The Crucible: Book Review

I just finished reading The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. This is a play that I have read before, but I wanted to revisit it because I remember enjoying it quite a bit. Plays are not my favorite format—especially, but not exclusively—because I am just reading it. That said, for obvious reasons, I am not looking to short the story because of this fact.

The Crucible is a story about the Salem Witch Trials, where a small town was caught in a craze of people hunting down witches supposedly hidden among its people. Miller write this in the time of the Red scare, led by Joseph McCarthy, as he hunted down communists that were hidden amongst America's celebrities. While Communists did and do exist, and while no one was being killed (thankfully), Miller thought there were parallels in the fanaticism and how the tribunals were executed. Basically, people were prompted to give up names in order to exonerate themselves, and since people were looking to protect their careers, they would follow through. What resulted was a self-perpetuating loop, where the threat was overstated, or at the very least, not driven by the careful consideration of evidence.

As such, this is a fundamentally political book, and something that was a hot button topic in his time. Miller was even brought into a tribunal after the release of the play.

Overall, I enjoyed the play as much as I remember. The book does an excellent job depicting the psychology of the craze, and it really does have many parallels to how people get sucked into this mentality, while also showing just how flawed it is.

Overall (No Spoilers)

My favorite part of the story is what I already mentioned: the psychology of the witch hunt. Many people took part in this craze, but each of them had their own reasons, ranging from cynical to genuine. Miller avoids making people completely uniform and is able to show just how complex events like these can become.

I also enjoyed the tense scenes where the characters are forced to defend their character, as accusations fly and things begin to spiral out of control. Act three was particularly intense, as it served as the climax of the story, as all the characters are put up against the wall and forced to make fateful decisions. In every case, the decisions keep with who the characters are; the story is unexpected, even as the characters behave in their characteristic ways, and the resulting whole is incredibly compelling.

The story was also very stripped back, like most plays are. They condense the story into a series of scenes set at the same location, and this forces them to make sure each set pushes the plot forward even as it establishes the characters. I personally prefer the more detailed stories that spend time with the characters and the setting, but in this case I found that I was never wanting for additional information. Perhaps the only exception that comes to mind is Proctor's children, because he apparently has three, yet they are never seen; if they had, then Proctor's demise would have had more impact. In certain respects, more stripped back story telling is better because doesn't smother you with its content.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story, with barely anything to complain about. I will it a 9/10.

Strides (Spoilers)

In the spoiler section, I want to talk specifics about the things that I mentioned above. First, let me touch upon the character motivations and how that drives all of the characters forward in the story.

Parris is probably the most unlikeable man in the story. Blatantly driven by self-preservation, he is against the hunting of witches in the beginning, and for it in the middle, and questioning by the end, all because of his own personal circumstances are fluctuating. The characters in the story don't even like him very much, and he is forced to step down in the aftermath of the scare, at least in real life.

Abigail Williams is another character that is decidedly unlikeable, and she is the primary antagonist in the story. She is also the one behind many of the accusations in the real-life event. Miller changes certain things about the character, and I think this changes the character in a fundamental way. Abigail was apparently eleven when all of this happened. Miller, however ages her up to seventeen, which makes her character much more pernicious. She, like Parris, has very simple motivations, but she also embodies the flesh of the story, being the character that sets all the events into motion.

John Proctor is the most complex character in the book, and he is the protagonist. He is a man driven to do the right thing, and yet he is plagued by guilt because of his infidelity with Abigail. Part of him understands that his wife's implication as a witch is his own fault, given that Abigail is motivated to remove her from the equation in order to be united with Proctor. And I found the final scene with Proctor to be particularly significant, given that Proctor's confession, while interpreted in a way that suggested he was guilty of using sorcery on Mary, was actually a confession for his real sin: his infidelity. He refuses to take the next step and publicly implicate himself as a witch, motivated primarily by his reputation, and it is strongly suggested that his hanging is his penance for his crimes, something that even his wife accepts in the end.

The MVP of the play is Giles Corey. He is an idiot. He accidentally gets his wife killed because he can't help blabbing about her reading habits, but he gets his own little redemption arc, where he refuses to enter a plea and is tortured to death. And despite the obviously cinematic nature, it really does seem that his last words upon being crushed by rocks was "more weight," or something similarly defiant. In this, he not only demonstrates himself to be a Chad of epic proportions, but he also manages to protect the rest of his family from having their property taken away from them.

Danforth is interesting in his own right. He differs from the rest in that he seems to believe the accusations. His is absolutely a villain and he is particularly central in the hangings of all the characters who are outed as witches, but he also shows himself to lack the cynicism of both Abigail and Parris. On top of this, he is also willing to consider criticism. While his ultimate decision is to side with Abigail, his willingness to consider his own potential fault in act three provides a whole new dimension to his character. It shows that his is not a mindless zealot, even if he is a zealot.

Hale is the final character worth mentioning. Originally convinced of the actions, he becomes skeptical over the course of the story and eventually turns on Danforth, condemning his actions. He is also complex, not only because he is willing to step on the brakes and question himself, but he is also driven by guilt in the end, attempting to convince people to lie in order to save themselves, thus saving lives that he feels responsible for condemning. Hale differs from his real-life counterpart in that he doesn't become convinced that the trial had gone too far until much later, when his wife is accused. This is a more realistic, yet less sympathetic motivation, but including his wife would likely complicate things, so I understand why Miller altered the character.

I don't have much to complain about.

Conclusion

Overall, I thought the story was excellent. I will give it a 9/10.