How Is 'The Crucible' an Allegory for McCarthyism

In the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, a group of young women in Salem, Massachusetts falsely accuse other villagers of witchcraft. The trials and accusations put the village into a frenzy that results in the death of nineteen individuals and the arrest of two hundred others. Arthur Miller wrote this play to create an allegory between McCarthyism and the Salem Witch Trials. Throughout the play, there are many characters who play key roles that lead up to the deaths and trials. One of those is a supporting character, Mary Warren. Mary is a servant of Elizabeth and John Proctor, who denies her claims of witchcraft after being threatened to be hanged. Later on, Mary was arrested for supposedly practicing witchcraft herself, but did not confess. Mary Warren describes the bewilderment and restlessness that the people in Salem felt at the time.

Mary is the servant for the Proctor household after their former servant, Abigail, was let go. Mary is a fragile person, who is attracted to drama and gives in to peer pressure very easily. She moves back and forth between her group of friends that are liars and the Proctors. Mary knows that the girls are liars because there is no such thing as “witchcraft” in Salem. In the play, Mary realizes that Abigail intends to falsely accuse Elizabeth of being a witch, so Elizabeth will then be executed and then Abigail can marry John. Mary tries to help Elizabeth, despite her fear of Abigail and the other girls. Mary is not strong enough to stand up for what is right, eventually giving in to the girls and accusing John of being a witch. Mary is brought to us as a character who is fragile and has a hard time making decisions for herself, which sets the tone for her and the rest of the play.

Mary’s indirect characterization can be defined as weak. Mary has a difficult time standing up for herself, so much so that Abigail is able to intimidate her when John Proctor is right behind her. Mary felt a sense of validation for being included in the court which shows us that she has low self-esteem. She also has a very severe case of cracking under pressure. We see this in court during Act III, when Abigail makes up a lie that Mary’s spirit is a bird, saying “Why do you come, a yellow bird.” (Act III). Abigail says this to Mary because Mary is lying and Abigail wants to catch Mary with this lie of seeing a yellow bird. Using a bird in this quote was well done on Abigail’s part because a bird flies high in the air and Abigail is looking up high into the court’s ceiling responding to the bird. Mary does not know how to react, she crumbles under the pressure and points at John Proctor responding, “You’re the Devil’s man!” (Act III). Mary points at Proctor and says this for one reason only. Beforehand, John Proctor had told Mary he will murder her if his wife is hung. Mary kept this a secret hoping she wouldn’t be hung, but crumbles under the pressure she was put when the girls started to mimic everything she said. Mary’s indirect characterization affects her in a negative way, which results in the death of John Proctor and her friends.

When the play opens up, we can already sense the tension in the room between the characters. Mary enters Act I saying, “The whole country’s talking about witchcraft.” (Act 1). Mary says this quote almost as if she is afraid. Mary is afraid of her past events of dancing in the forest with the other girls. This is when Mary decides to take action. Mercy, a friend of Mary’s, then accuses Mary of wanting to tell people about their nighttime endeavors. At this time, Mary then tells Mercy and Abigail that they must confess to witchery now instead of later. Mary wants them to confess now because their penalty now will be a whipping instead of their penalty in the future which is hanging; witchery’s punishment. This part in Act I puts Mary Warren in the situation of whether or not she will betray her friends or not. Mary’s situation changes from holding back this confession in Act I to betraying her friends in Act IV when she is brought to court.

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Mary is motivated in the play by the same components that have motivated the other people in Salem, Massachusetts; anxiety and insensitivity. Anxiety is a component in the play for example when Mary was afraid of Abigail and of being accused of witchcraft. Like the other girls, Mary was caught in a frenzy. When the girls were caught by Reverend Parris in the woods, they were afraid of what punishments may happen to them. Abigail tells them in Act I, “Either of you says a word, and I will come to you in the night and alarm you.” (Act I). Abigail, from this quote, is deadly serious, literally. Abigail does not want the girls to confess this at all. Abigail goes as far as threatening them if they do so. The girls do not doubt Abigail’s threat of violence because they know she will show violence if one of them goes against her. When Mary goes to court in Act III to confess that the girls lied about the allegations of witchcraft, Abigail turns against her because Mary’s claim about these allegations makes Abigail a liar. Abigail starts to say that Mary is a witch and out of fear Mary contradicts herself and says, “Stop it, I cannot!” (Act III). At this point, Mary is backed into a wall so far that the only way out is to confess and betray her own friends. Mary confesses and betrays her friends in spite of her fear for Abigail and what she might do to her. Mary knows that if Abigail accuses her of witchcraft and the other girls follow her she will go to prison and will very possibly be hanged. The ignorance of the people of Salem comes into play because they did not believe that witches could be amongst them and that hanging the girls was the right action to take. Mary showed courage by revealing the truth and finally believing in herself. Mary was fearful of Abigail because she knew that Abigail was a dangerous person and that she would hurt Mary if anything happened to her.

Mary made many choices in the play that affected both her and the other characters. As we read about her situation, Mary in Act I tells Abigail and Mercy that the whole village is talking about witchcraft, and Mary is afraid they will be named witches. At this point, Mary makes the choice of urging Abigail to tell the truth. Abigail declines the request, to tell the truth, resulting in Mary making the choice of not telling the truth either. In Act III, Mary is brought to court by John Proctor to confess that she never saw spirits, witches, or the devil. In this trial, Mary was only pretending to see these so-called “spirits.” However, when she was asked in court to pretend to see these spirits again, Mary cannot pretend to respond with, “I have no sense of it now.” (Act III). Mary responds with this because if Mary fainted on the spot, it would be a way of showing her confession. Mary also didn’t faint because she did not want to be accused as a witch. If Mary fainted at that time, then Mary very well could have been arrested and then hanged for being a witch. Then Danforth, the judge, brings the other girls out to question them if they too have been pretending. The girls immediately start to act as if Mary is captivating them. Mary panics and tells the girls to stop saying such things. The girl's only response to Mary’s request to stop is mimicking everything she says. Mary then gives into her peer pressure, sobbing and confessing that John Proctor made her sign her name in the Devil’s book and persuading her to testify against the girls in court. Mary’s choices affected her and others in the play, resulting in the death of John Proctor and betraying her friends.

Many changes occur throughout the four acts. One of the most indisputable changes in Mary and how she becomes more decisive. In Act I, John Proctor enters and threatens to beat her. Mary stands her ground and is more decisive in responding to how she does not need to obey him and must worry about what she needs to worry about at the present time. John Proctor is surprised by her newly found sense of power. In Act II, Mary presents herself as much stronger and more assertive because of her role in the trials. Now that Mary has been affiliated with the trials, she has power and is not afraid to show it. Fate is defined by Webster’s Dictionary as, “that which is inevitably determined; destiny.” Mary’s fate goes back to Act I when Mary should have confessed so their penalty would have been less severe than what it had been. Instead, Mary chooses not to confess, gives in to peer pressure, and betrays her friends, which resulted in her friends being hung. Mary’s changes throughout the course of the play give us a clear vision of what her fate may be in the end.

In the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, we read about how a group of girls falsely accuse other villagers of witchcraft. The trials and accusations for the Salem Witch Trials push the village into a frenzy that results in the death of nineteen and the arrest of two hundred. Arthur Miller wrote this play to create an allegory between McCarthyism and the Salem Witch Trials. Throughout this play, many different characters play key roles that lead up to the deaths and trials of others including Mary Warren. Mary Warren in The Crucible is a supporting character who describes the bewilderment and restlessness that the people in Salem felt at the time.