In the opening of Act One of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”, it is clearly shown that the play is about a period in American history known as the Salem witch trials. Much has been made, however, out of the historical moment in which Arthur Miller wrote the play—the McCarthy era—and it has been argued that The Crucible was Miller’s attempt to come to terms with and understand contemporary social dynamics that were being caused by Joseph McCarthy. McCarthyism was a time in American History when a Wisconsin Senator claimed he had a list of name of communists and began accusing innocent people. In many ways, “The Crucible” in the McCarthy Era exemplify the same thoughts, the two topics illustrate hysteria while people are wrongly accused, fear …show more content…
In many other ways, McCarthy’s theories and the girls’ theories compliment each other, both based on the same, concept, principle, and idea… fear. McCarthy used severe intimidation to make the person scared, and often the threat of prison, when trying to get information - he often had little or no solid evidence on which to base his claims. The names of many witnesses and suspects were released publicly, resulting in defamation of character and guilt by association. Careers and reputations were irreversibly damaged in both trials, and when all was said and done, there were no convictions for subversion, and people were terrified to even speak about the war. Lastly, Joseph McCarthy would accuse one person, but instead of punishing the person with a hanging, it would be a blacklist. So, if a person was accused, they would have to turn in someone else. Similarly, in the Salem Witch Trials, the accused person would have to do the same thing to make himself free. The citizens, in both occurrences, if a person was summons with being a witch or a communist, and did not accuse someone else, they would have to plead guilty. For, if the person did not the prosecutors would inflict an even harsher