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the crucible
Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” is a play that explores the unfortunate events that the small town of Salem, Massachusetts undergoes. The play contains numerous forms of belonging from numerous characters. The church demands its members to obey its commands signifying they belong, and those who rebel against the church, such as John Proctor, who refuses to attend Sabbath are alienated and suffer persecution as a consequence. The churches commands displays how belonging can be enforced by a higher power. The play also reveals that faith and belonging to God can result in contentment, a prime example being Rebecca Nurse. The Crucible also explores the concept of belonging through relationships, place and ideas and that belonging to a group can lead to empowerment for individuals.
“The Crucible” has a wide spread audience of young adolescents to adolescents this being because the individuals in these age groups can appreciate the message Miller is attempting to express as they would be more likely to be able to relate to the text as they have experienced the most judgmental years of their lives and are similar ages to those of the characters in the play, therefore they’re likely to be more successful in relating to the characters acquiring the intended message of the play.
The reasoning behind Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” was to entertain the audience while also informing them. Arthur Miller uses his stage techniques to express the purpose of the play with entertainment however his prime focus is to inform the audience about what happens when large powerful political figures in power have faced with something invisible they fear and can’t defeat. Which in this case is the members of church and the invisible fear their faced with is witchcraft.
The context in which this play was written in 1950’s was in the midst of the cold war between the Republic America and the Communist Soviet Union. America under the influence of senator joseph McCarthy’s was introduced

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