Arthur Miller’s Version of The McCarthy Era
...n The Crucible is shown through a simple sickness that some of the town-members catch. In the beginning of the book, a group of girls became ill, falling victim to seizures and hallucinations (Miller). In the extremely religious area of Salem, this was thought of as a sign of the devil. In those times, when medicine was still young, this unfathomable sickness caused people to become scared, and word spread of witchcraft. This sparked the mass hysteria of the village people. During the McCarthy era, similar hysteria erupted. To begin with, Americans were scared of communism, and to be suspected of being a communist was worse than being a rapist or a murderer (Theoharis). In addition to the fear of communism, there was paranoia. Many Americans suffered from this disorder throughout the McCarthy era. The main cause of this outbreak of paranoia was wondering who would be “blacklisted” next. So, when McCarthy’s blacklist came out, and included such well-known names, one can imagine what the public would be thinking. The hysteria during both events was the main cause for the outcome of these tragedies. This can show how much one bit of information can turn a whole society upside-down, and that people as a group can get caught up in the moment acting in an irrational manner (Novelguide). Miller’s description of the Salem witch incident parallels the McCarthy era through the trials that took place during both events. During the hysteria of the town of Salem, people were accused left and right of witchcraft. This led to the many trials of the “witches.” If a person was to confess their crime, the trial would be cancelled and all charges would be dropped. To some, their pride was more important than their lives, and they wouldn’t lie and confess. At one point, a prominent character in the play, Reverend Hale, was trying to convince a woman, Elizabeth Proctor, to compel her husband to confess. “Let you not mistake your duty as I mistook my own. I came into this village like a bridegroom to his beloved, bearing gifts of high religion; the very crowns of holy law I brought, and what I touched with my bright confidence, it died; and where I turned the eye of my great faith, blood flowed up” (Miller 132). Here, Reverend Hale realizes his role in the whole event and is trying to save lives any way possible (Novelguide). Most importantly, innocent people were tried and convicted for witchcraft. For example, John Proctor was accused by the infected girls, and the court heard about the accusation and convicted John and his wife Elizabeth, both innocent of any crime (Miller). Similar incidents happened during the McCarthy era, but this time there were actually some guilty people. One such trial was the two month long Army-McCarthy hearing. This was a highly publicized event, and was watched by over 20 million people on television. In the hearing, McCarthy investigated an Army dentist named Irving Peress who pled the 5th amendment many times in connection with his affiliation with the Communist Party. This accusation, like most of McCarthy’s was false. After this trial, McCarthy’s popularity decreased greatly and he was censured by the United States Senate. While there were undoubtedly Communists in America in the 1950s, and a possibility of witches in Salem in the late 1600s, the hunts for both destroyed many innocent lives and ruined the accusers (Pinkmonkey). Innocent people were tried every day during this time, and some went to jail just because McCarthy had them on his list. The trials from both eras, in fact, were very similar. Each ended up punishing too many people because of crimes they were not responsible for. Miller’s description of The Salem Witch Trials parallels the McCarthy era through the political persecution that took place. “The Crucible […] examines political persecution as a tool for deflecting attention away from difficult problem areas” (Galens 127). This quote explains that the persecution started over something as small as a sickness, and instead of dealing with that problem, the townspeople moved attention elsewhere. Religious persecution is found more often in The Crucible than politi...