An allegory of the 1950s' anti-communist witch hunts and a spotlight on 17th-century witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, “The Crucible” is a play that shows how ignorance and good intentions can interweave to destroy lives. Arthur Miller wrote play in 1953. Miller wrote the play as an allegory of McCarthyism, when the US government ostracized people for being communists. Miller himself was questioned by the House of Representatives on Un-American Activities in 1956 and convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to identify others present at meetings he had attended.