Crucible 

Arthur Miller (1915-2005 )

  • Born in New York

  • Father was coat manufacturer; mother was a teacher

  • Miller was involved in sports in school and not interested much in literature until he was about 17 years old

  • He worked in an automobile parts plant to earn money to attend college

  • He attended the University of Michigan and toward the end of his college experience began writing plays

  • Initially Miller wrote scripts for radio in New York

  • His first Broadway success was All My Sons (1947) and won the New York Drama Critics award for Best Play

  • Soon after Miller completed Death of a Salesman (1949), which is considered to be his most masterful work, and The Crucible  (1953), now his most produced play

  • Regarded as the Playwright of Our Social Conscience

  • Post World War 2

  • Represents the principal movement of realism

  • Heavy emphasis on the American Dream of success and victims of the American business machine

  • Author of high moral seriousness dealing with personal versus social responsibility

  • Arthur Miller was accused of being a communist, went through hearings with McCarthy- cited for contempt of Congress, received fine and prison sentence (later removed on appeal)

  • When play first came out, ran for only 197 performances and this only because cast took a pay cut to continue showing it. (Contrast with 742 for Death)

  • For nine years after his hearing, Miller had no new play on American stage

  • Also married to Marilyn Monroe for awhile

  • Died in 2005 from long battle with cancer, heart issues and pneumonia

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Salem 1692- when play is set

  • (SL was Boston 1642-49- we are still with Puritans, but later in time)

  • Salem was in turmoil for a number of reasons at this point

  • Split by 1672- Salem Town and Salem Village, each had separate church. Town was snootier, wealthier, and more modern. Economic unrest because of this.

  • Royal Charter had been revoked (1686), became part of Dominion of New England (include NY, NH, RI, CN, NJ)

    • Puritan govt. replaced by English- people couldn’t rule themselves
    • Rebelled and overthrew English gov. in 1689, then 3 years without leadership
    • Many issues with land titles being in limbo with govt changes
    • Neighbors distrustful of one another over fear of losing land
    • Smallpox epidemic 1691-92
    • Indian raids increasing on small farms

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Witchcraft History

  • “crime” of witchcraft= felony, punishable by death

  • Before 1690’s, at least 12 (of approx 100 accused colonies) were executed

  • hundreds executed in England, thousands in Scotland, Germany, Scandinavia

  • 1688 execution of a woman in Salem- Goody Glover- who made puppets/ dolls thought to cause children to fall into life-threatening fits

  • 1692 girls ranging in age from 9-20 dabbled in activities that bordered on the occult (supernatural), with local reverend’s slave from Barbados

  • 1692 girls those girls “began having fits, crawling into holes, making strange noises and contorting their bodies” (Guiley, Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft, p. 293)

  • Out of fear?

  • Encephalitis? Some historians think so (viral infection—inflammation of the brain, symptoms include fever, headache, vomiting, abnormal sensitivity to light, stiff neck and back, confusion, drowsiness, clumsiness, unsteady gait, irritability. Also- loss of consciousness, muscle weakness, sudden severe dementia, memory loss, impaired judgment, withdrawal from social interaction)

  • Villagers thought witchcraft was the cause-next step to discover witches and destroy them

  • Eventually 100 people in community imprisoned. Hysteria moved beyond Salem to other colonies

  • Court proceedings continued until 1693

  • 1693 colonial leaders finally “recognized that a feverish fear of one’s neighbor, rather than witchcraft itself, had possessed the little village of Salem” (Nash, The American People)

  • By this time 19 men and women and two dogs had been convicted and hanged in Salem America 

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Post WW2-when play is written

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  • USA, and USSR are two major powers. Fear that communism would take over the world, including USA. “Red Scare”

  • Events that led up to this fear:

  • 1948

    • Soviet led coup in Czechoslovakia turned that country communist 
    • Soviets blockaded Berlin -Established N. Korea

  • 1949

    • USSR develops first atomic bomb
    • Rumors that American atomic secrets leaked to US led to fear at home- who were the spies?
    • China becomes communist
    • China and USSR signed 30 year “treaty of mutual assistance”
    • N. Korea attacked S. Korea, beginning of Korean War

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The McCarthy Era and the Crucible

  • The McCarthy era began in 1950- during the Cold War

  • Joseph McCarthy, a Republican senator from Wisconsin, charged that the State Dept. has been infiltrated by more than two hundred communists

  • He used the existing fears concerning the spread of communism to spark greater fear within the American people

  • The Alien Registration Act passed by Congress on 29th June, 1940, made it illegal for anyone in the United States to advocate, abet, or teach the desirability of overthrowing the government. 

  • The main objective of the Alien Registration Act was to undermine the American Communist Party and other left-wing political groups in the United States 

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HUAC

  • Formed House of Un-American Activties Committeein 1938 to investigate people suspected of unpatriotic behavior, would be the best vehicle to discover if people were trying to overthrow the government. 

  • They began with an investigation into the Hollywood Motion Picture industry.

  • The HUAC interviewed 41 people who were working in Hollywood. These people attended voluntarily and became known as "friendly witnesses". 

  • During their interviews they named nineteen people who they accused of holding left-wing views.

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Hollywood

  • Actors and directors were “Black-Listed”

  • Known as the Hollywood Ten, they claimed that the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution gave them the right to do this. The House of Un-American Activities Committee and the courts during appeals disagreed and they all were found guilty of contempt of congress and each was sentenced to between six and twelve months in prison.

  • Hollywood “blacklist”- people who were not allowed to work because accused communists

  • Names you may recognize: Berthold Brecht, Charlie Chaplin, Arthur Miller, Richard Wright

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An Atmosphere of Fear

  • Americans looking for communists everywhere
  • All kinds of accusations taken seriously
  • McCarthy continued to utilize the Alien Registration Act and the HUAC to continue the atmosphere of fear and suspicion and to gain political power and redistribute power throughout the country.
  • Looked in State Department, attacked books that suspects had written, quickly attacked those who challenged him
  • In 1952 McCarthy became chairman of the Senate permanent investigations committee.
  • He appeared on radio and TV shows accusing government officials of illegal activities.
  • He held public hearings that were widely publicized and questioned suspected officials in a hostile manner.
  • Suspected officials’ lives were scrutinized in the media and many careers were ruined.
  • Witnesses were also asked to give names of those they suspected were involved in communism
  • The nation went into a state of hysteria
  • Though his accusations were never proven, he refused to retract them
  • Irony: In 1954 McCarthy was under investigation improper conduct and illegal activities
  • The Crucible is a play about the Salem Witch Trials and is based in 1692, though it was written in 1953 and is meant to parallel the trials and hysteria during the McCarthy era.