An Allegory for McCarthyism “Over there! There’s the commie!” was a sound that was all too common during the 1950’s, or otherwise known as the McCarthy Era. The “threat” of Communist infiltration and nuclear holocaust was at an all-time high. It was a time of fear and paranoia for everyone, and it wasn’t just from the threat of the Communists. There was a nationwide search for Communists, Communist sympathizers, and even anyone who acted suspicious. There was no requirements for an accusation, which led it to become a modern day witch hunt. This idea of the McCarthy Era being a modern day witch hunt is what countless historians, authors, and poets have tried to relate. Which means there is no surprise that Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is an allegory for the Red Scare and the McCarthy Era as well. To start off, the background of The Crucible was awfully similar to that of the McCarthyism Era, making it viable grounds for creating an allegory. …show more content…
He wrote it as a clear allegory in an effort to show how ridiculous the whole situation was. While reading The Crucible, the reader sees the absurdities in the accusations of obviously innocent people’s lives being ruined by witch accusations. The way that the trials were conducted showed the obvious abuse of power of certain individuals. This ridiculousness is what Miller wanted people to realize that was relapsing in the 1950’s. He used the idea of the tragedy of a witch-hunt to show the world that history was repeating itself once again. This is important to always remember history, which is very difficult when fear is involved. Fear clouds judgement, so in moments when fear is present, in an entire society, history tends to be forgotten and history ends up repeating itself. This is what Miller wanted to get across by using The Crucible to express his feeling of the ridiculousness of the McCarthy Era while living through