Arthur Miller

Born in New Cork, he majored in journalism from Ann Arbor University. He started writing his plays while he was in ollege. He later hanged his degree proje t to !nglish and took reative writing lasses. His first play "They too Arise) won a major award. His first Broadway play, The Man Who had All the Luck, did not su eed "only four performan es# but his se ond play, All my Sons, meant re ognition as a playwright. Death of a Salesman "$%&%# firmly established him as a major Ameri an playwright. Here we have the riti ism of the Ameri an dream. The Crucible "$%'(# was )iller*s answer to the politi al environment of the $%'+*s and the sear h for Communists that parti ularly affe ted the entertainment industry. ,he ru ible is the se ond most su essful play, and he wrote it within a very parti ular onte-t. .t is sent in $/%0, in New !ngland and it tells the story of theo rati element. He wrote this be ause he has this ba kground of Ameri a. .n the $%'+ there was a perse ution for ommunists. .n this period people start to feel unhappy about this theo ra y. .n the play there is a very strong link between this red s are and the event told in the play. All the hara ters have the same role. )iller is riti i1ing the Ameri an affairs. The Crucible parallels the politi al situation of $%'0. All hara ters take a similar role in 2alem. ,he reviewers were for ed to pretend there was no onne tion. )iller was alled to testify. He was onvi ted by Congress but the de ision was reversed in $%'3. )iller said that the theme of the play was 4the handing over of ons ien e to the 2tate5. ,he wit h hunt that o urred in 2alem in $/%0 resulted from a omple- so iety at a turning point when the power of the )assa husetts theo ra y was weakening. Nineteen women were hanged6 one man, 7iles Corey, was pressed to death for standing mute6 two dogs were also hanged for wit h raft. 8ther themes of the play9 illusion versus reality. As they believed in the reality of the devil, the persuasion to see spe tres resulted in mass hysteria. How people follow the wrong and idea and wrong thing ,he puritans were not very good for the arts6 they were very hypo riti al as well so they gained a very bad reputation. ,hey were stri t people. ,hey don*t have any kind of onfession as the Catholi s do. .n the theo rat so iety the leader of the state is the leader of the hur h. Arthur )iller is going to riti i1e that. :ewish author tend to represent Christianity in a very dark light. ,hey riti i1e them. ,his play is set in the period when the Ameri a still being a olony. .t presents the red s are. He riti i1es the Ameri an affairs9 the entertaining industry. Arthur )iller didn*t blame anybody with his work but people riti i1e him and he was kept under vigilan e6 his passport was kept for a time. )iller is highlining the division of the so iety at that time and it is very obvious in the first hapter of his work. ,he so iety, in whi h the story develops, is very divided, and it is divided in different group with different ideas. ,he theo ra y is disappearing by this time9 a lot of people rebel against the rules. )iller is addressing a 0+th entury audien e so he has to e-plain the play so we have many prose se tions whi h give a lot of details about the different hara ters and events. ,hat is not a

ommon thing for a play. But he has to e-plain all that to readers in order to make them understand the play and the hara ters who protagonise it. He e-plains the on ept of theo ra y and ;uritanism. ,here are several issues that )iller hanges a little bit9 Abigail is older than the original one, be ause the onfli t that informes about. Abigail wants to get rid of the !li1abeth be ause he wants to be with :ohn. He is in love with :ohn. 8ne of the things )iller is riti i1es for is that he highlines the e onomi al element and not the religion one. At that time people were very religious and they believed very mu h in religion, they wanted to see elements of religious in the literature works. But )iller speaks more about the e onomi al issues than about religion ones. .llusions vs. reality is the most important theme in this story. )any hara ters have suffered from illusion and fi tion. Act one: <e have all the prose se tion, in whi h the author tries to e-plain what the puritans were like. He tries to e-plain the ideas of ;uritanism. ,he la k of toleran e was a tool of surviving9 they didn*t su eed to onvert .ndians. ,he author tries to provide an e-planation of what puritan were like. ;erse ution is a very important issue of puritans. ,he effe t of that perse ution is intoleran e. ,he edge of the wilderness was lose by. ,he Ameri an ontinent stret hed endlessly west, and it was full of mystery for them. .t stood, dark and threatening, over their shoulders night and day, for out of it .ndian tribes marauded from time to time, and =everend ;arris had parishioners who had lost relatives to these heathen. ,he paro hial snobbery of these people was partly responsible for their failure to onvert the .ndians. ;robably they also pre>ferred to take land from heathens rather than from fellow Christians. At any rate, very few .ndians were onverted, and the 2alem folk believed that the virgin forest was the ?evil*s last preserve, his home base and the itadel of his final stand. ,o the best of their knowledge the Ameri an forest was the last pla e on earth that was not paying homage to 7od. ,heor ray was a very useful need, but when the population grew up theo ra y was overturned. ,he 2alem tragedy, whi h is about to begin in these pages, developed from a parado-. .t is a parado- in whose grip we still live, and there is no prospe t yet that we will dis over its res> olution. 2imply, it was this9 for good purposes, even high pur>poses, the people of 2alem developed a theo ra y, a ombine of state and religious power whose fun tion was to keep the om>munity together, and to prevent any kind of disunity that might open it to destru tion by material or ideologi al enemies. .t was forged for a ne essary purpose and a omplished that pur>pose. But all organi1ation is and must be grounded on the idea of e- lusion and prohibition, just as two obje ts annot o upy the same spa e. !vidently the time ame in New !ngland when the repressions of order were heavier than seemed warranted by the dangers against whi h the order was organi1ed. ,he wit h>hunt was a perverse manifestation of the pani whi h set in among all lasses when the balan e began to turn toward greater individual freedom. ,here was an e onomi al purpose too9 people fighting for land. ,his is part of the play too, a very important issue whi h is part of the onfli t of the play. Long held hatreds of neighbors could no! be o"enly e# "ressed$ and %engeance taken$ des"ite the &ibles charitable in'unctions( Land lust !hich had been e#"ressed before by con stant bickering o%er boundaries and deeds$ could no! be ele%ated to the arena of morality) one could cry !itch against ones neighbor and feel "erfectly 'ustified in the bargain( *ld scores could be settled on a "lane of hea%enly combat bet!een Lucifer and the Lord) sus"icions and the en%y of the miserable to!ard the ha""y could and did burst out in the general re%enge(

;arris doubts about Abigail*s purposes. He saw the girls dan ing in the forest. 8ne of them was naked, and all that means wit hes for puritans. .t was lear for him that the girls did something wrong and he is very stri t with that. He de ides to overlook his suspi ions to what is the event and he obtains some kind of politi al profit from this onfli t. He seems to be not respe ted as a minister should be, so he takes this onfli t in order to make him reliable and respe table. He has to vote by the ommunity in order to be a minister, so he has to show a reliable image of himself to the ommunity. ;ro tor*s attitude in very riti al regarding ;arris6 ;arris is a greedy person for money and power. Abigail reputation is upstate at the beginning of the play6 people rooming about her behavior. Another important hara ter in a t one, who informs about the e onomi al situation is ,homas ;utnam. ,homas ;utnam is riti i1ed for his la k of morality, is depi ted negativity. <e have a prose se tion about ;ro tor*s behavior9 )iller wanted ;ro tor to be a here6 he didn*t want ;ro tor to be a normal hero, a Christ figure, he wants to have a normal hero with a big guilt and ;ro tor is guilty about adultery and this guilt grows in him as the play progressing be ause the effe ts Abigail has with his jealousy. !li1abeth feels guilty too for being so old with ;ro tor. At the end of the play ;ro tor is a hero, who hates himself be ause of his guilt. By the end of the play ;ro tor will hose death over his reputation. He doesn*t have to blame other people. He sa rifi es himself for the ommunity. As we said before )iller doesn*t want to have a Christ figure hero, but at the end we do have that, ;ro tor sa rifi es himself for the ommunity and he hooses death. +roctor !as a farmer in his middle thirties$ ,e need not ha%e been a "artisan of any faction in the to!n$ but there is e%idence to suggest that he had a shar" and biting !ay !ith hy"ocrites( ,e !as the kind of man "o!erful of body$ e%en tem"ered$ and not easily led !ho cannot refuse su""ort to "artisans !ith out dra!ing their dee"est resentment( -n +roctors "resence a fool felt his foolishness instantly and a +roctor is al!ays marked for calumny therefore( He hates himself be ause of the guilty for the ommunity and for himself too. ,he guilt is very obvious. ;ro tor goes to town to sorts out what is going on with the affair. "page 0(# ,here is a strong se-ual tension between ;ro tor and Abigail, and this makes his gilt stronger. Abigail is very jealous and she is the real evil person in the play be ause she is manipulating people. 2he wants to be with ;ro tor but she doesn*t really love him, it*s more a se-ual attra tion and the fa t of defeating !li1abeth. =ebe a is another important hara ter and she is a used of wit h too. 2he denies that she says that is nothing wrong going on at all. "page0/#. 2he senses that she an get something from this situation, from a using people for wit hing. .f you are a used of being a wit h land will be taken away from you6 so if many people were a used of being a wit h, they land will pass to other people, to the goods one6 that was the purpose of many people, to a use others in order to take their land. ,here is a big onfli t whi h goes one in the play9 the onfli t between ;arris and ;ro tor "page (+# <e have another hara ter9 )r Hale9 he is the e-pert who passes judgments about the issues. Here the author provides some riti ism and interpretation about the moral system of that time9 the figure of the devil is a useful tool to make people submissive to a parti ular hur h. "page ('>(/# When it is recalled that until the Christian era the under!orld !as ne%er regarded as a hostile area$ that all gods !ere useful and essentially friendly to man des"ite occasional la"ses) !hen !e see the steady and methodical inculcation into humanity of the idea of mans !orthlessness

until redeemed the necessity of the De%il may become e%ident as a !ea"on$ a !ea"on designed and used time and time again in e%ery age to !hi" men into a surrender to a "articular church or church state Here we have the element of the red s are9 there is a riti ism to his ontemporary politi al system. <e have the riti ism to the perse uting of those who are against the government. <e tend to demoni1e the e onomists6 the submission of people under the government*s ideas. <e always must have an enemy and the government provides to people an enemy, they enemy they want away from there. )aking people believe that they are fighting against other and that they have to stay together and to believe their government. At this !riting$ only .ngland has held back before the tem"tations of contem"orary diabolism( -n the countries of the Communist ideology$ all resistance of any im"ort is linked to the totally malign ca"italist succubi$ and in America any man !ho is not reactionary in his %ie!s is o"en to the charge of alliance !ith the /ed hell( +olitical o""osition$ thereby$ is gi%en an inhumane o%erlay !hich then 'ustifies the abrogation of all normally a""lied customs of ci%ili0ed inter course( A "olitical "olicy is e1uated !ith moral right$ and o""osition to it !ith diabolical male%olence( *nce such an e1uation is effecti%ely made$ society becomes a congerie of "lots and counter"lots$ and the main role of go%ernment changes from that of the arbiter to that of the scourge of 2od( ,utuba is the one a used of everything.

Act 2: we have another

hara ter. 2he is a respe ted member of the ourt and she is a using people. ,here is a very tense situation between !li1abeth and ;ro tor. Hale is going to wonder about the rules of the ourt6 and at the end of the play he reali1es that the ourt has killed many inno ent people. He has to establish obje tives and keeping people*s life is his main obje tive. He doesn*t want to kill people he tries to do things right a ording to his ideas and knowledge. ;ro tor and sheriff have a onfrontation be ause the sheriff omes to take !li1abeth to prison. !li1abeth knows that Abigail is the one behind all this and she knows the ;ro tor has the key of all that. He has to make his relationship with Abigail publi in order to e-pose her and to make her an unreliable person, but at the same time people will blame not only Abigail but also ;ro tor. Abigail is the @*bad hara ter** who wants to destroy !li1abeth be ause she is jealous of her. )iller is riti i1ing the use of the on ept of devil to make people surmised, and to de ide for them. "page A$#9 +roctor3 -f she is innocent4 Why do you ne%er !onder if +arris be innocent$ or Abigail5 -s the accuser al!ays holy no!5 Were they born this morning as clean as 2ods fingers5 -ll tell you !hats !alking Salem %engeance is !alking Salem( We are !hat !e al!ays !ere in Salem$ but no! the little cra0y children are 'angling the keys of the kingdom$ and common %engeance !rites the la!4 This !arrants %engeance4 -ll not gi%e my !ife to %engeance4

Act 3:
Here we have people going to ourt to try to solve the onfli t. ,here are many people testifying from and against the girls. ;ro tor tries to provide eviden es against the a users. He takes )ary <. who says in ourt that she hasn*t seen anything at all. ,he play get to the lima- when

;ro tor says that he ommitted adultery with Abigail, be ause it was the only way to safe his wife. He nearly ar hives his purposes by showing Abigail behavior. ,he judges want to kill the a used girls be ause they want to give an e-ample to the ommunity, so the judge says to ;ro tor to no say anything about his adultery. !li1abeth is taken from prison to testify about his husband*s affair and adultery but she is unable to a use her husband about his adultery, so the attempt to disapprove Abigail fails. 2o Abigail is not a used of anything. "page $+(# >How the ourt meeting goes on9 @*?anforth9 )r. Hale, believe me6 for a man of su h terrible learning you are most bewildered > . hope you will forgive me. . have been thirty>two year at the bar, sir, and . should be on>founded were . alled upon to defend these people. Bet you onsider, now > ,o ;ro tor and the others9 And . bid you all do likewise. .n an ordinary rime, how does one defend the a usedC 8ne alls up witnesses to prove his inno en e. But wit h raft is ipso fa to, on its fa e and by its nature, an invisible rime, is it notC ,herefore, who may possibly be witness to itC ,he wit h and the vi tim. None other. Now we annot hope the wit h will a use herself6 grantedC ,herefore, we must rely upon her vi tims > and they do testify, the hildren ertainly do testify. As for the wit hes, none will deny that we are most eager for all their onfessions. ,herefore, what is left for a lawyer to bring outC . think . have made my point. Have . notC** )iller wants to show by this onfli t the greed of the Ameri an so iety, how people profit from the other people*s situation in order to improve their life "page $00>$0(# ;ro tor feels very guilty not just be ause he ommitted adultery but also be ause of his sin other people are suffering and the girls were sent to death be ause of his guilt whi h produ es the jealousy of Abigail. But that time Abigail run away and she take ;arris*s money so she is not even more a reliable person. 2o the ourt needs the onfessions of the leaders of the ommunity6 they need that to gather authority for the ommunity to show that they are doing the right thing for the ommunity. ,hey ask !li1abeth to try to onvin e ;ro tor to onfess. !li1abeth tries to do so and su eeds be ause ;ro tor hates himself so he doesn*t want the purifi ation by dying. 2o he doesn*t mind lying, be ause he is not going to blame anybody else. But when he has to sign up his name he doesn*t want to sign his onfession be ause he believes his name is the only thing he has. 2o he is e-e uted be ause he doesn*t want to dark his name and reputation. .n a way he is sa rifi es not just for the whole ommunity but for himself too .n page $0% ;arris tries to justify why Abigail has run away but he did not su eed. ;age $((9 we have the pollution of guilt, everybody is polluted by guilt. ,here is a moral onfusion here, and Hale is addressing this idea here "page $(&#. He is asking !li1abeth to try to onvin e ;ro tor to onfess a lie but to onfess.

At the end of the play: "page $&+# ,he only thing that makes ;ro tor to onfess is the thing that he onsiders himself as an evil, he has not self>respe t. At the end of the play he su eeds in a way in his purposes be ause !li1abeth has not being e-e uted. ;ro tor is finally e-e uted be ause he doesn*t want to lose his name9 "page$&'#. He has sons so he doesn*t want to put the blame on his name, be ause his sons will have the same name as his.