Sunday, November 27, 2016
Mr. Farley The Crucible Commentary
Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay (internet was deplorable in Germany), but we all know that we have a commentary due at the end of today. Post here a 300 word commentary on The Crucible. This is our final assignment of Unit 1, so make sure to "say something interesting." Have fun and challenge yourself!!!
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29 comments:
Metehan Şahin
10-E 120
The Crucible Commentary
Ideologies had a strong impact on people in history and they still do. In Salem, Massachusetts, 1692; people were in a huge effect of ideologies such as sexism, racism, capitalism and religism that caused a lot of problems at that time. These ideologies surrounded people and forced them to act unnatural and cause mayhem.
Sexism was one of the biggest problems in Salem. Men had more rights in comparison to women. The biggest example for this is Witchcraft. Women was the one's who are accused and almost all the time the one's who were murdered. If religism was involved, some men could be murdered as well. Sexism was also really effective when the judges decided the faith of the girls that danced in the woods to have fun. However, Abigail was smart enough to pretend to be in effect of devil and because of that they were not punished but John Proctor was murdered.
Racism is also involved with sexism. Tituba -the african american women- was treated like a slave just because she had dark skin.
Capitalism has a impact as strong as sexism in this society. These people are Puritan's so they believe in hard work and being pure. Hard work refers to earning a lot of money and that leads to capitalism. So capitalism was really effective in this society. People had to work and earn money to have a part in this community.
Religism is the most powerful and effective ideology in this society. These people wake up and sleep with the feeling of being "pure". They make decisions with religion by searching what is right for The Bible. They kill people according to religion. They don't question anything whether its killing a man or anything similar to that. They just do it because it is right for The Bible.
These ideologies are really strong that they cause a lot of problems to this society. However, people can't seem to get rid of them in order to have peace and a hopeful lifestyle because people are born and grown with these ideologies.
Ekin Fırat Evren
10-E / 229
The Crucible Commentary
Throughout the history of the world most of the ideologies had affected people and made an impact on them, it continues to do so. One of the greatest examples that we can give is what happened in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. The people of Salem were under huge effects of many ideologies such as racism, capitalism, sexism and religism (puritanism). The ideologies that they strongly and unquestionedly believed lead them into chaos.
Racism was one of the problems that Salem had. A woman named Tituba was treated as a slave because of her dark skin color. This makes me think of today’s racism. In our time racism still continues in many countries, people kill each other because of the skin color they have, and leads them into chaos, which can be referred to the book.
One of the other ideologies that I can relate to our time is Religism. The Religious issue which Salem people tried to deal with reminds me of nowadays problems caused by Religion. Nowadays people are using Religion as a tool and try to control everyone by Religion; they trick naive and innocent people to do things for their own goods by using the name of God, which was the same method used in the past times.
Another ideology that reminds me of nowadays is Sexism. Men had more rights compared to women, they were seen and treated superior to women in that time. If there was any problem that happened they blamed women and saw them as tools, not as humans. Because of the gender they could not live their lives normally and had many problems, for example if there was a witchcraft going on in the town, firstly women was interrogated and then men. This reminds me of some countries that are in our world. For example in Arabia they always blame women for what is happening and women cannot get jobs easily as men do, they do see women inferior to men and still call this “equal”.
If we look at the big picture we can see that Ideologies had very strong impacts on mankind and affected their treats, however if we compare our time and what happened in Salem, Massachusetts, we can see that not much has changed, only the time has changed.
The Crucible Commentary
My question is: What can I see on the surface? What is obvious?
The characteristics of the characters are obvious. John Proctor is stern, harsh tongued man. Abigail is smart and a good liar. Reverend Hale has critical mind and intelligence that protect him making mistakes. Elizabeth is virtuous, but often cold. Reverend Parris is a paranoid, power-hungry and riotous religious.
These are the main characters and also there are some supporting characters. We don’t know that characters as we know the main characters. So, we can just made some commends about them but initially we don’t know their characteristic.
There is racism, sexism, a little bit of capitalism and injusticism. These are the obvious and effective ideologies in the book. Example of Racism and Injusticism, Tituba is an example of Racism and because of her skin colour they torched her horribly. Example of Sexism, ‘‘You are pulling down heaven and raising up a whore’’. Example of Capitalism, “To the European world the whole province was a barbaric frontier inhabited by a sect of fanatics” Miller said this about Salem, the place that story takes place.
Religion is another fact that is obvious and has an important status. The public in Salem governed by theocracy and because of that there is not equality between people. “A holiday from work meant only that they must concentrate even more upon prayer.” This quote indicates the requirements of a theocratic society. Fear and religion are the reasons that keep people together. This quote supports my thought ‘‘…the people of Salem developed a theocracy, a combine of state and religious power whose function was to keep the community together.”
Kerem Doğan
10-E 212
The Crucible Commentary
Every novel has a hidden idea. This can be about the book or it can be something happened in real life. The novel Crucible by Arthur Miller explains the hunt for witchs and witch craft that occured in town of Salem in 17.century. The novel showed that how it was vicous, uncivilized, and manipulative the system was. Witch hunt is a search for people who is know to be a witch or using some type of witch craft. These hunts mostly targeted women because they tought womens were weak and they were easily manipulated by the witch craft. This acts were vicous because they would end with the suspects death even if it isn't authorized as a witch.
During 20.century there was a arms race between Usa and Russia to be the strongest country in the world. During this war both sides sent spys to learn clasiffied information and in USA a commuist hunt was started by the goverment. These hunts were unplaned so it didn't worked as planed and these hunts ended with multiple civilians losing their jobs.
The author of the book Arthur Miller was a socialist. During the Cold War Arthur Miller was a journalist during this time American goverment was searching for the communist spys. Arthur Miller was a suspect in this case because of his socialist behavior in his writings. Arthur Miller wrote the book Crucible after this event so he can explain this communist hunt by using the 17.century witch hunt as a reference so that the reader can compare the both events. Also, this book showed the reader that the goverment had a such a bad system that it can be edited easily.
This book isn't just explaining that the 17.centurys people aren't civilized it explains how the American goverments communist hunt was uncivilized.
Ali Murat Ertizman
English 10D
Mr. Farley
27.11.16
The Crucible Commentary
Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist, and figure in twentieth-century American theatre. Among his most popular plays are All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953) and A View from the Bridge (1955, revised 1956). He also wrote several screenplays and was most noted for his work on The Misfits (1961). The drama Death of a Salesman has been numbered on the short list of finest American plays in the 20th century alongside Long Day's Journey into Night and A Streetcar Named Desire
In the Crucible, the most important thing are ideologies. In Salem people are, sexism, racism, capitalism and religionism are in the foreground. People are guide themselves by using hese ideologies. Some people use them for bad things some use them for good. For example being a puritan is something good but killing the ones who are not pure is bad. These ideologies cause a lot of problem in Salem.
Sexism is one of the biggest problems in Salem. Men always has more power and rights every time. Women also accused by witchcraft which is horrible. But some smart women can save their lives by using these things for example Abigail. The men always accuse the women they don’t like by witch crafting and they kill them.
Racism is also taking place in this village. For example, Tituba has been accused for nothing. Abigail and her friends used her. Religion is one of the most powerful ideology in the village. People in the village are trying to be completely pure otherwise they have been killed. For women, its worse. They thought that all the bad women are all witches. These ideologies are cause a lot of problems in the town.
Deniz Somuncuoğlu
10-E 156
November 28, 2016
Influence of Social Events on The Crucible
The Crucible, is a classic play, written by Arthur Miller, about innocent men and women being called witches in the 17th century, in the town of Salem. In the 17th century, the English had discovered Americas and were spreading their people and religion on it. However, the religion they were spreading wasn’t just Christianity anymore. With the discovery of new lands, new sects of Christianity, each with different traits and characteristics, began to form. One of these new sects was Puritans, who were dangerously obsessed with purifying every human being, in the name of god. As the play mentions, “In 1692 nineteen men and women and two dogs were convicted and hanged for witchcraft in a small village in eastern Massachusetts.” (Miller, vii) As seen in the text, the Puritans in Salem were extremely obsessed with witches and servants of the devil. The whole play explains the terrible condition of these people, who are accused of being a witch by a bunch of teenage girls. This horrifyingly funny condition of a whole town, going crazy because some girls had fun at night, might be a reference or a criticism to something.
The author Arthur Miller was born in 1915 and wrote The Crucible in 1953. During the years this play was written, a political tension between The Soviet Union and The United States, which is also known as the Cold War, was going on. During the Cold War, the US government was paranoid about Russian spies. People even accused each other of being a spy, if they also were accused. Some were accusing the other because they wanted revenge, money, or because they simply didn’t like them.
“Danforth: Have you compacted with the devil? Have you? Marry Warren: Never, never! … Danforth: Will you speak? … Mary Warren: pointing at Proctor: You’re the Devil’s man! … Proctor: numbed: Mary, how--?” (Miller 107-110)
In the text above, Mary tries to tell the court that she is not working for the devil, but when the court doesn’t believe her, she accuses John. This looks and feels just like the situation in the US during the Cold War. Since the author wrote the play during these years, we may predict that the over-alerted situation of the US influenced the artist to write this play, to give people a message: “we haven’t changed a bit since 1692.”
The Crucible Commentary - Can Umut 10-D
The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller, which is set in Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692. As it is today, in the 17th century ideologies had a huge impact on people and the local communities. Arthur Miller, who is known for using ideologies in his plays, used many ideologies like puritanism, sexism and religionism in The Crucible. The ideologies that the author used were actually in reference to our current world and all the problems it possesses. What is being read in the play might seem peculiar but in reality it is not different than what we see everyday. Throughout the play we can see that simple ideologies can have vast repercussions and effect lots of people, the main ideology that this play focuses on is puritanism, the urge to become completely pure. The people of Salem believed that most people were not pure since they thought the devil always tried to penetrate their minds and this would result in them acting strangely and “unpure”. When the men of the town had sexual desires for a foreign woman besides than their wife they thought that it was satan trying to make them unpure, and that is the main reason for another important ideology, sexism. The women were always approached sceptically, it was believed that the women might be witches that meet with satan. This resulted in women being supressed and the men being more dominant compared to women which is why the author emphasized this subject since it is somewhat of a reference to our current world because women are still being supressed even in the 21st century. The leading religious figures of the society like Reverend Parris, worried nothing but their reputation and fiercely believed that there were witches that had to be found and hanged which is why they believed that Elizabeth Proctor was a witch when she was accused by Abigail Williams. The plot of the play revolves around the ideologies puritanism, religionism and sexism, since people passionately believe in these ideologies it causes the puritan society to collapse and results in John Proctor who does not believe in witchcraft and who actually symbolizes the secular system and integrity to die. The severe belief in all these ideologies mostly constructed by bigots and extremists cause the whole society to fall apart and even though the play may seem weird to the ones living in the 21st century, it is actually a reference to the social disorders of our own world.
Bora İlker Varol
10-E 207
Novermber 28,2016
The Crucible is a play about the trials of people who were accused for practicing witchcraft. Most of the accusations were made by Abigail who pretended to be witched by accused. The court made verdicts according to strange behavior of a group of girls who are influenced by Abigail. At the end, nineteen innocent people were hanged. From the medieval age up to the new era, people believed that witchcraft was diabolic and the Church made anti-propaganda against witchcraft and filled people with hatred against witches. This came all the way to Salem trials after which witch-hunt in America stopped.
The play was written in 1953. At that time, there was an anti-communist hysteria in the US. During the cold war, which started after the World War II, anti-communist propaganda was heavily used in the US that resulted in “red scare” for communists like the hatred against witches in Salem. Especially, during Senator McCarthy era, McCarthy himself accused reputable people of being communists, just like Abigail’s accusations of witchcraft. The McCarthy hearings were considered to be “witch-hunts” for communists. The logic of hearings were “guilty until confession” just like those of Salem. Once you were accused it was impossible to prove your innocence and the accused were outcast from the society in both cases.
Miller wrote this play to draw attention to the same mistakes that were done in the 17th century. He saw the similarities between the two cases very well. Most probably, the attitude in the McCarthy hearings inspired the writer to create the dramatic scenes in Salem trials. The play won the Tony Award for best play on the year it was first staged and became a classic among American plays. Miller showed the society that whatever is happening during that period can lead to catastrophe in the society.
Aslan Oral
10-E
101
The Crucible Commentary
The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, set in Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692.A book where a hidden message is given. The message is simple; it tells about how an idea of witchery can cause this much problems because of a girl who wants to take revenge. Everybody believes her game because she convinces them by saying she sees these devils and people are convinced by time. She even stabs herself in order to show her point that the person she accused was possessed with devil. There are also hidden ideologies in the book. For example, racism that is portrayed by slavery and the connection between black people from Africa and witchery. There is also sexism that is shown but to consider the topic sexism was a problem in the 1600s. İn the time women were considered to be possessed by the devil because they were oppressed by the dominant men in the time. Men that called them pure trying to strengthen and not lose their reputation of being pure tried to blame women by calling them “unpure” and demonic. These people who believed in the ideology of puritanism this ideology supported being fully cleansed of devil. So people start to make the assumptions that women were connected to devil by trying to find irrational evidence. In some cases, some women were even hung because of a thing they didn’t even commit. Some more smart women for example Abigail manipulated the puritans by convincing the people she hated did witchcraft and even took help from her friends. These problems were even staged and well planned and in time Abigail even started to enjoy seeing these people die in the process of her little games. To conclude town of Salem is a really small example in this madness.
The Crucible Commentary
Emir Kutay
10E 209
The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller. The Crucible is a dramatized story of Salem witch trials that took place in Massachusetts. Arthur Miller tried to communicate us that how funny witchhunts are. But still there are witchhunts against a group of people. If you haven’t noticed The Crucible is written as an allegory of communist witchhunt. Miller had communist ideas and himself was a victim of communist witchhunt. Arthur Miller refused to name communists and therefore there was consequences of this behaviour. “Miller’s defiance of McCarthyism won him a conviction for contempt of court, which was later reversed by the Supreme Court. His passport had already been denied when he tried to go to Brussels to attend the premiere of his play The Crucible, about the Salem witch trials.” (History.com) Arthur Miller picked an excellent way to show how funny witchhunt is against communist ideas. While we are reading The Crucible we laugh at them because they are doing silly and absurd stuff. Maybe years later we will laugh at witchhunt against communist idea but now it is serious and people can’t see the truth.
We can see more examples of witchhunts in human history. For example Nazis had slaughtered millions of Jews because of their religion. In the roots of this hate is crucifixion of Jesus by Jews. This lead to racism of Jews in every century. Nazis are example of how far witchhunt can go. Another example in U.S, there was and still a racism against African-Americans. There was a witchhunt against African-Americans and some groups started killing African-Americans such as Ku Klux Klan. To conclude, prejudice against differences and unknown leads to witchhunts that are very common in our history. We must take lessons from these events because lots of innocent people died caused by these events.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/arthur-miller-refuses-to-name-communists
Renç Karaca
10-E / 151
November 27, 2016
In the play, "The Crucible" there are many ideologies that affect the whole play. "The Crucible" is a play mainly about religion, which is Puritanism. Puritanism is concerned about the idea of purity, to be pure. Means, completely free from sin. This idea of being pure is a common concept between other religions aswell, for example; judaism, islam, christianity. But as always this isn't a play that is just about religion, there are other ideologies. Those are sexism, capitalism, racism and atheism.
Sexism can be seen very easily through the play. Almost in everything, men have more power than women in town. This can be shown as sexism. In addition only women get threatened by witch hunt, according to people only women can be witches. They think men are strong enough to avoid devil but not women. Which threatens all of the women in town.
Capitalism, if a main aspect of the play aswell. Everything in the town is controlled by someone. The people in the town are not equal. Some of them have more power than others. In capitalism there is a statue of power just like it is in the play. There are people who have power and people who don't have power at all. This is a big sign of capitalism in the play.
In the play we can see that racism is transferred to reader by Tituba. Tituba is a african-american female slave which takes place in the play. She gets treated very badly because of her skin color. This is a big sign of racism in the play.
Lastly Atheism, atheism is transferred through John Proctor in the play. In a community full of puritans it is very difficult to feel free. So John Proctor doesn't believe in god like how the other people to. Actually we can say that he reacts atheistically to the events which is about religion. Which is a sign of atheism in "The Crucible".
In conclusion, "The Crucible" is play full of diffrent ideologies. All of them are transferred by diffrent characters and events which makes the play more intresting and deep.
The nobel “The Crucible” was written by Arthur Miller in 1953. The Nobel is mainly about witchcraft. Witchcraft is common in 19th century. Arthur Miller wants to refer about it. In the nobel they judge people by their point of view. And don’t care about it’s consequences. Arthur Miller talks about “The Crucible” ın his interview and says “We know how much depends on mere trust and good faith and a certain respect for the human person, and how easily breached these are. And we know as well how close to the edge we live and how weak we really are and how quickly swept by fear the mass of us can become when our panic button is pushed. It is also, I suppose, that the play reaffirms the ultimate power of courage and clarity of mind whose ultimate fruit is liberty.” this sentences summarize why he wrote this nobel.
In “The Crucible” the reader can look from the characters point of view. And we can understand the problems in 19th century. They can also judge innocent people. And their religion, color and sexes effect in this judgement. When I reed this nobel I make empathy. I thought myself how lucky I am. Maybe I can live in that time and society, and they might judge me from withcraft. That thought makes me feel terrify, sad and hopeless. It’s mean injustice to me. In our society people treat each other closer in 19th century. They don’t make empathy, they judge people by their decisions. Arthur Miller notice it, and wrote this nobel. This nobel push me to think about treatment in society. I also do the same thing, sometimes I just judge people by their physical appearance. And the language that Arthur Miller use is helpful for reader to understand that characters opinion.
Emir Işık
10-D / 102
November 28, 2016
The Crucible Commentary
Written by Arthur Miller in 1952, “The Crucible” is a classic play which introduces the readers a sense of mockery towards the people of Salem and also shows them their ignorant mindsets back in the 17th century. As every piece of literature has at least one hidden idea, “The Crucible” also has one. The play demonstrates the hunt for witches and innocent men and women beings accused of witchcraft in the town of Salem. The idea beneath this is to show the reader how illiterate, manipulated, and relentless life was back in the 17th century. Back then, Christianity had already been spread all over Americas, however with the new explorations, smaller peculiar religions with different aspects started the form. These new denominations were extremely strict against “witchcraft” and would act directly “in the name of God”. Most of the witchcraft accusations were on women, since they were seen weak, feeble, and powerless back then. Explained in the whole play is the feelings and the points of views of the people who are under the accusation of using witchcraft because of some teenager girls.
Arthur Miller, born in 1915, also the author of the play, was a socialist. During the Cold War, also the same time interval the play was written, the US government was strict and overly suspicious against Soviet Union spies. People were accusing each other for whatever reason, and due to Arthur Miller’s socialist demeanor in his works, he had become a suspect. The play was written after that incident, and the author used the ignorant mindset of the government back in the 17th century as a reference to make the reader understand how the American government can get manipulated into messed up ideas.
In the book, The Crucible it is obvious to see some ideologies such as racism, sexism and capitalism and also religionism but in my opinion the writer, Arthur Miller, wanted to give messages to the reader through referring to some different ideologies like above ones and in particular puritanism. That’s the way he emphasized those messages revealing consequences of ideologies such as emotional manupulation and hysteria.
The way that Tituba was treated when compared to other girls is the best example on racism in the book: Just because she was from Barbados people thought she was the devils advocate and never knew her worth.
Sexism is also a major factor in the book because the whole book is based on witches and their position to the devil. Women are always sued to be the witches who were possessed by the devil while men are never even being questioned.
The way that capitalism is shown is related to religionism in the play. People dedicated theirselves to working on behalf of God and while people who are in superior roles do not work as hard as the others do.
Puritanism the most obvious ideology in the whole play because the people who are mentioned are strict puritans and they did whatever it takes to be a good one. There is no other motivation in their actions at all. That kind of attitude yields to another ideology, pragmatism.
To conclude with, emotional manipulation and hysteria are also connected to each other as it can be seen from Abigail’s actions and the girls reactions when she acts like she has seen the devil.
The Analysis about The Crucible
“The Crucible play about the trial and execution of a group of people accused of witchcraft in the Salem town of Massachusetts in the 17th century, was actually written to demonstrate the communist hunting in the United States during the McCarthy era. The author can be influenced to write this tragic theatrical play by the discrimination and injustice arising from the prosecution of innocent people and the silence of the opposition made by the government.
In fact, the theology of the play is the McCarthyism condemnation, which has led many people to be accused of being communists and subjected to aggressive investigations. In Salem society, the dominant effort of showing some people as a witch with the reason of cooperating with the devil is a very important theme that correlated to the fact that government directs society according to its own advantage.
There is a big allusion to the political events of the time in the whole of the play by creating symbolic and tragic fiction. At the same time this allusion is supported by so many motives and symbols in the play. For example, the dramatic accusations and confessions take place in the court are the factor that clarify the opposing sides and their goals in the play.
Thus, “The Crucible" is regarded as a critique of McCarthyism because of its allusive structure. Although it is a criticism, Arthur Miller has written the play "The Curcible" with a realistic perspective to articulate the fear of society. The writer, who has tended to the unknown lives of American society, tried to show the destructive effects of capitalism within the context of cause-effect relationships. Consequenty, the greatest effect of this play makes it one of the classical works of the theater that the reflection of political events are caused enormous loss by using allusive and critical language.
Zeynep Tezel 10-E
The Crucible
The play, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Salem is a Puritan community, and its inhabitants live in an extremely oppressive. Government and religious authority are virtually inseparable, and individuals who question local authority are accused of questioning divine authority. For the Puritan community faithfulness, honesty, integrity and being away from sins are some very important properties. On the other hand, we know that sexism is discrimination or devaluation based on a person's sex or gender, especially directed against women. The belief that, usually the male gender, is naturally superior to the women and they should dominate most important areas of political, economic, or social life. So, we can say that the people of Salem are extremely sexist to women.
While I'm reading the play, I saw there is a big pressure on women. The way, men talk with them is highly imperative and oppressive. That makes women feel like they aren't important and they should obey to men. Also, I think that the witch hunt is a very good example for sexism. Because the people of Salem usually thinks that the women are witches and they are related with Satan. In act 1, most of the names which are related to the witch hunt are the names of women. "I saw Goody Osborn, Sarah Good, Goody Howe, Martha Bellows, Goody Sibber, Alice Barrow, Goody Hawkins, Goody Bibber, Goody Booth" (Page, 45,46,47)
Gökçe Kozanoğlu 10-E
- How does this relate to other things that I am familiar with? Does it remind me of something?
In the novel The Crucible, which was written by one of the most important drama writers Arthur Miller, there are many ideologies that the reader can identify but the main problem is the pressure and thread of death against women in their society because of “witchcraft”. This can lead the reader to the idea of sexism and feminism because from the beginning of the novel, women are being charged because they danced in the woods and it is forbidden because they are Puritans. The idea of Puritanism is to be pure and free from sin and in our society some men also want women to be like Puritans. This real life fact is related because some men beat their wives and put pressure on them like the men in the novel. The idea of sexism is the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes and there are lot of examples for feminism in the novel because they don’t charge men for working with the Devil, they charge women for being the workers of Devil and obeying him just because they danced. So it is an example of inequality of sexes that can be clearly seen in the novel and this inequality also exist in our society. For example, some men see women as weak people and because of that they set up rules like “Dress properly!” and easily beat women without even thinking. So the idea of feminism in the novel reminds me of our society because the similar pressure on women can be seen in both the novel and our daily lives.
Crucible Commentary ” How does it make me feel? How do others feel? ”
Crucible is a story that takes place in Salem, and mentions about witch hunt. The topic is interesting but Crucible is not just a adventure novel, every one can get different messages from different characters in novel so that makes me feel get informed when I read the book. It helps me to understand how ignorance can be trouble for a community, and believing different religions should not be the characteristic property to contradistinguish one people from others. Fact is only God knows who is pure enough or who is not pure. Also I understand that any one can orient uneducated, unconscious community and make them believe whatever he want. Community will believe lies because of they are unconscious. I feel a bit guilty because I was grumbled about we are learning useless things at school but I realize that they are not useless.
Most of the other The Crucible novel readers share the same idea with me. Especially my idea about community in novel is very similar to other ideas because community in The Crucible novel represents all peoples of the world and writer Arthur Miller tries to send some messages to them with writing this book. Every one can get different messages from different characters but the result is the same, the main idea is about community. “All in all, "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller is an intense contemplation on morality and society. One of Miller’s most produced plays, "The Crucible" is a text that will leave a lasting impact on its viewers and readers.” quote from OrangeClementine’s writing supports my idea and one from who feels same things with me about novel.
Mert Karaydın
10-E
Selin Gurdikyan 10-E 598
The Analysis of The Crucible
-When was it written? What social events could influence the artist?
In the book "The Crucible", written by Arthur Mıller takes place in Salem/ Massachusets. The play is about a society of 17th century in US. In 17th century of America, there were Salem witch trials. At the time there were many accused as being witch, preying to devil, or doing things unusual the society or the colonial Massachusetts. Eventually, twenty people has executed between the years 1692 and 1693. In the executed group there were fourteen women and five children;died in prison or being hanged. Also before twelve other people had been executed in Massachusetts at the time. Salem witch trials were conducted in Salem Town, Salem Village, Ipswich and Andover. So, in shortly the century was full of isolationism, extremism of religion, and many false accusion. The writer was inspired of these events. He ploted his play in Massachusetts, where the witchcraft started and also in the same century. He wrote the history mixed by a good story. Something that would make the play more intresting. But, the whole play is true. The things that he wrote in his book has really happened in history. I think the writer, Arthur Miller wanted to show the extreme religion, and the foolishness of witchcraft.
Also, the wichcrafts were everywhere at the 17th century. It has been popular beetween the 15-18th century. And also in Europe. In total there are 40.000- 60.000 people are executed during the witchcrafts in Europe. The best known witch trials are: Scottish, Swedish and American Salem witch trials. Salem witch trials were also one of the largest and notable trial.
Continued- Selin Gurdikyan
Alin Gurdikyan
10-D / 599
Well as we know the book of The Crucible there was a time a community of people who were strict about religion and them life was based on rules and laws that they cannot break. They could not had fun or laugh or feel joy for something they do. Also, the century Was for witches and witchcraft. Whole people who lived in that village believed supernatural things and if people acts diffferent than others they instantly call the guy witch or other reason was, the most nonsense and cruel accusation, when someone jealous or feel anger for some one or just try to elude itself, they immediately excoriation to being witch.
The thing is Abigail Williams, Parris's niece, was a teenage girl who was fell in love to a old married guy and had a relationship with him for a short time. It didn't work because what they did is sin and inappropriate thing. So, Mr. Proct ended up this love and dedicated himself to his wise, he got over it but Abigail. She couldn't stop thinking about him and nonstop love him. She was so angry to him because of proctor's behaviour and his wife that create barriers from them loves. So Abigail Williams made a ritual with her friend who wanted to wish to love, but the ritual didn't go so well. Reverend Parris Saw them and it was the beginning of the chaos for the village people. The girls and Abigail Williams judged for being witches. So they start to lies for everything and act like a innocent girl who were unable to retorted from witch's spells.
People followed the girl's lead and also they were pretending to believe witches that captured the village and complained about witches and blame to innocent' normal people just because of the complainant doesn't like the guy. In that book more than 15 innocent people lost them life. You know why? It because some guy wanted to run away from fault and just jealousy haunt down to that person. Or you are a girl and just want to keep your lover to yourself.
The Crucible Commentary
Zeynep Özkaya
10-D 230
The Crucible is written by Arthur Miller who is a very famous playwright and has advocacy of social awareness. The setting of the play is near seventeenth century in Massachusetts, Salem. In the play the setting choice has a very big role toward the actions. In that time period Puritan church’s power was the main cause of witchcraft. The book is about Puritans which is a group within Christianity. From the pressure that Puritans have over their community, Arthur Miller was able to use this example to expose the socialist witches in the USA. This was one of his aim for his readers. Arthur Miller’s choice of themes, motifs and symbols support and his thoughts very well. The importance of reputation, hysteria, intolerance, integrity, love are some of the themes in the play. The main characters are Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris and John Proctor.
The main theme and ideology in the play is absolutely puritanism. Puritans are considered very conservative and strict with their interpretation of Christianity. This makes them more powerful. Puritanism comes from the idea of purity. It is a belief that means to be pure and to be completely free from sin. However, one person may think that purity is one thing; another person may think it is completely different. This makes us think of the ideology of relativism. So, we can associate the ideology of puritanism to relativism. Another property of Puritans are their authority. Puritans were very authoritarian which means they believed in a strict hierarchy of power. So, this explains the fear that Puritan people have through the events that they are facing in that time like witchcraft. Arthur Miller use Abigail to tell the reader that she is a symbolize of whispering that people made about socialists and communists are a danger, a threat for government and at the same time people that should get ridden of. With this Miller wants his reader to question why people (they) always believe and do what government said without any doubt because of their hysteria.
Another important point in the play is the title choice that Arthur Miller made which makes reader to question deeper. Why the writer choose this title? First of all, every writer has a reason to choose that title. The function of crucible is that it melts the bad things and good stays inside it. So, crucible is liken to the process of witchcraft in the play. They put all the people in crucible and kill the bad, sinful ones in Salam. There is a very deep relation between the title and the play. This choice made reader’s mind more clear to connect the points between actions through out the play.
The Crucible Commentary
The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in spring of the year 1692. The themes in the play are sexism, witches and slavery The Author try to give us the idea of power of accusing in my opinion. The main characters are Abigail Williams and John Proctor. In the play tells the story about the witch accusing in the town Salem and how Abigail use it in against John Proctor.
The Author gives some examples that support his idea in the play. Firstly being Abigail accusing Tituba because of the song she sang in the forest. After that Abigail understands the power of telling lies when she saws how people can get scared when she acted like she was possessed. Because that she was acting like she was possessed by the Devil nobody was accusing her and they were getting afraid of her. She used this against everybody from the start to the end of the play. Secondly she accuses John Proctors wife for doing witchcraft. This leads John Proctors wife to go to prison. At the last parts of the play John Proctors accuses Abigail for being a liar and try to get her wife out of the prison. In the court Abigail again accuses John Proctor from lying. After the accusing and lying starts John Proctors tells that he knows Abigail and tells that he is lying. Because of this everybody learns that he committed Adultery with Abigail. After that when John Proctors wife comes to the court for correcting the Adultery she gets scared and tells that he is lying. After that Abigail starts screaming and running out of the court. At the end of the play John Proctors worker gets scared that she will get hanged as well and tells that he was the man of the Devil. Because of that John Proctors yell that end tells that “There is no God”. Then he gets hanged and the play finishes with that scene.
The Author showed us that how can false acting and false accusing can get you out in trouble and shows how can people use it for her own interest. The plays gives us excellent example of how one lie can get you into several ones as well.
The Crucible Commentary
Selena Sancaktar
10-D 247
"How does it make me feel? How do others feel?
The Crucible is written by Arthur Miller. The story takes place in Salem. The topic is interesting. The reason is that, it goes over about witch hunt. I learned that darkness and illiteracy affect society and community negatively from different characters that gives different messages about this novel. Also I learned that people shouldn't judge for what they believe which should not constituting a difference between people. If any one who is ignorant that lead the society very easily and make them believe and make them do what ever he/she want cause to major problems that can not be corrected for the society. The main ideas are these for me. Like me most of the Crucible readers thinks the same way about how did this book feel and what we learned from the book.it helps us to compare our society and the society in the book so that we can learn how small damages can cause major problems. Arthur Miller emphasize about the main idea which is community.
‘The Crucible’ book, which written by Arthur Miller, took place in Salem the long time ago. İn the book author make a lot of criticism about administration and how the wrong leading causing problems in society. The leader of this city is Parris, he is a minister. He is a powerfull and he is a Christian man who has a strong belief. Leaders make a mistake when managing government with use beliefs. This society leads with really strict rules, it creates very pressure on people. İn Salem, witchcraft was a most common problem, witches are arrested then people hunt them. When something going bad or there is a problem people are blaming women for being a witch. They think witches are making contact with the devil and go bad way. People believe that all the problems can solve with hunting witches. Society felt happy while they watching hunting witches. Real is they murder instant women for they stupid believes and it is a frightened think to enjoy that horrible situation. There is a court for decide people guilty or not. Danford makes that decision, people have on lot of pressure in this society he is to. That pressure affects Danford too, he cares his reputation in the town. That caring cause unfair decisions. For example, Abigail said lie about Prector’s life and it accepts but he don’t accept Prector’s true defense. There can be court but just having a court can’t solve problems and it doesn’t make conditions fair. People was judging and got punished unfairly. İn the Crucible John Prector character against governance and witchcraft things for all time in the book. At the end, he was hanged because of his fluent attitude. We can relate that event with real life, leaders use religion wrong while leading a city and lot of people believing and apply wrong think with connecting their belief. When some open minded people come and say true opinions. They judge by people and get trouble just because thought differently from others. There must be a system of fair governors and a fair
“The Crucible” is a play that is written by famous socialist play writer Arthur Miller. It takes place near the end of the 17th century in Boston, Massachusetts, Salem. The book is about a group of Puritans that are overly attached to their unusually strict rules. The themes of the book include: desperation, paranoia, fear, misery, love and hopelessness. The main characters of the book are John Proctor, Abigail Williams, and Revered Parris.
The most important image in the play that Arthur Miller wanted to communicate to the reader is the fear and paranoia that the Puritan people are in. The author does this perfectly by making Abigail Williams a first hand source of information to the Puritan church. By using Abigail Williams and the desperate people of Salem, the author indicates to the reader that the Puritan people didn’t have an absolute truth about the most important problem that they have during their times: “Witchcraft”, and that they were being controlled by the words that are spoken by one person that has a great reputation in town. Therefore, Abigail Williams is a character that symbolizes the rumors and people against socialists.
To go on with, the most important part of the connection between the rumors and the head of Salem (Revered Parris, Revered Hale, and Judge Danforth) is the people that carried the rumors to the court. People that are also in a very well known social status. This is where the author used the characters Mr. and Mrs. Putnam. Their dedication to their beliefs were so very well known among Salem that people had some sort of respect that made them a leader, a voice for the people of Salem.
To go on with, John Proctor was a character that a character that Arthur Miller used to symbolize himself. In other words, the people that weren’t affected by the same paranoia that the American government had. John Proctor had the characteristics and the ideals of a free man, and he could be logical enough to see that what was going on around Salem was “madness”.
The last piece of the big puzzle that the author tried to communicate is Revered Parris. He has a twisted list of priorities. He is a character that mostly cares the most about his social status because of his fear of everybody else in town, especially the ones that are aiming for his throne like Mr. Putnam. That being a part of his nervousness, Mr. Parris is being used as a symbol of the American government in the play. The main ideas that the author wants to communicate by using Mr. Parris is his actions. His unsureness of what he’s doing and going blind for his social status.
The Crucible Commentary
"The Crucible" is play which is written by a socialist writer Arthur Miller. In this commentary I will try to answer these two questions: When was it written? What social events could influence the artist? Arthur Miller was written this play in 1950s. Arthur Miller was from United States and he was living there while he wrote this play. During 1950s United States was in Cold War against Soviet Russia. US is suspicious because of spies inside the states. Even Arthur Miller got suspicious. Miller had anti-communist thoughts, but he was a strong socialist which is against US.
Play's setting is in 17th century and it is getting action in Salem, Massachusetts where is located in United States. During this years Puritans tried to spread Christianity in the continent. Because of it, they were governed in theocracy. Like most places in US, people in Salem were believed in witchcraft, and ruled their life and judged themselves related to it. Their rules were really strict. Like the author thinks I want to say that people shouldn't be judged because of religious stuffs. People should have a secular life. Religious stuffs shouldn't change people's social status.
Crucible Commentary
Deniz Adalan
10-D
How does it make me feel? “How do others feel?”
The Crucible is a play which was written by Arthur Miller in 1953. The story takes place in Salem and it’s about witchcraft. The locals who live in Salem are Puritans and they are highly religious, traditionalist and strict; that’s why the locals feel a huge pressure on themselves. Especially, because they believe that the women are the weaker sex they have more pressure on themselves. When a crime happens which is done by a woman, they charge that woman with witchcraft without listening why she did it, or how she did it, they don’t even ask if she has done it or not. They directly blame that woman. So we can see sexism which is still a big problem in our time too.
In my opinion the women who lived in that time would feel under pressure and they wouldn’t know how they should act, or how they should speak because whatever they do they may do or say something wrong and make people suspected of themselves.
The topic was interesting and informing for me. When I heard the topic I thought that it’s an adventure and science-fiction book but I was wrong. It was actually about sexism and feminism simultaneously. While the women were charged and killed because they did wrong things and believed as they were witches, it was also about being woman and about believing in their inner power that they can do anything, that is, feeling the power in themselves to persuade people respect themselves due to their abilities. Shortly, The Crucible was an interesting book for me to deal with different ideologies sexism and feminism in a single plot.
Yasemin Özkut
10D 228
The Crucible is a book that written by Arthur Miller. The book takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The book is about witchcrafts that most people believe in. In real life there was also people believe in witchcraft in Salem and other places. So, the things happened in the book maybe didn’t happened in real life but it is based on the real life. The book mostly contains sexism. People in Salem blames only women about witchcraft. Even the witchcrafts weren’t true, they never thought a man can do witchcrafts. I think people are looking for something to blame women just because they are sexist. For my opinion, this happens because of having the power, seeing men above women, being prejudice, and most probably because of people’s own interests. I think this is all wrong. For my opinion it is okay to believe something even if it is not true. But, accusing someone without a proof and being sexist is wrong.
We can see that these sexist thoughts also were in the past as today. There was not a lot civilization at these times. So, people were sometimes acting stupid and believing stupid things. But now, lots of things changed, there are lots of news about sexism. People should have smartened up and start being sensibly. But, the news shows us that nothing changed since the centuries ago. I think our people will never become wiser and more sensible.
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