The Crucible
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Description
A Penguin Classic
"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."
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Book Information
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The Crucible is a theater play that I had to read back when I was in school still, yet it hasn't let me go since then. It's basically a telling of the Salem Witch Trials but can also be understood as a comment on the communist hunt under McCarthy in the 20th century - or maybe as an example for any situation that spirals out of control eventually. I think what intrigued me so much about this play is how destructive and how quickly things can get out of hand, simply because some people are shitty, self-righteous, power-hungry, greedy or sometimes simply naive human beings. If you aren't afraid of a somewhat older language style and the topic interests you, I'd highly recommend this.
Two reasons for me to listen to this play right now: 1. there is a lot of talk about witch hunts right now and 2. I just read Carl Sagan last week and he referred to this play and to witch hunts (the medieval type, but also the red scare under McCarthy) quite a lot. The play makes a clear point about the rapid loss of common sense, how scaring people makes them fairly easily forget about right and wrong and the role of religion in this particular case. The MC Proctor has been yelling in the beginning: "Where is the proof?" on several occasions, but once common sense is lost and everyone is in a panic, there seems to be no need for proof anymore.
Description
A Penguin Classic
"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."
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Book Information
Posts
The Crucible is a theater play that I had to read back when I was in school still, yet it hasn't let me go since then. It's basically a telling of the Salem Witch Trials but can also be understood as a comment on the communist hunt under McCarthy in the 20th century - or maybe as an example for any situation that spirals out of control eventually. I think what intrigued me so much about this play is how destructive and how quickly things can get out of hand, simply because some people are shitty, self-righteous, power-hungry, greedy or sometimes simply naive human beings. If you aren't afraid of a somewhat older language style and the topic interests you, I'd highly recommend this.
Two reasons for me to listen to this play right now: 1. there is a lot of talk about witch hunts right now and 2. I just read Carl Sagan last week and he referred to this play and to witch hunts (the medieval type, but also the red scare under McCarthy) quite a lot. The play makes a clear point about the rapid loss of common sense, how scaring people makes them fairly easily forget about right and wrong and the role of religion in this particular case. The MC Proctor has been yelling in the beginning: "Where is the proof?" on several occasions, but once common sense is lost and everyone is in a panic, there seems to be no need for proof anymore.