THE CRUCIBLE: INTRODUCTORY RESEARCH PROJECT

AUTHOR

• Arthur Miller was born October 17, 1915 in Harlem, New York
• His family was of Austrian Jewish descent
• His father manufactured coats before his business was devastated by the Depression

COLLEGE

• Due to his father's strained financial circumstances, Arthur was forced to work for tuition money to attend college
• His dream was to attend the University of Michigan
• Michigan was where he wrote his first plays

COLLEGE

• First, he wrote for the student paper and completed his first play called "No Villain."
• He took courses with playwright professor Kenneth Rowe.
• This professor inspired him to move back east and begin his career.

EARLY CAREER

• Miller's career started off shaky
• In 1940 he released the play called "The Man Who Had All the Luck."
• The play ended up closing after having only 4 performances and multiple bad reviews.

SUCCESS

• Six years later, he released his play called "All My Sons" and it ended up achieving success on Broadway
• He earned his first Tony Award for this play
• He then started working in a small studio that he built in Roxbury, Connecticut

SUCCESS

• While in Connecticut, he wrote the first act of "Death of Salesman" in less than one day
• It was released on February 10, 1949 at the Morosco Theatre and was adorned by everyone
• That play won him the triple crown of theatrical artistry

DIVORCE

• Then in 1956, Miller left his first wife, Mary Slattery and married Marilyn Monroe
• In 1961, Marilyn starred in "The Misfits"
• Arthur wrote the screenplay
• During that time, Marilyn and Arthur divorced

REMARRYING

• Arthur remarried months later to Inge Morath
• They had 2 kids, Rebecca and Daniel
• In 2002, his wife, Inges died
• He then planned to marry a 4th wife, Agnes Barley
• On February 10, 2005, he died of heart failure (89 years old)

MOTIVES

• Arthur Miller was inspired to write "The Crucible" because of the events occurring in America during the 1950s
• Suspicion of witchcraft and association with the Devil had appeared in Salem, Massachusetts during the 1600s and is comparable to the McCarthyism period in the U.S.
• McCarthy focused on Democrats in general and sweeping accusations of Communist involvement

MOTIVES

• Arthur was taken into investigation and accused of being a communist as well as, asked to name the people who he believed to be communists
• However, he refused because he believed that people should be given the right to believe in what they want, not what others want

INTRO TO SALEM WITCH TRIALS

• Began during the spring of 1692 when a group of young women in Salem Village, Massachusetts claimed to be possessed by the devil
• A wave of hysteria spread throughout Massachusetts, therefore, a special court convened in Salem to hear the cases
• Over 150 men, women, and children were accused during the period

CONTEXT/ORIGINS

• During this time, belief in the supernatural was wide spread among colonial New England
• Specifically in the devil's practice of giving witches the power to harm others in return for their loyalty
• In January 1692, Elizabeth Parris (9) and Abigail Williams (11), daughter and niece of Samuel Parris (the minister of Salem Village) began having fits

CONTEXT/ORIGINS

• This included violent contortions and uncontrollable outbursts of screaming
• A local doctor diagnosed the two girls with "bewitchment"
• Then, other young girls in the community began to experience similar symptoms

CONTEXT/ORIGINS

• In late February, an arrest warrant was issued for the Parris' slave, Tituba
• A homeless beggar and a poor elderly women were also issued arrest warrants
• All three women were accused of bewitching the two young girls

THE SPREAD OF HYSTERIA

• The three accused witches were brought to the magistrates and questioned
• Two others denied their guilt, but one confessed
• Seeking to save herself, Tituba claimed there were other witches acting alongside her as well as serving the Devil

THE SPREAD OF HYSTERIA

• As hysteria spread through Massachusetts, a number of others were accused
• Like Tituba, several accused confessed and named others
• Soon the trials began to overwhelm the local justice system

THE SPREAD OF HYSTERIA

• The new governor, ordered the establishment of a special court on witchcraft cases
• There were many judges for the system
• The court handed down its first conviction against Bridget Bishop
• She was hanged eight days later on Gallows Hill

CONCLUSION AND lEGACY

• The court later deemed the trials unlawful
• Few leading justices publicly apologized for their roles in the process
• The damage to the community lingered even after passing legislation for restoring the good names of the condemned and providing financial restitution to their heirs

CONCLUSION AND lEGACY

• The vivid and painful legacy of the Salem witch trials endured well into the 20th Century when Arthur Miller dramatized the events in "The Crucible"
• He used them as an allegory for the anti-Communist witch hunts by Senator McCarthy

PURITANS: ORIGINS

• A Puritan is a member of a group of English Protestants of late 16/17th century
• They regarded the reformation of the Church of England under Elizabeth as incomplete
• For this reason, they sought to simplify and regulate forms of worship

PURITANS: ORIGINS

• The Stuart monarchs, who ruled England, were disinterested in reforming the Church and limiting Catholic influences
• Eventually many Puritans became discouraged and began to look for a new home
• Preferably some place where they could practice their religious beliefs far from the influence of Catholicism and the Stuart kings

PURITANS: ORIGINS

• Several wealthy Puritans formed the Massachusetts Bay Company
• They pooled their resources to move a new group of the Puritans, faithful of the new world

MOVING TO aMERICA

• March 1630 - 17 ships funded by the Massachusetts Bay Company left London and was led by John Winthrop
• The Puritans agreed to establish a "city on a hill"
• Between 1630 and 1643, nearly 9000 Puritans migrated to colony

MOVING TO aMERICA

• As soon as they arrived, they established towns and farms
• Most settled in towns near extended family and created churches and schools
• They raised many different crops rather than relying on one
• Differentiated crops allowed them to ear a variety of foods and contributed to their high life expectancy

RELIGIOUS LIFE

• Puritans believed that God had formed unique agreement with them
• They also believed that God expected to live according to the Scriptures, to reform the Anglican Church, and to set a good example
• Most early migrants to the Mass. Bay Colony were full-fledged members of the Puritan faith

RELIGIOUS LIFE

• Church attendance was mandatory
• In order to become a full member of the church, Puritans are expected to prove they had conversion experience
• Religious and political life intertwined
• Each Puritan town had meetings, in which men were only allowed to vote on the issues affecting the town

HISTORY FROM 1649

• From 1649 to 1660, Puritans in England were allied to the state power
• They eventually broke into numerous sects, of which the Presbyterian group comprised most of the clergy
• During this time, the term "Puritan" became debatable

HISTORY FROM 1660

• The English Restoration, Savoy Conference, and Uniformity Act 1662 drove most of the Puritan ministers from the Church of England
• This also caused the outlines of the Puritan movement to change over a few decades into the collections of Presbyterian and Congregational churches

PURITANS AND RESTORATION

• The Presbyterians (largest Puritan faction) had been dissatisfied with the state of the church under Oliver Cromwell
• They wanted to restore religious uniformity throughout England
• They believed that only restoration of the English monarchy could achieve this