Is it about the Politics or the Punishment?

I've read The Crucible several times and each time I become more and more distrustful of its position as a blacklist allegory. Yes, there are "witch hunts" and Abigail and the other girls seem to be afraid of being found out as occultists themselves, but in focusing on the Proctor family, Miller gives us an extremely morally complicated story in which John Proctor's final refusal to confess isn't exactly as heroic as it initially seems.

Abigail always seems to be discussed as this sex-crazed evil harpy who's out to destroy noble, sad Elisabeth Proctor so she can get at ultimately good man John Proctor. But Abigail is seventeen. It's implied that her affair with John happend some time ago, which means she was even younger when he slept with her. Sure, she could have been the agressor, but John's behavior is pretty unbecoming of a hero. He admits that in his final scene with Elisabeth, and she goes on about how it must have been partly her fault because she was so cold. John knows this is not true, and his self loathing is so deep that his decision to initially confess seems to come from a place of wanting to be punished. His final decision to tear up the confession is driven on a textual level by his concern about dishonoring those who have held out like Rebecca Nurse and Giles Corey, but there seems to be more to this play than anti-McCarthyism.

Miller's work is generally described as being based in subtext, in the psychological pain of Greek tragedy. His previous major works All My Sons and Death of a Salesman were partially about global ideas like the war effort, consumerism, and the abuse of the middle class, but they were also about characters that were tragic as a result of their own failings and guilt. The Crucible is no exception to this rule. John Proctor is not a very good poster boy for a well-meaning Communist harangued by the blacklist because he is very much to blame for his persecution. His failure to resist Abbey and to communicate with Elisabeth contribute to his fall, and his decision to not sign a confession could just as likely be a desire to be punished for his sins as a political action. Yes, Abbey probably began lying to save her own skin but she often comes off as such a powerful operator that instead of being a stand-in for turning state's evidence, she almost ends up as Joe McCarthy himself based on her vitriol.

It's also a little telling that Miller followed Crucible up with A View From The Bridge, a story in which a man is destroyed by his desire for his teenage niece (who just happens to be the same age as Abbey, just a lot less evil and sex-crazed.) Point is, when you're dealing with real witches and demonizing teenage girls, the message about blacklisting gets a little muffled, and it's impossible to look at the play or Proctor as simply a cautionary tale about witch hunts. It's also a cautionary tale about statutory rape, adultery, and shame.