Mccarthyism And The Crucible

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is an allegory; a reference to the communist witch hunts, which plagued Miller and many of his peers in the 1950’s. Miller’s intention was to emphasize the injustice of the McCarthy’s trials by relating them to a time in history clearly morally and legally unjust. Miller sought to convince his 1950s audience of the insanity of their political situation and to show how history can repeat itself. A 1950’s audience would also see the accusations as only being supported by the subjective experiences of the “afflicted” community members, with no proper evidence. This would be seen dramatically differently by an audience of the time as Hale states “the devil in precise; the marks of his presence are definite as stone”.

This is highlighted when Parris elaborates on what he saw in the woods; “I cannot blink what I saw, Abigail, for my enemies will not blink it. I saw a dress lying on the grass . . . Aye, a dress. And I thought I saw—someone naked running through the trees! Overall, looking at The Crucible through a historical perspective, the audience is shown the insanity of the McCarthy trials through the mass hysteria seen in Salem, and the twisted justice of innocent people being convicted within the text.

A Freudian analysis of The Crucible reveals that the actions of central characters can be analysed using Freudian concepts, ultimately allowing for a deeper look into their inner psychology involving the id, the ego, and the superego. Seen within the text, Abigail’s mind is stuck in the id stage of development as she only focuses on herself and does not think of the consequences of her actions. When Abigail threatens Goody Proctor as being a “bitter woman, a lying, cold, snivelling” witch, it confirms to the audience that Abigail has a one-way mindset of fulfilling her lust for John Proctor. This is seen right from the beginning of the text where it was seen that she “drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor”

This further to the audience that in the Crucible, women are most likely to be blamed. The Crucible represents a male-dominated world where the women have little power and are treated lesser and are most likely to be associated with the devil. Most likely because of the time the novel was written in, the female characters are viewed in a negative light by Miller which is seen throughout the entire text. Another example of feminism in the play is the ‘perfect’ puritan Rebecca Nurse, and how women were not respected as the men were. She was one of the most respected females in Salem, yet the men did not listen to her when she tried to convince them that the girls were only fooling around and not doing Witchcraft. Patriarchal power also manifests itself within the text when the women attack each other for prestige or power. Yet because of her gender and status, no one believed her. Through the feminist lens, it is clear that the girls only rise to power after they find their ability to see evil in others. This is the complete opposite of how the community worked before this as the men had all the