Goodner ENGL III AP LANG & COMP 1
Mythological/Archetypal Critical Perspective in Miller’s The Crucible
Directions:
A. Read the Notes on the Mythological/Archetypal Approach carefully and thoughtfully. Read
through the list of Essential Questions for a Mythological/Archetypal Reading to keep in mind as
you complete your task.
B. Complete the three following activities.
C. Create product for presentation.
Examining John Proctor as the Archetypal Hero
1.
2.
In your group, examine the play for evidence of each aspect of the archetypal Hero.
Complete the chart for the Activity One handout.
a. NOTE: It is not necessary to agree or even to come to consensus in your group. The point is to
examine the play, especially the character of John Proctor, from this viewpoint.
Evaluating Abigail Williams as the Archetypal Scapegoat, Villain, or Temptress
1.
2.
In your group, examine the play and note any evidence to support Abigail Williams’s character being
interpreted as the three archetypes—scapegoat, villain, temptress.
Complete the charts for the Activity Two handout.
a. NOTE: It is possible—and completely all right—if you do not find sufficient evidence to support
all three archetypes. The point is to make a thorough search and base your interpretation on that
search.
Examining the Affair Between John Proctor and Abigail Williams as an Archetypical Taboo
1.
2.
3.
Read the handout, “Archetypal Activity Three: Taboo Information.”
Examine the play for references to an archetypal taboo (even vague suggestions of “something” that
occurs before the revelation) and answer the following:
 What motive(s) are suggested for Abigail’s entering into the affair?
 What motive(s) are suggested for Proctor’s entering the affair?
 What are the earliest references to the affair in the play?
 Of what act does Betty Parris accuse Abigail?
 To what extent does the backstory of the affair affect Abigail? Proctor? Anyone else?
 In what way(s) does the fact of the affair affect the events in the play?
 What are some possible reasons Arthur Miller would want to introduce this fictional backstory
into the play?
Discuss the extent to which Proctor’s and Abigail’s adultery can be interpreted as an archetypal taboo?
a. NOTE: As with other discussions, it is not necessary to agree or to come to consensus. The point
is in the discussion and in examining the play from this viewpoint.
Goodner ENGL III AP LANG & COMP 2
Mythological/Archetypal Critical Perspective in Miller’s The Crucible
Presentation:
Once your group has completed the comprehensive Mythological/Archetypal
Critical Perspective of Miller’s The Crucible, you will:
 Use the information you’ve learned from your study of an M/A approach
and the three assigned activities.
 Create a PowerPoint or Prezi presentation demonstrating what you’ve
learned about an M/A approach AND how it is used by Miller in The
Crucible.
 Presentations must include:
o Brief description of approach
o Main areas of study/points of criticism
o Examples of the approach used in the play (from your three
activities)
o At least 3 graphics
 Your group must be ready to present on the assigned date (TBA) and, with
all members participating, “teach” your classmates this approach.
Goodner ENGL III AP LANG & COMP 3
Mythological/Archetypal Critical Perspective in Miller’s The Crucible
The Crucible: Archetypal Activity One
Use specific quotations from the text to support your assertion.
Archetypal Hero
A figure searching for self-identity/self-fulfillment
Larger than life in physical appearance or structure
Search for identity results in his own destruction
Accompanied by the deconstruction of the general
society
Hero's death results in progress towards some
ideal
John Proctor
Goodner ENGL III AP LANG & COMP 4
Mythological/Archetypal Critical Perspective in Miller’s The Crucible
The Crucible: Archetypal Activity Two
THE SCAPEGOAT
Abigail Williams (Evidence from play)
The Scapegoat
Innocent character on whom a situation is
blamed
Assumes the blame for a situation
Character who is punished in place of the truly
guilty party
Guilt is removed from the real culprit and kept
from society
Goodner ENGL III AP LANG & COMP 5
Mythological/Archetypal Critical Perspective in Miller’s The Crucible
The Crucible: Archetypal Activity Two
THE VILLAIN
Abigail Williams (Evidence from play)
The Villain
Male or female personification of evil
Malice, or ill-will, is unmotivated, or motivated by
a single wrong from the past
The malice is often limitless
Goodner ENGL III AP LANG & COMP 6
Mythological/Archetypal Critical Perspective in Miller’s The Crucible
The Crucible: Archetypal Activity Two
THE TEMPTRESS
Abigail Williams (Evidence from play)
The Temptress
Female who possesses what the male desires
Uses that desire (intentionally or unintentionally)
as a means to [a male's character] ultimate
destruction
Goodner ENGL III AP LANG & COMP 7
Mythological/Archetypal Critical Perspective in Miller’s The Crucible
The Crucible: Archetypal Activity Three
Taboo Information
Sigmund Freud wrote a great deal about the origins of social taboos and their function in society
hypothesizing that most taboos prohibited innate and deep desires that the conscious found
unacceptable. Freud alluded to ancient myth and other religious writings to illustrate the subconscious
fears expressed in an individual’s or society are determining an act to be taboo. He further wrote that It
is important to notice that the negative consequences of violating these taboos generally reach beyond
the individuals involved, often harming innocent people.
Freud concluded, “Anyone who has violated a taboo becomes taboo himself because he possesses the
dangerous quality of tempting others to follow his example.”
Significant Cultural and Historical Taboos:
• Patricide/Matricide: The Oedipus myth began with Oedipus’ murdering his father, Laius. (Notice that
the act counts as a taboo even though Oedipus did not know the man he killed was his father.)
Also in Greek mythology, Orestes murders his mother Clytemnestra in vengeance for her murder of her husband
(and Orestes’ father) Agamemnon. He is driven insane by the Furies.
• Fratricide: Adam and Eve’s sons Cain and Abel both sacrificed to God (Cain was a grower of vegetables
and Abel a shepherd). God accepted Abel’s sacrifice, but not Cain’s. In jealousy, Cain killed his brother. His
punishment was banishment from his family to be a wanderer forever. He was given a mark on his
forehead that would proclaim to everyone he met what he had done.
In Greek mythology, Medea, daughter of the King of Colchis and first wife of the hero Jason, murdered her brother
in order to help Jason steal the Golden Fleece from her father. Jason rewarded her by fathering two sons by her
and then leaving her for another woman (adultery). In revenge, she killed her sons. (Some versions of the Medea
myths have her also killing and dismembering her father—patricide— in order to help Jason steal the Golden
Fleece.)
• Incest: Oedipus, the mythological King of Thebes unknowingly murdered his father (patricide) and
married his mother. The result was a famine in Thebes that would not end until Oedipus was brought to
justice—blinded and exiled.
• Adultery: The mythological beauty, Helen—married to Menelaus, King of Sparta—engaged in an
adulterous affair, and eventually eloped with Paris, son of the King of Troy. The result was the Trojan War
and the eventual destruction of Troy—and the enmity that still exists between the Greece and Turkey.
Old Testament King David spied the lovely (but married) Bathsheba bathing on her roof. He sent for her and they
engaged in an adulterous affair until Bathsheba becomes pregnant. David sent for Bathsheba’s warrior-husband,
who refused to leave his fellows and sleep with his wife (so it would look as if Bathsheba’s baby was his). David
sent the husband into a battle knowing he would be killed so that David would be able to take Bathsheba as his
wife. God cursed David with a hugely dysfunctional family for the rest of his life.
• Rape: Old Testament King David’s oldest son and heir to the throne of Israel, Amnon raped (his halfsister) Tamar—to marry her would have violated the incest taboo. As a result, Amnon was killed by
Tamar’s brother Absalom (violating the fratricide taboo). Absalom was then killed in revolt against his
father, David (attempted patricide).