Using the historical subject of the Salem Witch Trials, Arthur Miller's play The Crucible (1953) presents an allegory for events in contemporary America (McCarthyism & The Red Scare). The Salem Witch Trials took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, and were based on the accusations of a twelve-year-old girl named Anne Putnam. Putnam claimed that she had witnessed a number of Salem's residents holding black sabbaths and consorting with Satan. Based on these accusations, an English-American clergyman named Samuel Parris spearheaded the prosecution of dozens of alleged witches in the Massachusetts colony. Nineteen people were hanged and one pressed to death over the following two years.
"Plot Summary: The Crucible." DISCovering Authors. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resources in Context. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.
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Arthur Miller was noted for dramas that combined social awareness with a searching concern for his characters’ inner lives.
Miller was born on Oct. 17, 1915, in New York City. After graduation from high school, he worked in a warehouse, and with the money he earned, he attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
In 1953 Miller received a Tony Award for The Crucible, a play based on the witchcraft trials in Salem, Mass., in 1692. Miller considered that period relevant to the 1950s, when investigation of subversive activities was widespread. Miller himself was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1956, but he refused to name people he had seen at an alleged Communist writers’ meeting 10 years earlier. His contempt conviction was later overturned.
He died on Feb. 10, 2005, in Roxbury, Conn.
"Arthur Miller." Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica, 3 Mar. 2022. school.eb.com/levels/high/article/Arthur-Miller/330090. Accessed 19 Apr. 2022.
