Examples Of Allegory In The Crucible

The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a rich and enticing play set in the late 1600’s describing the epic horrors and emotions through the events of the Salem witch trials. The Crucible, focuses primarily on the inconsistencies of the Salem witch trials and the extreme behavior that can result from dark desires and hidden agendas. The play begins with the discovery of several young girls and an African American slave, Tituba, in the woods just outside of Salem, dancing and pretending to conjure spirits. The Puritans of Salem stood for complete religious intolerance and stressed the need to follow the ways of the bible literally without exception. The actions of the women in

American playwright, Arthur Miller, in his play The Crucible (1952), suggests that witch hunts still exist in American society. Miller supports this claim by drawing parallels between the Salem Witch Trials and the Senator Joseph McCarthy Trials. His purpose is to warn his readers of the dangers of mass hysteria. He uses emotional appeals (pathos) and logic (logos) to convince the reader that mass “hunts” are still a danger to Americans today. The main way, however, that Miller achieves his ultimate goal of demonstrating the dangers of individuality vs. ideology is through the vivid characterization of Mary Warren. Mary Warren is an example of an outwardly conforming character because in the play she tells Abigail that she wants to tell

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a tragic play set in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, where Miller uses the Salem Trials as a metaphor for the 1950s McCarthy hearings. In Salem, people value their good names. The Puritan community acts as a theocracy in which there appears to be no right to privacy, and people must conform to a strict moral code. The theme of reputation, lying, and deceit are shown in Abigail, John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, Mary Warren, and other characters. In the play’s dialogue, Miller uses Biblical allusions, situational irony, and dramatic irony to develop these themes.

‘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.

In Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” it tells the tale of the Salem Witch Trials. At the time of the play, the McCarthy trials, named after Sen. Joseph McCarthy, were underway. Though, instead of hunting for witches, they were hunting for communists. These two trials may have happened at different points in history, but were in many ways the same. Whether it was death to job loss a lot of lives were changed on account of these trials. “The Crucible” and the McCarthy trials have become historically important because they show the process of power, fear, and turmoil.

The Crucible is the fictional story of the Salem witch trials in which many women were accused of being witches. The Crucible is written by Arthur Miller, who was recorded as the greatest American playwright (“Arthur Miller” 1). The scene for the play is based in the Massachusetts Bay Colony around 1692. McCarthyism was the act of accusing people of treason without evidence, attacks on a person's character, and attack on their patriotism by accusing many Americans of being communist (Ortega). Lisa Martin says, “Communists control led the two world superpowers, China and the Soviet Union Americans feared a takeover in their own country” (Martin 1). Many people tried to accuse the men and women who were spreading the fear. One man named Joseph McCarthy was a senator that charged communists that interfered with the U.S. State Department (“Joseph McCarthy” 1). The accusations lead to investigations, questioning and finding people guilty without evidence,

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

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.

In “The Crucible”, the author, Arthur Miller, conveys what he believes Senator Joe McCarthy is doing during the Red Scare. The Salem Witch Trials were true events, while this play uses these trials and adds a fictional twist to show a point. Witchcraft was punishable by death during this time. Once names started flying in town it was like a chain reaction, people were accusing others of witchcraft because they were not fond of them or they had something they wanted. Some definitions state mass hysteria as contagious, the characters in this play deemed it true. In this play, innocent people were hung because some of the girls in town cried witch.

The Crucible is a play by Arthur Miller written in the 1950’s. It was set in the 1690’s in Massachusetts. The play is about the witch trials and how something like a group of girls in the woods could lead to about 200 people being hanged and accused of witchcraft. The people of Salem were new to Massachusetts as they were puritans who went off to America to set up a new religious colony . The people were new to their surroundings had the Native Americans as enemies because they took their land. Although the Crucible is about the witch trials, it is thought to be a metaphor for the McCarthy Communist trials

The Crucible is similar to the Red Scare, but is The Crucible an allegory for the Red Scare? Here is why I think The Crucible is an allegory for the Red Scare. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegory for the Red Scare on the McCarthy era because in The Crucible multiple people were incorrectly blamed for being witches just like in the Red Scare where people were incorrectly blamed for being communists, in both The Crucible and the Red Scare approximately everyone believed the outrageous accusations to avoid being killed, The Crucible is an allegory is an allegory for a Red Scare because is exposed another example of a time period in which fake accusations led to forced confessions.

The crucible can definitely be an allegory for the red scare and mccarthyism because of the events that took place, false accusations and letting beliefs take control of the world. In the crucible many people were accused and killed based on the belief that these people were witches and were apart of witchcraft. These people were often falsely accused without evidence at all and still received full punishment. In the mccarthy era Joseph accused many people of being communists. The only problem with this is that joseph had absolutely no evidence to back up his claims. Even though he had no evidence people still got in trouble and punishments included getting deported and sent to prison. It really isn't that hard to see the events in the crucible and the mccarthy era as being very similar.

The Crucible allegory for the McCarthy hearings The Crucible, in a literal sense, signifies that because of the amount of tension and jealousy in Salem at the time, hysteria arose and accusations of witch craft began. That, of course, is only scratching the surface of what Arthur Miller was actually trying to depict in this play. During the play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller shows similarities between the McCarthy hearings and the Salem witch trials by using allegory. The accusations and fear, the conditions of the hysteria, and the courtroom procedures are similarities between the Salem witch trials and the McCarthy hearings. Both, the Salem witch trials and the McCarthy hearings, left a deep impression in the world today.

Jennifer Torres
Ms. Wyatt
AP English Language and Composition, Period: 6
8 February 2016
  Woe of Fools Within his play "The Crucible" Arthur Miller utilizes hysteria, hypocrites, and closed-mindedness in order to create an allegory to 1950s McCarthyism. 
  Miller utilizes hysteria to make an allegory for what he went through in the 1950s. The "afflicted" girls of the town shriek, "I saw Goody Sibber... Alice Barrow...

The Crucible, a twisted playwright, written by Arthur Miller is an allegory to the McCarthy trials of the 1950’s. An allegory is a story with two levels of meaning- literal and symbolic. In an allegory the characters, events, and instances relate to real people, events, and instances. (“Definition of Allegory” R104). Characters like John Proctor, Abigail Williams, and the Court, represent real people like Arthur Miller, Joseph R. McCarthy and the organization created, the HUAC. Events like the puritans being brought into the court and John Proctor having to choose between staying to oppose the court or using his wife as leverage were similar to the accused that were brought in, as well as Miller refusing bribery. Instances when the court had no substantial proof were in comparison to the HUAC having no evidence and taking away the passports of the accused. Miller wrote The Crucible as an allegory to show that people in power take advantage of their authority. He wanted to teach that being under pressure and living in fear can affect the decisions that are made in everyday life and to criticize the institutions that wronged the vulnerable people during these times.