The Crucible Allegory Essay

An allegory is a story, poem or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. Arthur Miller’s novel, the Crucible is a fictional play that centers around the Salem Witch Trials. The novel can also be classified as an example of an allegory. The allegorical meaning of the Crucible is that it can be a representation of the Red Scare, the HUAC, and McCarthyism. The Red Scare was the promotion of fear of the potential rise of communism after World War II. Communism was the abolition of the power of people over people, where the government holds all assets. Many people in America feared that they would now have to follow the ways of communist and immediately went into great terror. Because they were so frightened, they began to get hysterical. The Crucible can best represent this because, in the novel, the outbreak/widespread of the rumours of witchcraft spread all around Salem, and even to the towns that were neighbours to Salem. Both parties were afraid of the two; communism and witchcraft. In the Red Scare, people were being falsely
HUAC stands for the House Un-American Activities Committee. The HUAC was created in 1938 to investigate the subversive activities on the part of private citizens suspected of having Communist ties. The novel and the HUAC had similar ties. The trials were similar. During the witch trials in Salem and the HUAC trials, if you confessed, you were expected to reveal additional names, similar to McCarthyism, or else their evidence or saying was not credible. If one was a witch, they were expected to see additional witches interacting with the Devil. The same thing goes to the HUAC. If one was a communist, they were expected to know other communists. Arthur Miller himself was involved in the HUAC. He was named a suspected communist. However, he did not identify any additional names and was found guilty by Congress in