Historical Context – How does your character fit into what we’ve learned about the Puritans? the
Salem Witch Trials? Arthur Miller and McCarthyism? Are they portrayed in the way you expected?
Why or why not?
The Crucible is a fictional retelling of events in American history surrounding the Salem Witch Trials of the seventeenth century. Yet, is as much a product of the time in which Arthur Miller wrote it - the early 1950s - as it is description of Puritan society. The Salem witch trials took place from June through September of 1692, during which time nineteen men and women were hanged at Gallows Hill near Salem, while another man, Giles Corey, was stoned to death for refusing to submit to a trial on witchcraft charges. Hundreds of other persons faced accusations of witchcraft and dozens more languished in jail without trials.
I think Arthur Miller did an admirable job in portraying the characters and hysteria involved based on factual evidence.
