Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, now available in audiobook format.
Not knowing the background to The Crucible, at first glance the work appears to represent the story of the witch trials that reportedly took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692.
These trials were based on the testimony of a young woman, Anne Putnam, who claimed that she had seen a group of people performing rituals that included consorting with the devil. She also claimed that they were Salem residents and were celebrating Black Sabbath, which is a term for the coven.
As a result of her testimony, Samuel Parris, a clergyman of English descent, was responsible for the prosecution of dozens of so-called witches in this New England state. As a result, the Salem jury returned guilty verdicts, and at least nineteen defendants were executed by hanging.
Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953, a time when contemporary America was paranoid with fear of communism. It was a time when Senator Joe McCarthy led his own ‘witch hunt’, going after people believed to have communist views or formed alliances with well-known activists. This witch hunt has been described as ‘McCarthyism’ and was almost a reign of terror, as many innocent people were branded as anti-American as a result of false accusations, the spread of malicious rumors bordering on mass hysteria. Many Hollywood actors suffered accusations that had adverse effects on their careers. Even Arthur Miller came under McCarthy’s spotlight and was accused for a time of having leftist sympathies. He was called before the House of Representatives and cross-examined.
In reality, Miller wrote The Crucible as a satirical commentary on McCarthyism and used the Salem witch trials as a metaphor. He uses the events in Salem to satirize the ongoing frantic attempts to blame the problems facing society on the irrational behavior of a narrow-minded minority of individuals.
Initially, criticism of his work was met with poor reviews, until in 1953 it won the Tony Award for Best Play. The play has gained international recognition and its premise has been compared to many situations in which human rights have been violated. It has been done in many countries and its relevance is and will continue as long as societies are punished for speaking their minds and criticizing authority.
The Crucible is now on the recommended reading list of many American high schools and colleges because of its literary standing and its depiction of an era when many Hollywood actors became targets of McCarthyism through overreaction. generalized to an imaginary left wing. crisis.
Fortunately, students can now listen to The Crucible in audiobook format, dramatized by Stuart Pankin, Jerome Dempsey, and the cast.
