Book summary

Set during the Salem witchcraft trials, this play is most famous for its metaphor for McCarthyism--in fact, three years after the play was produced, Miller himself was called before HUAC. In the play, Miller used colonial language to near-poetic effect; the plot involves characters who have to make certain moral choices concerning their communities and their friends. Miller explores the handy scapegoat that an accusation of witchcraft can be: a father can dismiss his daughter's behavior, a landowner can acquire still more land, a serving girl can attract attention to herself, and emotions can be displaced onto other people. Miller fully explores the power of an accusing figure.

Media reviews

"'The Crucible' dramatizes brilliantly the dilemma of an innocent man who must confess falsely if he wants to live and who finally gains the courage to insist on his innocence and hang."