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The Crucible (Identities and Issues in Literature)

The Work

Set in Salem, Massachusetts, during the witch-hunts of 1592 but full of allusions to Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Committee on Un-American Activities’ persecutions of the 1950’s, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a masterful play that ultimately transcends both historical contexts with its message of resistance to tyranny. The play focuses on the moral struggles of John Proctor, a New England farmer, who is sucked into a witch-hunt that rages through his Puritan society. By deftly juxtaposing the religious paranoia that permeates a Fundamentalist...

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