The Crucible is a play, written by American playwright Arthur Miller in 1952. According to Oxford dictionary, one of the meanings of crucible is “a situation of severe trial”. In the play Miller successfully shows the Salem society during the “witch hunt” of 1692 and 1693. The event is considered as one of the most terrible and dramatic chapters of American history. The hysteria, caused by several young girls accusing a slave of witchery, was the reason why innocent people died and many lives were broken.
The play was written during a period known as the Second Red Scare that occurred after the World War II and referred to as “McCarthyism”. The American Heritage Dictionary defines McCarthyism as "the political practice of publicizing accusations of disloyalty or subversion with insufficient regard to evidence." In 1950s Senator Joseph McCarthy in his speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, on February 9, 1950 stated: “I have in my hand 57 cases of individuals who would appear to be either card carrying members or certainly loyal to the Communist Party, but who nevertheless are still helping to shape our foreign policy.” (McCarthy “Speech at Wheeling, West Virginia”) He implied that there are Soviet spies in the government and among ordinary people. McCarthy’s claim plunged the country in mass hysteria and started a series of trials, so-called “witch hunt”, against people suspected in collaboration with communists.
The Crucible is considered an allegory for the Red Scare. Arthur Miller himself admits:
It would probably never have occurred to me to write a play about the Salem witch trials of 1692 had I not seen some astonishing correspondences with that calamity in the America of the late 40s and early 50s. My basic need was to respond to a phenomenon which, with only small exaggeration, one could say paralyzed a whole generation and in a short time dried up the habits of trust and toleration in public discourse. (Miller, “Are You Now Or Were You Ever?”)
Not long after the play opened the House Un-American Activities Committee took interest in Miller. He was unfoundedly accused of cooperating with the Communist Party and listed in the Hollywood blacklist. Thus, he found himself in a situation similar to his heroes’.
Many parallels can be found between The Crucible and McCarthyism period. The background of the Red Scare, of course, is different from the background of the Salem trials, however there can be found several common features.
During the Cold war the Americans feared the world domination of USSR, whose influence spread over the half of the world, including China and Eastern European countries. As for the puritans, they fear of the unknown, they try to place everything within the frame of religion. According to Richard Hayes “it is imaginative terror Mr. Miller is here invoking: not the solid gallows and the rope appall him, but the closed and suffocating world of the fanatic, against which the intellect and will are powerless” (Hayes 498). So the key words are fear, terror. These feelings later …