The version of The Crucible by Arthur Miller I picked up was a 1992 hardcover published by Heinemann Education Publishers. The cover is admittedly very odd, reminding me of the Japanese Hannya masks. There was unfortunately no explanation on the cover design, thus I'm guessing that the cover design is an allegory to the girls whose souls became demons due to their obsession (with John Proctor) or jealousy (of Elizabeth Proctor).
While The Crucible is a play that dramatized the Salem witch trials which indeed took place in the years 1692 to 1693 in colonial Massachusetts, it was also an allegory of McCarthyism, which took hold of America in the years of 1940s to 1950s.
Despite having advanced many years from the 1690s, current events still demonstrate the disparity in positions of females, who could still easily be "witch-hunted", regardless of their skin colour or social status.
Re-reading The Crucible again, it feels as if the play could itself be placed in modern settings and still be relevant. Which doesn't say much about how far humans have progressed since medieval times, despite all our technological advancement and wonders.
I haven't had a chance to watch The Crucible as a play in the theatre, and I suspect it wouldn't be quite half as popular in the local theatres as Les Miserables or even something Shakespearean.
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