The Political Context of ‘The Crucible’

by Lorcan Bonser-Wilton

‘The Crucible’ is a 1953 play written by Arthur Miller. Miller is also well known for writing plays such as ‘Death of a Salesman’ and ‘A View from the Bridge’. The play is set in Puritan America and concerns the mass hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials, in which we discover that the trials were manipulated for people to get revenge, and in the play petty accusations based on long-held feuds often lead to wrongful internment, torture and execution. The play reflects the context it was written in greatly, as it is set against the backdrop of 1950s America, and is an allegory for the ‘witch-hunts’ conducted due to the persistent fear of Communism.

The fear of communism was by no means a new thing in the USA; in the 1920s, the Russian Revolution caused a mass ‘Red Scare’ in America, as well as the infamous raids conducted by US Attorney General Mitchell Palmer. In these raids, out of thousands of cases it was believed that only 556 had any basis in fact, showing that even before McCarthy there was a prodigious fear of Communism. 

In the aftermath of the Second World War, two great superpowers emerged: the USA and the USSR. Both had contrasting views on how societies should be run (the USA capitalist and free market, and the USSR communist), and both countries believed that the other should run their way. The fear of Communism in 1950s America led the Republican politician Joseph McCarthy to conduct his own ‘witch-hunt’, as he started a nationwide search for those in power who had connections to Communism. In fact, many who were against him and his ‘Committee for Un-American Activities’ openly called these investigations ‘witch hunts’. Whilst founded in 1938 for the same purpose, the fervour caused by ‘McCarthyism’ was in my opinion incredibly reflective of the play’s presentation of the mass hysteria and fear that hangs over Salem during the trials. In the play, many innocent people are condemned on flimsy and insufficient evidence, such as having dolls or reading books, both of which would be seen today as relatively innocuous activities. The practice of ‘McCarthyism’ was often unjust and simply based on hearsay. McCarthy and his associates would accuse Federal Government employees of having connections with communism and leaking information, and as a result many lives were destroyed. Many innocent people were accused on little to no evidence, which ruined their reputations. In the context of McCarthy’s actions, this mainly occurred to government officials, who could find themselves blacklisted and jobless as a result of these trials. Miller himself was called in front of the Committee in 1956 due to his impending marriage to Marilyn Monroe, giving him first hand experience of the mass persecution of innocents that was happening.

The destruction of lives and reputations presented in ‘The Crucible’ was therefore incredibly relevant to the context in which it was written, as a parallel ‘witch-hunt’ was happening throughout America at the time. Such outlandish accusations were happening around Miller as he wrote the play, which of course would have informed his perspective on the matter greatly.