Allegory For Mccarthyism In Arthur Miller's The Crucible

The horrors of history are passed on from generation to generation in hopes that they will never occur again. People look back on these times and are appalled at how horrendous the times were; yet, in the 1950s, history repeated itself. During this time, Joseph McCarthy, a United States senator from Wisconsin, began accusing people of being communists or communist sympathizers, which is parallel to the Salem witch trials in the late 1690s when innocent people were accused of practicing witchcraft. One of the people McCarthy accused was author and playwright Arthur Miller. To express his outrage at McCarthy’s actions, miller wrote The Crucible, intentionally drawing similarities between the McCarthy hearings and the Salem witch trials.

In the story “The Crucible” Abigail and her cousin are accused of being witches. IN act one it states “We did dance, uncle, and when you leaped out of the bush so suddenly, Betty was frightened and then she fainted. And there’s the whole of it” (Abigail Page 1). They got caught dancing and doing things they were forbidden to do. Since that day the entire town thinks of then as witches. That being said Abigail tries to make things right. Additionally in act one Abigail states “let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word about a thing or I will came to you in the black of some terrible night” (Page 19). From there forward Abigail started to accuse Tituba. Tituba then confessed “He say Mr. Parris must be killed! And No! I don’t hate that man. I don’t want to kill that man”. But he says, “You work for me, Tituba, and I make you free!”(Page 44).This confession and accession give’s Abigail and Betty a chance to act Innocent and accuse random people as well.

Communism. Witchcraft. These two highly controversial topics are either feared or adored by people. There are numerous similarities and differences between both, yet one thing is prominent: they both incite hysteria. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegorical play mirroring 1950’s America during the Red Scare. “McCarthyism” is the act of accusing someone of an act of treason without substantial evidence. It relies on the uncertainty and the fear of the unknown among people, which in turn, incites hysteria. Joseph McCarthy accused many people of being communists without much evidence or reason. The accusations in The Crucible also are proposed without evidence and cause much hysteria among the town. Since The Crucible was written as an

‘The Crucible’ is an allegory. An allegory is a story with an obvious meaning but if you look deeper into it, there is another meaning. In this case, the obvious meaning is the Salem witch-hunt and the hidden meaning is McCarthyism. McCarthyism started in the early 1950’s and it was governmental accusations with no evidence. Joseph McCarthy started doing trials on those he thought were communist, but he had no evidence for it. This is the same as the witch trials in The Crucible. Arthur Miller wrote this in response to McCarthyism.

Authors used their literary work to get a point across to the public in the story The Crucible; Arthur Miller used events and characters to show the similarities to McCarthyism which was prevalent in the 1950s. McCarthyism was associated with the period in the United Sates also known as the Second Red Scare. McCarthyism is very similar in the way that Joe McCarthy accused Americans of being communist and in The Crucible people were being accused of being witches. It is known that Arthur Miller wrote this story as a reaction to a tragic time in our history.

I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!” (Miller) As seen, in order to save her own skin Abigail begins to accuse others. When the people who were suspected, accuse others this causes many suspicions to arise in town. In order to survive, the people must either name other names or confess. Either one is a met with a deadly consequence, giving them little hope. Those who tried to fight against the accusations, such as the Proctors, Coreys or Nurses felt the power of Abigail and her influence over the judges. Eventually, a lot of people followed Abigail, knowing better than to oppose her.

The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, was not only a captivating play, but also a platform to fight against the iniquitous force of McCarthyism during the 1950s. Set in Salem, a town in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, the play dramatized the witch trials that brought widespread paranoia during 1692 to 1693. So to no one’s surprise, The Crucible and McCarthyism were juxtaposed. Since Arthur Miller wanted to criticize the acts of Senator Joseph McCarthy, he chose to express specific themes that appeared in both the play’s Puritan setting and in the United States. One of the major themes Arthur Miller wanted to convey through his work is the distrust of nature. In the remainder of this essay, I will be discussing the relationship of this theme to the play’s

Throughout the 1940s and 1950s America was overwhelmed with concerns about the growing threat of communism in Eastern Europe and in China. One senator in particular, Joseph McCarthy took this one step further and made more than two-hundred accusations against these supposed communists, one of these people being Arthur Miller. Miller dared to stand against McCarthy and used The Crucible as a way to show McCarthy’s flaws without approaching him directly. The Salem Witch Trials and the Scares in the Mid Nineteen hundreds both remind us that no man is perfect, and we do make mistakes.

The novel, The Crucible was written in 1953 by Arthur Miller, which was based on the Salem Witch Trials existing in the late 1600s. In the play, Abigail and several other young women accuse innocent citizens of Salem for the action of witchcraft. During the trials, many individuals were unfairly persecuted; such as John Proctor. This event in history may be associated with the Red Scare, in which individuals were tried for their questionable influences of communism in the United States. When Miller compares the character of John Proctor to himself, the reader is able to relate the similar experiences that both men faced. The Crucible demonstrates the struggle against corruption involving the court, which lead to the death of many innocent individuals in Salem. The Crucible generates an allegory for Arthur Miller’s struggles with McCarthyism because of his similar experience relating to John Proctor’s battle against the Salem Witch Trials, and the relation between the actions of the court in both situations. Arthur Miller uses several writing methods in order to convey The Crucible as an allegory for his struggles with McCarthyism. Miller demonstrates how the Crucible represents an allegory for his conflict with McCarthyism by relating his experiences with the plot of the novel. Miller relates the novel to his struggles by stating, “Should the accused confess, his honesty could only be proved by naming former confederates.” (Are You Now… 34) Miller is explaining how the court

Human beings are born with many emotions. From happy, excited, sad, and more to list, these feelings are what contribute to our behaviors and ways of thinking. A happy person will feel energized and tend to work more productively; a person full of anger can sometimes act without thinking and regret later on. Another specific example is The Crucible by Arthur Miller, where fear takes over the minds of people. When witchcraft is believed to be practicing among the villagers, the fear for life and the bottomless greed for wealth have stirred up the trust between the people, causing them to call out names, whom they believe to be witches, with false confessions. The Crucible is an excellent allegory that portrays McCarthyism, mob mentality, and courage.

The play “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller was written in response to McCarthyism in the 1950’s. In 1692 and 1693 the Salem witch trials took place in Salem Massachusetts. Girls believed to be involved in witchcraft were responsible for these trials. In the late 1940’s and early 1950’s senator McCarthy came to office. Senator McCarthy and some of his allies were responsible for hysteria in the United States of America in the 1950’s. The scare was also in result of a communist scare after World War II and leading to the cold war. The behavior of the people of the Salem witch trials and Americans in the 19050’s resulted in a big scare in reaction to hysteria.

The book The Crucible written by Arthur Miller is an allegory for the red scare in the McCarthy era because due to Arthur Miller’s involvement during the red scare, false accusations, and proving guilt.

During the 1950s there was a rise in the fear of communism called “The Red Scare”. Senator Joseph McCarthy was one of the many people who contributed to people’s fear by making a list of people who he said were communists even though there was no proof in most cases. In an article by Alan Brinkley called “The 1950s Part One: McCarthy and The Red Scare”, it informs, “McCarthy was only one of many who helped create the great fear. The Red Scare was visible in almost every area of American life” (Brinkley). This quote tell us that in the 1950s even though Senator Joseph McCarthy was a huge contributor to The Red Scare. His list of suspected communists made rumors spread and the people on the list get questioned and even go to jail when in some cases they were innocent. It also says in the article by USHistory.org called “McCarthyism: Witch Hunting and Blacklisting in America”, that, “In the 1950s anyone who was considered a communist could be questioned and thrown in jail” (USHistory.org). Which means that his allegations could have easily put people in prison.

The Crucible Essay The McCarthy era was filled with a lot of lies that ruined the lives of others, Joseph McCarthy accused a lot of people of being communist out of greed like Abigail accused people of witchcraft in the crucible. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegory for the red scare in the McCarthy era because of the Evidence, trials, and the accusations. The types of evidence that was provided during the Red scare and the Crucible were forn lack of better term complete and utter nonsense for example, Joseph McCarthy’s proof was that he had a list of names and that these people were communist, this was nether questioned or validated it was just heard and they believed it.

In today’s culture, placing blame on a scapegoat is the norm in order to escape personal problems, avoid consequences, and to elicit pain on others. In Arthur Miller's novel, The Crucible, the essence of this sentiment is revealed. The Crucible recounts the events of the Salem Witch Trials, although on a deeper level Miller is referring to the Red Scare of communism. He does so by creating an allegory between the which hunts and the way McCarthyism is paralleled in the novel. Joseph McCarthy, a United States senator, was a radical anti-communist who became consumed with self-preservation. McCarthyism and its ideals were pervasive and soon it perpetuated the practice of convicting people with only false accusations and opinions. In our modern portrayal of the Crucible we highlighted the falsified blame and bullying that occurs in adolescence. To depict this, we altered the hysteria of these high-risk scandals to dramatize a popular film that gives an example of a present day "bully hunt”. This modernization leads the reader to understand that although written in 1953, the message is not outdated but simply translated into a modern form of The Crucible. Thus, depicting a critical lense of bullies who jump to accusations for self preservation and on students who are backlashed for not “following the crowd”.