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Title: The Crucible: A Play in Four Acts (Twentieth-Century Classics) by Arthur Miller, Christopher W. Bigsby ISBN: 0-14-018964-5 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: October, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.05 (167 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Dramatic Tension At Its Best
Comment: For dramatic tension, for a resounding lesson in the ethical treatment of others, this four-act play excels. Set in the 1692 Salem witch trial debacle--a black eye in our heritage--Miller wrote the play parallel to the McCarthy hearings. America in the 1950's was then in the classic, titan struggle against a new threat: Communism.
But in 1692, 19 people were executed for the crimes of witchcraft and associating in the black arts. Miller takes this historical arena, stirs in a failed love tryst, and the dramatic tension never lets up.
The play is worth studying for several reasons: First, it has a strident moral tone that is extremely important for students to explore. Justice is not always a given in our society, and in the execution of justice, if we lose our sanity, we can err into several pitfalls of bad logic, or fallacies--the fallacies of Bandwagon, Hasty Generalization, False Cause, Two Wrongs Make a Right, and so on. Second, it teaches us our own history, with scars. Third, through Miller's deft use of language, we watch (read) a classicly structured play develop.
Rating: 4
Summary: The Crucible
Comment: The Crucible
A witch hunt is what they wanted and a witch hunt is what they got. The small town of Salem is devastated to find out that its own young and seemingly innocent maids, daughters, and even wives are Satan possessed witches.
This story starts out simply enough, in the village pastor's house. His daughter has been odd lately and doctors and ministers have come from far and wide to help the young girl and others suffering from similar symptoms in the town. They will quickly find out that they are dealing with something far more potent than the flu.
I don't usually enjoy reading, but this book had a certain something to it that pulled me right in. Perhaps it was the relationship you develop out of sympathy for Mr. Proctor and his wife. Maybe it's just the curiosity of who will be accused of witch craft next. One would have to read the book for them to find out. The Crucible is a play and is written in the format of a play. This can pose a problem to someone who spaces out or confuses easily. In the beginning of the story the characters run in and out of the scenes so quickly and with such little description that its easy to get lost or completely forget who entire families are until they are completely re-presented to you in later events. Either that or you'll have to go back and re-read everything that confused you.
Other than the mild difficulty I experienced following who was who in the beginning, I found some very interesting quotes and poetic phrases in this book. It is very well written and definitely worth checking out.
Rating: 1
Summary: "The Crucible of Communism" by RexCurry.net
Comment: Arthur Miller's play "The Crucible" is an unintentional condemnation of socialism/communism. The Crucible (1953) describes the witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, an event that Miller wanted to use as a metaphor for 1950's McCarthyism. Most theater-goers did not comprehend Miller's intended anti-capitalist message. Later, the play became a darkly humorous, condemnation of socialism/communism when Miller's naive attempt at propaganda became widely known.
In his 1996 article "Why I wrote The Crucible: An Artist's answer to Politics" Miller never mentions that no one was ever killed by McCarthy, though the greatest slaughter that ever occurred (by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the People's Republic of China, the National Socialist German Worker's Party, the Khmer Rouge and by people like Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Pol Pot and their followers) was committed by socialists/communists during McCarthy's life, and would continue to be committed after "The Crucible" was written.
Here are some death totals: (1) Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, 62 million deaths, 1917-'87; (2) People's Republic of China, 35 million deaths, 1949-'87; (3) National Socialist German Worker's Party, 21 million deaths, 1933-'45;
Compare that with the Salem Witch Trials (a dozen deaths?) or McCarthy (zero?).
McCarthy was no libertarian. As a U.S. Senator, McCarthy did more damage promoting socialism then did Miller. During McCarthy's term, federal socialism grew, and McCarthy made no effort to end the social security scam, to reverse F.D.R.'s massive socialism, to end government schools, or to reduce the federal government. In comparison, Miller wrote famous plays in which socialist/communist propaganda is so vague it is invisible.
Miller doesn't fault McCarthy for the growth of federal socialism. Miller faults McCarthy for persecuting fellow travelers and useful idiots (like Miller?) for the world's the socialist trio of atrocities. Miller's play depicts trials wherein children accuse adults of evil abuse in furies of fanaticism and paranoia. Similar scenes are replayed a million-fold in historic documentaries about the cultural revolution under Mao in the People's Republic of China, about the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and about other socialist and communist countries and their modern witch hunts for non-communists.
Miller was interested in the tragedy of people who, under social pressure, lose their integrity. The Crucible explores this theme in the context of the Salem witch trials. Many citizens of Salem lost their sense of decency and community when they went along with the crowd to continue persecution of the innocent. The crucible of communism replayed such tragedies millions of times in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the People's Republic of China, and the National Socialist German Worker's Party before and after 1953.
Today, Miller's play is used in classrooms to impeach McCarthy, and not to expose the real-life show trials and mass-slaughters of millions by in the U.S.S.R., Communist China, and the National Socialist German Worker's Party by socialists and communists. The play "The Crucible" should be renamed "The Crucible of Communism."
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Title: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne ISBN: 0553210092 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 April, 1965 List Price(USD): $3.95 |
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Title: The Crucible (Cliffs Notes) by Jennifer L. Scheidt, Denis M. Calandra ISBN: 0764585886 Publisher: Cliffs Notes Pub. Date: 22 May, 2000 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Death of A Salesman by Arthur Miller ISBN: 0140481346 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 06 October, 1998 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: The Grapes of Wrath: John Steinbeck Centennial Edition (1902-2002) by John Steinbeck ISBN: 0142000663 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 03 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title:The Crucible ASIN: 079394144X Publisher: Twentieth Century Fox Pub. Date: 02 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $9.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $9.98 |
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