Study Guide Objectives This study guide serves as a classroom tool for teachers and students, and addresses the following Connecticut curriculum standards for grades K-12: • English Language Arts o 2.4: Exploring and Responding to Literature. Students recognize that readers and authors are influenced by individual, social, cultural, and historical contexts. • Theatre o 5: Researching and Interpreting. Students will research, evaluate and apply cultural and historical information to make artistic choices. o 6: Connections. Students will make connections between theatre, other disciplines and daily life. o 7: Analysis, Criticism and Meaning. Students will analyze, critique, and construct meanings from works of theatre.
Guidelines for Attending the Theatre Attending live theatre is a unique experience with many valuable educational and social benefits. To ensure that all audience members are able to enjoy the performance, please take a few minutes to discuss the following audience etiquette topics with your students before you come to Hartford Stage. • How is attending the theatre similar to and different from going to the movies? What behaviors are and are not appropriate when seeing a play? Why? o Remind students that because the performance is live, the audience can affect what kind of performance the actors give. No two audiences are exactly the same and no two performances are exactly the same—this is part of what makes theatre so special! Students’ behavior should reflect the level of performance they wish to see. • Theatre should be an enjoyable experience for the audience. It is absolutely all right to applaud when appropriate and laugh at the funny moments. Talking and calling out during the performance, however, are not allowed. Why might this be? o Be sure to mention that not only would the people seated around them be able to hear their conversation, but the actors on stage could hear them, too. Theatres are constructed to carry sound efficiently! • Any noise or light can be a distraction, so please remind students to make sure their cell phones are turned off (or better yet, left at home or at school!). Texting, photography, and video recording are prohibited. Food and gum should not be taken into the theatre. • Students should sit with their group as seated by the Front of House staff and should not leave their seats once the performance has begun. If possible, restrooms should be used only during intermission. 3
The Playwright: Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller, the second child of Isadore and Gussie Miller, was born on October 17, 1915, in New York City. He lived with his parents and older brother, Kermit, in a comfortable apartment on West 110th Street overlooking Central Park. His sister, Joan Maxine, was born in 1922. Isadore Miller ran the successful Miltex Coat and Suit Company, thus allowing the family to enjoy a typical middle class lifestyle. There was some tension, however, due to Gussie’s claims of educated, American-born superiority over Isadore’s status as an uneducated immigrant. While his brother, Kermit, excelled academically, Arthur was a mediocre student with a gift for athletics. Gussie tried to make cultural enrichment an important part of her children’s lives, taking them to the theatre and arranging for piano lessons, but the young Arthur had little artistic interest. During the 1920s, Isadore Miller began investing money in the Stock Exchange, hoping to boost his income. When the market plummeted several years later, however, he found himself completely bankrupt. Playwright Arthur Miller. The family was forced out of their home and moved in with Gussie’s family in a poorer part of the city. The adjustment was particularly difficult for Gussie, who had become accustomed to middle class luxuries. She blamed her family’s financial situation on Isadore, saying he was “an idiot for continuing to pour good money after the bad . . . for letting the family fall into its current state . . . and an idiot for being generally inadequate and clumsy as a husband and a man” (Gottfried, p. 14). While this misfortune did not hinder Kermit Miller’s drive for success (he enrolled in New York University after high school), Arthur’s lack of academic interest worsened. His desire to go to college, however, only grew. To the young Arthur, college was not a place for the continuance of education but instead, a vehicle for getting away. After being rejected once, he was conditionally accepted to the University of Michigan. It was there that Arthur Miller began to write, completing his first play in 1935. But in the first few years following graduation, it seemed as though he’d hit a brick wall. Few producers expressed interest in his plays and with no offers on the table, Miller was becoming discouraged. He took a stab at writing radio plays, but did not fare much better. In 1940, still tying to find success as a writer, he married Mary Grace Slattery. Their daughter Jane was born in 1944, and that same year, Miller’s first Broadway play, The Man Who Had All the Luck, premiered. It closed after only six performances. Son Robert was born in 1947. Three years later came the premiere of All My Sons, Miller’s first real theatrical achievement. The play was produced by Harold Clurman and Elia Kazan, who also directed the production and began a long friendship with Miller. Kazan, a known leftist and former member of the American Communist Party, was also a renowned director of theatre and film. He had recently cofounded the Actor’s Studio, which developed and taught the Method Acting system, which emphasizes performance as an extension of characters’ inner experiences. Kazan’s charisma, psychological acuity, and socio-political interests made him a natural fit for Miller’s writing, and the friends collaborated on several of Miller’s other plays. Miller’s success continued in the following years with Death of a Salesman (1949, also directed by Kazan), an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People (1950), and The Crucible (1953), a play about the Salem witch trials that paralleled the 4
US government’s search for Communists in America. These years were eventful for Miller, both professionally and personally. He divorced his first wife and began a tumultuous marriage to actress Marilyn Monroe. Miller was also called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) to discuss his involvement with Communist organizations. The subpoena did not come as a surprise to Miller, who had already perceived that he was under HUAC’s microscope; a producer had recently reacted suspiciously to Miller’s refusal to turn one of his screenplays into a piece of anti-Communist propaganda, and he had frequently collaborated with actors and directors who were known or suspected to be members of the Communist Party. Kazan was the most famous of these, having directed successful productions of plays by Miller and Tennessee Williams, as well as the acclaimed film version of Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire. Kazan was known to be a former member of the American Communist Party and, predictably, was called before the Committee. With his film career taking off, Kazan was faced with a difficult choice: if he refused to answer HUAC’s questions, he would be blacklisted from the film industry and if he complied, he would have to betray friends and colleagues. Kazan made an agreement with friend and playwright Clifford Odets that they would name each other, and met with Miller to inform him of his decision to cooperate with the Committee. Miller disapproved, and when called before the Committee himself, refused to follow his friend’s example. In his testimony, Miller admitted that he “had made a lot of statements and signed a great many petitions,” and that he had “been involved in organizations,” but would not identify the other attendees (Carlisle and
“I lived through the McCarthy time, when one saw personalities shifting and changing before one’s eyes, as a direct, obvious result of a political situation.” —Arthur Miller, “The Art of Theater, No. 2” from The Paris Review Styron). As a result, Miller was convicted of contempt of Congress and threatened with jail time. The conviction was overturned a year later, but by this time, severe damage had been done to his friendship with Kazan. Passages in The Crucible (on which Miller had already begun to work before both Kazan’s testimony and his own) speak to his condemnation of those who “named names.” As John Proctor states in the play’s final scene, “I confess to God, and God has seen my name on this! It is enough! . . . God does not need my name nailed on the church . . . You will not use me! . . . I have three children—how may I teach them to walk like men in the world, and I sold my friends?” Miller and Kazan reunited several years later amidst new personal turmoil (Monroe’s headline-making infidelity) and professional opportunity (Kazan was a member of the new Lincoln Center Repertory Theatre’s artistic leadership and hoped to return to collaboration with Miller on a new play). Miller would eventually divorce Monroe. He and Kazan returned to work together on one more play, After the Fall, a work seemingly inspired by Miller’s own life, including his and Kazan’s experiences with HUAC. Miller married his third wife, photographer Inge Morath, in 1962. They collaborated on two works of nonfiction, In the Country (1977) and Chinese Encounters (1979). His children with Morath include daughter Rebecca (who married actor Daniel Day-Lewis) and a son named Daniel, who was born with severe Downs Syndrome. Miller continued to write for the stage, television, and film until his death from heart failure in 2005. Other well-known works include the plays A View from the Bridge, The Creation of the World and Other Business, and Broken Glass, as well as the screenplay for Monroe’s last film, The Misfits (1961). His last play to be produced, Finishing the Picture, premiered at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre in 2004.
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TIMELINE: THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS • 1626—Salem is settled by fishermen from the West Country of England. • 1629—Salem is incorporated into Massachusetts Bay Colony. • 1641—English law designates witchcraft as a capital offense. • 1688—A thirteen-yearold Boston girl exhibits strange behaviors after an argument with Goodwife Ann Glover, an Irish washerwoman. When the girl’s siblings begin behaving strangely as well, Goody Glover is accused of bewitching them. • November 16, 1688— Goody Glover is hanged as a witch. • 1689—Cotton Mather, the minister of Boston’s Old North Church, publishes his book, Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions. In it, he details the case of Goody Glover and describes the symptoms of witchcraft. The book is widely read throughout New England, and is part of Reverend Samuel Parris’s library when the Salem trials take place. • November 1689—Wanting to break off from Salem Town, the Putnam family leads a group of likeminded Salem Village residents in refusing to worship at the church in Salem Town. They form a new congregation in Salem 6
Characters Reverend Samuel Parris—The minister of Salem’s church, and father to Betty, one of the first girls “afflicted” by the supposed witchcraft. In his three years as minister, his relationship with some of the villagers, including John Proctor, has become strained. They find Parris’s demeanor harsh and self-serving. Betty Parris—Reverend Parris’s ten-year-old daughter. Betty becomes mysteriously ill after Reverend Parris sees her with the other girls in the woods at night, dancing and drinking from a kettle. The sickness that befalls her and Ruth Putnam is the spark that begins rumors of witchcraft in Salem. Tituba—Reverend Parris’s slave from Barbados. She performs voodoo at Ruth Putnam’s request (in an effort to discover what is causing Mrs. Ann Putnam’s babies to be stillborn), but is turned in by the girls for doing the Devil’s work. She confesses to witchcraft under pressure from Reverend Parris, the Putnams, and Reverend Hale, and is used as an informant for the church and the court to find other witches in the village. Abigail Williams—Reverend Parris’s seventeen-year-old niece. At one time, Abigail was a servant for John and Elizabeth Proctor, but was dismissed after Elizabeth discovered that Abigail was secretly having an affair with John. Abigail is smart, cunning, manipulative, and an extremely good liar. She is the ring leader for beginning the witch hunt, and accuses many innocent people of being witches, all in the name of revenge on Elizabeth and in the hope that John will love her once more. Susanna Wallcott—One of the girls in the village. She delivers a message to Reverend Parris from Dr. Griggs that he should “look to unnatural things for the cause” of Betty’s affliction. Mrs. Ann Putnam—Thomas Putnam’s wife. Ann Putnam has given birth to eight children, all of whom died before they were one day old except for her daughter, Ruth. Ann is convinced that they were murdered by supernatural means and is determined to seek revenge on anyone she believes may have stolen her children from her. Thomas Putnam—A wealthy, influential citizen of Salem. His daughter, Ruth, is one of the first children believed to be afflicted by witchcraft. Tension exists between Putnam and some of the villagers, including Francis Nurse, who prevented Putnam’s brother-in-law from becoming minister in the town. This grudge is thought by some in the community to be a factor when Nurse’s wife, Rebecca, is accused of being a witch. There are rumors that Putnam plans to increase his own wealth by acquiring the land of those convicted and hanged as witches. Mercy Lewis—One of the girls in the group that accuses other villagers of being witches. She is also a servant in the Putnam household.
Mary Warren—A servant in John and Elizabeth Proctor’s household and a member of the group of girls making accusations of witchcraft. She is quiet, shy, and easily manipulated by others. John Proctor convinces her to confess that the girls are lying but during an intense interrogation, she rescinds her statements and rejoins the group of afflicted girls. John Proctor—A Salem farmer, married to Elizabeth Proctor. He despises hypocrites and has a reputation for being stern and unabashedly honest. His secret affair with Abigail Williams is a source of tension in his marriage and John fears his indiscretions will be revealed. When Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft, John seeks to prove that the accusations are fraudulent, but soon finds himself accused. Rebecca Nurse— Francis Nurse’s wife. Rebecca is a respectable, Elizabeth (Kate Forbes) and John Proctor (Michael Laurence) in sensible, and “The Crucible” at Hartford Stage. Photo by T. Charles Erickson. wise woman who is held in high regard by the Salem community for her religious spirit and kindly nature. When she is accused of witchcraft by the Putnams, she refuses to confess, though the lie would save her life. Giles Corey—An elderly but robust farmer in Salem, known locally for his many lawsuits against those he claims are trying to steal his land. When his wife, Martha, is accused of witchcraft, he is held in contempt of court. Giles refuses to enter a plea as to his guilt or innocence of witchcraft, and he is pressed to death with large stones. Reverend John Hale—Reportedly an expert on witchcraft, Hale is a young minister who is called into Salem to calm the fears of the townspeople and examine Reverend Parris’s daughter, Betty. When Mary Warren asserts that the girls are lying, Hale begins to doubt the righteousness of the court’s mission and questions whether a grievous mistake has occurred. Elizabeth Proctor—The wife of John Proctor. Elizabeth released their household servant, Abigail Williams, when she discovered that Abigail and John were having an affair. When Abigail accuses her of witchcraft, Elizabeth is convicted but granted a stay of execution due to her pregnancy. Elizabeth is honest and virtuous; however, she finds it difficult to trust people, including John. Francis Nurse—Married to Rebecca Nurse, Francis is a wealthy, influential man in Salem. He is well-liked and respected by most of the villagers, but
Village, name Reverend Samuel Parris their new minister and begin worshipping at the Salem Village Meetinghouse. Parris and his family move to Salem from Boston. • October 16, 1691—The residents of Salem, dissatisfied with Reverend Parris, elect mostly antiParris representatives to the Salem Village Committee. Residents vow to drive Parris out and the Committee decides to stop collecting the taxes and provisions that comprise Parris’s salary. The Parris family begins subsisting on voluntary contributions, much of which comes from the Putnam family. • January 20, 1692—Elevenyear-old Abigail Williams and her cousin, nineyear-old Elizabeth Parris, begin behaving strangely, demonstrating the same behavior as the children who accused Goody Glover of witchcraft four years prior. Symptoms include sharp pains, momentary paralysis, choking, staring into space, crawling onto or under furniture, crying out, and making nonsensical noises. Other girls in the village soon exhibit the behaviors as well. • February 1692—Finding no medical cause for the girls’ behavior, Dr. William Griggs, the village physician, hypothesizes that witchcraft may be responsible. Elizabeth Parris soon accuses Tituba, 7
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the Parris family’s slave from Barbados, as the cause of her affliction. March 1, 1692—Tituba, Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Bridget Bishop are arrested as witches. Tituba confesses and names Sarah Good and Sarah Obsborne as her co-conspirators. March 11, 1692—Other girls, including Mercy Lewis, Mary Wolcott, Mary Warren, and Ann Putnam, Jr. (named Ruth in The Crucible), show the symptoms of being afflicted by witchcraft. March 28, 1692— Elizabeth Proctor is accused of witchcraft. April 11, 1692—John Proctor protests the examination of his wife and is arrested and charged with witchcraft. The entire Proctor family would eventually be accused. The Proctors’ servant and accuser, Mary Warren, soon after admits that she and the other girls were lying. April 19, 1692—Mary Warren reverses her earlier statement and rejoins the accusers. May 10, 1692—Sarah Osborne dies in prison. June 2, 1692—The Court of Oyer and Terminer is convened in Salem. Bridget Bishop is the first person tried and convicted of witchcraft in Salem. June 10, 1692—Bridget Bishop is hanged at Gallows Hill. June 15, 1692—Reverend
has a tense relationship with the Putnams, which appears to be a factor when the Putnams’ daughter, Ruth, accuses his wife of witchcraft. Ezekiel Cheever—A resident of Salem Village who acts as clerk of the court during the witch trials. Herrick—The marshal in Salem. Judge Hathorne—One of the judges who presides over the witch trials in Salem. Deputy Governor Danforth—The deputy governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony and the presiding judge at the witch trials in Salem. Though he is willing to hear defenses for those accused, Danforth holds strongly to the spectral evidence presented as proof and is committed to his duty to root out witchcraft in the village. Sarah Good—A homeless beggar woman in Salem who is accused of witchcraft by Abigail Williams and Mary Warren. Her confession and pregnancy save her from being hanged.
Off-Stage Characters: Ruth Putnam—The only one of Thomas and Ann Putnam’s eight children to survive longer than a day. Similar to Reverend Parris’ daughter, Betty, Ruth becomes mysteriously ill after Parris catches her and the other girls from the village out in the woods at night, dancing. Dr. William Griggs—Salem’s physician who suspects witchcraft may be the cause of Betty and Ruth’s afflictions when he can find no medical cause. He also serves the court during the witch trials by examining those accused of witchcraft. Martha Corey—Giles Corey’s wife. When Giles mentions to Reverend Hale that Martha is often up late reading, she is suspected of witchcraft and is arrested and convicted.
Themes for Discussion Mass Hysteria In 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, a young girl has fallen into a comalike trance. She does not speak, she does not eat, she does not move. Soon, another girl falls under the same spell, and fear spreads through the village. What is happening to these girls? No one understands it. A doctor examines them but can find no medical reason for their behavior. Baffled, he suggests that something unnatural may be the cause of it. His idea is initially met with resistance. The village’s minister, who also happens to be the father of one of the girls, sends word back to the doctor that “there be no unnatural causes here,” and that he has “sent for Reverend Hale of Beverly, and Mister Hale will surely confirm that. Let him look to the medicine, and put out all thought of unnatural causes here. There be none” (I, 1). Yet for the rural, 17th century colonists of Salem, the fear of the unknown is all-consuming, and they look to old superstitions and their strongly-held Puritan beliefs for solace and explanation. It is not long before the rumors and whispers of children flying and the man in black begin. At the start of The Crucible, Salem Village is ripe for turmoil. The quarrelsome relationships amongst the villagers (lawsuits over landholdings and debts are common), combined with interpersonal tensions (the community includes clearly pro-Reverend Parris and anti-Parris factions) and fervent religious convictions have stretched the fabric of the community so thin that it is ready to tear. Salem Village is also a theocratic community, in which the laws of religion are supreme and faithfulness to religious tenets is the mark of a lawful citizen. Those whose appearances at church have become few and far between due to their dissatisfaction with the content of Reverend Parris’s sermons have drawn the disapproval of their neighbors. As the girls’ mysterious symptoms continue, disapproval turns to criticism and suspicion. The Puritans’ faith teaches them that “the Devil is out and preying on [Christians] like a beast upon the flesh of the pure lamb,” and the arrival of Reverend John Hale, who is known regionally as an expert on demonic arts, and who has discovered witches in other communities, only adds credibility to the theory that there may be something supernatural at work in Salem (I, 1). Though Reverend Parris initially claims he sent for Reverend Hale to validate that nothing supernatural is at the root of the girls’ behavior, those in the village who hold to superstition find their opinions validated. When Betty and Abigail begin to cry out that they have seen various villagers “with the Devil,” the others are eager to believe them (I, 1). When Tituba confesses to witchcraft and names others as witches, the accusations become a forum for villagers’ jealousies, resentments, and prejudices, and the girls find an excuse for their own misbehavior. By the end of Act I, Scene 1, Betty and Abigail’s accusations are frenzied, and others are caught up in the intensity of the moment. They begin to see signs of demonic possession or interference everywhere they turn. When Thomas Putnam observes that Betty “cannot bear to hear the Lord’s name,” he claims that it is “a sure sign of witchcraft afloat” (I, 1). He also
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Cotton Mather sends a letter to the court, emphasizing speedy trials and that spectral evidence (evidence based on visions and dreams of acts allegedly committed by a spirit, or spectre) not be allowed to be the standard for conviction. The judges pay more attention to Mather’s request for speed. June 29, 1692—Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Good are among those convicted and sentenced to hang. July 19, 1692—Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Good, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth How and Sarah Wilds are hanged at Gallows Hill. August 5, 1692—John and Elizabeth Proctor are among those tried, convicted, and sentenced to hang. August 19, 1692—John Proctor, Reverend George Burroughs (Salem’s former minister), John Willard, George Jacobs, Sr., and Martha Carrier are hanged at Gallows Hill. Elizabeth Proctor is not hanged because she is pregnant. September 9, 1692— Martha Corey is among those tried, convicted, and sentenced to hang. Mid-September 1692— Giles Corey is indicted for witchcraft. He refuses to enter a plea when the charges are read. September 19, 1692— Judges begin “pressing” Giles Corey. This process, called peine forte et dure (hard and forceful 9
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punishment) in French, was the legal solution at the time for those refusing to enter a plea. In this process, the prisoner is stripped naked and placed on the ground with a heavy board over their stomach and chest. Heavy boulders or stones are then placed on the boards until the prisoner enters a plea or the weight of the stones causes suffocation and the prisoner dies. Giles Corey died after being pressed for two days, during which he was asked three times to enter a plea and refused. September 22, 1692— Martha Corey, Margaret Scott, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeater, Willmott Redd, Samuel Wardwell and Mary Parker are executed on the last “hanging day” in Salem. October 3, 1692— Reverend Increase Mather denounces the use of spectral evidence. October 8, 1692— Governor William Phipps declares that spectral evidence can no longer be used in trials. October 29, 1692— Governor Phipps dissolves the Court of Oyer and Terminer in Salem, releases many accused witches, and prohibits further arrests. By this time, more than 200 people had been accused of witchcraft, of whom 50 confessed to save their lives and 20 were executed. November 25, 1692—A Superior Court is
declares that “there be children dyin’ in the village,” though nothing of the sort has actually occurred (I, 1). Even Giles Corey, who up until that moment had been skeptical of the claim that something paranormal was at work, finds himself taken in. Giles voices misgivings about his wife’s reading habits, which under normal Puritan standards would simply have been frowned upon, but in light of the allegations of witchcraft, take on new meaning. Tituba’s confession is obtained when she is threatened with being whipped or hanged. When pressed further, Tituba names others as witches, which lends credibility to her statements. Over time, as more and more citizens are arrested, the intense pressure builds on the newly accused to free themselves by confessing and naming others. All accusations are believed because so many of them are legitimized by those simply trying to save their own lives. The accusations soon grow beyond the likely scapegoats to the most respected members of society, thus increasing the fear and tension in the village. When people such as Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse, known in Salem to be “the very brick and mortar of the church,” are accused, it becomes clear that there are people using the fear
HALE: You have CONFESSED yourself to WITCHCRAFT, and that speaks a WISH to come to HEAVEN’S SIDE. And we will BLESS you, Tituba . . . (Act I, Scene 1) of the unknown as an opportunity to express their own resentments (I, 2). The mumbles of cynicism turn to outright cries of dissent. Giles Corey points out the convenient coincidence of the accusations against his wife, recounting that it was “that bloody mongrel Wallcott charge her,” who several years prior had a disagreement over a pig he purchased from her and now “claims that from that day to this he cannot keep a pig alive for more than four weeks because my Martha bewitch him with her books” (I, 2). It is not long before anyone who dares to question or speak out against the witch hunt or voice any kind of dissent in Salem finds themselves accused, some by the circle of afflicted girls, and some through the confession of one of the condemned. In Act I, Scene 2, Elizabeth observes that “the town’s gone wild.” With herself, her husband, and many of their neighbors yet to be accused at this point, her statement gains weight in the chaos that follows. The attempts of Proctor, Corey, and Francis Nurse to free their loved ones backfire, and there is a sense that events have spun out of control. News of events in Salem has spread to nearby communities, which have declared they want nothing like it in their towns. Reverend Parris reports to Judge Hathorne in Act II, Scene 2 that “Andover have thrown out the court . .
. and will have no part of witchcraft.” Parris fears “there be a faction [in Salem] feeding on that news,” and that “there will be riot” in his village (II, 3). When the action of the play ends, the trials do not, and it will take the effort of not just one person, but the entire community, to set things right again.
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Questions: • How much of the hysteria was rooted in religious zeal and how much in personal grudges? Was one more responsible for the hysteria than the other? • Mary Warren admits that Abigail and the other girls are lying about their afflictions, and goes with John Proctor to tell the truth before the judges. However, when Mary is interrogated, the other girls turn on her and accuse her of bewitching them. Why does Mary return to Abigail’s side? What impact does Mary’s reversal have on Proctor’s cause? Why are the judges so reluctant to believe that the girls are lying? • Accused witches were hanged if they were convicted, but spared the noose if they confessed and named others. Given that everyone who was tried was convicted, how did this system contribute to the hysteria? • In the final scene of the play, Danforth refuses to accept Proctor’s confession if it is a lie. However, if Proctor’s confession to witchcraft is a lie, then that would mean that the truth is that he is NOT a witch. In Act II, Scene 2, Danforth commands Proctor: “give me your honest confession in my hand, or I cannot keep you from the rope.” How does the contradiction in this statement represent the hysterical atmosphere in Salem? • What would have happened if Abigail and the other girls had owned up to dancing in the woods and not tried to cover up their actions?
Reputation, Status, and Power
“It is not the same!” John Proctor declares in Act II, Scene 2, of The Crucible. “What others say and what I sign to is not the same!” By the time Proctor reaches this moment, when Deputy Governor Danforth demands that he sign what Proctor knows is a false confession of witchcraft, self-respect is all that Proctor has left. When he was accused, tried, and convicted, Proctor joined the more than two hundred other people whose reputations were marred by false accusations and whose previously upstanding statuses in the Salem community were forever diminished. Proctor must decide if he can live with the stain of his name being associated with the label of “witch.” Is it worth it to save his life but give up his pride by confessing to what he did not do? Or is his confession no more than a surrender to the evil that grips his community and that he fears grips his soul? If he signs, how can he bear to live with that evil when so many others have died with their goodness? “Who will judge me,” he asks his wife, Elizabeth. “God in Heaven, what is John Proctor! What is John Proctor! I think it is honest, I think so: I am no saint . . . for
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established to try the remaining accused witches. January 3, 1693—Judge Stoughton orders the execution of all convicted witches previously spared because of pregnancy. Governor Phipps refuses to enforce the order. January 1693—49 of the 52 people still in prison on witchcraft charges are released because their arrests were based on spectral evidence. Some time during 1693, Tituba is released and sold to a new master to pay her jail costs. January 15, 1693—The Essex County Court finds the Salem Village Committee in neglect of its duties and orders a new election. The result is another anti-Parris Committee. May 1693—Governor Phipps releases and pardons those still in prison on witchcraft charges. November 26, 1693— Reverend Parris gives his “Meditation for Peace” sermon, in which he admits to giving too much weight to spectral evidence. April 1696—Reverend Parris is ousted as minister and agrees to leave Salem. 1697—Joseph Green is made the new minister of Salem Village. He works to rebuild the community by seating accusers with the accused at church services. November 1698—The 11
family of Rebecca Nurse rejoins the Salem Village congregation. 1703—The Salem Village congregation accepts a motion to revoke the excommunication of Martha Corey. 1706—Ann Putnam, Jr. publicly apologizes for her actions in 1692. 1712—The excommunications of Rebecca Nurse and Giles Corey are revoked. 1752—Salem Village separates from Salem Town and becomes Danvers.
me it is fraud! . . . it is evil” (II, 2). Proctor is not the only Salem resident whose reputation and status in the community are inextricably linked. When his daughter, Betty, falls unexplainably ill, Reverend Samuel Parris is concerned not only with his • daughter’s health and well-being, but with how his standing in Salem may be compromised if something sinful turns out to be the cause of it. He is particularly concerned that it may be the result of some immoral behavior by his daughter and niece, Abigail, and fears how their actions may reflect on him. Parris is aware that he has enemies in Salem, and that “there is a • faction that is sworn to drive [him] from [his] pulpit” (I, 1). It would not do, “in the midst of such disruption,” if his “own household [was] discovered to be the very center of some obscene practice” (I, 1). As he commands • Abigail to tell him the truth, he reminds her that he has “fought [in Salem] three long years” to achieve his status as the maker of supreme, theocratic law in the village, and “to bend these stiff-necked people” to his rules. • He further warns her that she should not dare to “compromise [his] very character,” particularly at this moment, “when there TIMELINE: ARTHUR must be some good MILLER, ELIA KAZAN, and respect for [him] in THE RED SCARE the parish” (I, 1). Parris believes that • 1934—Turkish American his role as minister stage and film director Elia rightfully classifies Kazan joins the American him as an elite in Communist Party. the community. He Betty Parris (Lilli Jacobs), Susanna Wallcott (Erin Fitzpat• 1934—Elia Kazan appears cites his degree from rick), Mercy Lewis (Eileen Conneely), and Abigail Williams in Waiting for Lefty, a play Harvard University to (Rachel Mewbron) in the gallery in Hartford Stage’s producby fellow Communist Party tion of “The Crucible.” Photo by T. Charles Erickson. remind the villagers member, Clifford Odets. that he is “not some • 1936—Elia Kazan leaves preaching farmer with a book under [his] arm” and that “a minister is the American Communist not to be so lightly crossed and contradicted” (I, 1). Parris knows that if Party after refusing a Abigail and Betty are found to have engaged in objectionable behavior, his directive to take over the position will be at risk. Group Theatre with a cell Rebecca Nurse is a resident of Salem Village whose reputation as a of fellow Communists good Christian woman and a model of Puritan morals and ethics grant her within the organization. a respected status in the community. She is both admired and resented for • May 17, 1938—The her large family (eleven children and twenty-six grandchildren) by people House Committee on like the Putnams, who have the power and prominent public standing Un-American Activities is that derives from financial wealth, but have experienced the private loss formed. Initially called the of seven babies. Rebecca is described as “the very brick and mortar of Dies Committee (headed the church,” and when she is named as a witch by Abigail Williams and by Texas Democrat Martin the group of afflicted girls, the villagers react in shock. Reverend Hale Dies), it is created to sums up the other villagers’ sentiments, saying that “if Rebecca Nurse be investigate the activities of tainted, then nothing’s left to stop the whole green world from burning” German-American Nazis. (I, 2). However, the Committee 12
Despite her maintaining her innocence, the accusations against Rebecca cause her to lose her status as a saintly model of virtue in Salem. Rebecca’s fall occurs in direct contrast to Abigail’s rise from a servant girl with a tarnished reputation to a paradigm of righteousness who others treat “as though she were a saint . . . [when] she brings the other girls into the court, and where she walks the crowd will part like the sea for Israel” (I, 2). Abigail’s status as the leader of the afflicted girls makes her a celebrity in Salem, and whereas her interactions with the other villagers were previously marked by rumors about her dubious conduct, she is soon viewed as an innocent with an immaculate character. Her dedication to her testimony is unwavering. When Deputy Governor Danforth momentarily questions her truthfulness, Abigail fears her position may be in jeopardy and becomes manic in her desperation to cast herself as a martyr doing holy work. “I have been hurt,” she boldly reminds him, “I have seen my blood runnin’ out! I have been near to murdered every day because I done my duty pointing out the Devil’s people” (II, 1). She casts doubt into the minds of those, like Danforth, who would question her candor, saying
PROCTOR: Why do you never WONDER if Parris be INNOCENT, or Abigail? Is the ACCUSER always HOLY now? Were they born this morning as CLEAN as God’s fingers?
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they should not “think [themselves] so mighty that the power of Hell may not turn [their] wits” (II, 1). As many in the community turn on Rebecca when she is accused, John Proctor continues to hold her in high esteem. His reverence of Rebecca is rooted in his own inability to follow her example. Throughout her life and even in the face of execution, Rebecca is a consistent model of honor, while John Proctor is a sinner whose flawed nature is his undoing. If he is to find inner salvation, he must accept his flaws. His affair with Abigail Williams, who previously worked in the Proctors’ household, casts a shadow on his marriage. Proctor believes his indiscretion is secret from everyone but his wife, Elizabeth, allowing him to maintain his status as a reputable farmer in Salem. As he struggles to reconnect with his wife and regain her esteem, Proctor fears his secret will undermine his ability to maintain respectability in Salem. Despite his knowledge that Abigail’s accusations are lies, Proctor hesitates to bring the information to the court. Elizabeth points out in Act I, Scene 2, that “if it were not Abigail that [he] must go to hurt” Proctor would not be so reluctant. Proctor defends himself, claiming that he has already made amends for his dishonesty and that Elizabeth does not have the power to pass judgment on him. “I have
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soon shifts its focus to Communism. 1938—Former Communist James B. Matthews tells HUAC that actors Clark Gable and Shirley Temple are among those unwittingly serving Communist interests. 1940—HUAC Chairman Martin Dies charges that Communists hold positions of influence in Hollywood. 1940—Arthur Miller meets playwright and known Communist Clifford Odets in a secondhand bookstore. June 28, 1940—Congress passes the Smith Act, which makes it illegal to assist any groups “who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of the government of the United States by force or violence.” The Smith Act would later be used to prosecute hundreds of suspected American Communists. December 1941—The United States Department of Justice begins keeping a list of organizations it deems “subversive.” March 5, 1946—Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivers his famous “Iron Curtain” speech, in which he declares, “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an Iron Curtain has descended across the Continent” of Europe. 1947—President Harry Truman signs 13
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Executive Order 9835, mandating loyalty reviews for employees of the federal government and permitting their dismissal if they are believed to be disloyal to the United States. Truman also defines Communist victory anywhere in the world as a threat to American security. 1947—Arthur Miller attends the meetings of Communist Party writers. 1947—Arthur Miller and Elia Kazan meet when Kazan’s producing partner, Harold Clurman, reads Miller’s play, All My Sons. Kazan directs the Broadway premiere of All My Sons, and he and Miller quickly become friends. Later that year, Kazan cofounds the Actor’s Studio in New York and wins Oscar, Golden Globe, Tony, and New York Film Critics Awards for his work as a director for stage and screen. October 20, 1947—The House Un-American Activities Committee begins hearings to investigate Communist activity in Hollywood. HUAC creates a list of 43 film industry professionals known or alleged to be members of the American Communist Party. Nineteen of the 43 declare that they will not give evidence in the matter. October 27, 1947— HUAC calls eleven of the nineteen to appear before the committee and
good reason to think before I charge fraud on Abigail,” he tells her. “And I will think on it. Let you look to your own improvement before you go to judge your husband any more . . . I cannot speak but I am doubted; every moment judged for lies as though I come into a court when I come into this house!” What pushes Proctor to a decision to reveal Abigail’s fraud is his discovery that his relationship with Abigail is not quite as secret as he believed. When he commands Mary Warren to go with him to court to testify that Abigail and the other girls are lying, Mary is certain that Abigail will turn on both of them. “She’ll kill me for sayin’ that,” she tells him. “Abby’ll charge lechery on you, Mister Proctor” (I, 2). Mary’s acknowledgement that she has known Proctor’s secret for some time hardens his resolve to see Abigail lowered. With knowledge of the affair already out, Proctor knows he stands to lose nothing if she confirms their relationship; Abigail, however, would only further denigrate herself. “Good,” he says. “Then her saintliness is done with. We will slide together into our pit” (I, 2). Proctor’s decision to publicly come clean about the affair is underscored by Elizabeth’s efforts to preserve her husband’s good name in Act II, Scene 1. In the course of Mary Warren’s contentious interrogation, Proctor comes clean about his relationship with Abigail in an effort to discredit her and prove she has a motive for making witchcraft accusations against his wife. But when Deputy Governor Danforth questions Elizabeth and asks her directly if “John Proctor ever committed the sin of lechery,” she says no. Elizabeth’s honesty and integrity are at the core of her character, but in this moment, unaware that Proctor has already confessed to the affair, she sacrifices those things in order to preserve her husband’s reputation. In doing so, she inadvertently lends credibility to Abigail’s lies, thus affirming Abigail’s saintly status, and casts her husband as a deceitful liar. “A man will not cast away his good name,” Proctor reminds the court in an attempt to bring validity to his allegations against Abigail (II, 1). Yet casting away his name is precisely what he prepares to do in the play’s final moments. When Deputy Governor Danforth asks him to sign the confession, Proctor must decide who he is and what he is worth. Can he rise to the lofty stature of Rebecca, who despite the charges against her maintains her innocence and will go to the scaffold with her integrity intact? Which is the greater fraud: to die with personal integrity but public disgrace, or live with both personal shame and public infamy? Proctor wavers in his decision, but in the end, Elizabeth believes that “he [has] his goodness now” (II, 2).
Questions: • The first few people accused of witchcraft in Salem are people who are considered in some way to be outside the mainstream of society—Tituba is a slave from Barbados, Sarah Good is a homeless beggar, and Bridget Bishop went outside of Puritan religious norms by living with her husband for several years before they were married. Their low statuses make them likely scapegoats when the witchcraft accusations begin. Rebecca Nurse, however, is an upstanding member of the Salem community, known for being a moral, decent, and charitable Christian. Describe the
villagers’ reactions to Rebecca’s arrest. Why did the accusers turn their attention to Rebecca and others like her? How does Rebecca’s arrest and conviction impact the proceedings? • Why does Deputy Governor Danforth insist that John Proctor sign the confession? Why is it not enough for Proctor to simply confess in front of witnesses and have the confession recorded? Why is the act of signing his name to the confession so significant to Proctor? • Does John Proctor make the right choice? At the end of the play, does Proctor “have his goodness now” as Elizabeth says? Which do you think is worse: to live knowing you lied or to die maintaining the truth? • Would you admit to doing something you did not do if it meant a lesser punishment than if you maintained your innocence? Why or why not? Does your answer depend on the situation? What makes either choice worth it?
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Hartford Stage’s Production: What to Expect This is the first time The Crucible has been produced at Hartford Stage. While the play is set in 1692, audiences should not expect to see Pilgrim hats and buckled shoes in this production. Director Gordon Edelstein chose to set the play in a non-specific, isolated, rural community in the early 20th century, and uses 27 actors to portray the entire village. The costumes will be used to differentiate between the professions of the various characters and to clearly portray the class structure of the community. This allows the production to emphasize the timelessness of the story, place focus on the play’s themes, and serve as a cautionary tale, warning that this could happen again in another time, including the present.
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deems them “unfriendly witnesses.” Ten of the eleven refuse to answer the Committee’s questions, citing First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and assembly. The Committee for the First Amendment (which counts actors Lauren Bacall, Huphrey Bogart, and Gene Kelly among its members) protests the hearings. November 24, 1947—The “Hollywood Ten” are charged with contempt of Congress. November 25, 1947—The Motion Picture Association of America confirms its blacklisting of the Hollywood Ten, who can no longer be hired to work anywhere in the American film industry. 1948—The Department of Justice’s list of “subversive” organizations is made public. The majority of those on the list are identified as Communist organizations. February 25, 1948— Czechoslovakia installs a Communist government, heightening American fears of Communists seizing control of Eastern Europe. June 24, 1948—The Soviets blockade West Berlin, leaving it without access to food and supplies. August 25, 1948—A HUAC hearing is the first Congressional hearing to be broadcast on television. The broadcast includes 15
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the testimony of Alger Hiss, a member of the State Department under President Roosevelt, and Whittaker Chambers, a former Communist who accused Hiss of being a Communist agent. 1949—Arthur Miller writes Death of a Salesman. Elia Kazan directs the Broadway production. Miller is awarded the Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics Circle Award for his play. 1949—Arthur Miller cochairs an arts panel with fellow playwright Clifford Odets and composer Dmitri Shostakovich at the Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace, a pro-Soviet event. August 29, 1949—The Soviet Union successfully detonates an atomic bomb. October 1, 1949— Chairman Mao declares victory in the Chinese Civil War, and creates the Communist People’s Republic of China. 1950—Under pressure from HUAC, Miller’s screenplay The Hook fails to reach production. February 9, 1950—Senator Joseph McCarthy gives a speech in which he claims to have a list of 205 employees of the U.S. State Department who are either members of or loyal to the Communist Party. June 1950—Three former FBI agents work with TV producer Vincent Harnett to publish Red Channels, which supposedly
For Further Exploration: History and Drama, Side by Side In his note accompanying the text of The Crucible, Arthur Miller states: This play is not history in the sense in which the word is used by the academic historian . . . However, I believe that the reader will discover here the essential nature of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history. The fate of each character is exactly that of his historical model, and there is no one in the drama who did not play a similar—and in some cases exactly the same—role in history. As for the characters of the persons, little is known about most of them except what may be surmised from a few letters, the trial record, certain broadsides written at the time, and references to their conduct in sources of varying reliability. They may therefore be taken as creations of my own, drawn to the best of my ability in conformity with their known behavior, except as indicated in the commentary I have written for this text. Miller took many creative liberties in writing The Crucible. Use the chart to the right to compare the historical realities of the people and events of the Salem witch trials with the versions presented in Miller’s play.
Questions: • How do the changes Miller made to the people and events of the Salem witch trials help him to better tell the story he intended? • When he was writing The Crucible, Miller sought to use the story of the Salem witch trials of 1692 as an allegory for McCarthyism and the search for Communists during the 1950s. What do the significant differences between the events of the play and real life teach about the process of telling history through art? • Rejected by John Proctor, the Abigail Williams of the play places blame for John’s rebuff squarely on the shoulders of his wife, Elizabeth. The confrontation between John and Abigail is the collision factor that begins the witch hysteria. Given that no illicit relationship actually existed between the two, why did the real life trials and executions occur?
Depiction in Miller’s Play
Historical Truth
Reverend Parris’s wife has been dead for
Reverend Parris’s wife, Elizabeth, was alive during
several years.
the Salem witch trials and died in 1696.
Abigail Williams is referred to as Reverend
There is no genealogical evidence to prove a blood
Parris’s niece.
relationship between Abigail and the Parris family.
Abigail Williams is 17 years old.
Abigail was only 11 during the trials.
John Proctor is a young farmer.
John Proctor was a 60-year-old farmer who also
kept a tavern on his land.
Elizabeth Proctor is John’s only wife.
Elizabeth Proctor was John’s third wife, and was
41 years old at the time of the trials.
The Proctors have 3 children, all sons.
John Proctor had a 33-year-old son from his first
marriage. With Elizabeth, his children were a 17-
year-old son and a 15-year-old daughter. The
entire Proctor family was eventually accused of
witchcraft.
The Putnams’ daughter is named Ruth.
The Putnams’ daughter was named Ann, after her
mother, and was called Ann, Jr.
Betty Parris and Ruth Putnam are the first two
The first two girls afflicted were Betty Parris and
girls to show signs of being afflicted.
Abigail Williams.
Betty and Ruth suffer from a coma-like sleep
The symptoms identified as signs of bewitchment
from which they cannot wake.
included violent fits of shouting, babbling,
convulsions, and stabs of pain.
Ruth is the only one of the Putnams’ children
Ann, Jr., was the oldest of six children, though her
to survive longer than a day.
mother and aunt did lose several infants.
Reverend Parris claims to be a graduate of
Samuel Parris did attend Harvard briefly but
Harvard.
dropped out.
Reverend Parris discovers the girls dancing
There is no record of Tituba ever leading the girls
in the woods at night. Abigail states they
into the woods for dancing. She did, however,
were led in the act by Titbua, who called the
bake a “witch cake” (made of rye and the urine of
Devil. Abigail also reports that Tituba made
the afflicted) at a neighbor’s request to try to help
her and Betty drink out of a kettle containing a
determine who was bewitching Betty Parris.
soup brewed with a frog. Before confessing
Accusations of witchcraft against Tituba followed
to witchcraft under pressure, Tituba confirms
this incident. At least one of the girls is recorded
she gave the girls chicken blood to drink.
as having tried to tell her future with an egg and
glass (as sort of an improvised crystal ball), but
both the egg and glass and the witch cake are
based in old English superstitions. There is no
evidence that Tituba had any knowledge of the
voodoo or black magic commonly attributed to her.
Rebecca Nurse and John Proctor are hanged
Rebecca Nurse was hanged on July 19. John
on the same day.
Proctor was hanged on August 19.
On their way to be hanged, John Proctor and
Giles Corey was not arrested until mid-September.
Rebecca Nurse learn that Giles Corey is dead.
He was pressed beginning on September 19 and
died two days later.
Reverend Hale claims to have signed seventeen
Signing death warrants was a responsibility of the
death warrants.
judges of the court, not the clergy.
Susanna Wallcott is one of the girls in Salem
Susanna Wallcott never existed, but the character
Village.
may be intended as a compilation of Susanna
Sheldon and Mary Wollcott, both of whom were
among the accusers.
The group of “the afflicted” is a small group of
Adult men and women were also among “the
preteen and teenage girls.
afflicted,” including Ann Putnam, Sr. and Tituba’s
husband, John Indian, who does not appear in the
play.
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contains 151 names of writers, producers, and actors who were not blacklisted, but had claimed to be members of the Communist party before WWII. The Motion Picture Association of America adds those named in Red Channels to the blacklist until they appear before HUAC to testify that they are currently innocent of Communist involvement. June 25, 1950— Communist North Korea invades South Korea, beginning the Korean War. March 29, 1951—Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted of passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. April 25, 1951—Edward Dmytryk, one of the Hollywood Ten, appears at another HUAC hearing and names 26 people as former Communists in order to remove himself from the blacklist. Any person refusing to “name names” is added to the blacklist, which now totals 320 entertainment industry professionals. The list includes Stella Adler, Lillian Hellman, Arthur Miller, and Clifford Odets. January 1952—Elia Kazan is called before HUAC but refuses to identify other former Communists in Hollywood. He is added to the blacklist. 1952—Arthur Miller writes The Crucible. April 1952—Elia Kazan 17
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informs Arthur Miller that he intends to return to HUAC to name names. He names Odets, Miller, and eight other artists in his testimony. 1953—Senator Joseph McCarthy, now chair of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, begins using the committee to identify Communists in various organizations and industries in the United States. He also investigates the Army Signal Corps, hoping to uncover an espionage ring. The investigation finds nothing. January 22, 1953—The Crucible opens at the Martin Beck Theater on Broadway. It wins the Tony Award for Best Play later that year. 1954—Arthur Miller’s passport is revoked due to suspicions that he is a Communist sympathizer. 1954—Elia Kazan directs the film On the Waterfront, an attempt to justify his decision to name names. April-June 1954—The Senate Permanent Committee on Investigations holds the Army-McCarthy hearings, which are broadcast live from the Senate Caucus Room on national television. December 2, 1954—Joseph McCarthy is censured by the Senate for “conduct contrary to Senatorial tradition.” June 25, 1956—Arthur
Spectral Evidence
Spectral evidence is based on dreams and visions. An accuser’s testimony that the spirit (or spectre) of the accused had hit, choked, pinched, or otherwise physically harmed them was taken as proof, even if the accused was elsewhere at the time. Dreams in which it was claimed the accused (or an animal believed to be his or her “familiar”) appeared were also admitted as evidence. After Bridget Bishop was executed on June 10, 1692, Salem’s first hanging day, the judges asked clergymen in the greater Boston area for their opinions on the issues being examined in the Salem witchcraft cases. Reverend Cotton Mather penned a response on behalf of the ministers, in which he advised that spectral evidence and the test of touch (the sudden stoppage of a fit when the “victim” was touched by the accused witch) were not enough evidence on which to convict. The judges, clearly, felt otherwise. The Salem judges admitted spectral evidence into court using a 1662 trial in Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk, England as a precedent. In the Bury St. Edmonds case, two elderly widows were accused of bewitching local children, including those of a merchant who had recently refused to sell to both of them. The spectral evidence in the case was propped up The cover page of “A Tryal of Witches at by the testimony of Thomas Browne, the assizes held at Bury St. Edmunds a physician, author, and philosopher, (University of Glasgow). who attended the trial and, claiming to have observed similar events in Denmark, asserted his belief that the victims in Bury St. Edmonds had been bewitched. A pamphlet detailing the case, A Tryal of Witches, gave the Salem judges the confirmation they needed that spectral evidence could lawfully be used to prosecute accused witches. Spectral evidence and the test of touch were the primary, and often the only, evidence levied against the accused in Salem.
Questions: • What categories of evidence are admissible in court today? • What is “hearsay” and how is it treated in today’s courtrooms? • What kind of evidence would be needed today to convict someone of the kind of the crimes of which the girls in Salem accused their neighbors?
The Modern Witch Hunt: Salem, McCarthy, and King In 2000, Arthur Miller published an article titled “Are You Now Or Were You Ever?” in the British newspaper, The Guardian, in which he stated, “it would probably never have occurred to me to write a play about the Salem witch trials of 1692 had I not seen some astonishing correspondences with that calamity in the America of the late 40s and early 50s.” Having already developed an interest in Salem before he was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), Miller discovered in his research that the events of 1692 were characterized by a strong sense of paranoia, surrealism, and helplessness. Is my neighbor guilty? Will I be accused next? How can this be happening? Why here? Why now? How can we stop this? Court documents from the trials clearly communicated the emotions of the villagers and the climate that overtook the village. As he read, Miller was struck by how familiar “Martha Corey” illustration by John W. Ehninger from it all felt, both in the “Giles Corey of the Salem Farms” by Henry Wadsworth actions of the accusers Longellow (1902). and the accused. As he saw more and more relationships and careers destroyed as his friends and colleagues were called before HUAC, Miller’s decision to write a play about the events in Salem was solidified. In writing about Salem, Miller reflected in the article, he found a way “to respond to a phenomenon which, with only small exaggeration, one could say paralyzed a whole generation and in short time dried up the habits of trust and toleration in public discourse.” Criticism of Miller’s allegory accurately points out that while there were no real witches in Salem, there most definitely were real Communists. However, in The Crucible, the story’s focus is not on whether or not the accused actually are witches, but on the court’s refusal to accept the possibility that they are not, and its reaction to the rational protests of members of the community. Miller observed that in both situations, the rationale behind the treatment of dissenters was that “to keep social unity intact, the authority of leaders had to be hardened and words of skepticism toward them constricted” (Miller, Are You Now). Under the scrutiny of HUAC, Miller and others like him found that “a new cautionary diction, an uncustomary prudence inflected [their] way of talking to one another . . . Words had gotten fearsome” (Miller, Are You Now). The residents
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Miller marries Marilyn Monroe. Shortly thereafter, Miller is called before HUAC. Chairman Francis Walter offers Miller a deal that he will not have to appear if Monroe will pose with Walter for a campaign poster. Miller refuses, and when questioned further, refuses to name other artists as Kazan had. He maintains that he attended Communist meetings but never joined the Party. May 1957—Arthur Miller is convicted of contempt of Congress. 1958—On appeal, Miller’s conviction is overturned. 1959—The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decides that screenwriters and actors on the blacklist will no longer be prohibited from Oscar consideration. 1960—The Hollywood blacklist is lifted.
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of Salem Village were absolutely certain that witches is always most about paranoia: fear of the unknown, did exist, and under the watchful eyes of the Court of mistrust of that which is different, suspicion of Oyer and Terminer, had to hold their tongues in any things that are misunderstood, and a community’s and all disagreements, for fear that even the most complicity in injustice due to fear of condemnation. ambiguous of statements would be cited as cause It is a pattern of circumstances that have appeared for suspicion or even twisted into evidence against in many different places throughout history besides Salem and the era of McCarthy (such as the example them. Miller found the most stunning correlations in of gentiles who stood by as their Jewish friends and the motivations and process for rooting the offending neighbors were rounded up in Nazi Germany, even parties out of the community. While the behind- if they were unsympathetic to Nazism itself, with the the-scenes action of both storylines included secret excuse that “they must have done something”). In conspiracies and schemes, Miller acknowledged in all cases, people hold to the “belief that society must 2000 that he was most disquieted by the “similarities somehow make sense. The thought that the state in the rituals of defense, the investigative routines; 300 has lost its mind and is punishing so many innocent years apart, both prosecutions alleged membership people is intolerable. And so the evidence has to be of a secret, disloyal group. Should the accused internally denied” (Miller, Why I Wrote 163-64). confess, his honesty could only be proved by naming In early 2011, pundits and politicians alike former confederates” (Miller, Are You Now). Both started drawing comparisons between the purposes, investigations hinged on the use of informers. Just tactics, and ethics of McCarthy and HUAC and a as those who confessed new series of hearings “There are no delusions quite to witchcraft in Salem led by Republican proved the sincerity of as hot and pleasurable as those of Representative Peter King their confessions and of New York, Chairman the deluded . . . the search for saved their own lives of the House Homeland by naming others they Security Committee. The evidence is a deadly bore.” had seen with the Devil, hearings, titled “The those who confessed Extent of Radicalization their association with —Arthur Miller, “Are You Now Or Were You in the American Muslim Communist organizations Ever?” from The Guardian, June 17, 2000 Community and that were required by HUAC Community’s Response,” to “name names” in exchange for the restoration were described as an investigation into the threat of their careers and livelihoods. The potential for of domestic terrorism from radicals in the postpersonal vengeance was intense in both cases, but 9/11 Muslim community and those who tolerate the justification, Miller states, was the same for both: extremism within that community. As was done in “Not everyone was accused, after all, so there must the Salem trials and the HUAC investigation, Rep. be some reason why you were. By denying there is King’s investigation began with a grain of truth. Just any reason whatsoever for you to be accused, you are as it is fact that people in Salem exhibited strange implying, by virtue of a surprisingly small logical symptoms and behaviors, and it is a fact that there leap, that mere chance picked you out . . . Therefore were Communists in the United States, it is also the investigation itself is either mistaken or a fraud” a fact that America was attacked on September 11, (Miller, Why I Wrote 163). Even those who would 2001, by Al Qaeda, a terrorist organization with speak out against the injustice of the proceedings Islamic members. According to its critics, Rep. were hindered by fear that if they protested too loudly, King’s investigation follows the same pattern of narrow-mindedness, excessive zeal, and disregard they would become targets. In a 1996 article in The New Yorker, Miller also for individuals demonstrated by HUAC and in remarked on the timing of productions of The Crucible Salem. All done in the name of protecting the greater around the world, noting that many have coincided good, the eager, almost gleeful profiling of suspected with the rise of a political coup or the overthrow of a witches and possible Communists in the past has regime. While each producer and director finds his been reborn today in the profiling, scapegoating, and or her own layers of meaning in the script, the play persecution of an entire demographic. 20
“I am not sure what The Crucible is telling people now,” Miller remarked in 1996, “but I know that its paranoid center is still pumping out the same darkly attractive warning that it did in the fifties . . . the blind panic that, in our age, seems to sit at the dim edges of consciousness” (Miller, Why I Wrote 164). With The Crucible, Miller reminds us that this can happen, any time and any place.
Questions: • When else in history has a particular demographic been targeted and unjustly accused of crimes because of the way they looked or the faith they followed? What reparations, if any, were later made? • What did McCarthy and King hope to gain through their respective investigations? What good did they believe they were serving? What were the chief criticisms against the hearings? • Have you ever been discriminated against or accused of something you did not do? What events led up to this experience? Was anyone else with you? What happened and how did you react? Did any aspect of your life change as a result of this experience? Do you know of anyone with whom you have this experience in common?
Abigail Williams (Rachel Mewbron) prays in court as Judge Hathorne (Curtis Billings), John Proctor (Michael Laurence), Reverend Hale (David Barlow), Reverend Parris (Tom Beckett), Marshall Herrick (Lars Lee), Mary Warren (Keira Keeley) and Deputy Governor Danforth (Sam Tsoutsouvas) look on in Hartford Stage’s production of “The Crucible.” Photo by T. Charles Erickson.
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The Question of “Why?” Since the late 17th century, a variety of theories notoriety, deflect community condemnation of their have been put forth to try to explain what caused the dabbling in the supernatural, and seeking revenge Salem witch hysteria. Many theories place Tituba at the for legal disputes and personal grudges. Residents root of the events, stating that she secretly met with the of neighboring communities described the residents girls in Reverend Parris’s home, where she instructed of Salem as quarrelsome, and lawsuits over landthem in magic and spells she may have learned in the holdings, such as those levied by Giles Corey, were West Indies, and that the girls’ subsequent behavior not uncommon. Local politics had also contributed was the result of these sessions. There is, however, to a tense atmosphere in Salem, with clear pro-Parris no evidence to suggest that meetings of this nature and anti-Parris factions forming in the months ever took place, nor that Tituba was a practitioner leading up to the first cries of witchcraft, as well as of the voodoo or mysticism frequently attributed to groups who advocated and opposed a proposal that her. In documents from the witch hysteria period, Salem Village formally break off from Salem Town. including a 1702 book by Reverend John Hale titled Suggestions of mental illness have also arisen, with A Modest Inquire Into the Nature of Witchcraft, there psychologists suggesting that a contagious hysteria are mentions of overtook the village, attempts at fortuneinitially brought on telling through an by feelings of guilt for egg and glass, but no defying Puritanical mention of Tituba standards of behavior, in association with and spreading it. There is record of through fear and Tituba baking a witch paranoia. cake to help discover While the who was responsible reasons why the for the afflictions, but citizens of Salem took she only did so at the the action of accusing request of a neighbor, specific people in Mary Sibley (an aunt their community of one of the afflicted of witchcraft may girls, Mary Wollcott). be an issue with These events, socio-economic and however, have no Illustration titled “Witchcraft at Salem Village” from “Pioneers in the Settle- psychological sources, relationship to West ment of America, Vol. 1” by William A. Crafts (1876). there is little doubt Indian superstition that people in the or lore, as the egg and glass was a common method village demonstrated some very intense, very strange of divination used in England, and the witch cake physical symptoms. In a 1976 article in the journal was an old English folk remedy. Science, Behavioral Psychologist Linnda R. Caporael In the years immediately following the trials, suggested that the local rye crop may have been the the predominant supposition was that the accusers culprit, not only in Salem, but in other unexplained truly had been victims of demonic possession. The historical events as well. While it is not possible to possession had caused the “victims’” symptoms and confirm a physiological cause of the events of more instructed them to charge innocent citizens with than three hundred years ago, Caporael’s investigation bewitching them. Another theory to emerge is that of builds a compelling circumstantial case for ergot outright fraud—the belief that there was a concerted poisoning as the source. effort on the part of “the afflicted” to pretend or Ergot (Claviceps purpura) is a parasitic fungus perform their symptoms. Speculation about the that grows on a variety of cereal grains, especially motives for doing so include attempts to gain rye. According to Caporael, it contains “a large 22
number of potent pharmacologic agents . . . One of the most powerful is isoergine (lysergic acid).” This substance, “with 10 percent of the activity of a D-LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) is also found in the ritual hallucinogenic drugs used by the Aztecs” (Caporael). Ergot growth is tied to warm, damp, rainy springs and summers, and ergotism, or long-term ergot poisoning, results from eating rye bread made with ergot-contaminated rye. As Caporael reports in her article, “there are two types of ergotism: gangrenous and convulsive.” It is the second type that can potentially shed light on the events in Salem. Its symptoms include “crawling sensations in the skin, tingling in the fingers, vertigo . . . headaches, disturbances in sensation, hallucination, painful muscular contractions leading to epileptiform convulsions, vomiting, and diarrhea . . . There are mental disturbances such as mania, melancholia, psychosis, and delirium. All of these symptoms are alluded to in the Salem witchcraft records” (Caporael). Furthermore, the growing conditions most conducive to ergot growth were present in the summer of 1691, in which the growing season was marked by a significant number of storms. Rye that was harvested from that season would have been threshed (a process in which the edible and inedible parts of the grain are separated) throughout the fall of 1691, and entered the food supply during late winter. This is the approximate time that people in the village, mostly young girls (the demographic most susceptible to ergot poisoning), began to experience symptoms. The summer of 1692 was noted for drought conditions that are unfavorable to ergot development. The entry of the new 1692 rye into the food supply corresponds with the end of the hysteria in the fall of that year. Caporael’s hypothesis is further supported by the geographical layout of Salem Village, and where the residences of both the accused and the accusers tended to be located. She believes that the infected rye may have come from the farm lands on the western side of the village, which was quite swampy, and that Thomas Putnam’s rye crop could have been the primary source of the infected rye. She cites the Putnam farm’s large size and the fact that three of the accusers came from Putnam’s household (his wife, daughter, and a maid were among the afflicted) to
support her theory. Additionally, Caporael found that 30 of the 32 adult accusers also lived on the western side of the village (and are likely to have eaten rye bread made from the same crops), and that twelve of the fourteen accused witches and 24 of the 29 defenders of the accused residing in the village itself lived on the eastern side. The Parris residence was located at the approximate center of the village. With two-thirds of Reverend Parris’s salary being paid by the villagers in provisions and Thomas Putnam as one of Parris’s primary supporters in the village, ergotized grain from the Putnam crop could easily have found its way into the Parris family’s supplies, thus infecting Betty Parris and Abigail Williams. Even Mary Warren, whose residence in the Proctor household may appear to be an outlier, was known to stay overnight in the village where she could have come into contact with contaminated rye. “The general pattern of residence,” Caporael says, “in combination with the well-documented factionalism of the eastern and western sections, contributed to the progress of the witchcraft crisis.” When Betty and Abigail first began to show strange symptoms, Reverend Parris’s first instinct was to have them examined by a doctor, believing there must be a physical reason for the girls’ sickness. Church records indicate that until Mary Sibley directed Tituba to bake the witch cake, no supernatural cause, let alone witchcraft, had been posed by any member of the community. Witchcraft trials in New England were rare, and when they did occur, they did so in isolation. The frenzy in Salem was an anomaly. Despite the Puritans’ strong belief in witchcraft and satanic intervention in human affairs, there was little support for the proceedings from the clergy of the region, and even the judges in the trials admitted to errors in judgment in the following years. It is possible, then, that the symptoms experienced in Salem were caused by ergotism and that the socioeconomic, political, and psychological factors already present in the village gave the symptoms context and meaning in the minds of the citizens. As Caporael concludes, “without knowledge of ergotism and confronted by convulsions, mental disturbance, and perceptual distortions, the New England Puritans seized upon witchcraft as the best explanation for the phenomena.” 23
The map above, from Linnda Caporael’s article, shows: X = Residence of the first individuals who show signs of affliction: Betty Parris and Abigail Williams in the Parris household; Ann Putnam, Sr., Ann Putnam, Jr., and Mercy Lewis in the Putnam household; Mary Warren in the Proctor household; Elizabeth Hubbard in the Griggs Household, whose bewitchment was more likely fraud than caused by ergot poisoning. A = Residence of an accuser (some one who was afflicted with the mysterious symptoms consistent with those of convulsive ergotism). W = Residence of some one accused of witchcraft. D = Residence of some one who defended the accused witches.
Questions: • Tituba is frequently described in text books and other accounts of the witch trials as a black slave, but 17th century Puritans used the terms “native,” “African,” and “slave” interchangeably. While her ethnicity has been debated, many scholars now believe she was actually an Arawak Native originally from Guiana, and was either taken to Barbados through kidnapping or migrated there through South America with her tribe. How has the racial history of our country impacted the characterization of Tituba? How does understanding that history impact the interpretation of Tituba’s role in the witch trials? • The documentation of Tituba’s witchcraft trial indicates she was never asked any questions about her experience or knowledge of witchcraft in her birthplace. The Puritans, however, believed that American Indians worshipped the devil. Though Tituba was not an American Indian, how might this belief have impacted the perceptions of her before, during, and after the witch trials? • What are some other historical events that revolved around reports of witchcraft, visions, unexplained sickness or strange behavior? Do any of these events have characteristics in common with the Salem witch hysteria? Could ergotism be a cause of these other events? 24
Learning Assessments CREATIVE WRITING Persuasive Letter Imagine you are a citizen of Salem Village who wants to speak out against the trials, but fears retribution. Write a letter to Massachusetts Governor William Phipps in which you try to persuade him to intervene and stop the trials, and argue against those who say the trials are necessary. Remember to be specific! • What is happening in Salem? Why does it need to be stopped? Why do you need the governor’s help to do it? Cite specific evidence from The Crucible and from history. • Draw connections between what is happening and what you are afraid the results will be. • Discuss the opposition. If supporters of the trial knew you were writing this letter, what would they say or do to you? Why are they in the wrong on this issue? Is there anything that they are actually right about?
language of the scene and comparing and contrasting it with the language of today. • What formalities are observed? How do the characters address one another? Are there modern equivalents? • Examine the structure of the sentences. Does the order in which things are said feel awkward or unfamiliar? Do the statements employ metaphors or symbolism? How would you directly say this today? • Identify unfamiliar vocabulary. Does the scene contain words that are no longer in use today? Are any adjectives or adverbs used in a way that catches your attention? Have the meanings of certain words changed over time? Look them up in the dictionary. Next, rewrite the scene using modern language and your chosen setting.
The Language of Time and Place Arthur Miller set The Crucible in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, the time and place in which the Salem witch trials really happened. In addition to providing an allegory for the HUAC hearings, setting the play in 1692 provided Miller with the opportunity to work with a new kind of language—that of 17th century New England. In researching the play, Miller read original documents from the period and examined them for both content and linguistics. He would later describe the language in a 1996 article in The New Yorker as a “plain, craggy” form of English that “was liberating in a strangely sensuous way, with its swings from an almost legalistic prevision to a wonderful metaphoric richness.” The Hartford Stage production of The Crucible sets the play in a non-specific rural community in the early 20th century, but does not change the language of the play. In what other times and places can you imagine this story taking place? How would the characters speak in this new setting? Would they still say all the same things to each other? Choose a scene from The Crucible to transpose into a modern setting. Begin by analyzing the
ACTING Playing the Villain
The characters in The Crucible, like all human beings, are multi-dimensional people with both good and bad in them. Each character has faults (some more pronounced that others), but also some redeeming qualities, too. When taking on a new role, actors must analyze their character’s objectives and the motivations behind them. It is important for actors to not judge their characters—meaning the actor should not criticize the character’s actions, but rather, must discover why the character takes those actions and play them truthfully. Create a character sketch of a selected character from The Crucible. • Comb the script to make a list of statements the character makes about his or herself, and a list of statements others make about the character. • Analyze the lists. Are there any recurring words or phrases? 25
• What is this character’s super-objective (primary goal for the entirety of the play)? • Why does the character want this so badly? What is the best thing that could happen if the character achieves the objective? What is the worst thing that could happen if the character fails? • What tactics does the character use to achieve the super-objective? Next, write a monologue (speech by one person) in which the character defends his or her actions in the play. Remember to: • Choose a specific person for the character to be talking to. Against whom would the character need to defend his or herself? Of what would this person accuse the character? • Use the character sketch. Defend against specific negative statements that others say about the character. Use positive statements made about the character as back-up. Incorporate comments the character makes about his or herself in the play. Use the character’s objective as a rationale. • Be an advocate for the character. Try to frame negative qualities as positive attributes. Perform the monologue for the class.
Characters in Conflict
Within The Crucible, the interpersonal conflicts among the residents of Salem Village create a tense atmosphere, and the witch hysteria becomes a tool for airing grudges and resentments. Exploration of the conflicts in the play is a valuable way to understand the motivations and actions of many of the characters. The conflicts in the play include the following, but there are others as well: Abigail vs. Betty, Abigail vs. Elizabeth, Abigail vs. Proctor, Proctor vs. Parris, Proctor vs. Putnam, Proctor vs. Elizabeth, Proctor vs. Mary Warren, Proctor vs. Danforth, Mary Warren vs. Abigail, Hale vs. Danforth. • Choose a moment in the play when two characters are having a conflict. As a group, students should create their own short dialogue (ten lines or so) between the characters that blends dialogue from the script and words of their own. • Half the class will take on one character and the other half will take on the other character. Guide the class through a repetition of the dialogue so that they memorize it. • Pair up the students so that each pair has one of each character. Each pair must use the class-created dialogue to create a short performance. The performance: o Must begin and end with a tableau (frozen image). o May only use the dialogue developed by the class. o May not uses any props other than one chair. o Must take place in a 4’ x 4’ space. • Allow 5 minutes for rehearsal and then all dialogues will be performed for the group. After all pairs have performed, reflect on the conflict in question and the different interpretations of the dialogue. What did the class learn about the characters and the conflict? What are the motivations of each character? How did the characters react to one another? What is this conflict really about? How does it impact the rest of the play?
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“An Account of the Salem Witchcraft Investigations, Trials, Andaftermath.” UMKC School of Law. University of Missouri - Kansas City. Web. 03 Aug. 2011. <http://law2. umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/sal_acct.htm>. “Arthur Miller: Marilyn Monroe & McCarthyism.” Shmoop: Homework Help, Teacher Resources, Test Prep. Shmoop University, Inc. Web. 01 Aug. 2011. <http://www.shmoop. com/arthur-miller/marilyn-monroe-mccarthyism.html>. “Arthur Miller - None Without Sin - Career Timeline.” PBS: American Masters. PBS: Public Broadcasting Service, 23 Aug. 2006. Web. 17 Aug. 2011. <http://www.pbs.org/ wnet/americanmasters/episodes/arthur-miller/career-timeline/57/>. “Arthur Miller: Success and Scandal.” Shmoop: Homework Help, Teacher Resources, Test Prep. Shmoop University, Inc. Web. 01 Aug. 2011. <http://www.shmoop.com/arthur-miller/success-scandal.html>. Bradley Hagerty, Barbara. “A Hearing To Ask: Are Muslims Being Radicalized? : NPR.” NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts : NPR. National Public Radio, 8 Mar. 2011. Web. 18 Aug. 2011. <http://www.npr. org/2011/03/08/134370988/a-hearing-to-ask-are-muslims-being-radicalized>. Burns, Margo. “Arthur Miller’s The Crucible: Fact & Fiction (Or Picky, Picky, Picky).” * 17th Century New England *. 30 Sept. 2010. Web. 18 Aug. 2011. <http://www.17thc.us/>. “Bury St. Edmunds Witch Trials (England, 1645 - 1694) - Witchcraft.” Witchcraft - A Guide to the Misunderstood and the Maligned. Web. 17 Aug. 2011. <http://www. witchcraftandwitches.com/trials_bury.html>. Caporael, L. “Ergotism: the Satan Loosed in Salem?” Science 192.4234 (1976): 21-26. Print. Carlisle, Olga, and Rose Styron. “The Art of Theater, No. 2.” The Paris Review Summer 1967: 61-98. Print. “Chronology of Arthur Miller.” Ibiblio - The Public’s Library and Digital Archive. Arthur Miller Society, 5 July 2011. Web. 18 Aug. 2011. <http://www.ibiblio.org/miller/>. “Chronology of Events Relating to the Salem Witchcraft Trial Of1692.” UMKC School of Law. University of Missouri - Kansas City. Web. 01 Aug. 2011. <http://law2.umkc.edu/ faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/ASAL_CH.HTM>. Early American History: Salem Witch Trials Facts. 2007-2009. Web. 16 Aug. 2011. <http://www.salemwitchtrialsfacts.com/>. “Elia Kazan, Arthur Miller, and the McCarthy Era - Lesson Overview |American Masters | PBS.” PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Public Broadcasting Service, 26 Aug. 2005. Web. 01 Aug. 2011. <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/lessons/kazan-miller-and-themccarthy-era/lesson-overview/120/>.
For more information about Education programs at Hartford Stage, please call (860) 520-7206 or email education@hartfordstage.org
Gottfried, Martin. Arthur Miller: His Life and Work. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo, 2004. Print. Kion, Mary. “A Witch Cake Baked in Salem: Urine Was the Telling Ingredient | Suite101. com.” American History @ Suite 101. Suite 101, 27 Oct. 2006. Web. 18 Aug. 2011. <http://www.suite101.com/content/a-witch-cake-baked-in-salem-a8200>. “McCarthyism & Red Scare Timeline of Important Dates.” Shmoop: Homework Help, Miller, Arthur. “Are You Now Or Were You Ever?” The Guardian/The Observer. Guardian News and Media Limited, 17 June 2000. Web. 23 Aug. 2011. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/ books/2000/jun/17/history.politics?INTCMP=SRCH>. Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print. Miller, Arthur. “Why I Wrote “The Crucible”” The New Yorker 21 Oct. 1996: 158-64. Print. Shmoop Editorial Team. “McCarthyism & Red Scare” Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 17 Aug. 2011. <http://www.shmoop.com/mccarthyism-red-scare/ timeline.html>. The Salem Witch Museum - Salem, Massachusetts. Web. 16 Aug. 2011. <http://www. salemwitchmuseum.com/index.shtml>. “The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692.” UMKC School of Law. Web. 16 Aug. 2011. <http:// law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SALEM.HTM>. Sutter, Tim. “Salem Witchcraft: The Events and Causes of the Salem Witch Trials.” Salem Witch Trials Page - History of the 1692 Witch Trials in Salem. Siteclopedia Network, 2003. Web. 19 Aug. 2011. <http://www.salemwitchtrials.com/index.html>. Wikipedia contributors. “Crushing.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 29 Jul. 2011. Web. 17 Aug. 2011. Wikipedia contributors. “Bury St. Edmunds witch trials.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 16 Jun. 2011. Web. 17 Aug. 2011.
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Contributing Editor Alexandra Truppi Education Programs Associate With Contributions by Madeleine Robinson Education Summer Intern Jennifer Roberts Director of Education