The Crucible
Ratings7
Average rating3.4
My first reading of any Miller, I had some vague notions of the plot but nothing more. I enjoy reading plays, particularly when there is so much background and stage direction. I felt that Miller brought the reader into the text and onto the stage with the characters in a way that most playwrights fail to do.
I found the plot itself simple and engaging. While you are encouraged to sympathise with the Proctors there is room for understanding everyone's motivations.
Yes, females are sidelined as shadows of their menfolk but this is written by a man when women's liberation was in it's infancy and based on transcripts written by men from when women were nothing more than another possession. A reimagining written now, from a more feminist angle, would be a very interesting and illustrating play. Miller's dismissal of Abigail in the afterword, rumour and hearsay - did he not learn from his own text? - is particularly unpleasant, she is a character who deserves exploration and explanation.
However, these misgivings aside. Miller used this play to reflect the effects of McCarthyism in the US at the time, this is woven into the very text. The warnings remains as relevant today, in a world of mass hysteria - conspiracy theories etc. - as it did in 1953 and indeed in 1692.
