The communist trials, “which were well publicized, could often destroy a career with a single unsubstantiated accusation” (PBS). They key word is “unsubstantiated”; the government did not need to have evidence to ruin someone’s career by charging them for being a communist sympathizer. Miller, angered, writes in The Crucible, “But witchcraft is ipso facto, is it not? Therefore, who may possibly be witness to it? The witch and the victim. None other… Therefore, we must rely upon her victims - and they do testify, the children certainly do testify” (Miller, The Crucible 93). Relying upon the victims testifying is a parallel between The Crucible and the McCarthyism era that Miller wanted to add because he wanted to show how it is unjust; if the accusation relies solely upon the word of the witness without any evidence, it cannot be truly
The communist trials, “which were well publicized, could often destroy a career with a single unsubstantiated accusation” (PBS). They key word is “unsubstantiated”; the government did not need to have evidence to ruin someone’s career by charging them for being a communist sympathizer. Miller, angered, writes in The Crucible, “But witchcraft is ipso facto, is it not? Therefore, who may possibly be witness to it? The witch and the victim. None other… Therefore, we must rely upon her victims - and they do testify, the children certainly do testify” (Miller, The Crucible 93). Relying upon the victims testifying is a parallel between The Crucible and the McCarthyism era that Miller wanted to add because he wanted to show how it is unjust; if the accusation relies solely upon the word of the witness without any evidence, it cannot be truly