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| The Crucible (Penguin Classics) | 
 enlarge | Author: Arthur Miller
Creator: Christopher Bigsby
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Category: Book
List Price: $12.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  48 reviews
Sales Rank: 12916
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 176
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.4
ISBN: 0142437336
Dewey Decimal Number: 812.52
EAN: 9780142437339
ASIN: 0142437336
Publication Date: March 25, 2003
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| Customer Reviews:
 The Devil is Precise April 29, 2008
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
On my walk through the LoA edition of Arthur Miller plays I bypass The Enemy of the People, the Ibsen adaptation, which I think is a waste of everyone's time, and go straight to the Crucible, which I had never read, nor watched on stage or screen. Very odd. It is a truly gripping piece of modern classic stage writing.
Of course AM needed to educate us always, so this story is not just a story about the witch trials of Salem, when perfectly harmless people, including some citizens of standing in the community, got identified as witches and hanged for it. (Which somehow looks like progress over the burnings in Europe.)
No, this is generally about fundamentalism and totalitarianism and theocracy, and more specifically about McCarthy and I wouldn't be surprised if it was also about the Ayatollah Khomeini, whatever you may say regarding anachronisms, and the Taliban. Let's not forget the Cultural Revolution of China.
If I seem to mock the play just a little bit, I haven't made up my mind yet, not quite. There is something strangely wrong in the tone of the dialogues. Can't quite nail it. Anachronistic for sure; is that all? Have to think about it.
The message that AM put into his morality tale is that power and property interests are behind the maddest manifestations of disinterestedness and righteousness. That was sure true in the other historical witch hunts that we know about. Whether it is an accurate reflection of the Salem case, I do not know. (I will definitely look for the DVD and give DDL a chance for redemption in my eyes.)
A Frightening Novel, By Mary Sanders, Cambridge Ma August 14, 2004
5 out of 9 found this review helpful
I read this play in the beginning of eighth grade. For the Salem Witch Trials always fascinated me. So I read this book. It is a beautifully written play telling of the events of the Salem Witch Trials. It was excellent. However, difficult to read, at least I thought so, if you did not really know the History of the Salem Trials. Anyway, I recommend this play not read by children under thirteen. It was quite intense. Some parts, were extremely frightening. Anyway, the main characters of this play were: John Proctor, Abigail Williams, Tituba Indian, and Elizabeth Proctor. The book was about this: In the beginning Salem's minister catches a group of girls (including his own niece!) in the woods practicing witchcraft along with Tituba. Then accusations of witches began, and hangings began. I will not tell more of the story-I will spoil it. But, read this play. It was excellent.
A wonderful story of pride, love, power, and redemption October 3, 2005
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
The Crucible, Arthur Miller's allegory for the McCarthy era trials, is a wonderful story of pride, love, power, and redemption.
Act One sets the stage very nicely, with a sense of distrust and suspicion in the air that's just waiting to erupt into full hysteria. We're introduced to several interesting characters. There's Parris, the self-righteous minister; Abigail, the voluptuous young woman; and Proctor, the protective farmer. Of course, these are just a few of the characters, but, in my opinion, they are the most interesting. My only complaint on Act One is the lengthy side notes made by Miller used to make characterizations that didn't fit into the play otherwise, and explain historical facts and rumors in more detail. Despite these missives being useful, they also tend to be quite intrusive. I often found myself backtracking through the pages to remind myself what was going on.
Act Two continues to set the stage for impending hysteria, with the arrest of Elizabeth and numerous other women accused of witchcraft. Giles Corey and Francis Nurse's wives are also taken into custody, despite the evidence against one of them simply being an interest in books.
Act Three introduces us to the unrepentant Judge Danforth. In my opinion, he's the second most unlikable character, bested (for serious lack of a better word) only by Abigail. He's the main proprietor of the idea that neutrality on an issue is simply non-existent, and this coupled with his vicious ideology make him quite a deplorable character indeed.
It is also in this act that John Proctor, the protagonist, is charged with witchcraft, while his wife is let free due to a pregnancy. Tensions stir, causing a complete eruption, ending in the resignation of Minister Hale from Danforth's proceedings.
Act Four finds Proctor in jail, facing execution unless he confesses to having been under the control of the Devil. In Elizabeth's confidence, he firmly defends his innocence, but ponders the possibility that perhaps he should confess to save his own life, which Elizabeth supports.
Proctor reluctantly decides that he will lie and confess to save his own life. However, when he finds that Danforth intends for his confession to be in writing and hung upon the church door, he retracts his confession and states that he would rather die than tell a lie and be the judge of others. The curtain falls as Proctor is brought out to hang, with a cry from Danforth of, "Hang them high over the town! Who weeps for these weeps for corruption!"
There's a running sense of doubt among all the characters, which perhaps adds to the fear of God that causes the eventual aberration. It's an extremely moving tale on its own, but the fact that it's almost a flawless mirror of the McCarthyist era makes it all the more affecting. The characters are all amazingly believable; I truly felt pain for Proctor, Elizabeth, and Giles, just as I truly felt contempt for Parris, Danforth, and Abigail.
I recommend this play to anyone, but especially those who have read and enjoyed any of Miller's other work.
 Snore Fest June 27, 2005
3 out of 31 found this review helpful
I went into this play with an open mind and a sort of delight for anything to do with history but I was EXTREAMLY disappointed!! It was boaring from page 1 to the end. So do yourself a favor and rent the moive before you read the book. Trust me you'll thank me for it later. If not, make sure you have a pillow with you when you open to that first page.
 A heretical view March 6, 2006
3 out of 10 found this review helpful
What was Miller writing about in this play? Was it an examination of the psychological and social phenomena that led to the Salem witch trials? If so, it failed, because the story departs too much from historic fact and thus changes the motivation of the protagonists. Miller makes Abigail older and Proctor younger than they were in reality, and makes them erstwhile lovers, which they never in fact were. So Abigail is motivated by the jealousy and resentment of a spurned lover. Another character is motivated by a desire to seize the property of the victims. Although greed and the settling of old scores no doubt played a part in the terrible events of 1692, they could not have been the whole story. Deeper and broader religious forces must have been at work to bring about the execution of 20 innocent people. The Crucible does not enlighten us on what those forces were. That play remains to be written.
The conventional interpretation is that Miller was really writing about the McCarthy anti-Communist hearings, and likening them to a witch-hunt. This too is problematic. Miller draws the parallel in the notes in this book and elsewhere, but never explicitly states that it was the real, prime theme of the play. And once again, the essentially domestic and personal themes of the play do not shed light on the political forces that shaped the McCarthy hearings.
What is clear is that the play stands as a dramatic tour de force. It is a gift to actors, being one dramatic, emotional crisis after another. So, if it lacks the intellectual density that Miller said he aimed at after his success with Death of a Salesman, it has the dramatic force to keep it a perennial favorite in theaters. It has one weakness dramatically, and that is an excessively large cast, particularly in the first scene, where all the entrances and exits in Betty's bedroom are rather ludicrous.
The Penguin Classics edition has a good introduction by Christopher Bigsby and incorporates notes by the author. It also includes - as an appendix - Act 2, Scene 2, which is omitted in most productions.
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