![]() In Act 3 of the play – the big trial scene – the judge says: “A person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between.” It bears a stark resemblance to US press secretary Sean Spicer’s less eloquent words regarding dissenting government officials: “They should either get with the programme or they can leave.” The “programme” in The Crucible is the prosecution of more than 150 men and women accused of witchcraft. ![]() ![]() Worried about being identified as a “red” himself, he turned to the Salem witch trials of 1692 as an allegory. Miller wrote that it “paralysed a whole generation and in a short time dried up the habits of trust and toleration”. It was a campaign of fear that turned people against each other, destroying lives, careers and friendships in its wake. Originating with a presidential executive order, the “red scare” became an obsession, ripping through all aspects of American life from the state department to Hollywood. ![]() Miller wrote The Crucible when America was prosecuting alleged communists. ![]()
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