Two Witch Hunts Hundreds of Years Apart With the Same Result The Crucible by Arthur Miller was based on the Salem Witch Trials which occurred in the late 1600s In the play several young women accuse innocent people of Salem for the participating witchcraft During the trials many of the accused were unfairly persecuted such as John Proctor This event in history may be compared with the Red Scare in which people were tried for their questionable connections of communism in the United States Thus Arthur Miller writes this depiction of the witch trials as an allegory to what was going on the McCarthyism trials Miller compares one of the main characters John Proctor to himself He does this so that the reader is able to relate the similar experiences that both men faced The Crucible demonstrates the struggle and narrow-minded officials of the court which lead to the death of many innocent citizens in Salem
The Crucible generates an allegory for Arthur Miller s struggles with McCarthyism because of his similar questioning and trial relating it to John Proctor s battle in Salem and the relation between the actions and results of the courts in both situations The play proves to represent an allegory for Miller s troubles with the court and the suspicion that the jury had among the suspects He compares the Salem Witch trials to the Red Scare by stating In both places to keep social unity intact the authority of leaders had to be hardened and words of skepticism toward them constricted