A brief introduction to
ARTHUR MILLER’S
THE CRUCIBLE
ARTHUR MILLER
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American playwright
and essayist
1915-2005
Attended the University
of Michigan
Notable Works:
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Death of a Salesman
The Crucible
A View from the Bridge
Won Pulitzer Prize for
Drama in 1949
WHY IS MILLER REMEMBERED?
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Considered by many to
be one of the greatest
dramatists of the 20th
century
Death of a Salesman an
award-winning play,
protagonist Willy Loman
an iconic character
Married to Marilyn
Monroe (1956-1961)
THE CRUCIBLE
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A dramatization of the
Salem witchcraft trials
(1692-1693)
An allegory for
McCarthyism
A central work in the
canon of American
drama
Premiered in 1953 in
New York City
Why Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible
Arthur Miller, one of America’s most famous
playwrights, lived during the 1950s and
experienced the Communist hysteria of the era.
People thought their were Commies everywhere
and one man, Senator Joseph McCarthy, made
it his personal mission to find Communists and
destroy their lives by bringing them before
something called the HOUSE UNAMERICAN
ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE.
Senator McCarthy accused many people— actors,
writers, people in media, people in the military — of
being Communists. He held hearings where people
were commanded to give names of other Communists
in order for leniency. People were afraid they might be
named as Communists, and it was called the Red
Scare. (‘Red’ was a word used for a Communist.)
McCarthyism
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McCarthyism is the term used to describe a period of intense
suspicion in the United States during the early 1950s.
It began when Senator Joseph McCarthy, a U.S. senator from
Wisconsin, claimed that communists had infiltrated the
Department of State.
A special House Committee on Un-American Activities was
formed to investigate allegations of communism.
During this period, people from all walks of life became the
subjects of aggressive “witch hunts” often based on
inconclusive, questionable evidence.
McCarthyism
Persons accused of being communists were
often denied employment in both the public
and private sector.
 In the film industry alone, over 300 actors,
writers, and directors were denied work in the
U.S.
 American writer, Arthur Miller, was one of those
alleged to have been “blacklisted.”
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McCarthyism
• McCarthy’s influence finally
faltered in 1954 when a famous
CBS newsman, Edward R.
Murrow, aired an investigative
news report which revealed
McCarthy as dishonest in his
speeches and abusive in his
interrogation of witnesses.
• The public was finally made
aware of how McCarthy was
ruining the reputations of many
individuals through false
accusations of communism.
Arthur Miller
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In 1953 he wrote The Crucible, which
uses the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692
to attack the anti-communist “witch
hunts” of the 1950s.
He believed the hysteria surrounding the
witch craft trials in Puritan New England
paralleled the climate of McCarthyism –
Senator Joseph McCarthy’s obsessive
quest to uncover communist party
infiltration of American institutions.
After the publication of the The Crucible,
Miller himself was investigated for
possible associations with the communist
party.
He refused to give information regarding
his colleagues and was found guilty of
contempt of court. His sentence was
later overturned.
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The Crucible was Arthur Miller’s way of protesting the
House Unamerican Activities Committee hearings. He
compared the Communist hearings to the witch hunts
of Salem, where gossip, rumors, and fear were
evidence enough to convict people.
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The term “witch hunt” now applies to any activity
where people are looking for a scapegoat or where
they are using accusations to get revenge or to get
personal gain or attention.