Why the “Crucible”?
Sara North
April 21, 2013
Why the “Crucible”?
Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1951 in direct response to Sen. Joseph McCarthy's communism scare. Miller wanted the American people to convey the pain caused by false accusations and relate it to the Salem witch hunts. Sen. McCarthy accused a huge number of high profile Americans of being communists. In doing so, he ruined those people's careers. In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, innocent people were convicted and put on trial for witchcraft. The two time periods have a lot in common, both situations cause unnecessary panic, and that’s why Arthur Miller choose to write about the Salem Witch trials. But how did he get the name Crucible?
The definition of a “crucible” is, “A ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures.” But what would this have to do with the Salem Witch Trials? Arthur Miller meant for the title to be very symbolic when associated with this definition. The best way to break it down is to think of it like this. At high temperatures, things melt or burn. At high emotion, logic melts or burns, the emotions of the characters are high, hence the logic melts away, the logic melts away through hasty decisions and hypocrisies.
Another definition of a “Crucible” is, “A severe, searching test or trial.” This is my favorite definition and the one that relates to the story the most. All the characters in the story are all being tested. The big test that they all face is whether or not they will conform to social norms. Many of the characters in the story don’t pass the test, granted some were tested more harshly than others; they were all made to jump over the same brick wall.
In The Crucible, almost all the characters are accused of some sort of witchcraft, and the whole town is a place of hysteria. The main people to look at are John Proctor, and his wife Elizabeth Proctor. They are both made out to be people of the Devil,
April 21, 2013
Why the “Crucible”?
Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1951 in direct response to Sen. Joseph McCarthy's communism scare. Miller wanted the American people to convey the pain caused by false accusations and relate it to the Salem witch hunts. Sen. McCarthy accused a huge number of high profile Americans of being communists. In doing so, he ruined those people's careers. In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, innocent people were convicted and put on trial for witchcraft. The two time periods have a lot in common, both situations cause unnecessary panic, and that’s why Arthur Miller choose to write about the Salem Witch trials. But how did he get the name Crucible?
The definition of a “crucible” is, “A ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures.” But what would this have to do with the Salem Witch Trials? Arthur Miller meant for the title to be very symbolic when associated with this definition. The best way to break it down is to think of it like this. At high temperatures, things melt or burn. At high emotion, logic melts or burns, the emotions of the characters are high, hence the logic melts away, the logic melts away through hasty decisions and hypocrisies.
Another definition of a “Crucible” is, “A severe, searching test or trial.” This is my favorite definition and the one that relates to the story the most. All the characters in the story are all being tested. The big test that they all face is whether or not they will conform to social norms. Many of the characters in the story don’t pass the test, granted some were tested more harshly than others; they were all made to jump over the same brick wall.
In The Crucible, almost all the characters are accused of some sort of witchcraft, and the whole town is a place of hysteria. The main people to look at are John Proctor, and his wife Elizabeth Proctor. They are both made out to be people of the Devil,