Characterization of Morality and Values in Arthur Miller's Play "The Crucible"

Characterization of Morality and Values in Arthur Miller's Play Author: Ramon Klein
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3656637466
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : de
Pages : 24

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Book Description
Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2013 im Fachbereich Didaktik für das Fach Englisch - Literatur, Werke, Universität Siegen, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: In The Crucible (1953), a four-act play, Miller's scene is Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692 ad the action is based on the witchcraft trials of that time. In “A Note on the Historical Accuracy of This Play,” Miller says: “This play is not history in the sense [...] used by the academic historian,” for “dramatic purposes” prompted certain changes in the record. Nevertheless, Miller believes the “reader will discover here the essential nature” of the Salem trials (Miller, in: Murray: 1967, p. 52). This quote describes the truth in an appropriate short way. The following analysis of the main characters has not the aim to offer the reader a n adequate historical overview, nor to work as an outline to present the details of the people who lived in Salem in 1692. The aim is in fact to characterize and interpret the protagonists, as Miller did it in his day, and through this, to expose the development of their sense of morality and their pursuit of freedom, especially of John Proctor. To reach that aim the focus will be on John Proctors internal state of mind concerning his contradictory behavior. This means his strengthening of his will and his conviction of what is wrong and right. The reader will find a development of his comprehension of his 'self' among emotional alterations, which matters a lot in Miller's dramas, as much as social behavior and religious crises. Those crises start a chain of events, which do most notably peak in Proctor's quest for identity and the dramatic finding of it. Through information given in the dialogues in Miller's play The Crucible will the reader be told about the answers to the question, what the influences were that the main characters had on John Proctor. After the analysis of the protagonists a special analysis of John Proctor takes place which has the aim to describe his search for identity and resume and evaluate it in a conclusion in the end. Due to the mentioned focus on the finding of Proctor's 'self' there will be no explicit study of historical backgrounds of the Salem witchcraft trials per se. And due to the lack of space in this study will there be no further analysis of further plays of Miller or his way of narrating plays in general. The the text will shortly be about characterizations of the main roles in Arthur Miller's The Crucible, with focus on John Proctor's view of morality and his 'self'. And a conclusion. As Bigsby (2005: p. 158) said before: “The Crucible is both an intense psychological [...].

Characterization of Morality and Values in Arthur Miller's Play "The Crucible"

Characterization of Morality and Values in Arthur Miller's Play Author: Ramon Klein
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3656637466
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : de
Pages : 24

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Book Description
Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2013 im Fachbereich Didaktik für das Fach Englisch - Literatur, Werke, Universität Siegen, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: In The Crucible (1953), a four-act play, Miller's scene is Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692 ad the action is based on the witchcraft trials of that time. In “A Note on the Historical Accuracy of This Play,” Miller says: “This play is not history in the sense [...] used by the academic historian,” for “dramatic purposes” prompted certain changes in the record. Nevertheless, Miller believes the “reader will discover here the essential nature” of the Salem trials (Miller, in: Murray: 1967, p. 52). This quote describes the truth in an appropriate short way. The following analysis of the main characters has not the aim to offer the reader a n adequate historical overview, nor to work as an outline to present the details of the people who lived in Salem in 1692. The aim is in fact to characterize and interpret the protagonists, as Miller did it in his day, and through this, to expose the development of their sense of morality and their pursuit of freedom, especially of John Proctor. To reach that aim the focus will be on John Proctors internal state of mind concerning his contradictory behavior. This means his strengthening of his will and his conviction of what is wrong and right. The reader will find a development of his comprehension of his 'self' among emotional alterations, which matters a lot in Miller's dramas, as much as social behavior and religious crises. Those crises start a chain of events, which do most notably peak in Proctor's quest for identity and the dramatic finding of it. Through information given in the dialogues in Miller's play The Crucible will the reader be told about the answers to the question, what the influences were that the main characters had on John Proctor. After the analysis of the protagonists a special analysis of John Proctor takes place which has the aim to describe his search for identity and resume and evaluate it in a conclusion in the end. Due to the mentioned focus on the finding of Proctor's 'self' there will be no explicit study of historical backgrounds of the Salem witchcraft trials per se. And due to the lack of space in this study will there be no further analysis of further plays of Miller or his way of narrating plays in general. The the text will shortly be about characterizations of the main roles in Arthur Miller's The Crucible, with focus on John Proctor's view of morality and his 'self'. And a conclusion. As Bigsby (2005: p. 158) said before: “The Crucible is both an intense psychological [...].

The Crucible

The Crucible PDF Author: Arthur Miller
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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The Unity of Good and Evil

The Unity of Good and Evil PDF Author: Katja Kolossowa
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3656457735
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 17

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, language: English, abstract: One of the group members of an experimental theatre ensemble of the 1970s and 80s, called Wooster Group, commented on The Crucible that “the play was interesting to us because Arthur Miller wrote it as a moral play. He took responsibility, social responsibility. There was a hero.” Since the hero is the most important character who has the task to convey this moral massage, this paper will mainly concentrate on his role, his character development, his portrayal by Arthur Miller and how the author realized his moral concept in the character of John Proctor. When Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible, he envisioned the “concept of unity, in which positive and negative are attributes of the same force, in which good and evil are relative”.

The Crucible

The Crucible PDF Author: Arthur Miller
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0140247726
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 513

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Book Description
A haunting examination of groupthink and mass hysteria in a rural community, presented here with enlightening criticism and commentary "I believe that the reader will discover here the essential nature of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history," Arthur Miller wrote in an introduction to The Crucible, his classic play about the witch-hunts and trials in seventeenth-century Salem, Massachusetts. Based on historical people and real events, Miller's drama is a searing portrait of a community engulfed by hysteria. In the rigid theocracy of Salem, rumors that women are practicing witchcraft galvanize the town's most basic fears and suspicions; and when a young girl accuses Elizabeth Proctor of being a witch, self-righteous church leaders and townspeople insist that Elizabeth be brought to trial. The ruthlessness of the prosecutors and the eagerness of neighbor to testify against neighbor brilliantly illuminate the destructive power of socially sanctioned violence. Written in 1953, The Crucible is a mirror Miller uses to reflect the anti-communist hysteria inspired by Senator Joseph McCarthy's "witch-hunts" in the United States. Within the text itself, Miller contemplates the parallels, writing: "Political opposition...is given an inhumane overlay, which then justifies the abrogation of all normally applied customs of civilized behavior. A political policy is equated with moral right, and opposition to it with diabolical malevolence." This Viking Critical Library edition of Arthur Miller's dramatic recreation of the Salem witch trials contains the complete text of The Crucible as well as extensive critical and contextual material about the play and the playwright, including: Selections from Miller's writings on his most frequently performed play Essays on the historical background of The Crucible, including personal narratives by participants in the trials and records of witchcraft in Salem from the original documents Reviews of The Crucible, in production by Brooks Atkinson, Walter Kerr, Eric Bentley, and others Excerpts from Jean-Paul Sartre's Les Sorcières de Salem, a "spin-off" of Miller's play, and three analogous works by Twain, Shaw, and Budd Schulberg Critical essays on the play, on Miller, and on the play in the context of Miller's oeuvre An introduction by the editor, a chronology, a list of topics for discussion and papers prepared by Malcolm Cowley, and a bibliography

The Dual Historical Context of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible"

The Dual Historical Context of Arthur Miller's Author: Kristin Hammer
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3656074046
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 45

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2000 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7 (A-), University of Münster (Anglistics/ American Studies), course: Advanced Seminar Modern American Drama, 13 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: As Arthur Miller states in his autobiography,1 The Crucible has become his most frequently produced play. This great success of a conventional drama can certainly not be explained without regard to its political message. When the play was first performed in 1953, its audiences were quick to recognize the connections between the witch craze in 17th century Massachusetts and the American anti-communist hysteria of their own time. Like any literary text, The Crucible reflects the conditions under which it was produced, and Miller himself says that he could not have written it at any other time.2 Since in this case parallels between the events in both times are extremely striking, it seems necessary for the understanding and interpretation of the play to explain its dual historical context. At the same time, it would be wrong to interpret Miller's drama against this background only. Or, as Reitz puts it: "The Crucible ist kein Schlüsseldrama, das auf die vordergründige Aktualität von Wiedererkennungseffekten setzt und zu diesem Zweck Anhänger und Gegner McCarthys als Puritaner (...) kostümiert".3 Miklos Trocsanyi argues similarly, pointing out that Miller was glad, when in the contemporary criticism (...) less and less mention was made of and parallel drawn between the witchcraft hysteria and McCarthyism. It meant that the deeper message was more and more appreciated.4 Finding out about this "deeper message" is what the analysis of the dual historical context aims at. Therefore this research paper will, after explaining the historical circumstances of both the Salem witch hunt and the American anticommunism under McCarthy, focus on parallel phenomena underlying the events in both times. This comparison, whic

Arthur Miller’s "The Crucible". A Portrayal of a Puritan Society

Arthur Miller’s Author: Anika Kehl
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3656724636
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 19

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 1,7, Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald (Anglistik/Amerikanistik), course: Proseminar: Lost in Literature, language: English, abstract: What happened in Salem, in 1692, is today described as one of the darkest episodes in American history. Still today, historians try to find out what caused the disastrous outbreak of the witch craze but the only thing they can be sure about is that they can not explain why so many people had to die. “Accusations of witchcraft were not unusual in the seventeenth-century world [...]” What was so special about the time and place that such an outbreak of random accusations became possible? “[...] “Salem” has become an icon in American culture. The trials have become a metaphor for hysterical prosecution, unfounded accusations, and confessions that have no reasonable explanation.” Believe in witchcraft had existed for hundreds of years before the hysteria broke out in Salem. The colonists who came to Massachusetts had a strong belief in the devil and his agents and were mainly Puritans, who came to America to gain religious freedom. There are many things you could compare between the historical account of the witch hunt and Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible. This paper is going to analyse the portrayal of a Puritan society in Miller’s play and will try to find out whether the religion of the people and therewith their way of life have caused the rising of the witch scare and the horrible outcome for the characters in the play. It is going to be analysed why normal people start accusing their neighbours and friends for witchcraft although many of them are aware of the consequences for the accused. At first it is going to be described how Arthur Miller informed himself about the happenings of 1692 in order to underline his credibility of being able to create the Puritan society of that time. In the following the terms ‘Puritanism’ and ‘Puritan’ will be briefly defined. The main part of the paper will concentrate on the analysis of Puritan traits, beliefs, and lifestyles in The Crucible in order to find out whether they might have played a part in the catastrophe.

Arthur Miller's The Crucible

Arthur Miller's The Crucible PDF Author: Harold Bloom
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
ISBN: 0791098281
Category : Salem (Mass.)
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
A collection of critical essays that examines Arthur Miller's classic drama, "The Crucible;" and contains an historical overview of the play, chronology of the life and works of the author, and introduction by Harold Bloom.

The Crucible

The Crucible PDF Author: Coles Publishing Company. Editorial Board
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780774030212
Category : Miller, Arthur, 1915
Languages : en
Pages : 116

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Book Description
A literary study guide that includes summaries and commentaries.

The Crucible (Arthur Miller)

The Crucible (Arthur Miller) PDF Author: C. J. Partridge
Publisher: Blackwell Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 102

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Book Description


Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman PDF Author: Arthur Miller
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 110104215X
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 146

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Book Description
The Pulitzer Prize-winning tragedy of a salesman’s deferred American dream Ever since it was first performed in 1949, Death of a Salesman has been recognized as a milestone of the American theater. In the person of Willy Loman, the aging, failing salesman who makes his living riding on a smile and a shoeshine, Arthur Miller redefined the tragic hero as a man whose dreams are at once insupportably vast and dangerously insubstantial. He has given us a figure whose name has become a symbol for a kind of majestic grandiosity—and a play that compresses epic extremes of humor and anguish, promise and loss, between the four walls of an American living room. "By common consent, this is one of the finest dramas in the whole range of the American theater." —Brooks Atkinson, The New York Times "So simple, central, and terrible that the run of playwrights would neither care nor dare to attempt it." —Time