The Crucible A Play in Four Acts

by Miller, Arthur; Bigsby, Christopher

• ISBN13: 9780140189643
• ISBN10: 0140189645
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-10-01
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

Here, especially for high school students, is an analysis and summary of Arthur Miller's famous play. Titles in the Literature Made Easy Series analyze novels and plays found in most school curricula. More than mere plot summaries, these books explain themes, analyze characters, and discuss each author's unique writing style, mastery of language, and command of his material. Books also feature "Mind Maps," diagrams that summarize a work's most important details as a way to help students focus ideas for exams and term papers.

Author Biography

Arthur Miller was born in New York City in 1915 and studied at the University of Michigan. His plays include All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), A View from the Bridge and A Memory of Two Mondays (1955), After the Fall (1963), Incident at Vichy (1964), The Price (1968), The Creation of the World and Other Business (1972) and The American Clock. He has also written two novels, Focus (1945), and The Misfits, which was filmed in 1960, and the text for In Russia (1969), Chinese Encounters (1979), and In the Country (1977), three books of photographs by his wife, Inge Morath. More recent works include a memoir, Timebends (1987), and the plays The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991), The Last Yankee (1993), Broken Glass (1993), which won the Olivier Award for Best Play of the London Season, and Mr. Peter's Connections (1998). His latest book is On Politics and the Art of Acting. Miller was granted with the 2001 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He has twice won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and in 1949 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
Christopher Bigsby is professor of American Studies at the University of East Anglia. He edited the Penguin Classics editions of Miller's The Crucible, Death of a Salesman, and All My Sons.

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
Christopher Bigsby
A Note on the Historical Accuracy of This Play	2	(1)
ACT ONE (An Overture)	3	(44)
ACT TWO	47	(30)
ACT THREE	77	(35)
ACT FOUR	112	(23)
Echoes Down the Corridor	135	(2)
Cast	137	(2)
Appendix	139