The Crucible by Arthur Miller Essay Example for Free

The Crucible by Arthur Miller Essay The Crucible by Arthur Miller, is set in 1692, on the Salem witch trials and compared with McCarthyism in 1950s, the time it was written. The Crucible is a fictional retelling of events in American history surrounding the Salem witch trials of the seventeenth century, yet it is as much a product of the time in which Miller wrote it, the early 1950s, as it is a description of a Puritan society. I will be describing my ideas on the performance and the production of the asides in act one of The Crucible. One of the main motives of asides is to explain the similarities in 1690s and1950s. The Crucible is a story with an underlying meaning as well as the literal one. Although 1690s and 1950s are very different, Miller has portrayed the same allegory. Miller is trying to prove that history repeats itself. He does this by proving that people were stupid to believe in witches in the seventeenth century, just like people believed in McCarthyism in America in the 1950s. Today we are repeating similar mistakes, as we consider war as the solution to the Iraq crisis. Getting the message across to audience is very hard as it is no longer 1950s nor do people know much about McCarthyism. During the 1690s Puritans also repressed in England and power then was held by Church, theocracy, those who were landowners held a lot of power. Cromwell had taken power by junta. At that time Salem was in a state of unrest because the old laws were no longer as necessary. Witch-hunting was also causing unrest in Salem. The crisis, of witchcraft, began to increase and doubts began to develop concerning the vitality of the charge. Just like in America the educated people of the colony began efforts to end the witch-hunting hysteria that had surrounded Salem. To explain this complicated allegory successfully, asides are used. 1950s was a decade of unrest in America as there were a lot of economical depressions following world war two, democracy and capitalism problems. More over McCarthy was troubling people by misusing his powers. The hunting down and prosecuting of any Americans who were thought to have taken part in anti-capitalism. The accusations became hysterical and many people were asked to name names of people in meeting held many years previously. By 1962 many people started going against McCarthy. Miller uses the Salem witch-hunt to present his views on McCarthyism, The prosecuting of any Americans who were thought to have taken part in anti-capitalism, is similar to the hunting down of suspects of witchcraft. The asides are a very effective way of telling long story in short. The narrator may explain the situations, introduce new characters or even give his own opinion to get the message across to the audience. The narrator is particularly needed for Act 1, as the setting and different characters need to be introduced to audience. Another reason why asides are important to be narrated is, the allegory in the story for which the audience needs to follow the story right from the beginning. Therefore it is vital that the narrator of the aside is someone, who the audience is likely to pay attention to. Ideally a literate person who can judge people correctly and has the power to catch the audiences attention with his voice. I think its a good idea if the narrator is one of the charters from the play. Having one of the characters to narrate the play is a very effective method of providing information to audience. He is likely to get more attention because the audience is familiar with the person. In A view from the Bridge Miller uses a lawyer to narrate the play, which I think works really well because he used someone who is very intelligent and respected. Similarly a positive character could be used in this play to talk to audience. I chose Reverend John Hale, from this play to read the aside in act one, as the audience will be more familiar with the character when he comes later on in the act and introduces himself. Miller is interested in people who do not allow them to be caught up in hysteria but think for themselves and stand up for their believes against all odds. Similarly Hale backs this point, towards the end where he learns how things are going wrong. Hale changes his opinions as he gets more knowledge about the things going around him. The narrators opinion about things needs to be the same as that of author, because a person with different views cannot talk about views, which he does not believe in. Miller believes that society is never an excuse for our failings, and that we are responsible for ourselves, such a person is John. John tries to save the lives of innocent people wrongly accused of witchcraft. He is the only Judge who tried to save Reverend Proctor. However human weakness and guilt sometimes drag him down but still his character is positive. As millers describes John He feels himself allied with the best minds of Europe Miller is trying to say how self-centred John is but at the same time he is telling us that John is intelligent. The audience is more likely to listen to such person because of his reputation. The key reason for having a character from the play as a narrator is that the audience is familiar with the person; therefore Hale should narrate the asides in his normal character clothes, speech and movement. A good way of introducing characters is to let the person perform their most common role in the background and the narrator standing in front talking about the person. For example when Reverend Parris is introduced, John Hale could be standing in the front saying, there is very little good to be said for him. while Parris is in meeting in Church talking, but has no one listening. Since the asides in this play are not only introduction, doing so will lose the consistency of the asides, and the audience will not be clear whether its an aside or part of the play. Therefore while he is standing motionless on the stage and reading the asides where the stage is dark and a spotlight on the character and deep voice with no background music. The shining of bright light on Hale while the stage is all black will give him almost a god like image. Its only him talking and, there is no other option but listen to him. The pause in music will make the audience concentrate on the aside by having nothing else but John to listen to. His voice should have extra bass added to it. Radio experiments show that if the voice of presenters have bass then the listeners are more likely to remember what they listen to. The stage is all difficult to obscure and there is only one glow in the theatre approaching from John Hale while he states about Parris in his deep tone his house stood in a town but we would hardly call it a village today. The best way to perform asides in this play is to have a character from the play narrate the asides while full attention is given to him. The most suitable character would be Hale because the way he thinks about matters and his intelligence make him exceptional.

Desperate Housewives :: television TV

Are you ever sitting at home, on 9 o’clock p.m. on a Sunday, with nothing to do? Just bored out of your mind.. Willing to do anything.. Maybe even.. Watch. Watch one of the most amazing shows you’ll ever see on t.v. A show full of drama, excitement, and every other positive thing on the planet. A show that you will talk about non stop the next day. Recite lines with your friends.. And overall, a show- a show of perfection. If you hadn’t figured out already, today I’m going to be talking to you about Desperate Housewives. And why it’s the best show for you to watch on Sundays At 9. First, I’ll talk about the different Seasons of the Show, second I’ll talk about the cast members, third I’ll talk about why you should watch this show Sundays at 9. Season one began its original airing on October 3, 2004 and introduces the four central characters of the show: Susan Mayer, Lynette Scavo, Bree Van de Kamp and Gabrielle Solis, and their families and neighbors on Wisteria Lane. The main mystery of the season is the unexpected suicide of Mary Alice Young, and the involvement of her husband and teenage son in the events leading up to it. While Bree tries to save her marriage, Lynette struggles to find time and energy to cope with her children, Susan fights with Edie Britt for new neighbor Mike Delfino’s affection, and Gabrielle tries to prevent her husband Carlos from discovering her affair with their underage gardener. The second season began airing on September 25, 2005 and its central mystery is that of new neighbor Betty Applewhite, who moved in in the middle of the night. Throughout the season, Bree tries to cope with being a widow, unknowingly begins dating the man who poisoned her husband, fights alcoholism, and is unable to prevent the gap between her and her son to keep growing to extremes. Susan’s love life gets even more complicated as her ex-husband gets engaged to Edie, who has been promoted to the role of fifth lead, Lynette goes back to her career in advertising and eventually becomes her husband’s boss, and Gabrielle decides to be faithful to her husband, and begins preparations to have a child. In season three, which began airing on September 24, 2006, Bree marries Orson Hodge, whose past and involvement with a recently discovered dead body becomes the main mystery for half of the season.

Racial Compare and Contrast

Many different cultures and races faced hardships just because they were a certain religion or nationality. They have been punished time and time again for no apparent reason. We have seen many instances of this throughout history. Specifically I will touch on the holocaust and the Japanese American internment. I am going to compare and contrast the two stories, â€Å"Night† by Elie Wiesel and â€Å"Farewell to Manzanar† by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston. These are two stories that are very alike but still have many differences. There are some between these two stories.You could start with the fact that in both, the main character is a child whose family is forcibly moved from its home to a restricted and enclosed area due to an official government policy of discrimination against the family's ethnic group. In both stories, family members are separated, many hardships are endured, persons struggle to understand why this is happening to them and how to maintain their identity in the face of the dehumanizing conditions in which they are being held. Both stories contain many elements show the emotions of suppression and separation.In both cases, the narrator of the story survives and becomes a spokesperson for all who were in the camps in later years. There are also many differences between the two stories. The specific ethnic and religious backgrounds of the subject persons are much different. One is Japanese and the other is Jewish. Many of the Jews are killed and annihilated by the German Nazis, whereas many of the Japanese were allowed to return to life in the general society of the United States after the war was ended.The types of activities undertaken by the persons in the different camps are very different, reflecting the differing attitudes toward the camp's residents by the governments of the United States and of Germany. The oppression of people has been seen many times and history and should not be taken lightly. We have to learn from our past mistakes. We can use the perspective of these authors to learn from the mistakes of the human race. Most of the time we only see the outside of situations, but these stories let us see the interior perspective of the situation.

Jack Johnson Wins The Heavyweight Championship - 1229 Words

The author, Randy Roberts in his article â€Å"Jack Johnson wins the Heavyweight Championship† sheds light on the fight of Jack Johnson with Tommy Burns, he highlights the racial attitude in the twentieth century. Roberts opens his article by mentioning about the concerned whites, as the author proceeds, according to the whites it was a tragic and saddest day of their lives as the race won. While Dixie was agitated, firstly because of the Booker T. Washington dined at the White House and secondly was the victory of Jack Johnson. However, the blacks rejoiced all over the United States with this news. Roberts mentions about a journalist report, it stated that the genuine satisfaction the blacks experienced with the single victory of Johnson was not been observed in forty years. The author then mentions many industries concern about the blacks being enthusiastic to enter in boxing due to the triumph of Johnson, which may result in a shortage of labor. On the other hand, Jim Nasium a black writer counseled many young blacks to take up boxing as a serious profession, he believed that it is the boxing ring where blacks could face whites on an equal basis. There were many reports implicating that Johnson had kick started the revolution. According to the author, it started in August 1908, when Tommy Burns reached Perth. While from Perth to Sydney, people came in large numbers to cheer him. During this occasions, Burns was asked recurrently about his fight with Jack Johnson, to which heShow MoreRelatedA Brief Note On Canada, A Peace Loving, Free Country1581 Words   |  7 Pagesknockout victory over Jack McVicker in Boston. Rapidly rising to prominence, he defeated Joe Gans in 1903. Thus, Langford became known as the â€Å"Boston Bonecrusher†, â€Å"Boston Terror,† and infamous â€Å"Boston Tar Baby.† He only stood at 5ft. 7 inches and weighed 185 lbs, yet he fought from lightweight up to heavyweight in his 24-year long career. 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