The Crucible The Salem witch-trials, are an historic event that occurred during the Puritan era. It was the witch-trials that decided the fate of so many of the accused. Arthur Miller, the author of The Crucible uses the Salem episode as a parallel to an event in the 1950s known as the "Red Scare". He associates many incidents of the "Red Scare" with that of the Salem witch-trials. Such incidents as: witch-hunts, hysteria, and cupidity …showed first 75 words of 362 total…

…showed last 75 words of 362 total…makes the audience sympathetic to the incidences that happen to him throughout the play. He is a victim of the witch-hunt, hysteria and cupidity that meanders throughout Salem. The reader or audience may not know that Arthur Miller was a victim of the "Red Scare" but his underlying point is that witch-hunt occurrences, hysteria, and cupidity are very possible and are still possible to this day and it can be very disintegrating to a community.