1 / 25

The Crucible

Arthur Miller’s. The Crucible. Miller Background. Oct. 17, 1915 – Feb. 10, 2005 Died of heart failure Wrote: All My Sons (1947) Death of a Salesman (1949) The Crucible (1953) Many others…. Arthur Miller (1915-2005). Born in New York City to Jewish immigrants

celina
Download Presentation

The Crucible

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible

  2. Miller Background • Oct. 17, 1915 – Feb. 10, 2005 • Died of heart failure • Wrote: • All My Sons (1947) • Death of a Salesman (1949) • The Crucible (1953) • Many others…. WHS Drama Department 2007

  3. Arthur Miller (1915-2005) • Born in New York City to Jewish immigrants • Miller’s father was a successful women’s clothing manufacturer • The 1929 stock market crash financially devastates Miller’s family. • The family business collapses and family moves to Brooklyn. WHS Drama Department 2007

  4. 1930s • After high school he worked in an auto parts warehouse, saving money for college. • Miller enrolls in the University of Michigan after having been denied admission twice before due to his poor grades in high school. • Miller works as a reporter and night editor for the university newspaper, the Michigan Daily. • Miller writes his first play while attending the University of Michigan. He wins awards for his first three plays. WHS Drama Department 2007

  5. Biography • After college, he worked in radio in NYC, writing scripts for radio plays but the program is cut by the government because of its leftist views. • His second produced play, All My Sons (1947), received the NY Drama Critics Circle Award, a production directed by Elia Kazan. • His third play was Death of a Salesman (1949). • (1953) The Crucible opens on Broadway. WHS Drama Department 2007

  6. McCarthyism and the Red Scare WHS Drama Department 2007

  7. Miller and Communism • In the 1940s, Miller had become impressed by various leftist efforts to improve conditions in business, politics, and the arts. • After WW II he participates actively in liberal causes that come under increasing suspicion as being supported by Communists. WHS Drama Department 2007

  8. House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) Formed in 1938 HUAC • Became the most prominent and active government committee for anti-communism • Started by investigating the activities of German-American Nazi’s in WWII • 1938 began investigating communism in the Federal Theatre Project • Allegations that film stars and leading producers, directors and writers were Communists WHS Drama Department 2007

  9. In 1945 Elizabeth Bentley, a former member of the American Communist Party, walked into the New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and offered to provide information about a Soviet spy ring. Over the next couple of weeks Bentley identified more than 80 people she claimed were spies. WHS Drama Department 2007

  10. Protests marches • 1947- began investigating Hollywood • 11 writers and directors become known collectively as 'the Hollywood Ten', plus the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht—were charged with contempt of Congress for refusing to co-operate with the Committee's enquiries. Despite arguing that the First Amendment of the Constitution gave them that right and protection, the Ten were given jail sentences of six to 12 months each. WHS Drama Department 2007

  11. “Have you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party of the United States?” HUAC …nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself … Cited for Contempt WHS Drama Department 2007

  12. Society bends Blacklisting begins • Nov. 1947 • The Motion Picture Association of America issued the Waldorf Statement • Blackisting - Denial of privelages by the government “We will not knowingly employ a communist…” WHS Drama Department 2007

  13. WHS Drama Department 2007

  14. The Cold War – Tension Escalates • 1950- Various Americans are convicted of espionage and stealing military/government secrets. WHS Drama Department 2007

  15. Miller in the 1950s • 1950: Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy claims the government and the arts (especially the motion picture industry) are full of Communists and begins to conduct hearings asking people, “Are you a Communist” and seeking to get people to “name names” of other Communists. WHS Drama Department 2007

  16. Prime Suspects • Government employees • The entertainment industry • Educators • Union activists Communist Party of the USA • Helped organize labor unions • Opposed fascism early on • Peak membership in 1942- 50,000 members WHS Drama Department 2007

  17. McCarthyism • McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty or treason without proper regard for evidence. It also means "the practice of making unfair allegations or using unfair investigative techniques.” • How does this relate to The Crucible? WHS Drama Department 2007

  18. Miller’s career in the 1950s • Had been interested in some time in writing a play about the Salem Witch Trials, but felt he couldn’t understand the “climate of fear” and the “inexplicable darkness” that had produced the hysteria of Salem in 1692….Suddenly he could understand it … WHS Drama Department 2007

  19. The Crucible as an Allegory • Written about US events in the 1692 as an allegory to the US events of the 1950s • Allegory: The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form. • In other words: When you tell one story to help represent what is going on with something else WHS Drama Department 2007

  20. Miller and the HUAC • When McCarthy begins to investigate alleged Communists, Miller becomes concerned that free speech is being threatened, particularly speech that is critical of the government. • He writes The Crucible in 1953, believing that the HUAC was harassing those with unpopular political views and producing a similar kind of hysteria that existed in Salem in 1692. • He said he wrote the play to expose the process by which “terror [. . .] was being knowingly planned and consciously engineered.” WHS Drama Department 2007

  21. Contemporary Reviews • Many saw it as a “history lesson” rather than a commentary on contemporary America while others saw the clear parallels between the events of 1692 and McCarthyism. WHS Drama Department 2007

  22. Miller before the HUAC • Members of the HUAC seem to have interpreted the play as a contemporary political statement and, perhaps, an attack upon them personally. • In 1954, Miller was refused a passport to go to Belgium to attend the Belgian premiere of The Crucible. • His passport application was “rejected under regulations denying passports to persons believed to be supporting the Communist movement, whether or not they are members of the Communist party.” WHS Drama Department 2007

  23. Preemptive Strike • 1956- • Miller was called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities • He was widely known to have advocated principles of social justice and equality of classes (considered to be leftist ideas by some) WHS Drama Department 2007

  24. Quizzed about his ties to Communism, Miller denied ever being “under Communist discipline” but did admit to studying Marxism at one point a number of years earlier and of attending a meeting sponsored by the Communist Party in 1947. • Asked to name names of other writers at that meeting, he refused, was found in contempt of Congress, was fined $500 and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. He appealed and the sentence was later reversed. • Charlie Chaplin, Lucille Ball, Walt Disney among others accused. Those who refused to name others were put on the blacklist. The blacklist was lifted in 1960. WHS Drama Department 2007

  25. How does The Crucible speak to audiences today? WHS Drama Department 2007

More Related