The Myth of Political Liberty in Arthur Miller’s The crucible

Abstract

This paper brings attention to the affinities between liberty and license in Arthur Miller’s the Crucible (1956). The play is an allegory for the ideology of McCarthyism which is based on questioning citizens for their Marxist orientations and accusing them of being engaged in an “Un- American Activity.” The excessive freedom of the Capitalist elite has resulted in the repression of the Communist group. In the play, Miller produces a polemical attitude towards excessive liberty by representing it as a myth and criticizing the abuse of power by the dominant socio-economic group. A special focus will be laid to the court of justice in Salem where judgment is becoming subjective and truth is manipulated. Miller succeeds at drawing parallel lines between the historical and the literary and at sneering at the ideal of liberty by showing that it is a myth. The first part will start with the historicity of the text and the aim is to grasp the political atmosphere during the nineteen fifties and to have an idea about the system and ideology Miller is attacking. To achieve the objective of analyzing the myth of freedom in the play, I will move to a close analysis of the play and pay special attention to the thematic concerns and to the traits of characters.