only repeat everything she says. The room in a shock erupts into a hectic frenzy of fear, excitement, and confusion. Mary gives into the pressure of the other girls and joins them in the frenzy. She accuses Proctor of being the devil’s man, pressuring her to join him and of witchcraft. Danforth orders Proctor’s arrest against Hale’s vocal opposition. Hale, disgusted with Danforth and unable to continue believing in the court, denounces the proceedings and declares that he is quitting the court.

Act Four

In a Salem jail cell, it is the day when Rebecca Nurse and John Proctor are to be hanged. Both have resisted making false confessions up to this point. Rev. Hale – unseen at the court since Proctor's arrest – is trying to encourage them to do so because he wants to save their lives. Rev. Parris is also trying to get them to confess, but for a different reason. Since the trials began, Parris has received some none-too-subtle threats to his life. To make matters worse, Abigail has fled, taking Parris' money with her. Since Proctor went to jail, over one hundred people have restored their lives by "confessing" to witchcraft, but the town is in shambles. There are orphans, livestock wandering all over the place, and people bickering over who gets whose property.

Judges Hathorne and Danforth call upon Elizabeth, still imprisoned, and now obviously pregnant, to talk to her husband to see if she can get him to confess. When Elizabeth agrees to speak with Proctor (who has been in the dungeon, separated from the other accused), the couple finally gets a few private moments alone in the courthouse. Elizabeth reveals that Giles, who refused to give a plea, was pressed by stones and died. As Giles Corey had refused to say guilty or not guilty to the charges, his sons are entitled to inherit his land. In these warm exchanges, Elizabeth says she will not judge what Proctor decides to do and affirms that she believes he is a good man. While Elizabeth will not judge Proctor, she herself cannot confess to witchcraft, as it would be a lie. Proctor asks for Elizabeth's forgiveness, and she says he needs to forgive himself. Elizabeth blames herself for the affair, claiming to be a “cold wife".

She asks John for forgiveness and says she has never known such goodness in all her life as his. At first, this gives Proctor the determination to live, and he confesses verbally to Danforth and Hathorne. The men bring Rebecca to witness Proctor’s confession, hoping that she will follow his example. The sight of Rebecca shames Proctor. Proctor cannot bring himself to sign the “confession”. Knowing that the confession will be pinned to the church door for his sons and other community members to see is too much for Proctor to bear. Nor will he incriminate anyone else as a witch. After he signs the confession he snatches it from Danforth. He believes it should be enough to confess verbally and only incriminate himself. Proctor pleads with the court, who have taken his soul and his life, to leave his name. When the court refuses this, Proctor, deeply emotional, tears up the written confession. Shocked, Hale and Parris plead with Elizabeth to talk sense into her husband, but she realises that this is, at last, his moment of redemption: “He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!” And so he goes to his death. The curtain falls just before John Proctor is hanged.

Characters (in order of appearance)

Reverend Samuel Parris

Parris is the minister of Salem's church, disliked by many residents because of his greedy, domineering personality. He is more concerned about his reputation than the well-being of his sick daughter Betty. He is also more concerned about his missing niece, Abigail Williams, and the money taken by her, than for the lives of Williams' and the other girls' victims. Abigail and Betty were the first to accuse others of witchcraft, and he owned the slave, Tituba, the first to be accused of witchcraft.

Tituba

Tituba is Reverend Parris's slave. Parris seems to have owned and purchased her in Barbados back in his time as a merchant. She cares for the children and prepares a potion for the girls to attract the men and boys they fancy, Abigail wants to kill Elizabeth Proctor for John Proctor and rarely Elizabeth Parris. Additionally, she attempts to raise the spirits of Ann Putnam's dead children at their behest. During the first scene of the play, she is turned in by Abigail and responds by claiming that four women in Salem are witches. She is not seen again until the final scene of the play taking place in the jail. By this point the events have troubled her to the point that she is haunted by hallucinations and hysteria. She and Sarah Good (whose infant child died in prison) are both mentally unsound by this point.

Abigail Williams

Williams is Parris' 17-year-old niece and the play's antagonist. Abigail was previously the maid for the Proctor house, fired by Elizabeth after her discovery of Abigail's affair with her husband, John. Abigail and her uncle's slave, Tituba, lead the local girls in love-spell rituals in the Salem forest over a fire. Rumors of witchcraft fly, and Abigail tries to use the town's fear to her advantage. She accuses many of witchcraft, starting first with the society's outcasts and gradually moving up to respected members of the community. Finally, she accuses Elizabeth Proctor, believing that John truly loves her and not Elizabeth. Abigail wants Elizabeth out of the way so that she and John can marry. John says that Abigail "hopes to dance with me upon my wife's grave." She is manipulative and charismatic, attacking anyone who stands in her way. She flees Salem during the trials with Mercy Lewis.

Susanna Walcott

Susanna is a nervous and hasty girl, a little younger than Abigail and she participated with Abigail, Betty, Mercy and Mary in the ritual in the woods. She works for Dr. Griggs.

Ann Putnam

Ann Putnam is the wife of Thomas Putnam. She has one daughter, Ruth (also known as Ann Putnam, Jr.), but has "laid seven babies un-baptized in the earth." Ann is accusatory and harsh, due to the trauma of the deaths of all save one of her children. In real life, Ann Putnam (née Carr) bore twelve children, ten of whom survived their parents, who both died in 1699.

Thomas Putnam

Thomas Putnam lives in Salem and owns land close to Giles Corey. Giles accuses him of trying to steal it, and says that Putnam got his daughter to accuse Giles' wife of witchcraft. This possibility is strongly supported in the play. Putnam uses the girls to advance his greed, resentments and grudges.

Betty Parris

Betty Parris is the ten-year-old daughter of Reverend Samuel Parris and is the first to become ill after being "bewitched".

Mercy Lewis

Servant to the Putnams and one of the girls caught in the woods with Abigail and Betty by Reverend Parris. She is described as being "a fat, sly, merciless girl of eighteen." She and the other girls browbeat Mary Warren into silence about what she saw in the woods in Act I. In Act III, she and the other girls claim to be under the influence of Warren's spirit, which causes them to see and feel various phenomena. She flees Salem with Abigail.

Mary Warren

Mary Warren serves as housemaid for the Proctors after Abigail Williams. She is a lonely girl who considers herself an "official of the court" at the beginning of the trials. John Proctor is shown to sometimes abuse her and hit her with a whip. She nearly confesses that she and the other girls were lying about witchcraft until the other girls pretend that she is sending out her spirit to them in the courtroom. This event, which could have led to her death, propels her to accuse John Proctor of witchcraft, claiming he forced her to lie about herself and the others.

John Proctor

John Proctor is a down-to-earth, forthright farmer and the play's protagonist. He has a sexual relationship with Abigail Williams while she is a servant at his farm. Although he speaks his mind and stands up to Parris, he has no wish to be a martyr and he is careful about what he says when he senses real danger. He does show courage and boldness in his opposition to Parris and Putnam and he fiercely resists the arrest of his wife. Proctor is cautious when it comes to denouncing Abigail, particularly when his wife, claiming to be pregnant, is not in immediate danger. However, he feels he owes it to his accused friends to expose Abigail as a liar. He works hard to build a defense for those accused and manages to persuade Mary Warren to tell the truth, but this success is short-lived. As a last resort, he suffers the public shame of confessing to his adultery with Abigail to no avail. In prison, he eventually confesses so that he can live with and care for his family, but finally he decides to die rather than lose his good name and admit to witchcraft; he thus refuses to confess. He does this for the sake of his children's reputation and because Elizabeth and others have refused to confess. He will not deny himself. He has doubted his ability to be a good man so far, but with Elizabeth's example and support he realizes he can be true to himself and accept death.

Giles Corey

Giles is a friend of John Proctor who is very concerned about his own land, which he knows Thomas Putnam is trying to steal by getting the girls to accuse Giles' wife, Martha, of witchcraft. Giles learns this from an anonymous source, whom he declines to name, as he knows that this person would be persecuted. He is subjected to being pressed by stones when he refuses to plea "aye or nay" to the charge of witchcraft. The character of Giles Corey is based on a real person of the same name. His wife was hanged due to the witchcraft accusations. It is unusual for persons to refuse to plead, and extremely rare to find reports of persons who have been able to endure this painful form of death in silence, as explained in the following quote from Elizabeth Proctor:

He were not hanged. He would not answer yes or no to his indictment; for if he denied the charge they'd hang him surely, and auction out his property. So he stand mute, and died Christian under the law. And so his sons will have his farm. It is the law, for he could not be condemned a wizard without he answer the indictment, aye or nay.

Giles' reason for holding out so long is because as long as he did not answer yes or no, his children would inherit his estate.

Rebecca Nurse

Rebecca Nurse, wife of Francis Nurse, is a pillar of the community and highly respected in Salem. Very firm in her opinions, and willing to make any sacrifice in the cause of truth, she voices her opposition to the idea of witchcraft. Near the end, she is accused of being a witch on the prompting of the Putnams, jealous of Nurse, who successfully bore many healthy children.

Reverend John Hale

Hale is a well-respected minister reputed to be an expert on witchcraft. Rev. Hale is called in to Salem to examine the witchcraft trials and Parris' daughter Betty, who has fallen into a mysterious illness after being discovered participating in the suspect rituals. He originally believes there are witches in Salem and advocates the trials, but later realizes the widespread corruption and abuse of the trials, and struggles to convince the women accused of being "witches" to live by confessing to a lie rather than dying for telling the truth.

Elizabeth Proctor

John Proctor's wife. She is accused of witchcraft, and is only saved from death because she is pregnant during the hysteria. Abigail hates her for being Proctor's wife, and for keeping Proctor's heart. By the end of the play Elizabeth acknowledges that her own coldness towards her husband led to the fateful affair. By the end Elizabeth allows her husband to die the honorable death he sought, saying she would not take away his goodness.

Ezekiel Cheever

Astute but morally weak, his most important appearance is in the Proctor household where he denounces Elizabeth Proctor for witchcraft, regarding the poppet (doll) which was placed in the Proctor house to make it appear that Elizabeth was practicing witchcraft against Abigail Williams. He used to be friends with John Proctor, but when the accusations started, he quickly turned against former friends and others accused of witchcraft. He tells Danforth that Proctor sometimes plows on Sundays and had missed church often. He acts as a scribe in Act 2, and in some interpretations of the play, he is shown as Proctor's hangman.

George Herrick/John Willard

Herrick was the Marshal of Salem and in the play is responsible for bringing the defendants before the court. He is a sympathetic character, advising Deputy Governor Danforth of Proctor's good character and becoming friendly with the accused witches whom he guards. Some productions name the character John Willard, a reference to constable John Willard who came to disbelieve the allegations and refused to make any further arrests. He himself was then arrested, charged with witchcraft and hanged.

Judge John Hathorne

The presiding judge over the Salem Witch Trials. Cold, ignorant, antagonistic, he constantly denies any new developments regarding the events in Salem Village. Hathorne could also be considered the "hanging judge" of the era. His only real moment of emotion in the play occurs in the final scene, where he appears almost joyful that Proctor considers falsely confessing to witchcraft. In real life, his descendants, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, amended their surname.

Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth

Danforth is pretentious, officious and selfish, a judge whose primary loyalty is to himself and to his position. Seen by Miller as being the "true" villain of the piece, the author described his version of Danforth accordingly in a New York Times interview:

... [t]he rule-bearer, the man who always guards the boundaries which, if you insist on breaking through them, have the power to destroy you. His "evil" is more than personal, it is nearly mythical. He does more evil than he knows how to do; while merely following his nose he guards ignorance, he is man's limit.

In real life, Danforth was a magistrate and leading figure in the colony at the time of the Salem witch trials, but did not sit on the Court of Oyer and Terminer, but rather on the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature, which passed down no death sentences. In fact he is recorded as being critical of the conduct of the trials, and played a role in bringing them to an end.

Casts

Original 1953 Broadway cast:

In June 1953 Miller recast the production, simplified the "pitiless sets of rude buildings" and added a scene.

Boo Alexander — Betty Parris
Jacqueline Andre - Tituba
Fred Stewart – Rev. Samuel Parris
Madeleine Sherwood – Abigail Williams
Barbara Stanton – Susanna Walcott
Jane Hoffman – Mrs Ann Putnam
Raymond Bramley – Thomas Putnam
Dorothy Joliffe – Mercy Lewis
Jennie Egan – Mary Warren
Arthur Kennedy — John Proctor
Jean Adair — Rebecca Nurse
Joseph Sweeney — Giles Corey
E. G. Marshall — Rev. John Hale
Beatrice Straight — Elizabeth Proctor
Graham Velsey – Francis Nurse
Don McHenry – Ezekiel Cheever
George Mitchell — Marshall Herrick
Philip Coolidge – Judge Hathorne
Walter Hampden — Deputy-Gov. Danforth
Adele Fortin – Sarah Good
Donald Marye – Hopkins
The production was directed by Jed Harris and produced by Kermit Bloomgarden.

2002 Broadway revival cast:
Liam Neeson – John Proctor
Laura Linney – Elizabeth Proctor
Brian Murray – Deputy Governor Danforth
John Benjamin Hickey – Reverend John Hale
Christopher Evan Welch – Reverend Parris
Angela Bettis – Abigail Williams
Tom Aldredge – Giles Corey
Stephen Lee Anderson – Hopkins
Kristen Bell – Susanna Wallcott
Jennifer Carpenter – Mary Warren
Betsy Hogg – Betty Parris
J.R. Horne – Judge Hathorne
Patrice Johnson – Tituba
Sevrin Anne Mason – Mercy Lewis
Paul O'Brien – Thomas Putnam
Jeanna Paulsen – Ann Putnam
Frank Raiter – Francis Nurse
Dale Soules – Sarah Good/voice of Martha Corey
Helen Stenborg – Rebecca Nurse
Henry Stram – Ezekiel Cheever
Jack Willis – Marshal Herrick

Historical accuracy

In 1953, the year the play debuted, Miller wrote, "The Crucible is taken from history. No character is in the play who did not take a similar role in Salem, 1692." This statement does not bear close scrutiny. Miller seems to have made both deliberate changes and accidental mistakes. As an example of a deliberate change, Williams' age was increased from 11 or 12 to 17, probably to add credence to the backstory of Proctor's affair with Abigail. John Proctor himself was 60 years old in 1692, but portrayed as much younger in the play, probably also to add credence to the backstory.

Miller claimed, in A note on the historical accuracy of this play, that "while there were several judges of almost equal authority, I have symbolized them all in Hathorne and Danforth", which again does not bear close scrutiny. He blurs the line between the historical Danforth and a figure who does not appear in the play, William Stoughton. Both were subsequent Deputy Governors, but Stoughton was the strong and forceful leader of the trials, always ready to sign an order of execution, as well as an ally of Cotton Mather. Stoughton ordered further deliberations after the jury initially acquitted Rebecca Nurse. He refused to ever acknowledge that the trials had been anything other than a success, and was infuriated when Governor Phips (whose wife, somehow, had been named as a possible witch) ended the trials for good and released the prisoners.

Danforth did not sit on the Court of Oyer and Terminer. In fact he is recorded as being critical of the conduct of the trials, and played a role in bringing them to an end. In the play, Thomas and especially Ann Putnam are disconsolate over the fact that only one of their children has survived to adolescence. In real life, the Putnams (who both died in 1699) were survived by ten of their twelve children, including Ann Jr., who, in 1706, issued perhaps the most heartfelt apology of any accuser. Thomas Putnam's conduct during the witch trial hysteria has been amply documented to have been almost entirely due to financial motivations and score-settling, something the play only makes reference to after introducing the Putnams' fictional deceased offspring as a deus ex machina.

In the 1953 essay, Journey to The Crucible, Miller writes of visiting Salem and feeling like the only one interested in what really happened in 1692. However, a long line of historians before Miller had attempted to record and tease apart the complexities of what took place at Salem, and certain battle lines had long before been drawn: Calef vs. Mather; Upham vs. Poole, skeptics or scholars vs. the faithful and the religious establishment. Miller's cursory and limited scholarship regarding the trials are lamentable, given the squabbling that has long taken place over various interpretations of the numerous details and facts. Many of Miller's characters were based on people who had little in the public record other than their statements from the trials, but others survived to expand, recant, or comment on the role they played at Salem, including jurors, accusers, survivors, and judges. Parris issued his first in a series of apologies November 26, 1694 and was removed from his position in 1697. In 1698, Hale finished composing a lengthy essay about Salem that was reprinted by Burr in 1914.

Language of the period

The play's action takes place 70 years after the community arrived as settlers from Britain. The people on whom the characters are based would have retained strong regional dialects from their home country. Miller gave all his characters the same colloquialisms, such as "Goody" or "Goodwife", and drew on the rhythms and speech patterns of the King James Bible to achieve the effect of historical perspective he wanted.

Title

Miller originally called the play Those Familiar Spirits, before renaming it as The Crucible. The word "crucible" is contextually defined as a container in which metals or other substances are subjected to high temperatures. Each character is metaphorically a metal subjected to the heat of the surrounding situation. The characters whose moral standards prevail in the face of death, such as John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse, symbolically refuse to sacrifice their principles or to falsely confess.

Adaptations

Main articles: The Crucible (1957 film) and The Crucible (1996 film)

Film

The play was first adapted for film as The Crucible (1957) (also titled Hexenjagd or Les Sorcières de Salem), a joint Franco-East German film production by Belgian director Raymond Rouleau with a screenplay adapted by Jean-Paul Sartre, and by Miller himself as The Crucible (1996), the latter with a cast including Paul Scofield, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Winona Ryder. Miller's adaptation earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay based on Previously Produced Material, his only nomination. In 2014 The Old Vic's production of The Crucible which starred Richard Armitage and directed by Yaël Farber was filmed and distributed to cinemas across the UK and Ireland in December 2014.

Opera

The play was adapted by composer Robert Ward as an opera, The Crucible, which was first performed in 1961 and received the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for Music and the New York Music Critics Circle Citation.

Television

The play has been presented several times on television. The most recent is the Netflix series, Salem. One notable 1968 production starred George C. Scott as John Proctor, Colleen Dewhurst (Scott's wife at the time) as Elizabeth Proctor, Melvyn Douglas as Thomas Danforth, and Tuesday Weld as Abigail Williams. The RSC stage production, seen in London's West End in 2006, was recorded for the V&A Theatre & Performance Department's National Video Archive of Performance.

See also

• The Devils
• McCarthyism

Sources

• Miller, Arthur (1992). "A Note on the Historical Accuracy of the Play", in Blakesley (1992, page xvii).

Bibliography

Editions

• Miller, Arthur The Crucible (Harmondsworth: The Viking Press, 1971) [ISBN 0-14-02-4772-6]. Edited with an introduction by Gerald Weales. Contains the full text based on the Collected Plays, and various critical essays.

External links

• The Crucible at the Internet Broadway Database
• The Crucible at the Internet Broadway Database
• The Crucible (1957 film) at IMDb
• The Crucible (1996 film) at IMDb