Essay Plan

To what extent can the plays you have studied be seen to have, directly or indirectly, a social or political purpose? Refer to two or three plays, exploring how they achieve their purposes.

Social Purpose:

- Showing the relationships between different classes

- The relationship clashes with different personalities

Political Purpose:

- Showing a way of control in a society and the flaws it possesses

The Crucible:

The play directly explains the political ideology of McCarthyism and the ways in which it affects people in the community by not having to have evidence for prove them guilty. This is shown in Act three with Elizabeth Proctor who is charged with witchcraft, and they have no evidence to prove her innocence, yet, one victim who claims her guilt can be responsible for her death. Abigail accuses her of witchcraft, claiming herself as the victim.

The witchcraft in the play creates an anger within the town of Salem, which Miller uses as a symbol to express that dissatisfaction that American society has towards the ways of McCarthyism.

The Glass Menagerie:

The play does not express political purposes, but it does show many social elements such as Tom's hopes to leave the house and make his own way in the world.

Also, the difference between social ways in the past and the present are expressed through the way in which Amanda presses her past, and the way she grew up onto her daughter. These differences show the audience the social struggles in the play, firstly from Laura, who struggles to integrate into social surroundings due to her disability and also her immense shyness.