Take a photo of a barcode or cover
theanitaalvarez 's review for:
The Crucible
by Arthur Miller
I simply adore this play. I'd love to act in it someday, or just watch it in a stage.
We all know how this story goes: a group of girls is seen dancing in the woods (big no-no in Puritan society) and a few of them begin acting weird, so they decide that the next logical step is to start accusing other of witchcraft. Long story short: everyone loses their shit. Big time.
Written as a response to the not-so-literal witch hunt of the 1950's by McCarthy, this play illustrates exactly what happens when you give fear too much power. Whether it's the Devil or Communism, it's simply not logical to start accusing everyone and forcing them to confess and to accuse others. I think it was a brilliant move on Miller's side to use the Salem Witch Trials to portray the paranoia of the 50's. If we're to believe my professor of 19th. Century Narrative, the trials became some sort of national shame some time after they happened, and people actually avoided talking about them. So people could see how ridiculously they were acting when hunting communists. By the way, that was by no means, something that only went on in the US. At least I know that in Chile, the Communist Party was indeed prohibited (after supporting that particular president to be elected. Shame on you, Mr. Videla). But we didn't have an actual Witch Hunt to compare it with.
I read this play last year, and one of the things that struck me the most was John Proctor as a character. I'm pretty sure I read an essay by Arthur Miller about his idea of tragic hero (very short, you can read it here). Poor Mr. Proctor's tragic flaw is his pride. He was completely decided to keep his good name, even if he had to die. The scene where he shouts "Because it is my name!" is incredibly powerful, and it just follows what he has done during the entire play. His unwillingness to testify against Abigail (who took the clingy jealous girl idea up to eleven) was in order to protect his own good name. I had some issues about Elizabeth as a character, but ultimately I saw that they did love each other, despite John cheating on her. I liked that he wasn't shown as a perfect character, but rather as someone who commited a mistake and was willing to atone himself for it.
The progression of the trials in the play is also very interesting. The girls begin by accusing Tituba as a way to escape punishment themselves. But then is when shit gets real, and she ends up accusing other people. The play does a really good work showing how these confessions (that of Tituba and of other characters) are forced by other characters. The only people they name are those who their accusers mention (and nobody seems to realize this). And then, there's peer pressure. When Mary decides to come forward, her friends decide that the the logical thing to do is accuse her, as well. And they turn out to be right, because she chickens out and accuses Proctor instead. Another lesson in the play (besides, you know, "if you nedd a trial, look for a judge who isn't a religious nuts"): peer pressure will make you do cracy and stupid things.
Other of my favorite characters is Reverend Hale. The poor guy didn't want to have anything to do with all the craziness that overcame Salem. And he did try to stop it, but couldn't because (as stated before) everyone had lost their shit by that time. The things had gotten really out of control and obviously they couldn't be stopped as easily as that. When Abigail escapes (because by that time people in town were beginning to realize the crazy mess in which she got them), they realized what they have done. But it was to late to stop.
However, John's stuborness is what ends up saving Salem. In the climax, after he rips his false confession, the judges are clearly shocked by it. And it is a historical fact that the trials ended as suddenly as they began. Proctor's defense of his good name and his refusal to betray his friends and neighbours (well, most of them were dead by that pont, though) may have shown them how crazy they were acting.
It is a good play, and even today is a very current and relevant story. It doesn't matter how much time has gone after that, but we're still victims to mass hysteria. Whether they are communists or whatever scares us at the time, it's remarkably easy to lose sight of what's actually happening, as opposed to the things we fear.
We all know how this story goes: a group of girls is seen dancing in the woods (big no-no in Puritan society) and a few of them begin acting weird, so they decide that the next logical step is to start accusing other of witchcraft. Long story short: everyone loses their shit. Big time.
Written as a response to the not-so-literal witch hunt of the 1950's by McCarthy, this play illustrates exactly what happens when you give fear too much power. Whether it's the Devil or Communism, it's simply not logical to start accusing everyone and forcing them to confess and to accuse others. I think it was a brilliant move on Miller's side to use the Salem Witch Trials to portray the paranoia of the 50's. If we're to believe my professor of 19th. Century Narrative, the trials became some sort of national shame some time after they happened, and people actually avoided talking about them. So people could see how ridiculously they were acting when hunting communists. By the way, that was by no means, something that only went on in the US. At least I know that in Chile, the Communist Party was indeed prohibited (after supporting that particular president to be elected. Shame on you, Mr. Videla). But we didn't have an actual Witch Hunt to compare it with.
I read this play last year, and one of the things that struck me the most was John Proctor as a character. I'm pretty sure I read an essay by Arthur Miller about his idea of tragic hero (very short, you can read it here). Poor Mr. Proctor's tragic flaw is his pride. He was completely decided to keep his good name, even if he had to die. The scene where he shouts "Because it is my name!" is incredibly powerful, and it just follows what he has done during the entire play. His unwillingness to testify against Abigail (who took the clingy jealous girl idea up to eleven) was in order to protect his own good name. I had some issues about Elizabeth as a character, but ultimately I saw that they did love each other, despite John cheating on her. I liked that he wasn't shown as a perfect character, but rather as someone who commited a mistake and was willing to atone himself for it.
The progression of the trials in the play is also very interesting. The girls begin by accusing Tituba as a way to escape punishment themselves. But then is when shit gets real, and she ends up accusing other people. The play does a really good work showing how these confessions (that of Tituba and of other characters) are forced by other characters. The only people they name are those who their accusers mention (and nobody seems to realize this). And then, there's peer pressure. When Mary decides to come forward, her friends decide that the the logical thing to do is accuse her, as well. And they turn out to be right, because she chickens out and accuses Proctor instead. Another lesson in the play (besides, you know, "if you nedd a trial, look for a judge who isn't a religious nuts"): peer pressure will make you do cracy and stupid things.
Other of my favorite characters is Reverend Hale. The poor guy didn't want to have anything to do with all the craziness that overcame Salem. And he did try to stop it, but couldn't because (as stated before) everyone had lost their shit by that time. The things had gotten really out of control and obviously they couldn't be stopped as easily as that. When Abigail escapes (because by that time people in town were beginning to realize the crazy mess in which she got them), they realized what they have done. But it was to late to stop.
However, John's stuborness is what ends up saving Salem. In the climax, after he rips his false confession, the judges are clearly shocked by it. And it is a historical fact that the trials ended as suddenly as they began. Proctor's defense of his good name and his refusal to betray his friends and neighbours (well, most of them were dead by that pont, though) may have shown them how crazy they were acting.
It is a good play, and even today is a very current and relevant story. It doesn't matter how much time has gone after that, but we're still victims to mass hysteria. Whether they are communists or whatever scares us at the time, it's remarkably easy to lose sight of what's actually happening, as opposed to the things we fear.