The Crucible
Arthur Miller · 1953
Salem, 1692. A group of girls claim to see the devil, and the town tears itself apart. Miller wrote it in 1953 as a direct allegory for McCarthyism, and he got called before HUAC for his trouble. The play outlived the politics: it gets revived whenever a society starts demanding loyalty oaths.
The case against
Abigail was eleven in the historical record; Miller made her seventeen and invented the affair with Proctor because the allegory required a seductress. He halts the action for essayistic interludes that explain the meaning in case you missed it, and the girls stay one-dimensional throughout. Effective theater, with the playwright's thumb visible on every scale.
Drama · the Pro canon
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
if this one calls to you, so will these →
