The Crucible And Mccarthyism Essay

The Crucible is a four-act play written by Arthur Miller in 1953. The story takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692 and the action is based on the witchcraft trials of that time. A group of girls had been caught performing a pagan ritual and accused of witchcraft. One of the girls, Abigail, had previously had an affair with a local farmer, John Proctor. It is revealed that she asked a negro slave, Tituba, for a charm to kill John’s wife, Elizabeth. She ‘confesses’ having pact with the Devil and “names” the first people. Thus starts the witch hunt, with the girls as chief witnesses. 9 days later, Abigail accuses Elizabeth and she is also arrested. Proctor, in order to save his wife, admits his adultery and denounces Abigail as a fraud. But when Mary Warren is

‘what say you’). Characters such as Tituba, Sarah Good, Mercy and Mary, very often drop the letter ‘g’ at the end of such words as ‘goin’ or ’beatin’, which gives the impression of lower-class speech.
When writing The Crucible, Miller was mainly influenced by the rise of McCarthyism, and he used the Salem witch trials as an analogy to convey his contemporary political message. Despite it being a reactionary play, describing The Crucible purely as a “political propaganda” would be an oversimplification. As the title suggests, the central theme of the play draws an analogy to the purification of a substance by heat . The Play’s main character, John Proctor, undergoes similar process of “purification” or “trial by fire” and eventually has to accept some responsibility for his past mistakes. It is therefore Proctor’s conscience, or “doing the right thing” that plays an important part in the story. During the play’s climax, Proctor is supposed to be brought before the court to confess. His entrance is signaled by the off-stage sound effect of “the sibilance of dragging feet on stone”