Examples Of Allegory In The Crucible
Sometimes people can be too afraid of something or too caught up in hearing what they want to hear that they lose sight of the truth, and this can lead to many bad things including people losing their lives unjustly.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegory for the Red Scare in the McCarthy era because both had figurative and literal witch hunts, bandwagoning with accusations and hysteria, and social drama in the news and rumor’s.
Joseph McCarthy came forward with a list of 224 names, that he claimed were part of the communist party and had infiltrated the US. In the Crucible, Abigail constantly accuses different people of being witches or bewitching her, even resorting to acting like something is happening when in reality she is just
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If one was accused of being a communist and didn’t admit to it or give names they could face jail or even death, though thankfully very few had to face this horrible fate. In the Crucible some people actually did escape being hanged, they could do this by confessing to being witches. Somewhat similarly, people who gave names of other Communists to the FBI would walk free. Unfortunately in the Crucible some people did give names, and during McCarthyism, this also happened and just led to more people either giving names of more people or being imprisoned.
Because of an endless cycle of fear, that led to false accusations, which led to more fear, and never having real evidence, that many people lost their lives during the Red Scare. Since false accusations, fear mongering, and lack of evidence, are all themes in the Crucible by Arthur Miller, it shows that the play was an Allegory for what happened during the McCarthy era and for the Red Scare.
Works Cited
“History's Greatest Hoaxes McCarthyism: Joseph McCarthy's Witch-Hunts | History Channel on Foxtel.” History Channel, 12 Oct. 2017,
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