The Crucible - Arthur Miller

What's one of the most stressful things for anybody, of any age? Something that anybody can suffer from at any time in their life? It beats finance problems, health worries and family crises any day! Okay maybe that's a bit of hyperbole for you there, but in all seriousness, one of the things that stress me out the most is exams! Sitting my Highers this year, I have Prelims at the moment, to predict our final grades. I have just one prelim left,and that's my Higher Drama exam. For this we do not do any performing for prelims, but just a written exam, which includes a Director's Commentary, a Ground Plan, and an essay question. And what are we studying? The ...  Read the complete review

"The Crucible" by Arthur Miller is based on actual events in the town of Salem, in 1692, when mass hysteria lead to numerous people being hanged for witchcraft. I'll give you a bit of detail about the background, talk about the play itself, and there will be some interesting theories at the end..... In early America, most people were strictly Christian and signs of heathenism, devil worship and magic were watched for obsessively. Things we would consider harmless - dancing, going into the woods, owning dolls and the like could be deemed satanic. Witches could be tried very easily and it was nigh on impossible to prove innocence. Puritan ...  Read the complete review

The entire book is a gritty gripping read but I feel that the most dramatic scene in the play is when John Proctor confesses to being a lecher in front of the court. I chose this specific scene as it is extremely emotional, very tense and changes the entire outcome of the play! The revelation comes out in court when "Proctor leaps at Abigail" and brands her a whore. Proctor admits to the court that they had an affair but Abigail denies this, so Proctors wife is called in and asked why she dismissed Abigail as their servant. The scene is very dramatic as it suddenly brings to life a very dull and gritty court scene when proctor starts making these ...  Read the complete review

“The Crucible” is a moving portrayal of the emotions and moral dilemmas of the characters caught up in a situation beyond their control. In 1692 one of the largest witch-hunts in history happened in Salem, North America. Salem is a port town built on the coast of New England near Boston. Governor John Endecott enlarged the town in 1628, after it had been founded in 1626. The people of Salem followed a strict, Puritan faith, and it was considered evil to do anything like dancing. People in Salem believed strongly in witchcraft, and in 1692 an outbreak of ‘witch hunting’ was started by a group of girls, as depicted in Arthur ...  Read the complete review

The Crucible, by Arthur Miller isn't a book I would normally have chose to read, but I had to cover it for my GCSEs in English Literature. It is fairly hard to read as it is set out like a play, but is a lot easier to understand if you read it in a group and you each have a set part. It is based on witchcraft in Masachussets, America. A group of girls are spotted naked in the woods, dancing around a fire singing chants and, supposedly drinking blood. The girls go to trial and are accused of witchcraft, one of the girls takes a turn for the worse and they think this is a curse, because of the witchcraft. When in court ...  Read the complete review