A very famous man once said, "There is nothing to fear but fear itself." (Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933). This is certainly true when it comes to Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Arthur Miller lived through the Red Scare, also known as McCarthyism. After living through this era and being one of the accused communists, Miller wrote the book titled The Crucible in 1952. This book told the story of the Salem witch trials with some changes to make it more relevant to the current situation. The book eventually became an allegory dedicated solely to McCarthyism. In The Crucible he uses situations such as real trials; direct comparisons between the characters in the book and those who participated in the McCarthy trials and the atmosphere of the two events was almost identical. An example of The Crucible as an allegory of the McCarthy era is the similarity in how people were accused. In both cases there are no “Habeas corpus” and “Innocent until proven guilty”. In The Crucible the defendant enters the courtroom with his fate decided. For Judge Danforth they were guilty unless they proved themselves innocent or confessed and gave him the names of other witches. Even though this was unfair, people were afraid that if they objected they would also be accused. In the case of John Proctor this was true. John Proctor goes to court to free his wife accused of witchcraft. Slowly, Danforth and Hawthorn turn on him and accuse him of witchcraft. All hell breaks loose in the classroom and Proctor has a tantrum. “I say, I say, God is dead! ...A fire, a fire burns. I feel Lucifer's boot, I see his dirty face! And it's my face, and yours, Danforth! For those who try to get men out of... middle of paper... they would diminish their power and everything would go to hell from there on out. Although many say that his life was not worth giving and that he failed to rebel, Miller intended John Proctor to be an allegory for Edward R. Murro. All in all, Arthur Miller's play The Crucible was written to be a perfect allegory of the McCarthy Era. Many of the events, strategies, and people on both sides are similar in the work and in the McCarthy era itself. Many similarities can be drawn between the two, including the basis on which the victims were persecuted, the strategy to reduce their sentences, and the driving factor behind both conflicts, fear. The Crucible was written as a silent but obvious rebellion to McCarthy because during the McCarthy era Miller was also accused of being a communist. The Crucible was a play, an allegory and a rebellion towards and about the McCarthy era.