Arthur Miller & The Crucible
By Änna Williams
Just the Facts
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Born – NY City Oct. 17, 1915
Dad – women’s coats
Mom – teacher
College – Michigan Daily – writing plays
After grad. – freelance writer NY
1st Broadway success – All My Sons (1947)
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Showed need for moral responsibility in families &
society
Just More Facts
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Married 3 times, 3 kids
One of the dominant playwrights of the
50’s
Wrote – plays, screenplays, & a book
Masterpiece – (1949)
Staunch liberal
Died – Feb. 11, 2005 (89) heart failure
Albee Says
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Miller paid him a compliment by saying
“that my plays were necessary.”
“I will go one step further and say that
Arthur’s plays are ‘essential’.”
1956: McCarthy
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Summoned before congressional
committee
Spoke of Communist meeting attendence
Did not name names
Found in contempt of congress blacklisted
Later overturned by Supreme Court
“A political policy is equated
with moral right and opposition
to it with diabolical
malevolence.”
-Arthur
Miller
Notes to the play The Crucible
Bits & Pieces
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1953 – on stage
 1st production –
failed
 Ran 600
performances
 Most produced
play
Parallels “Red Hunt”
in 50’s - Sen. Joseph
McCarthy
Act of desperation
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Motivation – liberals
to scared of being
called Communist if
protested
Read 1692 trial
transcripts
Missing Piece –
Upham
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Entry by Rev. Samual
Parris
You Will Learn
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Interpret – offer own explanations
Motivation – reason for character’s
behavior
Quick Info.
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Approx. 21 characters
Based on real people, places, & events
Crucible – test or trial of events
Arthur Miller in “Tragedy and the Common Man”
(1949)
“. . . The tragic feeling evoked in us
when we are in the presence of a
character who is willing to lay down his
life, if need be, to secure one thing – his
sense of personal dignity.”
Thanks to:
* American Masters. Pbs.org. Educational Broadcasting Company. August 29, 2006.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/print/miller a.html.
* Anderson, Robert. “Arthur Miller”. Elements of Literature, 5th Course. Teacher’s Edition. Holt,
Rhinehart, Winston. 2000. Pg. 826.
* ”Arthur Miller Dead at 89”. CNN.com. August 29, 2006.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/books/02/11/obit.miller.
* Galvin, Rachel. “Arthur Miller Biography”. August 29, 2006.
http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/miller/biography.html.
* Miller, Arthur. “Why I Wrote The Crucible”. Elements of Literature, 5th Course. Teacher’s Edition.
Holt, Rhinehart, Winston. 2000. Pg. 827.
* Reuben, Paul. “Chapter 8: American Drama – Arthur Miller (1915-2005)”. PAL: Perspectives in
American Literature – A Research and Reference Guide – An Ongoing Project. August 29, 2006.
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chp8/miller/html.