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Those that understand the hysteria of McCarthyism in the early 1950's should see clear parallels from this moving demonstration. Young Abigail Williams senses her power as lead confessor, and milks the opportunity. A couple skeptics led by John Proctor speak up, but the tables turn and they soon find themselves shackeled. Hysteria reigns, and none are safe from its blows.
Arthur Miller's classic play based on the Salem Witch trials of 1692 demonstrates superstition, hysteria, and control. This play is well worth your time, as is the stirring 1996 film with Winona Ryder and Daniel Day Lewis. Those that grimace at the willingness of the judges to trust superstition and obvious frauds should consider the power dynamics of a fundamentalist, church-ruled society. After being discovered dancing in the woods (strictly forbidden) one girl refuses to wake, and suspicions arise.
The gallows await the imprisoned, thought they may win a reduced sentence by confessing their guilt. Under pressure, the girls soon confess to communing with the devil. Soon many stand accused, special judges arrive from Boston, and the town is quick to condemn.
That was how I got into it. She was a much better actress. I probably got the part of Tituba because I am Chinese and they didn't have a more authentic applicant. I don't think that we ever quite got the crying-out scene right, but I don't think there was all that much guidance either. When I was up at Cambridge back in the olden days when there were only three women's colleges and men's colleges were single sex, I tried my hand at acting and ended up joining an "indie" production of "The Crucible.
But I still have the play, and I read it again every so often. It was also the last time I acted in Cambridge. I didn't figure there were going to be too many opportunities for a not-so-wonderful Chinese actress (of course I didn't think so then) and started working for the newspaper rather more seriously. What we did have was the up and rising freshman actress to play Abigail Proctor.
We happened to be reading English at Griton in the same year. By "Indie" I mean that it was not produced by either the of the two drama societies the Amateur Dramatic Club and the Mummers, nor by a college drama society. And the copy we used was not footnoted or anything, nor did it have an introduction. And actually, looking back now, I am not so sure that the rest of the cast were quite as aware of the McCarthy trials as perhaps they should have been. Gone from the picture in spite of the presence of a minister is any sense of the religious fervor and fear which also played a significant role then. This went beyond orthodox political thinking.
All this indicates to me that Miller's play did not travel all that well, as is the case with a few others I have read. I didn't know about the trials first-hand but I was certainly aware that they had happened and the kind of hysteria behind it.
That little production did all right though.
Not "Death of a Salesman" though. It was instead produced by this second-year student and performed in a church and performed by people who answered an ad in Varsity.
Certainly they were never mentioned at any rehearsal I ever attended. Having said that, I also did not think that Miller was trying to portray Salem, Massachusetts when those trials took place.
I also was a member of the ADC. But one thing that really struck me when I was reading this play was how it was basically the McCarthy Treason trials and Miller's take on them.
the book was ok, its used bud if just need to read it its perfect.
You feel for them, even the ones you hate. While I would hardly recommend it to someone going for deep facts of the Salem Witch Trials, this still draws on historical characters and does an excellent job of portraying them as real people. "The Crucible" is well-named as the pot that heats everything up, and Miller takes minor events and shows how they become the tragedy that was the witch trials.This is an incredibly powerful and important story that teaches messages as the drama entertains. Okay, so all sorts of historical details are altered for the sake of character drama, but so what. It does not change the fact that this is one heck of a great play that offers it all: romance, betrayal, psychology, murder, and more, all set in a sleepy little Puritan town obsessed with witches that has become the victim of the "games" of a few young girls.
This book challenged all of us to think about the most important things in our lives and what we're willing to sacrifice to achieve a higher cause. The issues of witchcraft and socially sanctioned violence against a targeted group seem eerily relevant to some of the things going on in our world today. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a great book to read with a mother-daughter book club. It provides an outlet to talk about issues the girls are covering in school, and to find out about how their perspectives differ from those of their moms.
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