Rating: 
Summary: This was a GREAT play on persecution of what is unknown.
Review: This play was a sublime, undertoned attack of McCarthyism. The entire idea of persecution of what is unknown drives the characters to believe witnesses which otherwise would have been untrustworthy. At times the insanity taken so seriously is actually funny. All of the characters have central points of weakness and virtue alike; creating complex interactions. I was required to read it, unoptimistically, but it evolved into one of my favorite plays! I never truly understood the power of the phrase,"Witch, Witch!!!," untill I read THE CRUCIBLE
Rating:
Summary: Great example of the Massachusetts witch trials
Review: Shows the retalliation of a group of children whose parents place consticting restraints on them.
You see what happens when power goes to the head of people not mature enough to handle it.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting commentary on Salem witchtrials.
Review: Overall, the story was good, although I believe there are some historical inaccuracies.
For one, Proctor died before Giles in the real trials. I didn't like the fact that the author interrupted the dialouge to inject some of his own commentary (in the form of an essay) under the pretense of talking about a character.
I did, however, find the story, especially the ending, an interesting commentary on the Salem Witch trials, and the petty jealousies we all hold.
Rating:
Summary: This Book Rocks
Review: Arthur Miller's play, "The Crucible" gives a true insight to the time of hysteria during the Salem Witch Trials. Reading the book, I thought the Puritans could do no wrong, commit no sin, or speak slander about each other; but then I realized these people were human and made mistakes. I have never read a work of literature in which human nature during hysteria is so well portrayed. Abigal was one character whom I despised because she is the kniving, cold-hearted, wicked vixen guys hate to love and love to hate. I did enjoy the books social message because the entire Salem scenario repeated itself during the 1950s, when Sen. Joseph McCarthy led teh nation on a Communist witch hunt.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is a riveting story told with in-depth expression in this book.
Rating:
Summary: "Show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it."
Review: When John Proctor says these words to his wife Elizabeth at the conclusion of this play, he has faced accusations of being in league with the Devil and is ready to face consequences meted out by the religious tribunal he has faced. Though he has sinned by committing adultery with Abigail Williams, he believes the witchcraft trials which have ultimately consumed him to be the result of human, rather than godly, forces. Playwright Arthur Miller sets the scene for this action in an Overture explaining the theocracy which controlled Salem. Powerful clergymen, some more rigid in their interpretations of Scripture than others, "protected" citizens by enforcing conformity with the church's teachings.
Through detailed character sketches inserted into the structure of the play, Miller broadens the realism, and when a group of hysterical young women makes accusations of witchcraft, resulting ultimately in the deaths of nineteen of their fellow-citizens, Miller has prepared his audience to accept the trials and the behavior of the characters as plausible. His straightforward prose, use of homely details, and simple sentence structure (despite its archaic tone) further add to the realism. When the affair between John Proctor and Abigail Williams, who precipitates and then promotes the hysteria among the young "afflicted" girls, is revealed within the play, the modern reader is given a "hook" with which to identify with characters and situations which might otherwise feel foreign.
Miller's play is a powerful revelation of themes involving mass hysteria, fear of the unknown, and a belief in the essential evil hidden within the hearts of men. As the accused are required to prove their innocence, questions regarding the role of individualism within this society, its intolerance of differences, its justice as defined by the state and by clergymen who differ, and the hysteria which grows from repression all surface within the dramatic action, leading to an intensity of feeling rare in modern theater. When John Proctor is faced with a choice of telling the truth and being sentenced to death or lying and being saved, the ironies of the play are fully revealed.
Written in 1952, slightly before the McCarthy era, Miller's depiction of these trials presages the McCarthy hearings and illustrates his belief that the fear of Communism is the equivalent of fear of the Devil in colonial times. Miller, however, has selected facts which illustrate his point of view and his themes, making no pretense of accuracy regarding the witchcraft trials themselves. In reality, Abigail Williams was eleven, and John Proctor was sixty, quite different from the dramatic circumstances here. Mary Whipple
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: The book "The Crucible" is interesting. In the beginning, this book was a little bit boring, but then it got interesting. This book talks about lies and adultery. This book will be good for people who like history because it's a historical book. This book is about 152 pages long and it's intended for the intermediate reader.
Rating:
Summary: "lowering heaven ...
Review: The Crucible is the first Arthur Miller play I've read. The plot summary and reviews I read made it seem appealing, suspenseful if nothing else. But no matter how great something is, it is nearly impossible to convey those feelings in the form of an Amazon review. It's easy for me to admit that after reading the introduction I was turned off by the language, not esoteric enough to be genuine 17th century english and not terse enough to be mid 50's language, the intro exists in a world in between the two describing the key characters in the play and the setting which it is taking place. Having decent knowledge of the Salem Witch Trials and how Miller correlated the tragedy to his experience with McCartheyism during "the red scare." Miller's details are so personal that it almost seems like this is a first hand account of the trials. The play evolves under perfect dynamics the exposition is descriptive but not boring, the main conflict had me at the edge of my seat grimacing in Proctor's pain and burning with hatred at the injustices being executed. Finally the climax brings arrays of the human emotional spectrum into a pleasing and redeeming conclusion. Overall this is the best American Play I have read, although my knowledge of American playwrights is limited I would venture to say that Arthur Miller is a genius and that this play is one of the crowning achievements of American Drama.
|
