A Throne of Lies
This is all more than just a little white lie. In 1953, Arthur Miller wrote the Crucible because of his experiences during the Red Scare of which many people were being accused of being communist. The Crucible is about trials for people who allegedly practiced witchcraft in the late 1600’s in Salem, Massachusetts. Herbert Lawrence Block was a cartoonist during the Red Scare period and was also impacted by the Red Scare. His cartoons had a similar theme as The Crucible. The Red Scare affected many people through false accusations; we see this in Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible.
Many of the characters in the Crucible were falsely accused of witchcraft. People would accuse others without having any actual evidence, by using what they called spectral evidence. “I saw Sarah Good with the Devil, I saw Goody Osborn with the devil, and I saw Bridget Bishop with the devil “(Miller 89). These were examples of accusations in which innocent people were implicated of witchcraft. The people that were accusing did not understand the harm they put on others until they were accused themselves and could not do anything to prevent it.
Herb Block’s cartoon “It’s okay… We’re hunting Communists” was a cartoon for the Red Scare showing the harm the House Committee inflicted by hurting innocent people just for finding possible communists. In the cartoon Herb Block shows the reckless driver running over innocent people. This was similar to Salem because many innocent people such as Rebecca Nurse lost their life because they were falsely accused of witchcraft. Accusing people of being communist was a bombardment by the Committee of Un-American acts. They had no proof but still, they would still accuse people of being a communist because of their profession or social beliefs. In Herb Block’s cartoon he expresses greatly that in the hunt to find communists; many innocent people’s constitutional rights are violated.
In the Crucible many of the victims found themselves in worse situations by denying the accusations. Sadly, the goal of both the Committee for Un-American Activities and the accusers in the Crucible was to illicit a confession. We see this from Tituba, once she admitted to witchcraft, she was not hanged. In another example from the Crucible, Mr. Hale attempts to force a confession from John Proctor by saying “So you believe?” And John Proctor replies “I have no knowledge of it” (Miller 200). By denying the questioning Proctor got into more trouble and was ultimately hanged. The accused parties in both the Salem witch trials and the McCarthy era Congressional committees found it virtually impossible to deny the accusations. Everyone accused was guilty without evidence.
Herb Block’s cartoon “Fire” showed that the Committee of Un-American Activities was completely overreacting and quite comical in its effort to free the country of communists. His carton depicts the frenzy of the McCarthy followers. In the cartoon a man is trying to pull out the flame on the statue of liberty. In the Crucible, the many losses were the lives of the accused people, yet one of the primary accusers, Reverend Hale, came to understand the false accusations and doubted the existence of witchcraft. Eventually McCarthyism was defeated through the doubts and actions of people like Herb Block.
The false accusations of witchcraft on the characters in the Crucible are similar to those experienced by actors, writers and hundreds of others during the Red Scare. During the various House and Senate inquiries, the accused that refused to answer questions were convicted of Contempt of Congress and subsequently blacklisted by employers. Over time prominent citizens such as president Harry Truman became vocal opponents to the inquiries and eventually public opinion changed. The Crucible gives us a reminder of how history can repeat itself and how we can no longer lie or have false accusations without evidence or what is true.