A brilliant example of small-town thinking - Rated 
Great story. This illustrates much in human behaviour around "witch hunts", be this communism, witchcraft, or whatever.
It is NOT historical fact, but a view of the small-town thinking, suspicious, back-stabbing, jealousy and greedy nature of characters which can be surfaced by opportunity. Wonderful scenes of hysteria which made me laugh too.
Easy to follow, but with something to dig your teeth into.
An essential read for any American history enthusiast - Rated 
The reason why this play works on many levels as a background in American history is that it focusses on two main areas, namely the Salem witch trials of the 17th century and the McCarthy 'witch hunts' of citizens suspected of anti-American behaviour (Communism). The play captures the mass hysteria of both time periods excellently, and is highly recommended if you are studying America in history or literature, as it adds to the general understanding. If you enjoy this, you should also read Miller's Death of a Salesman, where he writes of the Great Depression and the death of the American Dream. If the McCarthy trials interest you, then Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates, although a biography of Marilyn Monroe's life, has in-depth information and analysis of this, as Miller was a lover of Monroe's.
A play that can survive GCSE analysis! - Rated
I studied this play for my GCSE english course (as did many of the reviewers!) and .. I was impressed! It is hard to really appreciate literature when you are spoon fed every 'intent' and 'meaning' behind everyline. It's hard to finish and book that you've slowed disected along with 24 other studends and think 'wow'. But Miller managed it.
Incredibly quotable - I don't have a copy any more(!) but I can still remember some beautiful lines. One was already quoted by another reviewer!
Here are a couple of longer ones I found on a website:
'A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Danforth! For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I have quailed, and as you quail now when you know in all your black hearts that this be fraud - God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together!'
'Hell and Heaven grapple on our backs, and all our old pretenses ripped away.'
'You bring down heaven and raise up a whore! '
Also interesting, are the passages aside from the script, written by Arthur Miller to embellish the depth of the play. It works on many levels - An (admittedly inaccurate) historical account of the Salem witch trials; a reflection of the anti-communist 'witch hunts' of the McCarthy era which Miller was himself caught up in; and all at once it is also a glimpse at the nature of humanity and a struggle between good and evil, imagined and real, and the choices that people have to make.
I've also seen the film, which I think was very good, right up until the end, where the final scene (added to the end of the play) was (in my opinion) an embarassing mis-interpretation of the whole meaning!
Brilliant! - Rated
I am a year 10 student who has recently read The Crucible, it is a fantastic play with amazing dialogue and strong, vivid characters. Particularly, the character of Proctor, who is great and an exemplary portrayal of a tragic hero. Many people seem to think of The Crucible as something written to emphasise the problems with McCarthyism, or as a play to speak about the historical period of the witch trials in Salem. In part, it is both these things, but personally I feel it is more a great exploration of fear, justice and truth and primarily human nature.
A heretical view - Rated 
What was Miller writing about in this play? Was it an examination of the psychological and social phenomena that led to the Salem witch trials? If so, it failed, because the story departs too much from historic fact and thus changes the motivation of the protagonists. Miller makes Abigail older and Proctor younger than they were in reality, and makes them erstwhile lovers, which they never in fact were. So Abigail is motivated by the jealousy and resentment of a spurned lover. Another character is motivated by a desire to seize the property of the victims. Although greed and the settling of old scores no doubt played a part in the terrible events of 1692, they could not have been the whole story. Deeper and broader religious forces must have been at work to bring about the execution of 20 innocent people. The Crucible does not enlighten us on what those forces were. That play remains to be written. The conventional interpretation is that Miller was really writing about the McCarthy anti-Communist hearings, and likening them to a witch-hunt. This too is problematic. Miller draws the parallel in the notes in this book and elsewhere, but never explicitly states that it was the real, prime theme of the play. And once again, the essentially domestic and personal themes of the play do not shed light on the political forces that shaped the McCarthy hearings. What is clear is that the play stands as a dramatic tour de force. It is a gift to actors, being one dramatic, emotional crisis after another. So, if it lacks the intellectual density that Miller said he aimed at after his success with Death of a Salesman, it has the dramatic force to keep it a perennial favourite in theatres. It has one weakness dramatically, and that is an excessively large cast, particularly in the first scene, where all the entrances and exits in Betty's bedroom are rather ludicrous. The Penguin Classics edition has a good introduction by Christopher Bigsby and incorporates notes by the author. It also includes - as an appendix - Act 2, Scene 2, which is omitted in most productions.
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