The Crucible is both timeless and universal discuss Essay Example for Free

The Crucible is both timeless and universal discuss Essay The Crucible, first written and performed in 1953 as the work of Arthur Miller, was written through the perspective of a man living in an era of radical social and economical traumas. Miller wrote his play at a time when America was only just beginning to make its way past the suffering of the Great Depression and during the McCarthy Hysteria of the 1950s. His work is not merely heavily influenced by these outside affectations but it becomes evident to one observing the social and political climates of Millers time that these are in fact the inspiration for his creation. What Miller wrote was an artists answer to human suffering, not only through the hard times of the depression but also through the politics and in particular the ideological war on communism (and indeed all left-wing views), which was taking place. Such a war, Miller noticed, was comparable to the war which Puritan society waged on the Devil during the Salem with trials of 1962 and indeed such wars are equally comparable to Hitlers vendetta against the Jews during WW2. Such wars, such prejudices and long term states of disagreement, have been recorded since biblical times which described the Egyptians forcing the Jews into slavery. The fact exists that war is an unfortunate symptom of the human condition it is an inescapable side effects of what it means to be human. A central focus within the play is hysteria: The whole countrys talkin witchcraft Word of Betty and Ruths mysterious states spreads so rapidly throughout the village because the matter is one which is of concern to everyone in the village. People tell each other because it is a universal matter, not necessarily one shared by people today, but certainly one shared by Salems people at the time to a great extent: The whole worlds gone daft with this nonsense The reason that people react so severely to the situation is because they fear witchcraft in the same way that the society in which Miller was writing in, in 1952 feared communism. The hysteria surrounding the McCarthy incident is easily comparable to the Salem witch trials, because although the fear has changed with time and location the human nature remains the same and the human instinct to protect itself invokes a mass of people grouping together for protection against what is seen as a threatening group. In 2003 this can be seen even more clearly in the aftermath of the September the 11th incident when The Times printed the article: Is Arab a dirty word? Discussing how many people in America associated all those of Arabic descent with acts of terrorism. Once again this paranoia is invoked by a deep fear which has become integrated into the minds of the people in that society. Intricately linked to this are the ideas of good and evil within the play: Its Gods work we do Throughout the play many people, from Proctor not confessing to a lie, to Cheever taking the accused to what he knows may be their deaths, justify their actions through religion claiming that what they do, they do in Gods will and that is a healthy thing to strike out against those opposed: Let you strike out against the Devil Very similarly capitalist Americans in Millers era believed that they were doing good for the world in seeking out communists, who are portrayed by American society as being evil because they oppose capitalism in making the world a better place. In such a situation the commonly viewed good is capitalism where as its antithesis evil can be supposed to be communism. In 2003 the ordinary people of America view themselves as good people who do no great wrong, and yet are being attacked by terrorists. They see terrorism, or more generally the east and those of Arabic descent, as the evil of the world, because the moral framework imposed by society is not accepting of the taking of an innocent life. However, the girls know that those they are accusing are in fact innocent: Lies, lies It is also possible to suggest that later Danforth realises this but becomes part of the conspiracy in order to protect himself and his position: You know in all your black hearts that this be fraud Very similarly at the time of Millers writing senator Joseph McCarthy was accusing people within the government and authoritarian positions of being communists or sympathizers, and encouraging them to confess and name others. This is very much like the situation within the crucible when the girls knowingly blame innocent people because it is, again, in order to protect themselves. In 2003 corruption can be seen within the British and American governments who justified their invasion of Iraq by claiming that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. However since that time, none have been found and many propose that none exist, but leading figures in the movement such as Tony Blair still knowingly untruly claim that Saddam possessed such items in order to protect their own reputations and positions. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Miller section.