Though eventually his accusations were proven to be untrue, and he was censured by the Senate for unbecoming conduct, his zealous campaigning ushered in one of the most repressive times in 20th-century American politics. Known as McCarthyism, the paranoid hunt for infiltrators was notoriously difficult on writers and entertainers, many of whom were labeled communist sympathizers and were unable to continue working.
Some had their passports taken away, while others were jailed for refusing to give the names of other communists. The coldness of the crowd was not a surprise; Broadway audiences were not famous for loving history lessons, which is what they made of the play. The critics were not swept away. The play stumbled into history, and today, I am told, it is one of the most heavily demanded trade-fiction paperbacks in this country; the Bantam and Penguin editions have sold more than six million copies.
Nor is the new screen version the first. Jean-Paul Sartre, in his Marxist phase, wrote a French film adaptation that blamed the tragedy on the rich landowners conspiring to persecute the poor. In truth, most of those who were hanged in Salem were people of substance, and two or three were very large landowners. From Argentina to Chile to Greece, Czechoslovakia, China, and a dozen other places, the play seems to present the same primeval structure of human sacrifice to the furies of fanaticism and paranoia that goes on repeating itself forever as though imbedded in the brain of social man.
For others, it may simply be a fascination with the outbreak of paranoia that suffuses the play—the blind panic that, in our age, often seems to sit at the dim edges of consciousness. But below its concerns with justice the play evokes a lethal brew of illicit sexuality, fear of the supernatural, and political manipulation, a combination not unfamiliar these days.
The film, by reaching the broad American audience as no play ever can, may well unearth still other connections to those buried public terrors that Salem first announced on this continent.
One thing more—something wonderful in the old sense of that word. I recall the weeks I spent reading testimony by the tome, commentaries, broadsides, confessions, and accusations. Nobody seems even to have thought to ask. But, of course, actions are as irrelevant during cultural and religious wars as they are in nightmares.
The thing at issue is buried intentions—the secret allegiances of the alienated heart, always the main threat to the theocratic mind, as well as its immemorial quarry. By Truman Capote. By Wolcott Gibbs. By Jhumpa Lahiri. By Janet Flanner. More: China The Crucible. Enter your e-mail address.
Onward and Upward with the Arts. Join the Steppenwolf Email List. Indeed, many critics and audience members, and even McCarthy himself, pointed the finger at Miller as spearheading his own attack against what was then perceived to be the very core of American values. Miller and others in the entertainment industry were blacklisted by the federal government, and the internal battle against communism continued to rage. Miller, however, had been drawn to the story in Salem for quite some time, and was adamant that his play was not a direct attack on McCarthy.
It was the fact that a political, objective, knowledgeable campaign…was capable of creating not only a terror, but a new subjective reality, a veritable mystique which was gradually assuming even a holy resonance.
Samantha is a blog content writer for PrepScholar. Her goal is to help students adopt a less stressful view of standardized testing and other academic challenges through her articles.
Samantha is also passionate about art and graduated with honors from Dartmouth College as a Studio Art major in Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub. See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. Ask questions; get answers.
How to Get a Perfect , by a Perfect Scorer. Score on SAT Math. Score on SAT Reading. Score on SAT Writing. What ACT target score should you be aiming for? How to Get a Perfect 4. How to Write an Amazing College Essay. A Comprehensive Guide. Choose Your Test. How did his own experiences shape his writing? Where does "fear" come from? Why, as a nation, do we fear others?
Why, as individuals, do we fear others? Describe the political climate of the s. Why did Senator McCarthy become a powerful figure?
How did he influence politics in the fifties? As a socially conscious writer, Miller intended this play as a comment on McCarthyism. What are the parallels between the incidents Miller dramatizes and the acts of Senator McCarthy in the s? Compare the events of the play to other historical or current events where innocent people are used as scapegoats. Is this a timeless cautionary tale?
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