The Crucible by Arthur Miller (PDF) Free Download
The Crucible PDF Free Download : Arthur Miller, an American playwright, wrote The Crucible pdf in 1953.
It tells the account of the Salem witch trials, which occurred in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1692–1693 but were dramatised and somewhat romanticised.
Miller created the play as a parable for the McCarthy era, during which the American government punished those who were thought to be communists.
In 1956, Miller was questioned by the House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities, and after refusing to name additional attendees of meetings he had attended, Miller was found guilty of contempt of Congress.
E. G. Marshall, Beatrice Straight, and Madeleine Sherwood gave the play its Broadway debut on January 22, 1953, at the Martin Beck Theatre.
The majority of the reviews for this production were negative, and Miller felt that it was overly stylised and frigid (although The New York Times noted “a powerful play [in a] driving performance”).
The play earned the 1953 Tony Award for Best Production for the show. A successful fresh production of the play a year later helped it become a classic.
It is regarded as a key piece in the American drama canon.
About the playwright of The Crucible PDF
Summary of The Crucible PDF
A group of female students in Salem, Massachusetts, a Puritan New England town, go dancing in the woods with Tituba, a black slave.
They are discovered dancing by Reverend Parris, the village clergyman. Betty, one of the girls, enters a state like a coma.
Rumors of witchcraft are spreading around the village as a crowd gathers in the Parris home.
Parris confronts Abigail Williams, the girls’ leader, about what transpired in the forest after calling for Reverend Hale, an authority on witchcraft.
Abigail, Parris’ niece and ward, acknowledges only “dance” as her only activity.
Abigail chats to some of the other girls and instructs them not to admit to anything as Parris tries to calm the gathering that has gathered in his home.
A local farmer named John Proctor then walks in and speaks with Abigail by herself.
She had an affair with Proctor the previous year while working at his house without telling anyone else in the community, which led to his wife, Elizabeth, firing her.
Proctor rebuffs Abigail’s continued desire for him and advises her to stop being silly around the girls.
Betty stirs in her sleep and starts yelling. Many of the people run upstairs and congregate in her bedroom, debating whether she is possessed.
Soon after, a second argument breaks out between Proctor, Parris, the combative Giles Corey, and the affluent Thomas Putnam.
This disagreement, which is centred on money and land titles, raises the possibility that there are significant rifts inside the Salem neighbourhood.
Reverend Hale arrives and examines Betty as the men argue, and Proctor leaves.
Hale questions Abigail about what the girls were doing in the forest, becomes uneasy about her actions, and asks to speak with Tituba.
Tituba confesses to communicating with the devil after Parris and Hale question her for a short while, and she wildly accuses numerous town residents of having relations with the devil.
Abigail joins them at this point, admitting that she witnessed the devil scheming and having fun with other villagers.
The crowd erupts in a yell when Betty joins them in naming witches.
A week later, John and Elizabeth Proctor talk about the continuous trials and the growing number of citizens who are being accused of being witches when they are alone themselves at their farmhouse outside of town.
In response to her husband’s refusal to expose Abigail as a phoney, Elizabeth accuses him of still having affections for her out of jealousy.
One of Abigail’s circle and their servant, Mary Warren, arrives from Salem with the news that Elizabeth was suspected of witchcraft but the court decided not to pursue the claim.
Mary is told to go to bed, and John and Elizabeth continue to argue before Reverend Hale stops by to intervene.
Giles Corey and Francis Nurse deliver the breaking news that their wives have been detained to the Proctor household as they are having a conversation.
Elizabeth is taken into custody as court personnel unexpectedly arrive.
Proctor browbeats Mary after they have seized her, telling her she must travel to Salem and expose Abigail and the other girls as forgers.
The following day, Proctor takes Mary to court and informs the judge that she will give testimony proving that the girls are lying.
Danforth informs Proctor that Elizabeth is pregnant and will be protected for a while because he is sceptical of Proctor’s motivations.
When Proctor presses his case, Danforth agrees to let Mary testify. The girls are lying, Mary informs the court.
The girls turn the tables when they are hauled in and claim that Mary bewitched them. Furious, Proctor admits having an affair with Abigail and charges her with being inspired by resentment for his wife.
Danforth calls Elizabeth and inquires of her whether Proctor has been unfaithful in an effort to verify Proctor’s assertion.
She lies to defend Proctor’s honour despite her inherent honesty, and Danforth calls Proctor a liar for it.
Mary breaks down and accuses Proctor of being a witch as Abigail and the girls continue to act as though she is bewitching them.
Proctor is furious with both her and the court.Hale leaves the proceedings after the arrest.After the summer, autumn begins.
Danforth becomes anxious as a result of the instability the witch trials have produced in nearby towns.
All of Parris’ money was taken with Abigail when she fled. In an effort to save their lives, Hale, who has lost faith in the court, begs the accused witches to make a false confession, but they refuse.
But Danforth has a plan, and Elizabeth agrees when he begs her to get John to confess.
John accepts to confess out of conflict and a need to survive, which is welcomed by the court’s officers.
Proctor retracts his admission of guilt after becoming enraged, tearing up the confession, and refusing to accuse anybody else when the court demands that it be made public.
Proctor goes to the gallows with the others despite Hale’s cries for mercy, and the witch trials come to a horrific end.
