Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors
used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
The Witch Trials and McCarthyism
There is little symbolism within The Crucible, but,
in its entirety, the play can be seen as symbolic of the paranoia
about communism that pervaded America in the 1950s.
Several parallels exist between the House Un-American Activities
Committee’s rooting out of suspected communists during this time
and the seventeenth-century witch-hunt that Miller depicts in The
Crucible, including the narrow-mindedness, excessive zeal, and disregard for the individuals that characterize the government’s
effort to stamp out a perceived social ill. Further, as with the
alleged witches of Salem, suspected Communists were encouraged to
confess their crimes and to “name names,” identifying others sympathetic
to their radical cause. Some have criticized Miller for oversimplifying
matters, in that while there were (as far as we know) no actual
witches in Salem, there were certainly Communists in 1950s
America. However, one can argue that Miller’s concern in The
Crucible is not with whether the accused actually are witches,
but rather with the unwillingness of the court officials to believe
that they are not. In light of McCarthyist excesses, which wronged
many innocents, this parallel was felt strongly in Miller’s own
time.
