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Jan 30, 2012

Manny rated it:

This is a magnificent play about what happens when hysteria takes over a society, and evil people gain access to the levers of power; something, alas, which happens all too frequently.

The focus of the story is John Proctor's struggle to redeem himself from the horrible guilt he has suffered since committing adultery with Abigail. This is indeed very moving. But, for some reason, the part I think of most often is a detail concerning one of the minor characters, Giles Corey, who dies o More...

10 comments like (19 people liked it)

Mar 04, 2009

Matt rated it:

This play is yet another piece of classic literature that tends to appear on most Midwestern high school curriculums. These curriculums include "The Crucible" and other such works because of status rather than symbolism. (It is a bit ironic that symbolism is usually a cause of status...) Status over symbolism is definitely the case with what many people have described as "one of Miller's most overrated plays." Sure, this play has survived as an esteemed tale for decades, thus More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 16, 2007

Susan rated it:

I love this play and yet am doomed to never EVER see a good production of it. Are there good productions of it? Or is it something that is somehow only exciting on the page? Which is especially weird for a play. But that's been my experience with it over the last 12 years or so since I read it the first time and fell in love with it. For whatever reason, I didn't read this one in high school or college (lived under a rock, apparently!), so finally read it when I was auditioning for a produc More...

4 comments like (5 people liked it)

Oct 01, 2007

Catherine rated it:

Arthur Miller's scathing indictment of 50's era McCarthyism was more interesting than I thought it would be.
Miller set the piece in Salem, MA during the infamous 1692 witch trials.
The play itself is divided into four acts and features the struggles individual villagers face as they are confronted with a hellish choice between hanging for witchcraft or falsely confessing, a choice which leads to the death of others.

The action is driven by a posse of teenage girls. In ord More...

1 comment like (8 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

pinkgal rated it:

It was one of those rare books that are forced upon you and then when you read it, you fall. Hard. While Miller might have written it with the McCarthy Era in mind, it applies very well to the current era of singling out a group of people and labeling them as 'evil'. I reread it a few months back and it still gave me the chills. Proof of what the power of fear has. I'd recommend this to anyone and everyone, though if you're not one for symbolism and parallels, this might not work as well. ;)

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 09, 2010

Faizah Roslaini rated it:

The Crucible mengisahkan tentang perbicaraan amalan ilmu hitam di Salem, Massachusetts, sekitar tahun 1700. Kejadian ini kerap juga dirujuk sebagai,

cautionary tale about the dangers of religious extremism, false accusations, lapses in due process, and governmental intrusion on individual liberties

Penulisnya, Arthur Miller meniatkan The Crucible sebagai allegori kepada McCarthyism sewaktu gelombang Red Scare yang kedua. Tanpa fakta mahupun bukti yang kukuh, Senator Joseph More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 09, 2010

Fabiola is currently reading it

Overall, I love this book because it's interesting how people in the 1900's was accused of being a witch in Salem,Massachusettes.Many people would be accuse of witches, if they did not go to church or if they did spirtual dances. one character in the novel that was accused of being a with was Tituba. Tituba was acussed of being a witch she drinks blood and associates with the devil. At first Tituba tried to deny worshiping to the devil because, she did not want to be whipped to death. So m More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 06, 2011

Kali rated it:

VOYA Evaluation Code: 5Q; 4P

A) Pre-Reading/Anticipatory Thoughts
I am excited to read The Crucible again. I haven't read this text since American Literature in 11th grade. To be honest, this was the only book that I actually read when I was in high school. I remember it was appealing because of its length and content. In addition, I have always loved reading and learning about witchcraft. This probably stems from my love of Halloween and my repetitive costume of a witch during m More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Mar 24, 2008

Januario added it

The Crucible Review
ISBN 0-14-048138-9
Have you ever felt a feeling that you have felt before? At Massachusetts, Salem at the year of 1692, a mass-hysteria arises and this disaster leads to the death of many innocent people. Indecisive, they cannot tell right from wrong nor the truth from a lie. In The Crucible , people’s death is som More...

5 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 31, 2009

Matthew rated it:

This play is plagiarized directly from a movie called 'Day of Wrath' by the Danish director Dreyer.

Dreyer was raised in a strict Lutheran home and he understood spiritual fervor. All of his immortal movies deal with religious feeling in some way.

Sham Hack Miller writes about the Salem witch trials like he is producing an episode of Dateline on the subject. He has no understanding of this event and he is only interested in drawing parallels between Salem and Senator McCa More...

4 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 04, 2008

Jamie added it

the crucible was kinda a wierd book, i could not understand it hardly at all, until i watched the movie then it helped my scatter thoughts come together, i thought it was crazy that they damned there souls to the devil, proctor admitted to what him and abigal had going on and was punished for his actions... the guilty people lied to save thereselves and to keep there names, however the inoocent was hung by there throat as they prayed aloud. this is a good book if you like sad touching old books. More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 07, 2011

Kierstin rated it:

"Bleh. Just... bleh. I definitely did NOT enjoy reading this in the eighth grade, nor will I EVER like reading it in the years to come!"

That was the review I wrote right after finishing it three years ago from now.

After rereading it a second time for my junior year, now I can at least understand the text! Schools often make kids read literature that is too mature for them at the time, even if it IS just a year's difference in between. I've come to appreciate the More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 05, 2011

Mary JL rated it:

It would be hard to say anything about this classic which was not said before. Altough Miller writes in the notes that he changed a few details--merging several judges into one composite to make the play move faster, for example--the SPIRIT of the play is very accurate.

It clearly cpatures the hysteria, legal misconduct and antagonisms of the time. The accusations of witchcraft lead to massive jailings; and 19 executions before the fever died down. It is well written and deserves i More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 05, 2008

Nightfalltwen rated it:

I do have to say that seeing this play preformed is ultimately and unequivocally more rewarding than reading it from a book. The emotions of the actors on stage (I saw it on stage before I read it and long before it was made into a movie) brings the words to life.

That said, this is such a haunting tale. I know it was written right during the whole McCarthyism era in the USA and comparing the communist accusations to the Salem witch hunts is one of the best parallels I have seen.
More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 24, 2010

Maureen rated it:

The first time I saw The Crucible onstage, I left the theater in tears. Although this play is really about the McCarthy hearings and the greater issues surrounding that time, it is set at the time of the Salem witch trials. We can see parallels between the lengths that people will go to in order to disassociate themselves from someone under scrutiny, and the danger of leaping to conclusions based on faulty testimony then and now. Think about the Homeland Security Act, and the way that the Bu More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 22, 2009

Megan rated it:

Another book that we had to read in high school. Very good- a classic. Mr. Miller wrote it based off of what he saw during the "witch hunter" in America, which took place during the 1940s-1950s and was called the "Red Scare." Senator Joseph McCarthy accused many people (politicians, actors, etc.) of being Communists (with little proof, or in most cases, no proof).

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 24, 2009

Devon rated it:

Painful memories of having to endure this book in highschool.....

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 23, 2007

Jeanne rated it:

What can I say? I hated this. I hated it when I read it in high school, and I hate it now.

So, Arthur Miller allegedly wrote this in response to the McCarthy era, which we all know was the witch hunt of the 1950s. And, instead of setting it in the 1950s, he set his play in the time of the Salem witch trials. Clever, no?

And this is why the play is so unreadable. Who wants to read a play that takes place in the 17th century? Who wants to read about characters known as G More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Apr 11, 2008

Tamra rated it:

This was my first Arthur Miller and I loved it! It was a HS curriculum book, so I wasn't hopeful. But it was genius and I loved it and I didn't get it that my classmates weren't so enthusiastic.

It started my love affair with Arthur Miller (eventually derailed by Mr. Peters' Connections), and I will always cherish that.

As for the play. Good read. Fast read, so even if you don't like it, you won't have wasted much time. It's a nice commentary on the times, too, no matt More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

May 16, 2009

Jasmin, added it

I thought The Crucible was a very insightful book. Before I read this novel I thought it was going to be about some witches in Salem but, when I finished reading the book I learned that The Crucible was actually written through a historical point of view. The theme of this book is when one want something bad enough one shall do what ever it takes to recieve it. Just as the girls did in court when they all pretended that they were possessed just to recieve the attention. One person who cried witc More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 18, 2009

David P. rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Nov 02, 2011

Brea rated it:

I was watching an episode of Doctor Who recently that made me think of this book. The episode was 'Midnight', when the tenth doctor is on his way to meet Donna by way of some sort of air train. Being Doctor Who, of course an alien somehow gets on, but possesses a woman and soon chaos erupts. Within minutes, the loveable, chatty group is in a battle of wills as they try to sort out what to do with the lady. Idea after idea is thrown out until, wait! Let's throw her out! And the doctor, he was see More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 11, 2011

Ajmartinez rated it:

The book i had recently read called The Crucible was mainly about the Salem witch trials. Some of the names of the characters were is Abigail, John proctor, Elizabeth proctor. These are some of the most important characters of the story. So the plot of the story is in Salem in the late 1600's what happened was the character named Abigail was seen with the devil or preforming witchcraft. And what you have to do to get out of being hanged is to blame some else that is innocent. What happened is Ab More...

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Oct 02, 2011

Jorge rated it:

This book is really awesome and tricky because it compares the witch hunts with the McCarthyism in 1953.
The McCarthy period started to make accusations of people being communist without any sort of proof and that's kind of ironic because people never actually thought of getting evidence,but it was kind of ovious because McCarthy was a really well respected person .

This also happened in The Crucible just a little bit different,it all starts in act one with Abigail and Betty More...

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Sep 19, 2011

Alyssa rated it:

What I love the most about this book is the allegory it presents. While the story is about the Salem witch trials, it is making a larger statement about the Joseph McCarthy “witchcraft” trails where innocent people where accused of being communists or Soviet spies. While this might be an obvious metaphor for some, I still think it is genius. If Arthur Miller stood outside of McCarthy’s house and accused him of being unfair, Miller himself would be accused of being a communist. However, the s More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 01, 2011

Alyanna rated it:

Alyanna Camacho
Book Review

In the first Act of The Crucible we really start to see the danger that Abigail is ready to “cast” upon the people of Salem to get what she wants. We realize what she is capable of doing and that she won’t hesitate on it. In this Act we see how she does it. We realize that this woman really has no mercy, and barely any men in Salem are capable of blaming anything on her because of how well she is able to hide the truth about herself. There are on More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 26, 2011

Dheena Marie rated it:

A reading requirement for our junior year in high school but I gotta say I enjoyed this a lot. Reading it was a little dull, probably because we were assigned parts and was forced to read lines out loud. Not fun when classmates are reading in a monotonous voice or had less-than-average reading skills.

We watched the movie after reading the book and I really got into the story then. I think the performances of the actors were pretty good and for me personally, left that feeling of " More...

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Jul 17, 2011

Clara rated it:

I was just thinking about this book the other day. It seems there is some type of a "witch hunt" going on within our government all the time. And everyone just seems to be pointing blame at everyone else in an effort to take the focus off of themselves. Or they just blackmail one another to have their own wicked ends accomplished. I love the way Arthur Miller wrote this, and if you consider the time in which this was released, it seems even more appropriate. I love the deve More...

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Jul 01, 2011

Kelvin rated it:

One of the two texts chosen by my school for study in the English Literature subject, admittedly, I found the way the tale of the horrific witch trials was told to be extremely boring initially.

With the proper guidance, however, I am able to gain *some* insight into how greed, suspicion and an insatiable hunger for power can warp the minds of so many, resulting in the tragic deaths of countless innocents, who were dubbed as being 'witches'.

Greed and power-hunger came mainly More...

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Jun 21, 2011

Kaya rated it:

Well this is no summertime party with David Mitchell. I really just wanna go read more David Mitchell but I'm trying to spread it out. So I grabbed this out of my home library. It was good, though I woulda liked it more prob within context of college class to talk about all the red scare allegory blah blah blah. Don't feel like doing research while I read at the moment. I'm on break and feeling lazy. Screw you. Though I suppose it could also be viewed in context of modern day Fox News scare tact More...

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