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Alexander Perez
Mrs. Perry
American Literature
2 May 2014
Literary Criticism of The Crucible
The Crucible one of the many dramatic, and suspenseful plays written by Arthur Miller
has become an important part of American history and literature. It’s only natural with its large
amount readers comes a large amount of positive and negative criticism from both amateur and
expert critics. Many of these experts and trustworthy critics have found strikingly similarities
between The Crucible and the McCarthy era of the 1950’s. During Arthur Miller’s “The
Crucible” and America’s Red Scare, false accusation and injustice were made affecting people,
towns and even an entire country.
To understand the resemblance between The Crucible and the McCarthy era one must
know of a dark time period in American history. In the 1950’s America suffered from false
accusation and fear. Innocent Americans were bullied and harassed for supposedly supporting
Stalin’s communism. Many lives and careers were ruined in a blink of an eye with no actual
proof of any association between The Soviet Union and the accusers. Both The Crucible and the
McCarthy era had many similarities, however; unlike The Crucible the devil was not a
mythological demon but a political theory. This era of false accusation and fear would be known
as The McCarthy Era and, what is truly depressing is the number of people involved in the
madness.
The Crucible and The Red Scare among many similarities both involved a large amount
of people. Back in the Salem Witch Trials the town of Salem was in engulfed in fear and despair.
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No one was safe from the immature and greedy accusers. “A whole town is involved, not simply
one family whose drama might be representative of the plight of the community” (Bonnet).
People all over town accused others of making packs with the devil with no actual evidence what
so ever. America’s Red Scare was no different. Neighbors, friends and even family all over the
U.S. took part of the accusation and harassment. The fear of communism had such an impact on
America that people produced commercials warning and teaching Americans how to distinguish
communist and Soviet Union supporters. Although today we don’t see a town such as Salem as a
large area or group of people, back in the seventeenth century residents in the New World were
few and a town was considered fairly large. One thing is certain, innocent people in both The
Crucible and The Red Scare suffered for crimes never committed and beliefs that they may or
may have not supported.
In The Crucible your gender, race or nobility did not guarantee your safety. Whether it’s
in the Salem Witch Trials or the McCarthy era everyone was a target. ”Even when the partly
truth (and so partly false) analogy between Salem witch hunts and McCarthy Communist hunts
made it hard to hear play amid the shouting” (Simon). Men, women and even children were
accused of packing with the devil. Innocent children were sentence to death and were forced to
lie to survive. In the eyes of the townspeople everyone was a sinner. Hundreds of years later
children are being ridiculed and harassed in school because their parents were accused of being a
communist. No one was safe from the accusations man, women, children and even politicians
were in danger. “The Crucible is concerned, as Miller has claimed it is, with clarifying the tragic
process underlying the political manifestation” (Budick). Members of the court in Salem were
occasionally targeted as heathen and politicians the 1950’s were targeted as communist. Senator
Joseph McCarthy began accusing other senators of being active communist tainting the names of
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honest people in the government. McCarthy biggest mistake came when he accused Senator
Lester Hunt of being involved with communism. Senator Lester Hunt was a well-respected
senator and the idea of him being accused of being a communist was too much for some to the
point where they started to doubt the accusations. This would be the beginning of the end of the
McCarthy era. A similar case occurred in The Crucible when one of the accusers accused a
woman of high nobility. People in the town of Salem began to question whether or not these
accusations were real or not. Luckily not long after the accusation of one of the town’s most
important women, people began to realize that maybe the hanging and impressment were wrong
and extreme. Unfortunately by the time the accusations stopped more than 20 people were
executed or died in prison and over 200 were accused. Although there were no legal executions
in the McCarthy era the lives of many were ruined and scarred by others. Something both the
McCarthy era and The Salem Witch Trials had in common.
Regardless if you lived in the seventeenth century or the 1950’s people’s lives were
ruined and destroyed by others. Some of the accusers wanted more power in the government and
took advantage of people’s fear of communism to eliminate the competition such as Joseph
McCarthy. McCarthy began accusing other senators in hopes of removing them from their seat in
the government. Sadly McCarthy was able to damage some of the honest senator’s career
affecting not only a group of people but a whole country. On the other hand people in the
seventeen century lost something else. People in Salem and in other neighboring towns were
stripped away from their land, possessions and even their lives. When people realized the
opportunity of purchasing more land and cattle was just one accusation away, people all over
town began to search and explore the area for anything that might catch their eyes. When land or
cattle was found all that was left to do was accuse the individual of packing with the devil or
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signing their name in the black book. One individual took advantage of this when he accused one
of the townsmen of packing with the devil. After the man was incarcerated he tried to buy his
property. This was one of the many cases that people in Salem suffered. Others were even worse
and began accusing others just because they were bored. People accused others for the simplest
things in both Salem and America leading them to the death sentence. The only way to escape
was to accuse another and continue the cycle. Fortunately not everyone gave in to the pressure.
During the McCarthy era some of the accusers were even well known actors and
actresses. These actors were shunned when they refused to talk about any connections they had
with communism. They would later be known as the Hollywood Ten. Although these actors were
not killed or imprisoned physically their careers and reputation were not spared. Procter faced a
similar situation when he refused to admit his connection with the devil and accused others of
signing the black book. ”They think to go like saints. I like not to spoil their names” (Miller).
Both Procter and the Hollywood Ten refused to cooperate with others and sadly both suffered
severely. One lost his life and the others lost their career. But was all of this a coincidence?
With all these resemblances it’s hard to think that Arthur Miller was not thinking of
McCarthyism when he was writing The Crucible. The only thing left to confirm a direct
connection between The Crucible and McCarthyism would be a direct statement. “But though
Miller confesses to having written the play out of the obvious resemblances between the two
historical periods, there are obsessions within the play that are peculiarly American—whatever
the era” (Ditsky). It is clear now that The Crucible and the McCarthy era was no coincidence
and, it’s also clear that The Crucible is truly an American Literacy treasure.
The Crucible is no doubt one of Arthur Miller’s best plays. “The Crucible is complex,
coherent, and convincing: that is, it succeeds as a play on its own merits” (Murray). The Crucible
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is a dramatic play that has shocked many of its readers. Either for its resemblance to the unfair
McCarthy era filled with false accusation or just the suspenseful situation the tragic hero
encounters. One thing is certain, The Crucible and The McCarthy era both involved unfair justice
affecting the lives of hundreds.
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Work Cited
Bonnet, Jean-Marie. "Society vs. the Individual in Arthur Miller's The Crucible." English Studies
63.1 (Feb. 1982): 32-36. Rpt. in Drama Criticism. Vol. 31. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature
Resource Center. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
Budick, E. Miller. "History and Other Spectres in Arthur Miller's The Crucible." Modern Drama
28.4 (Dec. 1985): 535-552. Rpt. in Drama Criticism. Vol. 31. Detroit: Gale, 2008.
Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
Ditsky, John. "Stone, Fire and Light: Approaches to The Crucible." North Dakota Quarterly 46.2
(Spring 1978): 65-72. Rpt. in Drama Criticism. Vol. 31. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature
Resource Center. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
Miller, Arthur. “The Crucible.” Glencoe Literature. Ed. Beverly Ann Chin. New York: McGraw.
2004. 914-95. Print.
Murray, Edward. “Dramatist” (1967)181-82. Rpt. In Contemporary Literary Criticisms. Vol.6
Eds. Carolyn Riley and Phyllis Carmel Mendelson. Detroit: Gale, 1974. 328-29. Print.
Simon, John. “Eloquence in Spite of Words.” New York Magazine.(1972)70.Rpt. in
Contemporary Literary Criticism.Vol.2 Eds. Carolyn Riley and Barbara Harte. Detroit:
Gale, 1974. 279-80. Print.