A haunting examination of groupthink and mass hysteria in a rural communityA Penguin Classic I
believe that the reader will discover here the essential nature of one of the strangest and
most awful chapters in human history Arthur Miller wrote in an introduction to The Crucible
his classic play about the witch-hunts and trials in seventeenth-century Salem Massachusetts.
Based on historical people and real events Miller's drama is a searing portrait of a community
engulfed by hysteria. In the rigid theocracy of Salem rumors that women are practicing
witchcraft galvanize the town's most basic fears and suspicions and when a young girl accuses
Elizabeth Proctor of being a witch self-righteous church leaders and townspeople insist that
Elizabeth be brought to trial. The ruthlessness of the prosecutors and the eagerness of
neighbor to testify against neighbor brilliantly illuminate the destructive power of socially
sanctioned violence. Written in 1953 The Crucible is a mirror Miller uses to reflect the
anti-communist hysteria inspired by Senator Joseph McCarthy's witch-hunts in the United States.
Within the text itself Miller contemplates the parallels writing: Political opposition...is
given an inhumane overlay which then justifies the abrogation of all normally applied customs
of civilized behavior. A political policy is equated with moral right and opposition to it
with diabolical malevolence. For more than seventy years Penguin has been the leading
publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1 700 titles
Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across
genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by
introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors as well as
up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
