‘The Crucible’ as an Allegory for McCarthyism Essay

‘The Crucible’ is an allegory. An allegory is a story with an obvious meaning but if you look deeper into it, there is another meaning. In this case, the obvious meaning is the Salem witch-hunt and the hidden meaning is McCarthyism. McCarthyism started in the early 1950’s and it was governmental accusations with no evidence. Joseph McCarthy started doing trials on those he thought were communist, but he had no evidence for it. This is the same as the witch trials in The Crucible. Arthur Miller wrote this in response to McCarthyism. Arthur Miller uses some dramatic techniques in The Crucible. One of the examples of dramatic technique is subtexting. Subtexting is a hidden meaning within what is said or done by a character. An†¦show more content†¦At the end of act 3, the court is questioning Mary Warren. This creates conflict because it is an example of truth and untruth. This is because Mary Warren is trying to say that she and all the girls were pretending but the rest of the girls knew they would get into a lot of trouble so they turn against Mary and pretend even more that she is working for the Devil and that she is against the girls. An example of their pretending is when Mary Warren is denying everything but the girls will not stand for it so they repeat everything she says to make her seem ‘evil’, â€Å"Have you compacted with the Devil? Have you?† â€Å"Never, never!† â€Å"Never, never!† This shows the girls’ determination to win their battle. However in the end Mary Warren is won over by the girls and eventually gives up saying that the Devil is ‘making her sign his book’. At the end of act 4, Proctor and Rebecca Nurse are hanged. Proctor confesses that he is working with the Devil and denies that anyone else is. This creates tension because the ending is rushed and not too much information is given away and the audience do not know if the girls would be found out or more people would be excused and how long the Salem witch trials would carry on for. Some more information is revealed about John here. He refuses to sign the confession with his name because it will blacken it in Salem. 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