Introduction to The Crucible

1. Introduction to The Crucible Arthur Miller, The Salem Witch Trials, and Joseph McCarthy

2. Arthur Miller • b. New York City, Oct. 17, 1915 • Miller began writing plays while a student at the University of Michigan

3. Background of author • His father, Isidore Miller, was a ladies-wear manufacturer and shopkeeper who was ruined in the depression. The sudden change in fortune had a strong influence on Miller • To study journalism he entered the University of Michigan in 1934, where he won awards for playwriting

4. AM and MM • Miller married the motion-picture actress Marilyn Monroe in 1956; they divorced in 1961.

6. Puritanism • Daily life was governed by the Church • Music, dancing, celebration of holidays such as Christmas and Easter, were absolutely forbidden,as they supposedly had roots in Paganism • The only music allowed at all was the unaccompanied singing of hymns—the folk songs of the period glorified human love and nature, and were therefore against God. • Toys and especially dolls were also forbidden, and were considered a frivolous waste of time. • The only schooling for children was in religious doctrine and the Bible and all the villagers were expected to go to the meeting house for three-hour sermons every Wednesday and Sunday.

7. Life in 17th Century New England • The supernatural was part of everyday life • strong belief that Satan was present and active on Earth. T • his concept emerged in Europe around the fifteenth century and spread to North America when it was colonized. • Witchcraft was then used by peasants, who invoked particular charms for farming and agriculture. • Over time, the idea of white magic transformed into dark magic and became associated with demons and evil spirits. • From 1560 to 1670, witchcraft persecutions became common as superstitions became associated with the devil • Men and women in Salem believed that all the misfortunes were attributed to the work of the devil; when things like infant death, crop failures or friction among the congregation occurred, the supernatural was blamed. • Fear

8. Salem Witch Trials of 1692 • Series of hearings and prosecutions regarding witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts “And now Nineteen persons having been hang'd, and one pressed to death, and Eight more condemned, in all Twenty and Eight, of which above a third part were Members of some of the Churches of N. England, and more than half of them of a good Conversation in general, and not one clear'd; about Fifty having confest themselves to be Witches, of which not one Executed; above an Hundred and Fifty in Prison, and Two Hundred more accused; the Special Commision of Oyer and Terminer comes to a period. — Robert Calef

9. Trial Process • Accusation • Interrogation • Encouraged to confess • Superior Court • Summon witnesses before a grand jury • Execution or imprisonment • Convicted witches were excommunicated from their churches and none were given proper burial. • Thrown into shallow graves

10. Options • Deny accusations - face trial and likely execution • Admit to witchcraft – escape execution, but your name will be forever ruined and associated with wrongdoing • Refuse to answer questions

11. Why Accuse? • Fear • Personal vendettas • Shift the spotlight • Conformity

12. Mass Hysteria • The episode is one of the nation's most notorious cases of mass hysteria, and has been used in political rhetoric and popular literature as a cautionary tale • dangers of isolationism, religious extremism, false accusations and lapses in due process

13. What is an allegory? • a literary device in which characters or events represent or symbolize ideas and concepts • Similar to an extended metaphor • George Orwell – Animal Farm: The pigs stand for political figures of the Russian Revolution. • Edgar Allan Poe – The Masque of the Red Death: an allegory for how no one can evade death

14. The Cold War in America • At the end of World War II, the United States and the USSR emerged as the world’s major powers. They also became involved in the Cold War, a state of hostility (short of direct military conflict) between the two nations. • Many Americans feared not only Communism around the world but also disloyalty at home. • Suspicion about Communist infiltration of the government • Theory that Soviets got the atomic bomb by using spies. • secret agents, working under cover, had stolen US secrets and given them to the Enemy. • Even worse, these spies supposedly were hardly ever Russians themselves, but often American citizens. The kind of people you see every day on the street and hardly even notice. • Anybody could be a potential Communist

15. Joseph McCarthy • Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin gained power by accusing others of subversion. • In February 1950, a few months after the USSR detonated its first atomic device, McCarthy claimed to have a list of 205 Communists who worked in the State Department. • Although his accusations remained unsupported and a Senate committee labeled them “a fraud and a hoax,” McCarthy won a national following • He denounced his political foes as “soft on Communism” and called Truman’s loyal secretary of state, Dean Acheson, the “Red Dean.”

16. McCarthyism • McCarthyism came to mean false charges of disloyalty. • In September 1950, goaded by McCarthy, Congress passed the McCarran Internal Security Act, which established a Subversive Activities Control Board to monitor Communist influence in the United States.

17. (HUAC) • Congress began to investigate suspicions of disloyalty. The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) sought to expose Communist influence in American life. • Beginning in the late 1940s, the committee called witnesses and investigated the entertainment industry. Prominent film directors and screenwriters who refused to cooperate were imprisoned on contempt charges. • As a result of the HUAC investigations, the entertainment industry blacklisted, or refused to hire, artists and writers suspected of being Communists.

18. McCarthy’s influence continued until 1954, when the Senate censured him for abusing his colleagues. His career collapsed. • Fears of subversion continued. Communities banned books; teachers, academics, civil servants, and entertainers lost jobs; unwarranted attacks ruined lives.

19. The Red Scare and Blacklisting • Over 300 entertainers were placed on a blacklist for possible communist views and were thus forbidden to work for major Hollywood studios (many of these were writers who worked under pseudonyms). • Arthur Miller was one of those blacklisted.

20. Communism from 1930-1950 • By the 1930s, communism had become an attractive economic ideology among some in the United States, particularly those with liberal beliefs • At its peak, the CPUSA had 50,000 members. • CPUSA hosted many events and meetings that had little to nothing to do with communism • Many attended meetings, or knew people who did

21. Three Options • They could claim they were not and never had been members of the Communist Party (this would have meant perjuring themselves) • They could admit or claim membership and then be forced to name other members (and this would have meant losing their jobs both because of their former membership and their dubious position as informers) • They could refuse to answer any questions and face legal consequences.

22. Miller admitted to the HUAC that he had attended meetings, but denied that he was a Communist. • He had attended, among others, four or five writer's meetings sponsored by the Communist Party in 1947, supported a Peace Conference at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, and signed many appeals and protests. • Refusing to name others who had associated with leftist or suspected Communist groups, Miller was cited for contempt of Congress

23. What does “crucible” mean? • a vessel of a very refractory material (as porcelain) used for melting and calcining a substance that requires a high degree of heat • a severe test • a place or situation in which concentrated forces interact to cause or influence change or development

24. Vocabulary • abomination, conjured, contention, deference, innate, licentious, manifestation, paradox, prodigious, vindictive • Definition, part of speech, ORIGINAL sentence using context clues