Crucible is a play by Arthur Miller with layers of meaning and subtext. Miller's mission was to draw a direct analogy between the social and political themes of the 20th century with those of pre-Revolutionary America. Setting the play in Puritan New England, in the town of Salem, allows the playwright to explore the thematic connections between the witch trials and McCarthyism. Doing so seems seamless, as the audience perceives

Most of the American public did not know what communism or Marxism really was as an ideology, they simply knew that it was 'bad' and it was 'un-American,' although logically it could be argued that nothing is more un-American than prosecuting a person for holding certain political beliefs. The tragedies of Miller's "The Crucible" and the McCarthy hearings are that good men and women, as well as fearful and ignorant

Indeed, the arrival of Hale, the specialist on witchcraft, brings with it a gloomy sense of foreboding. With the sentence of death being the outcome to such proceedings, I am moved by the remarkable errant authority. Act III: The courtroom drama in this act is compelling if a little overstated. Here, the genuine hysteria has set in and the outrageous turnabout between first Mary and John toward Abigail and ultimately, Mary and Abigail toward John demonstrates

While he resists coming completely clean and exposing his affair, he eventually tells the whole truth, but only after the town is in chaos. The climax of The Crucible occurs toward the end of the play when Mary accuses Proctor of being a witch and he is summarily arrested. Prior to this the action builds as several girls in the play get caught up in the witch hysteria. Proctor's arrest

Hale begins the play as the most idealistic character, but ends the play telling Proctor to lie under oath and confess to being a witch, after Proctor is accused by Abigail. Hale comes to see the judicial system as bankrupt. This shows how a corrupt system can corrupt even decent people. The system also uses Hale's idealism for its own ends, as pro-democracy, pro-American people were used in subservience

Fear, ignorance, personal grievances, and an inflexible political and judicial process result in the death of John Proctor, an innocent man, who dies because he refuses to admit to witchcraft and harm other people. Individuals who named names were cleared by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) while those who did not name names were often blacklisted and lost their livelihoods. Those who refused to turn others in were the