Provides information on the contextual background and the setting of The Cruicble and its author. Includes: Textual elements, narrative structure, characterisation, key quotes for characters, structural features.
CLOSE READING OF THE
CRUCIBLE
EXPLORING PERSPECTIVES IN TEXTS
, INTRODUCTION
• THE CRUCIBLE IS SET IN SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS, IN 1692, AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF A SOCIET
POSSESSED BY FEAR AND SUPERSTITION.
• ACCUSATIONS OF WITCHCRAFT AND THE PRESENCE OF THE DEVIL ARE TEARING A SMALL COMMU
APART.
• THE PLAY IS A MODERN CLASSIC AND HAS A SYMBOLIC MEANING BEYOND ITS LITERAL
INTERPRETATION. IT’S CONSIDERED TO BE AN EXTENDED METAPHOR WHICH WE CALL AN ALLEGO
• PLAYWRIGHT ARTHUR MILLER HAS SELECTED A PIECE OF HISTORY, THE SALEM WITCH HUNTS OF
1692, TO REPRESENT THE ‘WITCH HUNTS’ THAT OCCURRED DURING THE 1950S, THE SO-CALLED E
OF MCCARTHYISM.
• A CRUCIBLE IS A MELTING POT
, AUTHOR
• ARTHUR MILLER (1915-2005) WROTE THE PLAY IN THE 1950S, DURING THE ERA OF THE COLD WA
THAT FOLLOWED THE END OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR.
• THIS PERIOD IN HISTORY WAS CHARACTERISED BY THE EMERGENCE OF THE USA AND THE FORM
USSR AS RIVAL SUPERPOWERS.
• DURING THIS TIME, THE USA WAS FIERCELY ANTI-COMMUNIST. THIS FEAR OF COMMUNISM CREAT
SUSPICION ABOUT ANYONE IN THE US, ESPECIALLY THOSE IN GOVERNMENT OR IN PROMINENT
POSITIONS, WHO MIGHT BE SYMPATHETIC TO THIS IDEOLOGY OR TO THE RUSSIAN CAUSE.
• HE REFUSED TO TESTIFY AGAINST SOME OF HIS FRIENDS IN FRONT OF THE MCCARTHY’S
COMMITTEE WHICH LED TO A CONVICTION FOR CONTEMPT OF COURT. THIS WAS LATER
OVERTURNED BY THE SUPRMEME COURT.
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