The Crucible and Related Readings

by Arthur Miller, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Clifford Lindsey Alderman

Crucible / Arthur Miller --
Conversation with an American writer / Yevgeny Yevtushenko --
Guilt / Clifford Lindsey Alderman --
How to spot a witch / Adam Goodheart --
Young Goodman Brown / Nathaniel Hawthorne --
Great Fear / J. Ronald Oakley --
Justice Denied in Massachusetts / Edna St. Vincent Millay --
Very Proper Gander / James Thurber --
Piece of String / Guy de Maupassant.

Genres: Plays, Classics, Historical Fiction, School, Fiction, Read For School, Drama

233 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1997

About the author

Works of American playwright Arthur Asher Miller include Death of a Salesman (1949), for which he won a Pulitzer Prize, and The Crucible (1953).


This essayist, a prominent figure in literature and cinema for over 61 years, composed a wide variety, such as celebrated A View from the Bridge and All My Sons , still studied and performed worldwide. Miller often in the public eye most famously refused to give evidence to the un-American activities committee of the House of Representatives, received award for drama, and married Marilyn Monroe. People at the time considered the greatest Miller.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_...

Reviews

[Prabhat sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Crucible by Arthur Miller- Play- (1953) The Crucible is a play. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. In the Puritan New England town of Salem, Massachusetts, a group of girls goes dancing in the forest with a black slave named Tituba. While dancing, they are caught by the local minister, Reverend Parris. One of the girls, Parris’s daughter Betty, falls into a coma-like state. A crowd gathers in the Parris home while rumors of witchcraft fill the town. Having sent for Reverend Hale, an expert on witchcraft, Parris questions Abigail Williams, the girls’ ringleader, about the events that took place in the forest. Abigail, who is Parris’s niece and ward, admits to doing nothing beyond “dancing.” While Parris tries to calm the crowd that has gathered in his home, Abigail talks to some of the other girls, telling them not to admit to anything. John Proctor, a local farmer, then enters and talks to Abigail alone. Unbeknownst to anyone else in the town, while working in Proctor’s home the previous year she engaged in an affair with him, which led to her being fired by his wife, Elizabeth. Abigail still desires Proctor, but he fends her off and tells her to end her foolishness with the girls. Betty wakes up and begins screaming. Much of the crowd rushes upstairs and gathers in her bedroom, arguing over whether she is bewitched. A separate argument between Proctor, Parris, the argumentative Giles Corey, and the wealthy Thomas Putnam soon ensues. This dispute centers on money and land deeds, and it suggests that deep fault lines run through the Salem community. As the men argue, Reverend Hale arrives and examines Betty, while Proctor departs. Hale quizzes Abigail about the girls’ activities in the forest, grows suspicious of her behavior, and demands to speak to Tituba. After Parris and Hale interrogate her for a brief time, Tituba confesses to communing with the devil, and she hysterically accuses various townsfolk of consorting with the devil. Suddenly, Abigail joins her, confessing to having seen the devil conspiring and cavorting with other townspeople. Betty joins them in naming witches, and the crowd is thrown into an uproar. A week later, alone in their farmhouse outside of town, John and Elizabeth Proctor discuss the ongoing trials and the escalating number of townsfolk who have been accused of being witches. Elizabeth urges her husband to denounce Abigail as a fraud; he refuses, and she becomes jealous, accusing him of still harboring feelings for her. Mary Warren, their servant and one of Abigail’s circle, returns from Salem with news that Elizabeth has been accused of witchcraft but the court did not pursue the accusation. Mary is sent up to bed, and John and Elizabeth continue their argument, only to be interrupted by a visit from Reverend Hale. While they discuss matters, Giles Corey and Francis Nurse come to the Proctor home with news that their wives have been arrested. Officers of the court suddenly arrive and arrest Elizabeth. After they have taken her, Proctor browbeats Mary, insisting that she must go to Salem and expose Abigail and the other girls as frauds. The next day, Proctor brings Mary to court and tells Judge Danforth that she will testify that the girls are lying. Danforth is suspicious of Proctor’s motives and tells Proctor, truthfully, that Elizabeth is pregnant and will be spared for a time. Proctor persists in his charge, convincing Danforth to allow Mary to testify. Mary tells the court that the girls are lying. When the girls are brought in, they turn the tables by accusing Mary of bewitching them. Furious, Proctor confesses his affair with Abigail and accuses her of being motivated by jealousy of his wife. To test Proctor’s claim, Danforth summons Elizabeth and asks her if Proctor has been unfaithful to her. Despite her natural honesty, she lies to protect Proctor’s honor, and Danforth denounces Proctor as a liar. Meanwhile, Abigail and the girls again pretend that Mary is bewitching them, and Mary breaks down and accuses Proctor of being a witch. Proctor rages against her and against the court. He is arrested, and Hale quits the proceedings. The summer passes and autumn arrives. The witch trials have caused unrest in neighboring towns, and Danforth grows nervous. Abigail has run away, taking all of Parris’s money with her. Hale, who has lost faith in the court, begs the accused witches to confess falsely in order to save their lives, but they refuse. Danforth, however, has an idea: he asks Elizabeth to talk John into confessing, and she agrees. Conflicted, but desiring to live, John agrees to confess, and the officers of the court rejoice. But he refuses to incriminate anyone else, and when the court insists that the confession must be made public, Proctor grows angry, tears it up, and retracts his admission of guilt. Despite Hale’s desperate pleas, Proctor goes to the gallows with the others, and the witch trials reach their awful conclusion. The play is goodread for all.

[Sophia Palermo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this book for my AP Composition and Writing class and in all honesty, it wasn't bad. Since the author wrote this in the time of McCarthyism, there were a lot of real-world connections that could be made throughout the story. I think that this book was also very interesting for a bunch of teens due to there being drama and the humor of everyone being accused of being a witch was amusing to us (Lots of Monty Python jokes were made while reading this book). I would definitely recommend this book to any teacher who is deciding what to have their students read, and in my opinion, I think this play is good enough to read for pleasure as well.

[Piper A · Rating 3 out of 5]

had to read the Crucible for English, it wasn't that bad

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

oops i forgot to say that i finished this last week ugh. its too short so its very anticlimatic not a very good read

[Alma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this play as part of my mission this year to read at least one "classic" or piece of formal literature per month in order to expand/broaden my reading horizons. And I'm so glad I picked The Crucible up.

As both a theater literature nut and a reading nerd, I ate this story up. I was pleasantly surprised by how I found the struggles and conflicts between the characters in the play were similar to those of today's society. Obviously we aren't suffering through the Salem Witch Trials anymore, but the basis in gender politics and religious influence on political influence contained many more similarities to today.

Each character, in my opinion, was neither write nor wrong. This story is in such a morally grey area, that it's difficult to really "pick a side." It might seem obvious to support the characters fighting against the witch hangings and burnings, but as I read the play, I found myself realizing the struggles the characters such as Mr. Parris, Judge Danforth, and even Abigail faced when it comes to blind faith in a religion. The Salem Witch Trials weren't the only time in history that religion played a key factor in bad decisions resulting in disastrous consequences being made.

I rate this a 4/5 stars because, despite how much I utterly loved this story and these characters, I didn't enjoy how chopped together the acts were. It felt almost as if I was watching several different plotlines get started but never finished, even though they do all relate to each other. I wish there had been somewhat of a smoother transition between acts. I still highly recommend this to someone looking for a classical play that dabbles in feminist politics, religious conflict, and history.

[Evan Pike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evan's review,
If you want to read a book that has a lot of irony in it, The Crucible by Arthur Miller would be the book for you. The irony in the book shows how we know the girls are faking the sightings of the Devil and people with the Devil while the other characters in the book don't know they are lying and faking it and they believe the girls. I liked this book because it related back to the McCarthy trials in which the book uses the major events of the real life trials with a few twists of other things that occurred. I recommend this book since it shows how things really were with the Devil during this time, which can be a religious thing. Also I recommend the book since if people are interested in the McCarthy trial then they can also use this book to learn about it and what really went on during this time. I rate the book a 4/5 since I thought it was a good relation to the real life witch trials and can help show the point of view of the people who died during this time.

[Kiki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can see some flaws after reading but the fact that it invoked such strong anger in me earned it nothing less but 4 stars.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

sorry read this about 3 weeks ago for school and never updated!

[Shawn Naylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was forced to read it, and I didn't really connect to the story. I'm sure it was damn good, but it just wasn't for me

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Playing John was fun

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

literally a book full of tea. abigail is just a girl and everyone was hating.
3.5 ⭐️

[Mikayla Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 This play was great, but it did have some dull and confusing times. In my college class, we read this out loud and I think that had a major impact on my perspective of this book. After I read this play, I watched this in a local community theatre and I enjoyed and understood it more. I like how this play may apply to many points in history and even today. I would definitely read this play if you are into dramas or history.

[Dr.J.G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw the play quite a few years before reading it, but it left a strong impression for more than one reason, not the least of which is the superlative quality of the play.

Arthur Miller wrote this during McCarthy era about the witch hunt of another times, and it fits the witch hunt of aommunists in postwar era as if tailored, tailored not only well but in fact tailored in Savoy in London to boot.

The only difference between the two times being the mundane details - that one in the era gone by was started by a few young girls amusing themselves, and the story is of how a mistake by a man involving an affair with a young servant, giving rise to hopes that he never intended to encourage, destroyed not only his life and family but also that of his innocent wife and of more than a few neighbours as well.

A few of my colleagues had a long argument after seeing the play, about whether the wife should have encouraged the husband to commit sin of forgery, of allowing his signature on a fraudulent paper to be fixed on the church door; and their opinion was it was all her fault he died - even though she was the one he most sinned against in having an affair with the young servant, she was the most innocent of the two, and yet was not given the option of being excused, and couldn't have escaped hanging in any way, leaving three young children and another newborn orphans.

The horror of their insistence on her guilt was unbelievable. She had not been given the option of life for the crime of being a woman, and those colleagues of European ancestral origins were essentially crucifying her again for the same reason.

Such is the grip of misogyny enforced on European culture for over a few centuries, that any issue turns into not only a witch hunt but generally they manage to find some innocent woman and pin the guilt on her, so she can be offered to their terrible gods above as a sacificial lamb.

They had entirely missed the point of the whole exercise of why Arthur Miller wrote the play in the first place, and what it was all about.

Or, perhaps, they fitted the characters he wrote about - those that would go on a witch hunt, preventing any possibility of independant thought and action on part of the ruled and subjugated, making sure most activities to do with any craft, any knowledge and any expertise of any sort whatsoever were kept from general people, and only allowed to the ruling classes.

They were after all of a culture that had a much longer witch hunt of a few centuries of inquisition, ruling out any possibility of women with knowledge even of matters of essential needs of life and family.

[Eileen Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this play written by Arthur Miller. One of the most interesting time periods, in American history, was during the Salem witch trials. Since I already knew about the event, it was interesting seeing how his play was similar to the real event. I mostly enjoyed the final act where it show Proctor would rather be hanged than lie to the court. He knew that he would be betraying his friends if he lied and said he was a witch, or even worse, said they were witches too. I would recommend this book to historians of others who enjoy reading plays, learning about the Salem witch trials, or want to see how it compared to the real trial. If you read this book you should also research how it was similar to McCarthyism. Overall, I enjoyed this book very much.

[Rena · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Crucible" is a light classic read that I thouroughly enjoyed. I feel like it is funny and a little informing on how people are willing to go on with such actions. It may be set in Puritan Salem, but the message is for all "witch" hunts. Just because someone says it is true, does not mean it always is. You have to be willing to think things through.

[Shelfari · Rating 2 out of 5]

we had to read this book for school....fortunately we read it in school...it was kind of weird...although...i understood it...salem witch trials...barbados...arguments...and execution to prove innocence...really different...not really my type...but new experience!!..

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good play i really liked it because of it's intensity and how that city, more like a village, went crazy and all that... real intense. hate that Abby girl...

[Pat Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite plays to teach, shortly behind The Taming of the Shrew.

[Sharmee · Rating 4 out of 5]

incredible story.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

To my surprise, I really enjoyed The Crucible! I had to read it for school, so I had my doubts, but I thought it was very interesting and the plot kept moving forward. It was v good. :)

[Cafes and Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written. I was on the edge of my seat. This book is a ride.

[Scott O’Shea · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars