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Crucible Revision Student Outline

The document provides a possible approach for analyzing the relationship between individuals and society in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible. It outlines four points about how the play represents individuals pressured to conform and the consequences of resisting conformity. It also provides discussion questions about human experiences in the play.

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hannah McGlinchey
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18 views1 page

Crucible Revision Student Outline

The document provides a possible approach for analyzing the relationship between individuals and society in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible. It outlines four points about how the play represents individuals pressured to conform and the consequences of resisting conformity. It also provides discussion questions about human experiences in the play.

Uploaded by

hannah McGlinchey
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Possible approach for The Crucible

Question: What does the play tell us about the relationship between the individual and the collective?

Thesis: The Crucible represents the antagonistic relationship between individuals who wish to retain
autonomy and a collective that desires to instil conformity.

Point one: Miller represents a collective human experience in which individuals are pressured to conform
to a specific set of values, norms and behaviours.

Point two: Miller emphasizes the problematic consequences that emerge when individuals try to survive in
an overly controlling collective.

Point three: Miller celebrates the power of an individual to resist the collective through exercising courage
and integrity.

Point four (optional): However, in celebrating the power of the individual to overcome oppressive forces,
Miller paradoxically reinforces collective hegemonic thinking that punishes those who don’t conform.

Your task:
1) (everyone) Select two quotations that you could use for each of the points above.
2) Write an essay in response to the question above, or in response to one of the questions below.
You are encouraged to integrate your own material/understanding into this outline.
3) Write the introduction, topic sentences and a plan for another of the questions below.

Extension:

1) Read your list of key quotations. Can you track one or more of the following motifs?
 voice / silencing / voicelessness
 others / othering
 deviance / transgression
 the collapse of boundaries between the internal and the external

2) How do the motifs morph over the course of the play, and what is the significance (Miller’s
underlying message, intentional or not) of this shifting meaning?

Texts and Human Experiences practice questions


1. To your mind, what is The Crucible’s principle message about what it means to be human?
2. How does Miller evaluate the qualities arising from human experiences?
3. Evaluate the ways that Miller represents the tension between the external and internal aspects of human
experience.
4. What insights does The Crucible offer about human emotions through characterisation?
5. What does The Crucible reveal about the motivations that fuel human behaviour?
6. How does Miller use the dramatic form to convey ideas about the human experience?
7. In what ways does a study of The Crucible inform our understanding of the way humans create stories to aid
self-awareness or form identity?
8. Central to drama is the emotional connection with the audience. To what extent does this statement reflect
your understanding of the dramatic text you have studied?
9. What inconsistencies and paradoxes are most strongly illuminated by The Crucible?

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