Political Representation In The Crucible

Political Representation in The Crucible Arthur Miller, the author, wrote The Crucible in 1952 during the Red Scare, an investigation into Communist spies in the U.S. Government. A result of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, numerous citizens, including Miller, were interrogated for being accused of association with the Communist party by Senator Joseph McCarthy. The author used the Salem Witch Trials in his play to represent and criticize the search for Communist party members during the rise of McCarthyism. In The Crucible, Abigail Williams and the other “afflicted” girls compare to Joseph McCarthu and his actions in the 1950s. When McCarthy publicly accused officials of involvement with the Communist party, they were

Both concepts symbolized a polar opposite of the existing ideals of the time and were viewed as dangerous, radical, and morally unacceptable. If found guilty of association with these, suspects were labeled as one in service of the primary enemy of the state. For Puritans, this enemy was the Devil, and for mid-20th century Americans, this was Communist Russia. [Bailey 45] [Association] Each embodied treason to the existing power or principle, whether God or democracy. Miller compares witchcraft to Communism to explain the severity of the fear and hatred that Americans felt towards the Soviet Union’s government. As in D.H. Lawrence’s Women In Love, the author expresses his distaste for the existing prime minister through his character’s political views, just as Miller critiques the U.S. Government’s response to McCarthyism through his characters’ disapproval of the Salem Witch Trials. [Foster 111] The author compares the two cases through the role of his characters, as with Abigail and McCarthy, as well as through the governing conditions and the antagonistic concepts present in both situations. The Crucible in itself is representative of the Red Scare and criticizes government response to idealistic