How Does Arthur Miller Use Politics In The Crucible

Political Effects on The Crucible In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible there are some glaring differences between what happened in real life and what Miller shows us in his famous play. There are numerous theories as to why Miller made these changes, including the very popular hypothesis about Arthur Miller’s mixing of politics into his play. Because Miller created works of art with political intentions, his version of the Salem witch trials differed from the events that transpired in real life immensely. One compelling argument that supports politics making up Miller’s play is that the play as a whole is about political persecution. That is evident in how in the play, the people of Salem are blindly labeled witches and wizards by the girls of the town and the townspeople believe them, no matter how extreme or …show more content…
Taking advantage of those concerns, a Senator by the name of Joseph McCarthy made an accusation that over two hundred “card-carrying” communists had infiltrated America’s government. Although his accusations were proved to be untrue later, and he was censored by the Senate for “unbecoming conduct”, his words brought in one of the most coercive times in American politics. Dubbed McCarthyism, the wild hunt for the infiltrators was the worst on writers and entertainers, many being labeled “communist sympathizers” weren’t able to work. One of the authors affected by McCarthyism was none other than Arthur Miller. In fact the State Department denied Miller's request for a passport in order to travel to a performance of The Crucible in Brussels, citing a law that did not allow passports to be distributed to suspected Communist sympathizers. Much of the criticism coming to Miller was from his play. People thought it supported communism somehow and in the time of McCarthyism, they were almost looking for someone to point their fingers at