Writers can use literature as a vehicle for social criticism. How does Arthur Miller criticize society? The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play first performed in 1953 in the United States of America in the midst of the persecution of alleged communists during the McCarthy era. Although the play explicitly addresses the Salem hunters, many believe the play is an analogy to McCarthyism due to the striking similarities in which the people behaved. Miller highlights the different groups of characters in order to reveal the overlying ideas of the play such as: self-preservation, power, and hypocrisy. Self-preservation is an underlying idea throughout the plot of The Crucible. In the witch-hunt society, the only thing that could avoid being wrongly blamed for non-existent crimes was to claim that others (usually a smaller group of individuals) were the culprits as they force the accused to perform actions. This led to an era of false accusations just like during McCarthyism, where someone's good name was easily diminished. Miller introduces self-preservation into Abigail's response to harsh questioning. Abigail realizes the mistake she made in her actions in the past and sees that she will get into trouble; then, he quickly changes his position by shouting “She made me do it, she made Betty do it” (43). This is a great example of how people in societies governed by or manifested by hypocrisy deal with blame deflection as they can easily, without fair claim, blame others for their own mistakes. Following Tituba's accusation of being a witch, Parris (her master) repeatedly shouts at her "Their names, their name!" (47) to erase Tituba's affiliation with witchcraft, as her confession and ... half of the paper ......l, Miller attempts to criticize societies governed by hypocrisy as they open the door for many to reach previously unattainable levels of power and are able to commit a crime without paying for it, blaming it entirely on someone another with false accusations. Miller's The Crucible does an excellent job of reflecting not only the society in its direct context of Salem, but also other societies such as the society of the United States during McCarthyism. Miller, although accused of being a communist, is able to convey his views on how hypocrisy is a dangerous but immensely famous tool that societies sometimes fall to to achieve almost an anarchy where people's survival relies on their ability to blame others. "I lie and submit to the lie! How can I live without my name? I gave you my soul; leave me my name!" (Miller 133)