Comparing The Crucible And The Mccarthy Hearings

The Crucible and The McCarthy Hearings, as an Allegory
The Crucible was a widely-known play that was written in 1953 by the playwright Arthur Miller. It takes place in Salem, Massachusetts of 1692, when the very famous “Salem Witch Trials” were occurring. This play can very well be considered an allegory, as it has both a literal level and a metaphorical level as it compared to the “modern witch hunt” that occurred during the Red Scare, when people were afraid of communism entering the United States. On one hand, the play is simply a partially-fictionalized tale of a city overcome with suspicion and fear, but on the other hand, it has a deeper meaning that relates back to the current events of the author’s time

Those citizens who insisted their innocence were hanged under most circumstances. Once accused, there is no way to be seen as innocent by the public. You must either confess, or have a proven alibi that can be confirmed by someone the town saw as important or honest. Although the Mccarthy Hearings were a completely different time period, the incident was treated in the same manner. Senator Mccarthy began the hearings, investigating the U.S. Army with accusations of communism, often using intimidation during the investigations with little evidence, as did the people in Salem would have done while an accused witch stood trial. This could be described as a more humane way of tortures that could have possibly occurred in Salem. Also relating to the McCarthy Hearing victims, the only victims were the ones who everyone suspected were innocent at first, making them fear that if their judgement was wrong, then everyone could be a witch. McCarthy accused the U.S. Army of communist ties, the ones who everyone believed were protecting them, leading everyone to become suspicious that anyone could be a communist. Miller represented this by writing that Tituba is accused, a slave girl that nobody could have suspected as anything more than innocent. This has the same effect, causing everyone to believe anyone could be a

Freedom in the 1950’s was like religion in the 1600’s, it was seen as one of the most important aspects of life. In both of these events, it all comes down to the fact that people were just frightened that what they held dear to them would be taken away. The McCarthy Hearings resulted in the fear of the idea that everyone is a communist. Everyone believed that communism would threaten the American Freedom, the same way witchcraft was threatening the village’s religion as it was sinful and concerned the devil. Due to fear and panic, they were ready to accuse anyone that could have threatened them. The author also tried to show the similarity of the courts, and how corrupt they both were considering that it was 300 years later and they were using the same methods of prosecuting in court today: manipulating the media, the same way the aristocrats of the 15th century manipulated the minds of everyone in Salem by making them truly believe that everyone accused of witchcraft is evil, and deserves nothing more than to die a humiliating and public death, even though there was little to know hard-hitting evidence of either that anyone was a witch, or in Miller’s case, a