The Crucible Allegory Analysis

A quote by Edward R. Murrow states, “No one man can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all his accomplices.” During the Red Scare, Senator McCarthy did terrorize a whole nation, and Arthur Miller became a victim of McCarthyism. Miller suffered through accusations of possibly believing in communism; as a result, he wrote a play called The Crucible, in which he used the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 to explain the communist hysteria during the 1950s. Arthur Miller develops an allegory in The Crucible by comparing the Salem Witch Trials to McCarthyism by using ringleaders, persecuted couples, and hypocrisy in the government or legal system. Certainly, Miller creates a parallel using ringleaders such as Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s,
In the circumstances, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg would not confess under interrogation; Giles and Martha Corey did not respond to any questioning either. During McCarthyism, Julius Rosenberg went under interrogation for sending secret information to the Soviets, and no one received a confession or other helping names from him. The same incident occurred in The Crucible when the court attempted to interrogate an answer out of Giles Corey. Upon questioning the name of the person who told Giles secret information about the Putnams, Giles replied, “I will give you no name. I mentioned my wife’s name once and I’ll burn in hell long enough for that. I stand mute” (Miller 214). These men not only went under interrogation, but their wives underwent interrogation as well. Ethel knew almost nothing about the dealings Julius had made, yet she suffered and died alongside him. Martha Corey, though innocent, hanged for not confessing witchcraft. In addition, the persecuted couples, both of the Rosenbergs and both of the Coreys ended up dead in the end. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, convicted of giving the Soviet Union atomic bomb secrets during World War II, died in the electric chair in 1953. They died guilty in the eyes of the United States Supreme Court, yet controversy traveled throughout the country of their guilt or innocence. In The Crucible,
Edgar Hoover and Deputy Governor Danforth. Furthermore, J. Edgar Hoover held the high-ranking position of director of the FBI, and Deputy Governor Danforth became the unfair head judge of Salem; both of these men used their high ranking positions unfairly. J. Edgar Hoover, known as a strong anti-communist, held the high ranking position of director of the FBI. He allowed his agents to search for un-American activities such as communism, make arrests, and anything else McCarthy wanted for the HUAC. Deputy Governor Danforth acted almost the same way. Danforth arrived in Salem with a bias attitude towards the accused; he believed the accused should either confess or hang. This conviction applied to both the guilty and the innocent. Danforth displayed this belief to Parris when the Reverend tried to postpone the hangings…“Postponement now speaks a floundering on my part, reprieve or pardon must cast doubt upon the guilt of them that died till now. While I speak God’s law, I will not crack its voice with whimpering” (Miller 233). Also, J. Edgar Hoover and Deputy Governor Danforth showed hypocrisy in the government or legal system when they allowed the HUAC and the afflicted girls to do whatever they wanted to do. Both J. Edgar Hoover and Deputy Governor Danforth disobeyed their own rules by allowing the evil to do as they pleased. Danforth allowed many of the