‘The Crucible’ as an Allegory for McCarthyism

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‘The Crucible’ is an allegory. An allegory is a story with an obvious meaning but if you look deeper into it, there is another meaning. In this case, the obvious meaning is the Salem witch-hunt and the hidden meaning is McCarthyism. McCarthyism started in the early 1950’s and it was governmental accusations with no evidence. Joseph McCarthy started doing trials on those he thought were communist, but he had no evidence for it. This is the same as the witch trials in The Crucible. Arthur Miller wrote this in response to McCarthyism. Arthur Miller uses some dramatic techniques in The Crucible. One of the examples of dramatic technique is subtexting. Subtexting is a hidden meaning within what is said or done by a character. An example of this is when Elizabeth says to John “what keeps you so late?”. This is subtexting because she is asking him why he is late home but she is really trying to suggest was he with Abigail. Another dramatic technique he uses is creating tension at the end of each act. At the end of act 1, the girls started naming people who they ‘saw with the devil’. This scene shows how much the girls are desperate to save themselves because they are putting the blame on people they know. For example, when Abigail says, “I saw Goody Bibber with the Devil”. This chanting started by Tituba being so frightened of being hung, she had to do something. It is shown that she is very scared by the stage direction “rocking and weeping”. At the end of act 2, Elizabeth Proctor is being arrested, and with rage, John Proctor tells Mary Warren that she will go to court with him to tell the truth that she never saw the devil to make sure that Elizabeth is named innocent. This scene reveals a little about John’s character. I... ... middle of paper ... ... the audience do not know what John is thinking, he may still love Abigail but knows it is wrong to do; therefore he hides his love for her. Maybe he loves Elizabeth and not Abigail? Or maybe he even loves them both? It isn’t know for sure. In my opinion, I think that The Crucible is successful in its own right because it taught many people about mass hysteria, the witch-hunt and also McCarthyism and how these were all linked. I think the allegory was successful because it shows people the madness of the McCarthy hearings and how people react to mass hysteria. I have learnt that human nature is fully to blame for the disaster that took place in Salem. This is because humans just in general try to defend themselves. The girls were defending themselves so they started blaming others. If they had never done this, then none of it would have ever happened.

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