‘이웃의 정치신학’—아서 밀러의 『시련』

Abstract

The Crucible, which dramatized the historical incidents that took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, inquired into a universal resemblance between Witch Trials and McCarthysim, and scrutinized the intrinsic problems about human nature. In The Crucible, Miller examined causes and effects of two repeated historical incidents closely, and called for exact awareness of them. What Miller was shocked at McCarthysim of the 1950s was that it not only brought about collective fear about communism but also concocted subjective realities. In The Crucible, Miller sharply pointed out that what is believed to be natural and absolute in a society could be made up by extremely subjective judgments, and transformed into objective truth, gaining authority. In The Crucible, Miller demonstrated that an atmosphere of collective fear could give rise to a new but faulty value, by which innocent individuals were deprived of their lives based on a groundless claim. Distorted religious enthusiasm was coupled with hatred, greed, and jealousy, which caused a tragedy of ‘Witch Trials.' By juxtaposing the Witch Trials and McCarthysim, Miller tried to show the fact that the individual is vulnerable to collective insanity and ideological offensive moves. In The Crucible, collective insanity prevented villagers from reasonably thinking of their ‘Neighbors,' which led to bad feelings among the members of the village. Even they used the weak as political scapegoats, calling them witches in order to pursue their own personal interest or cover up their sins. But their selfish desires such as hatred, greed, jealousy were unexpectedly revealed in the middle of witch trials. In conclusion, individual selfishness and struggle for power come into light in the witch trials, which are pivotal forces in The Crucible.