What is The Crucible?

Answer 1

The Crucilbe is a play written by Arthur Miller in the 1950s, as an answer to the McCarthyism that was in control of America at the time. The play is based on the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The story is based around John Proctor, an upstanding man whose wife and friends are accused of witchcraft. He goes to court to stand up for them and in the end is named a witch himself. He is hanged as he refuses to confess to speaking with the Devil, as he truly did not. "The Crucible" is a play written by Arthur Miller. It was written around the time of the Communist "witch hunts" going on around Hollywood. Miller uses the Salem with hunts/trials as pretty much a symbol for the Communist "witch hunts". The names are accurate, and a few events are....but a few are not. I'd consider it a work of historical-fiction.

The word "crucible" means a test, or a trial. A harsh, severe one. Like the Salem witch hunts/trials. In the middle ages a Crucible was a container that could hold molten metal. Thus, it had been "tested" and found strong enough to withstand extremely high temperatures.