Common Module - The Crucible Quotes

Text : The Crucible by Arthur Miller (1953)

• Reflects universal human flaws and experiences —> syllabus : Text and Human Experiences

• It’s a MODERN TRAGEDY

Key Terms from Rubric

Context

Historical

• 1962 - 1963, Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts, United States of America

• 2 major superpowers emerged after WWI ended 1945 - ideologically opposite

  • United States - Capitalist democracy, fear Communist takeover (Red Scare), CATHOLIC

  • Soviet Union (USSR / Russia) - Communist power, ATHEIST

• Red Scare (Communism threat paranoia to US during Cold War by USSR)

  • Intensified late 1940's - early 50s

• McCarthyism — Wisconsin Senator, Joseph P. McCarthy

  • Produced series of investigations and hearings aiming to expose suspect communist infiltration in the U.S. Government

    • Ruined many reputations

    • Government was overrun by fear and paranoia

• 1950, Congress passed McCarran Internal Security Act

  • Required registration of communist organisations to protect America from ‘Un-American activities’

  • Fear of communism overrode basic democratic rights that had originally defined American society

    • Allegorically, Danforth allowed innocents hung due to fear of witchcraft

• HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) forced individuals to give false evidence against others who were suspected of communism

  • Crucible —> suspects could lie/tell the truth about their witchcraft or be hung and dead.

• Those who refused to give names or evidence, risked being imprisoned for contempt of congress (not taking law seriously)

  • Crucible —> seen as assets / accomplices

• Puritanism - Crucible religion

  • Strict form of Christianity, enforced strong morals, rejected self-indulgence and freedom

  • Created isolated theocratic (based on religion) society — Priest’s ruled the town in God’s name

  • Puritanism follows by the Bible

    • Bible encourages love for all, honesty and justice —> Crucible expresses opposite

Miller

• Parallels Arthur Miller’s own context in the 1950s

• Miller wrote this play to express political turmoil experienced with the fear of Communism in his own society, to the paranoia of Witchcraft in Salem —> as an allegory (symbol) for McCarthyism

  • Inspired by book The Devil in Massachusetts by Marion Starkey

    • Described imagination of Salem village was ‘captured by a vision of something that wasn’t there’

      • Miller was fascinated about effects of paranoia on a society

    • Fragility of social harmony and justice in times of social, religious and political tensions represented in Crucible in ways audience and emotionally and intellectually understand

• Religion Contrasts

  • U.S. Christianity fuelled fear of communism from USSR —> Puritanism fuelled fear of witchcraft

  • Communism was a threat of Christianity in American —> threat of witchcraft threatens Puritan beliefs of Salem

• Attitudes towards Gender

  • Accused of witchcraft in Crucible

    • 1st —>Tituba - black, female, slave from South America (target due to ethnic differences

    • 2nd —> Sarah Good - white, female, homeless beggar

    • 3rd —> Sarah Osborne - white, female, rarely attended Church meetings

  • More than ¾ of accused were women. Men only blamed because of relatives of females accused

  • Women viewed as physically weaker —> easier to blame (scapegoat)

  • Used to maintain unequal power balance between men and women

  • Elizabeth shows submissiveness in relationship to John Proctor as she lies about his affair

  • Abigail Williams shows the gender stereotype of women being flirtatious, manipulative and untrustworthy

  • Men still held majority of power in 1950’s America

  • ‘Nuclear Family’ —> traditional family model, husband who earns money, wife looking after household, kids being obedient and following parents will

    • Created during Cold War to encourage staple family unit as foundation of strong society

      • Reinforced women’s domestic gender roles and duties

    • Miller advocates /reflects the benefits of ‘Nuclear Family’

      • John Proctor’s downfall with Elizabeth due to his affair with Abigail Williams

      • Elizabeth takes blame for affair “I was a cold wife”

• Wrote play to:

  • Warn 1950s America of man’s potential for evil

  • Criticise cruelty of mankind

  • Praise positive independent virtues

  • Relate to any era (timelessness)

  • Depict how people behave in a public terror environment

  • Depict the effect of private guilt on the public sphere

Key Themes / Concepts

Fear and Hysteria

"I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Sarah Osborne with the Devil! 1 saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!" - (Abigail Williams, Act 1)

• Symploce (Anaphora and Epistrophe combined) of “I saw… with the Devil!” frantic and hysterical tone, aiming to take the focus off her and direct it onto others.

  • Protect her reputation

“the Devil is out of hand, it’s out in the community” - Reverend Hale Act 3

• Anaphora of “is out” emphasises emotion of fear has become certain reality which causes hysteria motivated by fear of false accusations and certain punishments

• Anomaly of Salem’s conservative context, elucidates how community places higher importance on accusations than innocence and justice.

• Biblical imagery of “Devil”

"A person is either with this court or he must be counted against it," Danforth, Act 3

• Symbolism → fear driven mentality motivating the witch hunts

• High modality language

Reputation and Integrity

“My name is good in the village! I will not have it said my name is soiled!” (Abigail, Act 1)

• Concerned with her “name” that is used as a motivation for her actions

  • She doesn’t want it “soiled”, as she could face harsh consequences in Salem theocracy

• Metaphor of “my name is soiled”

  • Used as a motivation for her actions

  • She doesn’t want to get the bad consequences of her actions

“...we are only what we always were, but naked now…God’s icy wind, will blow!” (Proctor, Act 2)

• Metaphor of “naked now”

  • Exposure and vulnerability → communities true nature is being revealed through mass hysteria

• Biblical allusion “naked” and “God’s icy wind”

  • Echoes story of Adam and Eve, symbolising shame, judgment and loss of innocence

“You will confess or you will hang” (Danforth Act 4)

• Antithesis → confession or hanging

  • False confession is seen as a way out of death, but involves compromising self integrity and truth

• Irony → goes against the Bible’s beliefs of honesty over all

  • Being truthful will get you hung

Power and Authority

“...and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.” (Abigail Williams Act 1)

• Hyperbole → “shudder you”

  • Exaggerate the severity of consequences

  • Threat will be so powerful and terrifying that it will physically shake others

    • Illustrates level of fear Abigail is trying to instill in them

• Violent imagery → threatening Mary Warren

  • Demonstrates extent of power and control

“You are God’s instrument put in our hands to discover the Devil’s agents among us. You are selected, Tituba,” (Hale, Act 1)

• Metaphor

  • Dehumanising Tituba as a tool of divine will rather than a person

  • She has power over life and death of others

  • Tituba (a slave/housemaid – lowest of the low status) has her status temporarily elevated due to the witch trials

• Religious diction

  • Demonstrates the puritanism society; everything is either divine or demonic

“We burn a hot fire here; it melts down all concealment.” (Danforth, Act 3)

• Metaphor

  • Symbolising intense scrutiny and punishment of the court → purifying force that reveals all truths

• High modality

  • High certainty + confidence → asserting court’s power as unquestionable and divinely justified