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Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated The Crucible in Books

Oct 10, 2017 (Updated Oct 11, 2017)  
The Crucible
The Crucible
8
7.6 (26 Ratings)
Book Rating
Exceptional drama exploring paranoia and hysteria
I remember having to study this book in drama during my school days, which made me become fascinated with the Salem Witch trials and its parallel politics. It is a dramatised and partially fictionalised story of the trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692/93.

The play explores paranoia, the power of superstition and mass hysteria. It shows the dangers of using a scapegoat to fix problems in society. Classed as one of the great American plays along with the likes of Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Miller wrote the play as an allegory for McCarthyism, when the US government ostracised people for being communists.

Many prominent people became victims of the Red Scare, Arthur Miller was one of many people who came to the attention of the House Un-American Activities Committee. In his play The Crucible Miller drew comparisons with the Red Scare and the witch trials of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts.

Truly an awe-inspiring and essential read.