Arthur Miller's The Crucible: An Allegory of the Communist Witch Hunt

It is the rare case indeed when a work of literature’s genesis can be traced to a singular event. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is one of those cases. There is only one reason that this play exists. The Crucible is Arthur Miller’s literary response to what still remains of most intensely disgusting episodes in all of American history. 

After defeating the true demon ideology during World War II—fascism—American lawmakers for some reason embraced that very same ideology and began a furious and illegal assault upon those who embraced communism. It was during this dark time that several screenwriters, directors and actors making Hollywood movies were blacklisted simply because they refused to be a rat bastard like their friend Elia Kazan and reveal the names of friends who had attended meetings at which communist policies were discussed to a Congressional committee investigating the wholly legal and American concept of belonging to a political party, in this case the Communist Party. These actors, directors and screenwriters who refused to cave in to pressure and personal fear like Elia Kazan were denied the right to work despite having done nothing illegal.

Because it serves to comment on the historical context of the communist witch hunt while telling the story of the actual Salem witch hunt, therefore, The Crucible is technically an allegory. An allegory is basically a work of literature that tells one story on the surface while referring to another sub textually. Unlike the majority of other allegories, however, Arthur Miller peoples his play with fully fleshed-out three dimensional characters, and not just caricaturized puppets going through the motions.