American Literature / Unit 17 AML 1641 short lesson, about 20 seconds
*The Crucible* and Its Occasion
Captions available
The idea
The Crucible of nineteen fifty-three depicts the Salem witchcraft trials, in which Puritan settlers were wrongfully executed. The witness states its message, that witch hunts directed at innocent people are anathema in a democracy, was relevant to the anti-communist crusade of the early nineteen fifties.
In practice
A seventeenth-century trial, staged in nineteen fifty-three.
Where people slip
Miller was later charged with contempt of Congress.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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