The Crucible

Arthur Miller

• Death of a Salesman, The Crucible
• Was married to Marilyn Monroe
• Cynical; middle-class citizens being harmed, social justice
• Witch Hunt, Antisemitism, Red Scare, again and again, history repeats itself ; Miller lived familiar to all this fear.
• Miller found motivation in the liberals who wanted to oppose the violation of civil rights during the Red Scare Interrogations but were too fearful to attempt.
• In 1951, Miller wrote a screenplay called "The Hook", about union corruption on the Brooklyn waterfront.
• Harry Cohn, the director showed the script to the FBI
• Cohn then told Miller to change the threatening and murdering gangsters in the script into Communists instead.
• Miller refused, and Cohn sent him this condemning telegram: "The minute we try to make the script pro-American, you pull out."
• It is hard to let go of our belief that society must somehow make sense. Our unwillingness to believe that society is condemning and harming innocent people drives us to internally deny and ignore the evidence that is there.

Mccarthyism

• The practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. It also means "the practice of making unfair allegations or using unfair investigative techniques, especially in order to restrict dissent or political criticism."

"As with most humans, panic sleeps in one unlighted corner of my soul." I'd just like to take a moment to appreciate Miller's skill with language.

Analysis of The Crucible
*Notes in book; taken from Sabrina's page.

• Idea; The Special World (create a planet)
• Dialogue/Anything in PoMo
• Roots
• Given Circumstances
• Polar Attitudes (pendulum of change)
• beliefs
• prejudices
• perception
• tolerance
• assumptions
• Previous Action
• Dramatic Action of the Characters
• Character Development
• Archetypes
• Reactions
• Speech patterns
• Motivations
• Etc. etc. etc.
• The Crucible
• Religious beliefs
• Environmental situation
• Social environment
• Political environment
• Economic situation
• Geographic position
• Time