阿瑟米勒戏剧介绍.ppt

Introduction to The Crucible Arthur Miller and Joseph McCarthy Arthur Miller b. New York City, Oct. 17, 1915 Miller began writing plays while a student at the University of Michigan Background of author His father, Isidore Miller, was a ladies-wear manufacturer and shopkeeper who was ruined in the depression. The sudden change in fortune had a strong influence on Miller To study journalism he entered the University of Michigan in 1934, where he won awards for playwriting AM and MM Miller married the motion-picture actress Marilyn Monroe in 1956; they divorced in 1961. Plays first successes--All My Sons (1947) and Death of a Salesman (1949) Miller condemned the American ideal of prosperity on the grounds that few can pursue it without making dangerous moral compromises. The Cold War in America At the end of World War II, the United States and the USSR emerged as the world’s major powers. They also became involved in the Cold War, a state of hostility (short of direct military conflict) between the two nations. Many Americans feared not only Communism around the world but also disloyalty at home. Suspicion about Communist infiltration of the government A lot of Americans thought the Soviets got the atomic bomb by using spies. It was charged that secret agents, working under cover, had stolen our secrets and given them to the Enemy. Even worse, these spies supposedly were hardly ever Russians themselves, but often American citizens, the kind of people you see every day on the street and hardly even notice. a Communist could be anybody. It sort of makes a Communist sound like the bogey-man, doesn’t it? To many people in 1953, a Communist was just as scary as the bogey-man, and a lot more real. (HUAC) Congress began to investigate suspicions of disloyalty. The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) sought to expose Communist influence in American life. Beginning in the late 1940s, the committee called witnesses and investigated the entertainment indus