In the 1940s, America was living in fear. Hiding in plain sight, Communists were infiltrating the country. Everyone from government employees to actors was being subpoenaed to testify before Congress. However, the truth behind this story is that an ambitious Senator named Joseph McCarthy had scared the country into alienating large groups of innocent Americans. The paranoia that ensued led to a congressional committee accusing and in some cases imprisoning these citizens only for their alleged beliefs. Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible explores a similar period, a period of great fear and meritless accusations. Miller explores the similarities between The Salem Witch Trials and the House Un-American Activities Committee and the damage they inflicted on their communities.
One key element to both the Salem Witch Trials and the House Un-American Activities Committee was punishment for refusing to confess. This system essentially rewards those who falsely confess, perpetuating the cycle of fear and accusations. This is evident when Tituba is being interrogated by Hale. “No, no, don’t hang Tituba!” she cries, “I tell him I don’t desire to work for him.”(44) She continues to name Sarah Good and Goody Osburn as witches, continuing the witch hunt. According to Puritan ideology, confessing to witchcraft means you wish to return to God, and therefore are not punished. A similar situation occurred in Congress during the McCarthy era. In 1947, the HUAC subpoenaed several members of the Hollywood film industry concerning suspected communist activities. When ten witnesses refused to cooperate with the committee, citing First Amendment freedoms, they were charged with contempt of Congress and sentenced to prison time. Others who cited Fifth Amendment protection from self-incrimination could often avoid charges, but many still lost jobs by doing such. When one is faced with public humiliation or even death if they refuse to confess, they will often say anything to clear their name. Both systems encourage lying and lead to further false accusations.
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Another key element would be the fabrication of evidence by the House of Un-American Activities Committee and the Salem witch trials. The rapid accusation of people with evidence that holds no merit is shown to be able to arrest people who have done nothing wrong. The claim is proven when Cheever exclaims “I like not to search a house. So will you hand me any poppets your wife may keep here.”(77) Cheever suddenly calls out “Herrick, Herrick,”(78) in the discovery of a needle in the poppets waist. A poppet in the voodoo religion meant that the person would call upon the Devil to take control of a victim, yet everyone except Tituba was devoted Christian meaning that the evidence was feeble at best. McCarthy implemented the same tactics to arrest innocent citizens. McCarthy's tactics often involved imitation by threatening the citizens with a prison sentence if they did not give information on other soviet spies. This then escalated to accusing Hollywood stars because of their leftist views and homosexuals because they were homosexual.
The trials conducted by Salem and the House of Un-American Activities Committee were unjust and were against basic human rights. When the trial first begins the audience can see how blind the judge is. Giles is trying to tell Danforth that “they be tellin’ lies”(89), but Danforth replies “Disrespect!”(89) Danforth is claiming that Giles means disrespect when he tries to defend his wife. The audience is shown more ways Danforth is blind to the real evidence. For example, when Francis comes with hard evidence to prove that the girls are lying Danforth takes it as though it is an attack on his character. He shows how biased and one-sided a McCarthy jury was. They would not accept any evidence that was not what they believed was true. One key example is when McCarthy started to berate an army official. He told the official “he was not fit to wear the uniform”(McCarthy) even though that official was a renowned hero who earned the respect he deserved. McCarthy and Danforth both show how one-sided the trials and hearings were.
Both witchcraft and communism were extremely serious accusations in their periods, and simply being suspected could drastically alter one’s life. In the highly religious community of Salem, Massachusetts, witchcraft was a hangable offense. In the process of sorting out the wicked from the worthy, nineteen people were hung, countless lives were ruined and an entire town plunged into infamy. While nobody died as a result of the Red Scare, the careers and reputations of many important and influential Americans were ruined. The drastic outcomes of these situations show the consequences of a paranoid and xenophobic society. It is difficult to think that in modern America, the leaders of our country would not stand up against the persecution of men simply for their beliefs. However, Joseph McCarthy and other congressmen worked hard to make sure that anyone who questioned the threat of communism was seen as communist and un-American. Miller brings attention to this by showing a similar situation in Salem. Anyone who publicly questioned the validity of the witch trials would automatically be suspected of Witchcraft. As Judge Danforth describes, “a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between.” (58) It is possible that those with doubts about the accused witchcraft, such as Hale, could have prevented the executions had there not been such pressure to agree with the court. After these various witch hunts had ended and their damage done, those who persecuted the innocent saw their downfall. In an epilogue, Miller notes that Abigail would become a prostitute in Boston, while Parris “was voted from office, walked out on the highroad, and was never heard from again.” (146) Senator Joseph McCarthy suffered a similar fate after the Red Scare era ended. After being formally condemned by the Senate for his tactics, McCarthy left public office. He continued to rally against communism, with little support and eventually died of an inflamed liver. These endings are symbolic of the nature of these characters. Parris, Abigail, and McCarthy all accused others of gaining power and destroying lives in the process. Ironically, these actions would come to destroy their own lives and define them as people.
We are told to learn from the mistakes of history or else we are destined to repeat them. We would like to think that our society has advanced to an age in which a witch hunt could never happen, and yet the McCarthy era shows us that we are still capable of irrationally accusing innocent people and forcing them through a broken system. Arthur Miller’s portrayal of the Salem Witch Trials shows us how quickly a witch trial can escalate and forces us to think twice before condemning others based on hearsay or perceived beliefs.
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