The CrucibleArthur Miller’s

Crucible: noun

1. A piece of lab equipment designed to heat metals or other materials to a high temperature for the purpose of removing impurities.

2. A severe, searching test or trial.

McCarthy Madness

Senator Joseph McCarthy Wanted to RID THE WORLD OF COMMUNISTS Led the HOUSE UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES

COMMITTEE, or HUAC.

Goals of the HUAC Hearings: PUBLIC HEARING ADMIT GUILT NAME OTHER COMMUNISTS SOLEMNLY REPENT CONFESSION = REDEMPTION

McCarthy Madness

“The Blacklist”

A list of accused communists

Many prominent people targeted

Employers hesitant to hire anyone on the list

Especially evident in Hollywood

The term MCCARTHYISM now refers to a RUINOUS ACCUSATION WITHOUT ANY BASIS IN EVIDENCE.

The Crucibleby Arthur Miller

1690’s Salem, Mass. A Literal Witch Hunt

The Salem Witch Trials People accused of witch craft Those on trial are assumed

guilty Motivated by fear

The accusation is everything

1950’s America A Figurative Witch Hunt

McCarthyism/Red Scare/HUAC People accused of communism Those on trial are assumed guilty Motivated by fear

The accusation is everything

ALLEGORY:  figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another.

Puritans

Believed Salem to be a CITY ON A HILL, an EXAMPLE of how people should live and worship God.

Believed in a STRICTLY LITERAL TRANSLATION of the Bible.

Believed mankind was continually TEMPTED BY THE DEVIL.

Believed that the devil was TARGETING THE NEW WORLD.

Believed salvation begins with OPEN AND PUBLIC CONFESSION.

When a man SINS, he must REPENT AND CONFESS.

World of Witchcraft

Accepted as REAL throughout the world.

An estimated 50,000 PEOPLE were executed worldwide.

Exodus 22:18: THOU SHALT NOT SUFFER A WITCH TO LIVE.

Signs of Witchcraft: MARKS ON THE BODY

PUPPETS OR DOLLS IN THE HOME OF THE ACCUSED

EVIDENCE OF CONFRONTATIONS WITH THE ACCUSED THAT RESULTED IN MISFORTUNE.

Salem Witch Trials

Accusation Over 200 men, women and children were accused of witchcraft.

Confession Many people CONFESSED TO SAVE THEMSELVES. Others thought confession would mean ETERNAL DAMNATION.

Spectral Evidence A witch could SEND HIS/HER SPECTER to enter another person’s

body. AN ALIBI was worthless to an accused witch.

Executions 19 men and women hanged ONE man pressed to death Several others DIED IN PRISON

Arthur Miller, Playwright

Wrote several classic American plays

Once married to Marilyn Monroe

Accused of communism

Called to testify before the HUAC

Inspired to write The Crucible as a modern-day allegory for the McCarthy era.

Terminology

Protagonist: the leading character or hero

Antagonist: the opponent or adversary of the hero

Tragic Hero: a great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy that is destined for downfall, suffering, or defeat.

Foil: a character that serves to make another seem better by contrast

Terminology

Drama: a genre of literature; a play

Stage Directions: notes written by the playwright

Tragedy: a story in which a heroic character either dies or comes to come other unhappy end.

Foreshadowing: the use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in the plot.

Dramatic Irony: when the audience of a play knows or understands something that the characters do not

Terminology

Exposition: the immediate revelation to the audience of the setting and other background information necessary for the understanding of the plot.

Rising Action: the path of the plot that leads to the climax.

Climax: the high point in the plot, after which there is falling action (denouement).

Denouement: the falling action that leads to the final resolution to the plot.

Resolution: the conclusion of a story, when all or most of the conflicts have been resolved.

Exposition

Denouement

Resolution

Climax

Rising Action