Parallels Between Mccarthyism And The Crucible

The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1952 and first performed in 1953. It’s a partially fictional story based on historical events: the Salem witch trials that took place in Massachusetts in 1692. As seen in the online videos attached to the play, it’s an allegory for the intolerance of McCarthyism and for the persecution of communists who were blacklisted and banned from employment in the late 1950’s. In 1956 Miller himself was summoned before the HCUA (House Committee on Un-American Activities) questioned and blacklisted for refusing to denounce others.

There are lots of parallels between the play and the McCarthyism events. In both people were summoned before an authority, interrogated, intimidated and frequently forced to

There were false accusations of artists and Hollywood figures. Many of them were blacklisted because of their alleged ties to the communist party. Further, as with the alleged witches of Salem, suspected communists were encouraged to confess their crimes and to betray others.

In the world of The Crucible set in a theocratic society that repressed individual freedom there is no room for deviation from social norms. Witches are also summoned, questioned and accused without any proof. Everyone is looking over their shoulders and lives in fear of rumors or of being accused of witchcraft. Lives could be ruined with a simple point of finger. REPUTATION

So both witches and communists were accused without any proof and blacklisted. Obviously people commit the same mistakes ever again.

But what is really relevant here today is the role that mass hysteria can play in tearing apart a community; the speed with which gossip and rumors spread, and the inability of people to stop accusations once they have started.

Indeed these accusations without any proper evidence or trial like during McCarthyism era recall recent cases in the United