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By Arthur Miller
Introduction by Christopher W. E. Bigsby
By Arthur Miller
Introduction by Christopher W. E. Bigsby
Best Seller
Category: Performing Arts | Historical Fiction | Classic Fiction
Category: Performing Arts | Historical Fiction | Classic Fiction
Paperback $16.00
Mar 25, 2003 | ISBN 9780142437339
Ebook $12.99
Mar 25, 2003 | ISBN 9781101042465
Paperback $16.00
Mar 25, 2003 | ISBN 9780142437339
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About The Crucible
A haunting examination of groupthink and mass hysteria in a rural community A Penguin Classic
“I believe that the reader will discover here the essential nature of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history,” Arthur Miller wrote in an introduction to The Crucible, his classic play about the witch-hunts and trials in seventeenth-century Salem, Massachusetts. Based on historical people and real events, Miller’s drama is a searing portrait of a community engulfed by hysteria.
In the rigid theocracy of Salem, rumors that women are practicing witchcraft galvanize the town’s most basic fears and suspicions; and when a young girl accuses Elizabeth Proctor of being a witch, self-righteous church leaders and townspeople insist that Elizabeth be brought to trial. The ruthlessness of the prosecutors and the eagerness of neighbor to testify against neighbor brilliantly illuminate the destructive power of socially sanctioned violence.
Written in 1953, The Crucible is a mirror Miller uses to reflect the anti-communist hysteria inspired by Senator Joseph McCarthy’s “witch-hunts” in the United States. Within the text itself, Miller contemplates the parallels, writing: “Political opposition…is given an inhumane overlay, which then justifies the abrogation of all normally applied customs of civilized behavior. A political policy is equated with moral right, and opposition to it with diabolical malevolence.”
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust theseries to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-datetranslations by award-winning translators.
About The Crucible
A haunting examination of groupthink and mass hysteria in a rural community
The place is Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, an enclave of rigid piety huddled on the edge of a wilderness. Its inhabitants believe unquestioningly in their own sanctity. But in Arthur Miller’s edgy masterpiece, that very belief will have poisonous consequences when a vengeful teenager accuses a rival of witchcraft—and then when those accusations multiply to consume the entire village.
First produced in 1953, at a time when America was convulsed by a new epidemic of witch-hunting, The Crucible brilliantly explores the threshold between individual guilt and mass hysteria, personal spite and collective evil. It is a play that is not only relentlessly suspenseful and vastly moving but that compels readers to fathom their hearts and consciences in ways that only the greatest theater ever can.
“A drama of emotional power and impact” —New York Post
Also by Arthur Miller
See all books by Arthur Miller
Also by Arthur Miller
See all books by Arthur Miller
About Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller (1915–2005) was born in New York City and studied at the University of Michigan. His plays include All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), A View from the Bridge, A Memory of Two… More about Arthur Miller
About Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller (1915–2005) was born in New York City and studied at the University of Michigan. His plays include All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), A View from the Bridge, A Memory of Two… More about Arthur Miller
Product Details
Category: Performing Arts | Historical Fiction | Classic Fiction
Paperback | $16.00
Published by Penguin Classics
Mar 25, 2003 | 176 Pages | 5-1/16 x 7-3/4 | ISBN 9780142437339
Category: Performing Arts | Historical Fiction | Classic Fiction
Ebook | $12.99
Published by Penguin Classics
Mar 25, 2003 | 176 Pages | ISBN 9781101042465
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Praise
Winner of the National Book Award Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters
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The Crucible
By Arthur Miller
Introduction by Christopher W. E. Bigsby
By Arthur Miller
Introduction by Christopher W. E. Bigsby
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