Arthur Miller’s The Crucible: Witchcraft and Mob Hysteria in America

Abstract

Arthur Miller's The Crucible had its Broadway premiere at the Martin Beck Theatre in New York on January 22, 1953 and that year received the prestigious Antoinette Perry and the Donaldson Awards. Set in 1692, based on historical documentation of the Salem Witchcraft Trials, The Crucible was a veiled indictment of the powerful House on Un-American Committee (HUAC), which focused its investigations on what it regarded as both real and suspected Communists in positions of power, particularly in the film industry. Miller drew parallels between the injustices of the HUAC in its search for Communists and the Salem trials in which a number of citizens, falsely accused of witchcraft, were executed. Its popularity may be explained by its appeal as a political parable, based on one of the most terrifying events in American history during the early modern period when a village became an hysterical mob and virtually destroyed itself. Keywords:America; Arthur Miller; House on Un-American Committee (HUAC); hysterical mob; witchcraft