This is the basis for Arthur Millers screenplay

This is the basis for Arthur Miller’s screenplay, The Crucible. Who was executed, why?

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. In what year did the Salem Witch Trials take place? Who was the first individual executed? How many were executed? Killed? How many were jailed? How did this hysteria begin? How could an accused “witch” escape execution? Who provided legal representation for the accused? How many confessed to witchcraft? What was the result of these confessions? 9. Identify irony on p. 21. 10. How was wealth determined in Salem? 11. What do “Goody” and “Goodman” mean? 12. Who attended the hangings? 13. Roughly what percentage of Puritans were literate? 14. Why wouldn’t the Puritans offer help to those in need? 15. What was the result of not helping?

1. Abstract – adjective Considered apart from concrete existence; theoretical 2. Allegory – noun The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters.

Why was. The Crucible written? The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller in 1953 as an allegory for Mc. Carthyism or the so called (second) Red Scare. Miller felt many personal convictions to Mc. Carthyism as a result of a multitude of events that happened in his life. Wanting to point out to the world the amazing parallel between the unjust Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and the (second) Red Scare from 1948 to 1956, Miller wrote The Crucible to make a powerful statement about the dangers of hysteria and the dehumanization that can result.

During Mc. Carthyism, the United States was terrified of Communism's influence. Like the witches, communists were seen ingrained within every aspect of society. Miller was sent to jail for withholding information from the court, namely the names of those assumed to be communists. Many of Miller’s peers fearing the wrath of the court provided names of suspected communists in an attempt to save themselves.

“Mc. Carthy's power to stir fears of creeping Communism was not entirely based on illusion, of course; the paranoid, real or pretended, always secretes its pearl around a grain of fact. ” -Arthur Miller “Mc. Carthy—brash and ill-mannered but to many authentic and true—boiled it all down to what anyone could understand: we had "lost China" and would soon lose Europe as well, because the State Department—staffed, of course, under Democratic Presidents—was full of treasonous pro-Soviet intellectuals. It was as simple as that. ” -Arthur Miller Speaks

3. Ideology – noun A set of doctrines or beliefs that form the basis of a political, economic, or other system. 4. Oppenheimer – Proper noun American physicist who directed Los Alamos, New Mexico, laboratory during the development of the first atomic bomb. 5. Precedent – noun An act or instance that may be used as an example in dealing with similar instances.

In Europe and America There’s a growing feeling of hysteria Conditioned to respond to all the threats In the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets Mr. Khrushchev said, “We will bury you!” I don’t subscribe to this point of view It would be such an ignorant thing to do If the Russians love their children too

How can I save my little boy From Oppenheimer’s deadly toy There is no monopoly of common sense On either side of the political fence We share the same biology Regardless of ideology Believe me when I say to you I hope the Russians love their children too

There is no historical preceden To put the words in the mouth of the President There’s no such thing As a winnable war It’s a lie we don’t believe anym Mr. Reagan says, “We will protect you” I don’t subscribe to this point of Believe me when I say to you I hope the Russians love Their children too

We share the same biology Regardless of ideology What might save us me, and you Is That the Russians love their children too