How Does Miller Use The Crucible To Discuss His Views Of The Cold War And Mccarthyism?

How Does Miller Use The Crucible To Discuss His Views Of The Cold War And Mccarthyism?

The Crucible is an allegory of the 1692 Salem witchcraft trials symbolizing the 1950s anti-Communist purges that followed after World War II. The Crucible is a story of how a small community can be stirred up by the evils of mindless persecution and the power of false accusations.   During the Salem Witch trials if you opposed witchcraft, you were accused of being a witch.   Similarly, during the Cold War, a period referred to as McCarthyism, those who opposed Senator McCarthy’s investigations were accused of being a communist.

McCarthyism during the late 1940s and 1950s and the Salem witch trials in 1692 are similar in that accusations were made which led to persecution.   In Salem, if you opposed the theory of witches, you were likely to be called a witch, arrested, trialled and hung. Comparatively, in McCarthyism, those who appeared to support Communism were accused of being communists without evidence or proof.   In both The Crucible and the McCarthy trials those falsely accused suffered greatly.  

In The Crucible, when Abigail is afraid of being told out by the other girls, she tells them, “…   I will come to you in the middle of the night and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you… I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down! (The Crucible, Arthur Miller, 1953, page 26.) Here Miller shows that the Crucible is just like McCarthyism, a single person can influence their way of thinking and become too scared of what could happen to them if they stand up for each other and do the right thing. Like McCarthyism, the girls become scared of Abigail and follow in her lead.

In the Crucible the character Abigail was the scaremonger.   She spread unjustly rumours throughout Salem that innocent people were witches. Under duress to shift the blame, Abigail, in attempt to get her lover John Proctor back, purposely and unjustly accuses Elizabeth, John Proctor’s wife, of dealing with...