09.03.2025: Charlize Tossou aus der GY12 hat nach der Lektüre von "The Crucible" im im Englischunterricht auch den Film angesehen und ihre Gedanken dazu in einer ausführlichen Kritik festgehalten. Mit einem kreativen Einstieg vergleicht sie den Film mit einem anderen bekannten Werk – ein Stilmittel, das die GY12 zuvor im Unterricht besprochen hat. Ihre Bewertung? 3,5 von 5 Sternen!

“Wouldn’t thou like to live deliciously?” – Black Philip (The VVITCH, 2015) Black Philip, revealed as the Devil, tempts Thomasin with a life of pleasure and freedom, contrasting her harsh Puritan existence. His eerie, biblical phrasing makes the offer feel both seductive and ominous, encapsulating the film’s theme of repression versus temptation. The relation between the play The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller in 1953, and the newly released movie The VVITCHis that both portray how witch accusations, the desire for power, and the need for acknowledgment can tear down an entire town. Both artistic masterpieces take place during the Salem witch trials, which occurred in a strict Puritan community where religious beliefs were taken more seriously than they are today. This led to the belief that witchcraft was the cause of multiple diseases that spread like a virus. Many people believed that Satan sent witches to corrupt their minds and bodies. The brilliant author Arthur Miller used the Salem witch trials as a direct comparison to the anticommunist suspicion in the USA in 1950. Under McCarthyism, people faced accusations without proper evidence. The same happens in The Crucible, leading to mass hysteria and fear of speaking out. The fear of being accused without actual evidence outweighed the fear of telling the truth. In the play, we witness the main character, Abigail Williams, using manipulation to get her way. Accusations are thrown at people in the town. She acts only to gain the attention and love of her love interest. Later, she realizes she can make people feel fear and trauma through her accusations. This leads to her insatiable hunger for power and desire. The central question of the play is: What are the ulterior motives behind actions driven by emotion? Evil actions often stem from emotions like desire—selfish and arrogant emotions that lead to the extinction of honesty. I personally enjoyed the book to a certain extent. However, I found the writing style very boring, which dragged the story. I initially thought the book had 500 pages—AND IT DOESN’T EVEN HAVE HALF OF THAT. I guess the writing style is like this because the book is very old, and people back then enjoyed this style more. Personally, I didn’t like or enjoy it. As for the plot, I really liked it. It had great plot twists and many interesting characters, whose development we could witness throughout the book. The characters are well-written, and there is a great variety: round characters, flat characters, etc. That’s what I really enjoyed—the amount of work put into the characters. That’s why I enjoyed the character Abigail so much as she has a complex and interesting character. Which I strangely enjoyed… that’s why I would say that she’s my favourite character. I would rate the book ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ( and a half)