“Because It Is My Name!”: Arthur Miller’s Moral Imperative—The Crucible and Miller’s HUAC Testimony

Abstract

The chief allegorical correlation between the text of The Crucible and Miller’s testimony before HUAC three years later in 1956 seems to center around the refusal of both the fabricated John Proctor and the real Arthur Miller to name names. This parallel has been cited by critics and scholars alike as one of the most ironic moments in the history of HUAC’s twenty-two-year existence. Each man, in his own era, publicly questioned the authority of the governmental agency entrusted with determining the guilt or innocence of members of the community. Each also defined themselves as martyrs in terms of their opposition to that authority. For Miller and Proctor, the moral dilemma involved a refusal to falsely confess and betray a sense of oneself to escape punishment. Forced to expose their private selves in a public arena, both felt the need to criticize the public challenge to their private consciousness.