THE CRUCIBLE FOR CRITICAL LENS
Literary Elements
Theme (general idea or insight about life) - truth, the individual vs. the group, mass
hysteria, realism versus idealism
Characterization (the development of a character) – John Proctor and Abigail Williams
Structure (plot) – This is a play which uses allusion to events that take place before the
play. It is structured in three acts that occur across four settings. In a play, setting and
plot are very much tied together because of the physical constraints of the stage.
Point of view (1st, 2nd, or 3rd Person, and limited versus omniscient) – the audience,
limited, realism versus idealism, third person limited
Setting (where and when of the story) – historical, 1692, Salem Massachusetts, the
setting in this case is very important to the overall story
Techniques
Symbolism (object or action that means something more than its literal meaning) The Witch Trials and McCarthyism
There is little symbolism within The Crucible, but, in its entirety, the play can be seen as
symbolic of the paranoia about communism that pervaded America in the 1950s. Several
parallels exist between the House Un-American Activities Committee’s rooting out of
suspected communists during this time and the seventeenth-century witch-hunt that
Miller depicts in The Crucible, including the narrow-mindedness, excessive zeal and
disregard for the individuals that characterize the government’s effort to stamp out a
perceived social ill. Further, as with the alleged witches of Salem, suspected Communists
were encouraged to confess their crimes and to “name names,” identifying others
sympathetic to their radical cause. Some have criticized Miller for oversimplifying
matters, in that while there were (as far as we know) no actual witches in Salem, there
were certainly Communists in 1950s America. However, one can argue that Miller’s
concern in The Crucible is not with whether the accused actually are witches, but rather
with the unwillingness of the court officials to believe that they are not. In light of
McCarthyist excesses, which wronged many innocents, this parallel was felt strongly in
Miller’s own time.
Irony (implied discrepancy between what is said and what is meant)
In Scene II, Proctor is unable to remember the Commandment about adultery when
questioned by Reverend Hale when the reader can reasonable expect that to be the one
Commandment that he should be able to remember.
In Scene II, Parris says Parris says, "All innocent and Christian people are happy for the
courts in Salem," when, in fact, few innocent and truly Christian people were happy for
the courts in Salem.
Figurative language
Danforth in ACT III
“You must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted
against it, there be no road between. This is a sharp time, now, a precise time—we live no
longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world.
Now, by God’s grace, the shining sun is up, and them that fear not light will surely praise
it.”
This statement, given by Danforth in Act III, aptly sums up the attitude of the authorities
toward the witch trials. In his own right, Danforth is an honorable man, but, like everyone
else in Salem, he sees the world in black and white. Everything and everyone belongs to
either God or the Devil. The court and government of Massachusetts, being divinely
sanctioned, necessarily belong to God. Thus, anyone who opposes the court’s activities
cannot be an honest opponent. In a theocracy, one cannot have honest disagreements
because God is infallible. Since the court is conducting the witch trials, anyone who
questions the trials, such as Proctor or Giles Corey, is the court’s enemy. From there, the
logic is simple: the court does God’s work, and so an enemy of the court must,
necessarily, be a servant of the Devil.
Part B
Your Task:
Write a critical essay in which you discuss Arthur Miller’s The Crucible from the
particular perspective of the statement that is provided for you in the Critical Lens. In
your essay, provide a valid interpretation of the statement, agree or disagree with the
statement as you have interpreted it, and support your opinion using specific references to
appropriate literary elements from play.
Critical Lens:
“Things can happen in some cities* and the tale of
them will be interesting; the same story laid in another
city* would be ridiculous.”
- Frank Norris
McTeague: A Story of San Francisco: Authoritative
Text, Contexts, Criticism, 1997
* For the purpose of writing your critical essay, you may
interpret the word “cities” to mean locations and the
word “city” to mean location.
Guidelines:
Be sure to
• Provide a valid interpretation of the critical lens that clearly establishes the criteria for
analysis
• Indicate whether you agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it
• Use the criteria suggested by the critical lens to analyze the works you have chosen
• Avoid plot summary. Instead, use specific references to appropriate literary elements
(for example: theme, characterization, setting, point of view) to develop your analysis
• Organize your ideas in a unified and coherent manner
• Follow the conventions of standard written English