Analysis of Act 2 scene 1 of the Crucible

... English coursework Analysis of Act 2 scene 1 of the Crucible Miller originally wrote The Crucible as an allegory about the 1950s American fear of Communism. During the Cold War there was an exaggerated fear that Communism might be entering American political, artistic and public life. Congress set up a committee to investigate anyone who was sympathetic to Communism. Many innocent people were named, and careers were ruined in a "witch-hunt" based on ungrounded fears and suspicion; the committee questioned Miller himself. He saw many similarities between 1950s American "McCarthyism" and the 1692 witch-hunts, such as the completely exaggerated fear of a common evil, the mass overreaction due to fear and suspicion, the distortion of truth to provide a common scapegoat and the completely ludicrous idea that if someone refused to confess it was a sign of guilt. As such, the play foregrounds the authorities stupidity and the general public's mass paranoia

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