Key Facts
full title · The Crucible
author · Arthur Miller
type of work · Play
genre · Tragedy, allegory
language · English
time and place written · America, early 1950s
date of first publication · 1953
publisher · Viking Press
narrator · The play is occasionally interrupted by an omniscient,
third-person narrator who fills in the background for the characters.
climax · John Proctor tells the Salem court that he committed
adultery with Abigail Williams.
protagonist · John Proctor
antagonist · Abigail Williams
setting (time) · 1692
setting (place) · Salem, a small town in colonial Massachusetts
point of view · The Crucible is a play, so the audience
and reader are entirely outside the action.
falling action · The events from John Proctor's attempt to expose Abigail
in Act IV to his decision to die rather than confess at the end
of Act IV.
tense · Present
foreshadowing · The time frame of the play is extremely compressed,
and the action proceeds so quickly that there is little time for foreshadowing.
tone · Serious and tragic—the language is almost Biblical
themes · Intolerance; hysteria; reputation
motifs · Accusation; confession; legal proceedings in general
symbols · Though the play itself has very few examples of symbolism beyond
typical witchcraft symbols (rats, toads, and bats), the entire play
is meant to be symbolic, with its witch trials standing in for the
anti-Communist “witch-hunts” of the 1950s.
