Argumentative Essay On The Crucible

The crucible is a historical fiction text that is well known throughout the world and is a staple in English literature. In 1952 Arthur Miller, a popular writer in the 50s, set the stage for a dramatic act of the Salem Witch trials. Miller wrote this play not only to shed light on the tragedy that is the Salem witch trials, but also a subject that hit closer to home for him; the red scare. He wrote the essay “Why I Wrote the Crucible to educate his readers and viewers on the true purpose of the story.” Miller explains in his writing through logical historical examples, comparisons to the Red Scare and McCarthyism to the Salem Witch trials through strong illustrations of personal experiences. Miller uses many logical historical examples including

For example in paragraph 16 Miller points out that while visiting Salem and researching the events of the trials he realized that the strategies used in the Salem trials were very similar to the strategies used by the congressional committees during the Red Scare. In the same paragraph Miller also points out that he faced those very committees for the analogy he created between his play and the current trials during the time. After discussing his first hand experience with the communist trials he goes on to describe the irony of them when he says “ there were never any witches but there certainly are Communists”. In this quote Miller describes the insanity of the state of the country when he wrote the play and the parallels that Mccarthyism had with the Salem trials. When looking back on the Salem trials it seems crazy that they believed witches were real just like it seemed crazy that everyone believed Communists were rampant throughout the country in the 50’s. In paragraph 18 and 19 Miller also describes the “breathtaking circularity of the process” to show how astonishing it was that history could repeat itself so easily. In paragraph 18 Miller points out that In the Salem trials the best way to prevent yourself from being hanged was to admit to witchcraft and give names of other conspirators. This was also the case in McCarthy’s trials where you were asked to give names of other communists to secure your freedom. Millers points out the obscurity of these tactics and uses the events in the Crucible to display how counterproductive and outrageous both of the trials were. Throughout his essay Miller uses the comparisons between his real life experiences and observations to inform his new audience on the message of his play and how it represents the obscurity of McCarthyism and the widespread