Rating: 
Summary: A intriguing look at the Salem Witch trials
Review: This concise and well-crafted play takes a look at the singularly dark and surprisingly medieval events of the Salem witch trails. The play was written by Arthur Miller, the acclaimed American playwright from Michigan and one-time husband of movie icon Marilyn Monroe. All other accounts of this story tend to suffer by comparison to Miller's. His characters (most or all were real people in the actual event) are convincing and the language believable and tight. The story recounts the events, the awful trials and the subsequent "justice" administered on those concerned. Theories since have suggested voodoo, ergot poisoning, land-grabbing, religous fervor, blatant evil, lust and superstitious ignorance as possible explanations for the events -- but Millers account seems as reasonable an account as any and better than most. Having read this play at school and seen it performed live, I must admit that I preferred reading it to watching it, although I saw a rather unusual contemporary version. "A fart on you Thomas Putnam"!
Rating:
Summary: say no "what" you fool!
Review: The whole movie and book were a wondiful discription to what itwas in real life but whoever says that this was a bad and wastful book is very disturbed in the mind and sould get my and "Miss Cleos" profestional help! also if you even thought this was a great book but have troubl with family friends or mates please call me!
Rating: 
Summary: HORRIBLE PLAY!!!
Review: I didn't like this book at all!!! I think Arthur Miller tried to be like Shakespeare with this novel in combining high quality drama with torn love and also integrate more feuds into the poor plot of The Crucible in order to add fuel to the fire and of course we can't forget the difficult language as well as the detailed summaries as feedback to the reader on what he/she missed...The play only basically had two lines, in my opinion, throughout the whole novel...."you're a witch" and "you slept with my husband" that's all the novel was about yet there was no build up to these accusations....they just came out of thin air and I could care less about people being witches and affairs between people whose relationship is rocky from the start....I strongly urge you to not read this book...if you have to read this play for school, GET CLIFF NOTES because I can guarantee you that you will fall asleep right away at the slow moving action from this poor excuse of a classic!
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: I love Arthur Miller and this was a great play..I recommend. If you were not one who was required to read it in High School, then you are missing out.
Rating: 
Summary: It also reflects today
Review: This is one of the greatest works of all time. It is also reflects current events. Since September 11, there has been a withhunt. Instead of determining if you are a witch or a communist, it is now, "Are you a terrorist". I think that this book is even more important now since these tragic events. We need to not get ourselves too caught up in the modern mass hysteria towards terrorism and to remember to use common sense.
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Summary: Witch-hunting is alas universal
Review: Arthur Miller wrote this play to oppose the McCarthy witch-hunt. This aspect has aged. But the play keeps a universal value in the way it describes how, in any closed society, in this case religiously closed, all those who do not conform the pattern will be prosecuted and executed. It shows with great depth the process of accusing the victims and how the victims are trapped between their refusal to lie due to their religious faith, and their desire to survive even if it is by lying. But the situation is so tense that this lying becomes impossible because it implies accusing others, hence it goes against the grain of any moral and human behavior. This is still true in our world. As soon as something does not go the way we want it to go, we look for scapegoats and we accuse them of being the disturbing elements. This has been true with the Jews, the Gipsies and some others under Hitler. This has been true of all those who opposed the regime under Stalin. This is still true in our societies in many areas. We are always ready to start a crusade against the outsiders and those who are different to defend our own order. And in such situations private life in invaded, the rights of individuals are negated. Any « purification » policy is built on a whole set of tyrannical actions. Arthur Miller reaches a universal meaning when he says such actions are true of any society at any time. A society seems to always look for some homogenized unity, rejecting diversity with great ease. The new element that may be seen today in some societies is the protection of minorities by the law. But the temptation remains. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece
Review: The drama "The Crucible", written by Arthur Miller in the 1950s in respond to the mass hysteria that evolved around Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy who spread the fear of communism among American citizens, deals with witch hangings at the end of the 17th century as a dark spot in American history.
The story is short to tell: Abigail Williams, a seventeen year old servant to Elizabeth Proctor, falls in love with Elizabeth's husband, John, after he has used the long period of his wife's sickness to start a little liaison with Abigail. Thus, the girl is so passionate about John ( who is father to three kids) that she and the other girls of the little town Salem, Massachusetts, dance around a fire and spell curses on John Proctor to make him fall in love with Abigail. This creates a problem since half the people in town are strict Puritans and now start blaming others for seemingly strange events that have occurred in town. Thus, Abigail plays a key role since she could end the witchcraft rumours by stating that there are no witches in Salem that could possibly have any influence on people's fate. In the end, nineteen people were accused of witchcraft and hanged.
Although the book is confusing at first, it is very interesting throughout the story. Especially the author's humour and sensibility he applies to carefully approach the topic make the book worth reading. The tightening tensions are noticeable as well, leaving the reader shocked in the end: The experience that the play is just repeating history indeed is scary.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful and, Sadfully, Still Relevant
Review: After seeing the recent New York production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible, I felt compelled to rush out and buy a copy of this powerful play and devour it. The play does not lose its impact as a piece of literature divorced from its theatrical presentation. This portrayal of Salem witch trials was written as a shadow commentary on the McCarthy trials but the play still has a terrible relevancy to today's raucous world. This play rips away the black-and-white, simple good-and-evil view of the world of many leaders and shows the relativism and the dangers of such view points. Aside from this, though, this play is entertaining in a very breathtaking way with very powerful character portrayals that makes these historical personalities both universal and powerfully true to their historical period.
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Summary: Exciting
Review: Review on „The Crucible" The movie is about the witch trial that took place in a village called Salem. Several people were accused of making compact with the devil and for committing witchcraft, a capital crime in those days. The reason for the mass hysteria was the fact that some of the girls in the village practised dancing in the woods with the Negro-slave of the town's minister who saw them doing that. They danced around a burning fire and drank blood. Two of the girls fell ill and in fear of the consequences the other ones accused each other. A major character in that context was Abigail Williams. She also accused the wife of John Proctor, a farmer, who she had had sexual interferences with. Several other people were accused and in the end, 19 were hanged.
The movie is about mass hysteria and the unscrupulous behaviour of people who get in trouble. In my view the movie on "The Crucible" is very good. The producers knew how to create tension very well. The best part in the movie was - from my point of view - the scene when Elizabeth Proctor was led to court to tell Governor the truth about her husband committing the crime of adultery. The music was very dramatic and the excitement rose when the group of people went outside to hear John Proctor.
Rating:
Summary: The Naming of Names
Review: There's so much going on in this play that I don't know where to begin. On the surface it's about the Salem Witch trials, and if that's all you get out of it that's more than enough. But there's so much more there as well. It's an attack against Mccarthyism too. If you know your history it's easy to see the parallels. In either case it's about paranoia (the first ones to go are the ones who're a little odd), mass hysteria (self explanatory), revenge, (if someone has crossed you, why not accuse them), and greed (Abby's accusing Elizabeth so she can have her husband). It's about guilt too, primarily that which John Proctor feels, (I hope I'm not giving away too much here, but John had an affair with Abby).
So where does the naming of names come in. Well, both in the trials and in the HUAC (House Unamerican Activities Committee) hearings, you could assure your own safety, and prove your innocence by implicating someone else. The argument is put to John Proctor that what harm will it do to accuse someone who is all ready condemned. The same occurred in the HUAC hearings. In the end Proctor has a chance to save himself, but lose what honor he has left (he is after all an adulterer, and while not as serious now, it was a big thing then), or die honorably--to leave some suspense in it, I won't say which he chooses, although you can probably guess. In the HUAC hearings there were those who named names (Elia Kazan is the only one I remember, but yes, this is what the controversy about him receiving a lifetime acheivement award hinged on), and those who didn't (Miller, Dashielle Hammet, Lillian Hellman to name a few). While no one died as a result of the HUAC hearings, as far as I know, careers were in essence permanently ruined.
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