American History Inscribed in 'The Crucible'

"Using the past to intervene in the present,"

such a precise depiction of the author’s intention.

Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible on the grounds of a certain purpose. A massive wave of anti-communist hysteria, which had possessed America in the 1950s, encouraged him to fulfil his purpose. Due to the awful impact of the anti-communist issue, he intended to compose a "wilful and purposeful theatrical response to the operations of Joseph McCarthy and his henchmen." To achieve it, Miller had revealed certain pages of American history and brought them up to people. He needed them to see how their contemporary society was stealthily changing, getting perilously close to the times which should have had never been approached again.

Which parts of US history does The Crucible portray?

The Crucible takes its reader back to the late seventeenth-century, to the times known as "one of the blackest pages of American history." The following events took place in the town of Salem and its closest neighbourhoods; Massachusetts colony during the New England era.

An immense hysteria had come upon Salem in the 1690s, caused by an unfathomable behaviour of its dwellers. They were complaining about hallucinations, uncanny visions haunting their sleeping and voices causing sinister thoughts to grow within their minds, unable to stop. The occurrence of such cases kept increasing gradually. The behaviour was becoming more and more bizarre, losing the features of human sanity. "They barked like dogs, were unable to walk, and had their arms and legs nearly twisted out of joint." All this left the dwellers helpless, clueless, craving someone to help them out of the disaster which had possessed their town. They called for the doctor whose inference was clear, with no uncertainty in it; witchcraft descended on the town of Salem, leaving its marks engraved in the memory of it for good.

The major wave of the witchcraft craze stroke Salem in 1692. People began being mistrustful, spiteful and forced by fear they were bringing charges against each other up. The fact that the town of Salem, together with other parts of the New England world, was upon a strong Puritan theocracy only made things worse.

Who were those Puritans like?

Puritans had originated on the English land, from where they voyaged to America to create a world of New England. They intended to spread their previous life’s values widely across the new land, most importantly the religion they had been devoted to. Puritans lived faithfully under the God’s law, persuaded that they were the ones saved by God’s grace and therefore given the power over the other mortals. On that account they accepted only one way to save one’s life against the accusation, that was a complete confession of the individual together with accusing as many of other souls as possible. Nevertheless, some "could have such a belief in themselves and in the rightness of their consciences that they would give up their lives rather than say what they thought was false."

During the Salem Witch Trials period were about twenty people executed for the crime of witchcraft. Not all could bear the burden of all those wicked lies brought down upon them.

The Salem Witchcraft issue stands for the heart of The Crucible, but isn’t there more behind all of that?

The author had got carried away several decades back in time to create such a text, although there was a crucial part of history writing itself in his time as well. Why would he just turn away? What had been the major ground for building up a story originating in those specific times?

Arthur Miller had found an interest in the Salem Witchcraft stories rather early in his life. However, he held off with it and disseminated his thoughts to the public in the late forties and fifties of the twentieth century, alongside the period of rising McCarthyism on the American land.

What the McCarthyism was?

"Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist party?" Several Americans were being questioned on this repeatedly during the era of McCarthyism, which subsequently caused the incessant fear, misgiving and oppression of the American population.

This postwar era was named after its most famous protagonist, a strong anti-communist Joseph McCarthy, whose biggest concern was to reveal all left-wing oriented individuals to prevent the Communist subversion on the American land. His doings inspired other associations to get involved in the process as well and so to spread the very origins of the concept of McCarthyism widely across the land.

Miller himself had got highly affected by the mechanisms of the age he was living in. As one of the workers for Hollywood industry, he belonged to the group of people being constantly under suspicion of higher authorities such as HUAC, which was an association specialized on investigating people who had devoted their lives to artistic careers. 

Miller had been living under the pressure of this era, being impacted more than enough. Therefore, he was perfectly conscious of its intention, plans, running and major features. The society, he was a part of, was gradually transforming into an unfamiliar creature going towards its goal, no matter what, and leaving all those poor souls behind in the dark, devastated. It made him sick, frustrated. He became hopeless, disillusioned about all he had known before but could not recognize now.

The major features of McCarthyism, greatly affecting everything around him, had brought him back in time right to Salem. "By drawing a parallel with the 1692 Salem witch trials in The Crucible, Miller shows that the world is still gripped by the binary of right and wrong, good and evil, God and Lucifer."

The Crucible symbolizes a parallel of the era of McCarthyism

The past remains, although appears disguised in the present, making itself hard to recognize.

This could be a precise metaphor for the Salem Witchcraft coming from the past, nearly to be forgotten by the time, and now hiding its real shape by taking a disguise of McCarthyism on itself. Miller had recognized the disguise. He saw the analogy, calling the world’s attention to itself aloud while no one could hear but him, so he took the step forward and acted.

All this great deal of knowledge about the anti-communist processes, which had been overwhelming the society he belonged to, he brought to efficient use by writing The Crucible, where he "intervenes in the political circumstances" of McCarthyism "as a piece of theatre."

"It was not only the rise of "McCarthyism" that moved me, but something which seemed much more weird and mysterious." What is hidden behind this 'much more weird and mysterious?’

Anti-communists starting up a campaign, which decades had been left filled by- yes, that was a big thing itself undoubtedly. But there was a lot more to it, taken by Miller’s great desire to inquire into. The analogy, he had found out about, provided him with a steady base to originate his work from.

How do humans become capable of such atrocity against their own kind, when blinded by the eagerness to spread the evil all over? Miller suggests the probabilities below.

‘Extreme tendency toward moral absolutism’ & ‘Guilt’

A common problem of all societies the world has got to know so far stands above. The original intention of leading the society towards good and good only, is being held back without even noticing. The primary idea is covertly pushed into seclusion, while a bundle of new ideas keeps coming up to the surface gradually. And no one pays attention, people go with the flow of life as usual unless it increases to its utmost and subsequently causes harm in some form. Despite the visible change of the society running, those higher authorities keep doubting if they are pushing the rightness through. This provokes an infinite feeling of guilt and uncertainty, together with even greater urgency to accomplish the goal. The society gets trapped in a vicious circle then, unable to get off.

‘Subjective Reality’

By their doings, depicted above richly enough, those authorities are creating a new place; a place where people are compelled to dwell under new regulations. It comes up first as an ideology within the minds of the leading bodies, then it happens to be put into reality.

This framework had emerged to be perfectly applicable for both, Salem Witchcraft and McCarthyism. It is horrifying how the past keeps repeating itself over and over.

There were authorities which people must have looked up to, of either religious or political nature. People were bound to obey their rules, whatever they were, and claim the allegiance to the cardinal values they abounded with. It was required no to stand out but to go with the flow quietly, as sheep stay within the flock obediently. A public terror was overwhelming the society.

Only because a group of individuals on higher positions goes forward to achieve their goal, a countless number of ordinary people suffer. Sadly, Salem Witchcraft together with McCarthyism represents only a poor minority out of several others.

How was The Crucible, its rendition to be more precise, received by society?

The text was written from a historical perspective. The realities described within, those about the then dwellers of the town of Salem, unfortunates possessed by witchcraft, had been real-life stories once. However, it all had happened in the remote past, which caused things to be more difficult for the author. Thus, there also appeared some sort of criticism from people around, referring to a probable "inability to project seventeenth-century sensibilities and thus to sympathize with them."

Undoubtedly, Miller had made the best he could to create a work like this one. And in all honesty, there would never come up anything with not at least one critical review behind.

The Crucible acts as a strong parallel of the era of McCarthyism, which the author himself lived in. All historical knowledge, used in the text, had been thoroughly searched for and subsequently verified by the author himself. Miller had treated the history carefully. The facts of; Miller being interested in Salem history since his early years, and Miller living directly under the mechanisms of McCarthyism, had made him perfectly equipped for creating a story with such an aim.

I personally hold him in high esteem for what he had done, when speechifying about those bygone times via writing of his own creation. He paid tribute to those tormented souls by not letting them be forgotten.