História e ficção na construção do conflito trágico Em as bruxas de salém, de Arthur Miller

Abstract

This research paper aims at investigating the relationship between history and fiction in the construction of Arthur Miller s play The Crucible, 1953. After situating the reader in the context of the modern American Theater, as in the period of the author's life, in an attempt to situate the text in the context of Miller s time, seeking an interpretation that incorporates dialectically the exteriority to the interiority of the work, we trace the real facts which happened in Salem in 1692, in a chronological and sequential order, as befits a historical investigation. Searching for a better comprehension of The Crucible, we examined the relationship between history and fiction, as understood by important philosophers and theorists throughout the centuries. Based on essential parameters to the understanding of this complex relationship and in possession of relevant concepts about the theory of drama, we analysed the play in the light of the proposed theories. The main results show that, The Crucible is a play based on the story of the tragic episode of the Salem Witch Hunts, but it is not history in the sense the word is used by an academic historian. The work concludes that Arthur Miller was careful enough to adjust the historical material he raised about Salem to his fictional purposes and, through dramatic strategies, he not only showed the historical events from a critical perspective, but he was also able to create an excess of meaning that transforms his historical play into an allegory of oppression and persecution.