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Article: Myth vs. reality. (some misconceptions about the 1692 Salem witch trials, the subject of the new movie 'The Crucible')(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- U.S. News & World Report
- Article date:
- December 30, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 All rights reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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MYTH VS. REALITY. The 1692 events in Salem Village, when 19 people and two dogs were hanged as witches, have always been viewed as a cautionary tale about the malignancy of repression and the tyranny of the crowd. In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, Salem was an allegory for McCarthyism. This myth making has led to distortions, experts say.
In the new film based on Miller's 1953 play, the affair between Abigail Williams, 17, and John Proctor, 35, propels the theme of sexual revenge to center stage. But in reality, Williams was about 11 years old and Proctor, 60. Primary documents suggest no special bond between the two, says Chadwick Hansen, a leading scholar. Further, ...