The word "political" implies the operation of things relating to the government. "The Crucible," "The Dutchman," "Vinegar Tom," and "M. Butterfly" all explore Western society's view and treatment of sex and the ways in which the Western shame of things sexual becomes transformed into political misconceptions and persecution. Three of the plays address the way white Western men use sex to satisfy themselves and create an image of themselves that grants them power. Necessarily, men's use of sex requires the use of women as sexual objects. In the fourth play discussed, "The Dutchman," the playwright address the political ramifications of sexual interplay between blacks and whites.
However, these plays also demonstrate that for the playwright, the definition of "the political" is more expansive than merely those things relating to the government. In ways to be discussed in the body of the paper, each playwright demonstrates that affairs that eventually affect the political administration of a society often begin among the personal interaction of that society's members. In each play, the personal ambitions, beliefs, and agenda of the characters in the play inform the political arena in which they operate. This is essentially the job of the playwright in each of these plays: to made the audience aware that the political can, and often is, personal.
In "The Crucible," Abigail begins the witch hunt to avenge herself against John Proctor, with whom she had an affair but who has refused to turn his back on his wife. Written in 1953, the play is a protest against the House Un-American Activities Committee's "investigation" of Soviet spy activity in the United States after World War II (Worthen 621). Worthen states that the Soviet Union's consolidation of Eastern Europe, its detonation of an atomic bomb, and the rise of communism in China ignited a near-hysteria in the United States, galvanized the "cold war" foreign policy abroa...