Arthur Miller's The Crucible takes a look at two of the worst moments in American history. It uses a historical event as a metaphor to demonstrate the pressure to conform with social norms. Miller takes the history of the Salem Witch Trials and makes them symbolic of the American psyche. He takes the quasi-religious concept of patriotism, as used by McCarthy's followers, and reveals its ugliness. The patriotism of the McCarthy era was just as cruel and vengeful as that of the Puritans in Salem. Religion can provide a sense of reality to its worshippers. The individuals who have the ability to define that reality, and therefore force others to live by its ideals, become extremely powerful. The usage of religion to reinforce the importance of one's definition of reality is quite old. In this manner the theocratic government of Salem demonstrates the power of the pressure to conform.
Although the Salm Witch Trials had occurred over two hundred years ago, the spirit of persecution that was key to them is still alive today. It was this same spirit that drove the House Un-American Activities Committee and aided in locating the "culprits" in the Red Scare. The HUAC took it upon itself to decide what was, or was not, American. They considered anything "Un-American" to be Communist, and so they drove to find anything even remotely related to the communist party in America. Simply being questioned caused your name to take on a suspicious air of guilt. To regain ones name, one was required to give names of others who were involved with the Communist Party. The Red Scare demanded conformity just as did the theocracy in Salem.
In The Crucible, people were killed over whether or not it was their inalienable human right to resist conformaty. When John Proctor resisted the court with evidence that the very core of their cause was a sham, he was accussed of trying to overthrow the court and associating with the Devil. In the end, his proof was discredited, and he was executed. This was done to maintaint complete control and conformity.
As before mentioned, Salem is a theocracy. Therefore sin is an offense against the public good as well as against God. Sins are necessarily secret activities, so regulating the moral behavior of citizens requires surveillance. There is a good deal of pressure to reveal the secret sins of friends and neighbors in the name of Christian duty. Therefore, judgment is not only in the mouths of court judges, but in the mouths of friends and neighbors as well. The desire for privacy makes one suspect because it looks as if one has something to hide.
The very language used during the Salem Witch Trials and the HUAC investigations have much in common. Both referred to that which they were seeking as a disease or ailment, needing to be cured. Witchery threatened the moral purity of Salem and of individuals' souls. It was "a scourge that must be wiped out." Souls needed to be cleaned via vigorous questioning in court. The Red Scare described it the same way, as a disease threatening the very essence of the American way of life. In order to cure it however, one had to define "health," so as to contradict the disease. If you did not conform, you were considered contaminated. The "cure" for this contamination was just as cruel and immoral as the search for it. Being "black listed" and defamation was common. The same ideology that fueled the Salem Witch Hunts also fueled the McCarthian Red Scare. The need for conformity was key to both struggles for power through belief, and fortunately, in the end, they lost.