Is The Crucible an allegory for the Red Scare during the McCarthy era in the 1950s? The play The Crucible written by Arthur Miller is one of the best modern American drama. In his play Miller touches on many issues of the contemporary American society: family relationships, personal responsibility, and morality. Miller wrote this play in the mid 50s when many Americans were concerned about the spread of communism in America. Senator Joseph McCarthy led the Red Scare, accusing hundreds of innocent people for their ties with communists. Finally, he was condemned by his fellow senators and he quickly lost favor. This play also reflects Miller’s personal experience during the hearing conducted by Congress to identify suspected communists. Admitting
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Massachusetts community, by the standards of their own time, convicted and hanged nineteen men and women and two dogs for witchcrafting. Miller shifts the modern McCarthyism’s situation into the Puritan Massachusetts situation and criticises the norms of this society by the standards of our time by means of allegory and irony. Like in the real American historical situation, called McCarthyism, the characters of The Crucible, Elizabeth Proctor, is accused and convicted of witchcraft, which is a metaphor or allegory of McCarthyism. Good and decent citizens accused through unfounded suspicions by their friends and neighbors are thrown into prisons as suspects. The only way for those suspects to be justified is to become accusers themselves through false confessions and faulty evidence. Such victim in the play is John Proctor. In the culminating scene of the play’s trial Proctor says, “I like not to spoil their names…” (130). This scene is similar to Miller’s own life situation when he refused to name the names of potential communists before the Committee. Proctor speaks on behalf of Miller’s own voice and Miller’s own story the bottom line of which is “the process whereby a man feeling guilt… believes in what he knows is not true” (Bigsby). Both, Proctor and Miller, are the people with high moral principles who would not change their integrity before the corrupted courts. On the other hand, they both admitted their wrongdoing: Miller attending the communist meetings and Proctor committing adultery. Proctor says, “I speak my own sins. I cannot judge another… I set myself entirely in your hands” (131). It allowed them to convince the courts of their innocence. Thus, parallelism between the actions of the main character of the play and the author is the central motif of The
Massachusetts community, by the standards of their own time, convicted and hanged nineteen men and women and two dogs for witchcrafting. Miller shifts the modern McCarthyism’s situation into the Puritan Massachusetts situation and criticises the norms of this society by the standards of our time by means of allegory and irony. Like in the real American historical situation, called McCarthyism, the characters of The Crucible, Elizabeth Proctor, is accused and convicted of witchcraft, which is a metaphor or allegory of McCarthyism. Good and decent citizens accused through unfounded suspicions by their friends and neighbors are thrown into prisons as suspects. The only way for those suspects to be justified is to become accusers themselves through false confessions and faulty evidence. Such victim in the play is John Proctor. In the culminating scene of the play’s trial Proctor says, “I like not to spoil their names…” (130). This scene is similar to Miller’s own life situation when he refused to name the names of potential communists before the Committee. Proctor speaks on behalf of Miller’s own voice and Miller’s own story the bottom line of which is “the process whereby a man feeling guilt… believes in what he knows is not true” (Bigsby). Both, Proctor and Miller, are the people with high moral principles who would not change their integrity before the corrupted courts. On the other hand, they both admitted their wrongdoing: Miller attending the communist meetings and Proctor committing adultery. Proctor says, “I speak my own sins. I cannot judge another… I set myself entirely in your hands” (131). It allowed them to convince the courts of their innocence. Thus, parallelism between the actions of the main character of the play and the author is the central motif of The