Arthur Miller used his own experiences with McCarthyism to write the play The Crucible. McCarthyism is the intense opposition contouring fear and or suspicion of communism particular in the United States during the 1950’s. This was McCarthy’s own invention to keep him in office. McCarthy accused a lot of people including Miller of being communist. This was very big at the time.
Two passages highlight tremendous fault in judgment pertaining to witch hunting, both of which I will explain and reflect upon throughout this essay. During the first act, upon Mr. Hale’s entry, Miller exposes the connections between communism vs. capitalism and good vs. evil. As Mr. Hale holds that “the devil is a wily one” (Miller, 35) and must be stopped, there were many in both the United States and communist Russia who condemned the opposite party of espionage in an effort to undermine what they believed to be “good” in the battle of “good” vs. “evil”. Russia, for example, during the years of Stalin’s reign, held military tribunals for those accused of conspiring with the capitalists. The average duration of these trials was three minutes (class notes, POL 334) and, most always, the tribunal
This particular phase in history of the United States is referred to as either ‘The Red Scare’ or ‘McCarthyism’ because of the government-initiated propaganda against Communism. This era’s anti-communist hearings destroyed lives and friendships as paranoia swept America, according to Arthur Miller (Miller “Are You”). “The Crucible” evokes a lethal brew of illicit sexuality, and a fear of the supernatural and political manipulation, a combination that was similar to McCarthyism. When Miller wrote it, Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Committee on Un-American Activities wanted him to sign an anti-communist declaration because the object was to destroy the least credibility of any and all ideas associated with socialism and communism (Miller “Why I”). Whether McCarthy was right or wrong, people can learn some important lessons from the past, present, and future.
Similarly to the Salem witch trials, McCarthyism started in a time of great fear, but instead of fearing witches that made pacts with the Devil, the people of the 1950’s feared communism. A virtually unheard of senator named Joseph McCarthy was driven into infamy on February 9, 1950, when while at a conference at the Republican women’s group of Wheeling, West Virginia, he accused 205 people in the U.S. State Department of being a part of the communist party. Later, McCarthy claimed to have the names of 57 State Department communists, and called for an investigation. In a place where the fear of such a prospect was already present, the idea that so many high officials
It was when Germany was defeated in World War I that these anti Semitism sentiments started to arise. Many of the Weimar politicians who signed the treaty were Jews. Foreign minister of the Weimar government who was also a Jew was assassinated and killed. So the myth that Jews were responsible for all the problems and the defeat in World War I was born. In 1919, Hitler had written that systematic legitimate opposition can only be done through sensible anti Semitism (The Holocaust, n.d).
They made life miserable for those accused and did not stop, even when they had had their “fun”. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, draws obvious parallels between the 1950’s Red Scare and the witch-hunts that took place in Salem of 1692. Miller connects the hysteria brought about through accusations thrown around by both Senator McCarthy and Abigail Williams by emphasizing how much power their groups hold over everyone. During the times of the Salem Witch Trials and the Red Scare, fear ruled those unfortunate enough to be involved in nearly any conflict. Be it fear of witchcraft or communism,the fact is that it swept throughout the early and post-industrial United States.
Similarities between The crucible and Arthur Miller’s notion of the McCarthy trials Arthur Miller was a prominent playwright of the late 20th century. His plays dealt mainly with the emerging American middle class after the World War 2 and “Death of a salesman” (1949) remains one of his major successes winning many awards. The Crucible in my opinion however was one of his plays which was directly related to a situation he personally went through. He wrote the Crucible in 1953 and it is clear that the book was a metaphor for the McCarthy trials going on in the country at the same time. After the end of World War 1, a new fear gripped the world-Communism.
A History of Persecution For millennium humans have been afraid of the unknown and what they do not understand. This fear has led to violence and the perpetration of unspeakable actions in the name of eradicating that fear. During the 1940’s and 50’s the United States was suffering under the fear of communist sabotage and were turning to McCarthyism to root out the traitors. Playwright Arthur Miller saw the unfairness and mad persecutions that were sweeping the nation and satired it all in his play The Crucible which is a retelling of the Salem Witch Trials that took place in Massachusetts in 1692. Miller used the play to represent injustices that were going on at the time such as accusations that had no substantial evidence, an unfair assumption that the accused was guilty until proven innocent, and the tendency of Senator McCarthy to retaliate against any criticism against him an accusation of being a communist sympathizer.
The Crucible Aurthur Miller wrote The Crucible as an allegory to the "witch hunts" of the Communist party in the 1950s. Much like Reverend Hale, an expert on witchcraft, Joseph McCarthy turned the blacklist of Communism into fear for many people. An allegory is a written work that tells one story but refers to another. Miller's The Crucible writes of witches and black magic to convey the story of an illegal and frustrating assault upon those who embrace Communism. Miller's literary work exposed both intense and disturbing times in American history.
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a historical fiction play about one of the biggest events to ever take place in Massachusetts: the Salem Witch Trials. Arthur Miller’s main reason for writing The Crucible was to ridicule the era of McCarthyism, which was when there was a ‘witch hunt’ for communists. During this period, Miller was accused of witchcraft. Knowing that the McCarthy Witch Trials were based entirely on fiction, not factual evidence, Miller wrote the play to parody the McCarthy Era; however, he still wanted his play to be a success (“The Crucible”- Drama for Students). In