What Is An Allegory In The Crucible

The period during the Cold War had a deeper meaning than just the rivalry between the two superpowers, the Soviet Union and America. Turmoil and trepidation over the threat of the spread of Communism brought change into America. The belief of the integration of Communist spies into the country made the government question the loyalty of Americans. The period in which this anti-communist hysteria occurred was known as the Red Scare. In The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, a town in Salem, Massachusetts is a witness of witchcraft. The minister’s niece, Abigail is a suspect of witchcraft after being discovered casting spells along with other girls. The terror and threat of the spread of witchcraft generates an innumerable amount of accusations against the inhabitants of

These accusations initiate the Salem Witch Trials. The events and the impacts on society described in The Crucible are an allegory to the Red Scare.

Fear was a factor of the panic over the threat of communism during the Red Scare and the introduction of witchcraft in Salem described in The Crucible. “As the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States intensified in the late 1940s and early 1950s, hysteria over the perceived threat posed by Communists in the U.S. became known as the Red Scare . . . The intense rivalry between the two superpowers raised concerns in the United States that Communists and leftist sympathizers inside America might actively work as Soviet spies and pose a threat to U.S. security.” (History.com). The Cold War generated an anti-communist hysteria known as the Red