Miller later explained that he saw many similarities between the hunt for communists in the 20 th century and the hunt for witches in the 17 th century.īut mostly, at the heart of it, the play is about what happens to a community when people start to turn on each other.
The play debuted on Broadway in January of 1953 and has since become an American classic.Īlthough the play is based on the Salem Witch Trials, it was intended to be an allegory for the Red Scare during the 1940s and 50s. Again, this is something that maybe wouldn’t be an issue in a well-acted play.Īs it is, I felt like I was reading something with a lot of potential but left vaguely unfinished.The Crucible is a play about the Salem Witch Trials written by Arthur Miller. (Miller’s interruptions did not help.) I felt like I was just beginning to get a sense of the main characters when the play ended. There are a fair number of characters for a relatively short play and it took me a while to sort of who was who and how they were connected. How do you declare yourself innocent of invisible crimes? There is a real sense of powerlessness as the characters struggle against accusations of witchcraft. Miller brilliantly captures what it can look like when the courts have too much power, as well as the dangers of combining church and state. The Crucible famously depicts the Salem Witch Trials and was written in McCarthy-era USA. From there, the script picks up the pace but it definitely required some recovery time. (Once all the characters have been introduced he stops doing this but it made for a painful slog through Act One.) While the information is relevant, it’s an entirely artless way to present it and it’s clearly not necessary since (I presume) these wouldn’t be included for the viewers of the play. This is primarily the fault of Act One in which Miller consistently interrupts the action to give background information on characters, something going on for pages. I have no doubt that the play is more compelling when seen than when read.īecause, let me tell you, it’s not that compelling when read. I have yet to see The Crucible in its play form so it feels a bit unfair to judge what is only a script. The Crucible – Arthur Miller (Bantam Books, 1977)
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