Thus, given the historical context of the time, Miller uses The Crucible as an allegorical warning for the audience against the dangers of McCarthyism in 1950s America. This resulted in a widespread fear of Communist influences, and a political hunt similar to the Salem witch trials began, as civilians attempted to escape their own charges by accusing other innocent individuals of treason. This was a political movement in which Senator Joseph McCarthy attempted to control the spread of Communism by placing any Communist sympathisers on a blacklist. However, the play was written during another type of witch hunt: McCarthyism in 1950s America. Although partially fictionalised, it depicts the very real consequences of false accusations based on blind religious faith, as Miller displays the dangers of such baseless rumours. В A L.A.The Crucible, Arthur Miller’s 1953 realist play, is based on the historical events of the 1692 Salem witch hunts. Most moving is Stacy Keach as John Proctor, who fights to salvage some good from the trials that destroy Salem.' The young girls playing at witchcraft shriek in irregular counterpoint to the quiet, terrifying judgments rendered by Reverend Harris (Michael York), and doubt is ever more audible in the voice of Reverend Hale (Richard Dreyfuss). The star-studded cast ratchets the tension to a disturbing level as the town disintegrates. In a searing portrait of a community engulfed by panic - withВ ruthless prosecutors, and neighbors eager to testify against neighbor - The Crucible famously mirrors the anti-Communist hysteria that held the United States in its grip in the 1950вЂ™s.Īudiofile Magazine review: 'At once an allegory of the 1950s' anti-communist witch hunts and a spotlight on seventeenth-century witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, this play shows how ignorance and good intentions can interweave to destroy lives. In the rigid theocracy of Salem, Massachusetts, rumors that women are practicing witchcraft galvanize the town. Richard Dreyfuss and Stacy Keach stars in Arthur MillerвЂ™s classic The Crucible, a central work in the canon of American drama that remains required reading in most high school and college English courses.

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