The Crucible (Magill Book Reviews)
At a glance:
- Author: Arthur Miller
- First Published: 1953
- Type of Work: Historical Drama
- Genres: Drama, Allegory, History play
- Subjects: Justice, Folkloric or magical people, Religion, New England, Trials, Seventeenth century, Ethics, Witches or witchcraft, Puritans or Puritanism, Libel or slander
- Locales: Salem, MA
As the play opens, the Reverend Samuel Parris is questioning his niece, Abigail, about his daughter Betty’s mysterious illness. He discovered the girls dancing in the forest with Tituba, a slave from Barbados. Thomas Putnam’s daughter is similarly afflicted. Mrs. Putnam fears witchcraft, even though she had asked Tituba to conjure the spirits of her dead children.
Parris calls in a witchcraft expert, the Reverend John Hale. Despite the common sense challenges of John Proctor and others, Hale forces Tituba to confess to witchcraft. Soon the entire town is in an uproar, and...
[The entire page is 780 words long]
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- The Crucible (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
- The Crucible (Identities and Issues in Literature)
- The Crucible (Magill Book Reviews)
- The Crucible (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
- The Crucible (Cyclopedia of Literary Places)
- The Crucible (Masterplots II: Drama)
- The Crucible (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
See Also:
- - For teachers, the The Crucible Lesson Plan.
- - The Crucible summary and study guide in the eNotes.
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