Carrie Boike’s Reviews > The Crucible > Status Update

These excerpts that provide context, character backgrounds, and, in this recent case, the political and psychological theory of witch trials, are very interesting, but I'm a bit confused by them. Specifically, how would they function in the context of a play? Is dialogue paused and a long monologue given? This doesn't seem very practical when you have an audience. But I think it works well in the medium of a book.

"Political opposition, thereby, is given an inhumane overlay which then justifies the abrogation of all normally applied customs of civilized intercourse. Once such an equation is effectively made, society becomes congerie of plots and counterplots, and the main role of government changes from that of the arbiter to that of the scourge of God."

I’m glad I watched Robert Eggers’ The VVitch because it’s helping my imagination when it comes to the accent, rhythm of speech, the costumes, and even the characters appearance. I can’t help but imagine Anya Taylor Joy as Abigail and the actor who played her father as Parris. It makes perfect sense to make your own cast when reading a play anyways! I imagine this play had to have influenced Eggers somewhat.

“I had known this story since my college years and I’d never understood why it was so attractive to me. Now it suddenly made sense. It seemed to me that the hysteria in Salem had a certain inner procedure or several which we were duplicating once again, and that perhaps by revealing the nature of that procedure some light could be thrown on what we were doing to ourselves.”

I had wondered if Miller was influenced my the McCarthyism of his time or even if he intended the play as an allegory. The witch trials are almost like the perfect example of a historic event that can be so frequently referenced in modern times. The way it’s made its way into our modern lexicon with politicians calling investigations “witch hunts.”

“And after you have studied their lives faithfully, a remarkable thing happens; you discover that if you really know the few, you are on your way to understanding the millions. By grasping the local, the parochial even, it is possible to make a beginning at understanding the universal.”
Love this excerpt from the intro from the book that inspired Miller to write the crucible.