‘What is John Proctor? I am no saint; for me it is fraud. I am not that man.” Explore Miller’s Presentation of Proctor in The Crucible. How far do you agree with Proctor’s Analysis of himself?
In 1962, Salem was affected dramatically by the tragedy of witchcraft. Miller use’s this hard-hitting occurrence to structure his story named ‘ The crucible’. By using a real event this can really affect the audience and influence them into picking up more understanding of the play and the happenings that are involved, hence the fact that witchcraft does not seem like a fully believable event. Miller uses the 1692 Salem witchcraft trials to symbolize the 1950s anti-Communist purges. The events of the 1692 Salem witch trials mostly parallel those of the McCarthy trials. If you opposed the McCarthy investigations, you were accused of being a communist. If you opposed to the Salem Witch trials, you were accused of being a witch. Those accused suffered great consequences in both the Crucible and the McCarthy trials. As the McCarthy trials were still currently going through during the release of this play it made the play more effective and easier to relate to. Miller uses clever dramatic devices and a range of different techniques that help engage the audience and manipulate them into siding with different characters in the play and collecting important data that will help with understanding of the alternate people mentioned. The language and stage directions he uses create tension throughout the play and this all builds up to an unpredictable ending, which the audience has been lead on to throughout the play.