Confession and Crime, Confession as Crime: Williams’s Tituba’s Children and Miller’s The Crucible

Abstract

This study begins with Arthur Miller’s and William Carlos Williams’s attempts to reconcile the xenophobic and distrustful hysteria that ran rampant in the United States, manifesting itself in the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and McCarthyism. Reflecting on the insidiousness of these proceedings later in his life, Arthur Miller questioned, “Why was there so little real opposition to this madness?” (“Again They Drink”). It is a question that could have easily been asked about the Salem Witch Trials as well. Intrinsic to Salem, the HUAC, and McCarthyism were deeply rooted suspicions, the act of confession, and a blatant disregard for American principles in the name of misguided nationalism. It is perhaps unsurprising that both Arthur Miller and William Carlos Williams turned to Salem as a foundation during the hysteria that surrounded the HUAC and McCarthyism. Both Miller’s The Crucible and Williams’s Tituba’s Children rely heavily on Salem, intentionally blurring the lines between historical accuracy and creative license, using each historical moment as fuel for criticism of the United States and as a demand for change. Historically (and dramatically), these moments and these plays all follow Turner’s schema for a breach and its aftermath; the dramas employ the liminal as a means of stitching together the past and the present.