Why The Crucible? For years, people thought that Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible to condemn the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. However, we have recently learned that he wrote it for the purpose of showing the similarities to the McCarthyism Era in the 1950’s. Too many people who read The Crucible will walk away thinking that Miller’s sole purpose was to highlight the Puritan governments attempt was to accuse people of witchcraft. His real intent was to show how closely related the events of the Salem Witch Trials were to those of the McCarthyism Era’s accusations of communist sympathizers. Author Miller wrote The Crucible as an allegory to the McCarthyism