The Crucible :: English Literature

The Crucible Explore how Miller dramatises the conflicts within John Proctor and presents him as a good man, despite his failings. How does Miller make him dramatically effective for an audience? Refer to Act two and Act four. Miller's purpose through writing 'The Crucible' was to express his own views on what was happening in America at the time in 1953 - McCarthyism, a period of intense anticommunism. Miller uses the character of John Proctor to put across his views. He is interested in the character who does not allow himself to be caught up in hysteria, but thinks for himself and stands up for his values. Miller wants to teach us, his audience, about social awareness with deep insights into personal weaknesses through his characters. Miller also wants to teach us the important moral lessons about human nature of the notion of goodness. Miller's play deals with difficult and controversial issues making the audience think about the pleasant and unpleasant experiences of humans and relating them to today's modern world. When writing 'The Crucible' Miller was influenced partly by witchcraft. For many hundreds of years there was a belief in witchcraft throughout Europe. This belief in witchcraft persisted among the English colonists in America. In 1692 there was an outbreak of accusations of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, which lead to twenty innocent people executed. In the play John Proctor was one of the twenty innocent people executed. Of those women accused many were old women with knowledge of herbal medicine or other folk remedies, an example of a character with this description would be Rebecca Nurse, who was hanged with John Proctor in the dramatic last scene. The English colonists were Puritans and they felt surrounded by ungodly people and associated the forest with savages and evil. Miller uses this belief in the play at the beginning, when Betty, Abigail and ten or twelve other girls were seen dancing in the forest; this event was greatly frowned upon in the village and led to many accusations. Miller also links his characters to the Salem witchcrafts as during the witchcrafts one man was pressed to death by stones; this links to the character Giles Corey. This trumped-up witch hysteria in Salem, Massachusetts deteriorated the rational and emotional stability of its citizens. This exploited the population's weakest qualities, and insecurities. The obvious breakdown in Salem's social order led to this tragedy. McCarthyism also influenced Miller when writing 'The Crucible'. In the early 1950s Joseph McCarthy, a senator, exploited his fear of communism and managed to create a national campaign against Communists, ex-Communists and anyone associated with them. The play was produced when McCarthy's anti-Communist campaign was at its height