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mccarthy and salem witches trial
mccarthy and salem witches trial
2nd red scare of the 1950s vs the red scare of the 1920s?
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During the 1950’s the Red Scare was in full effect and with everyone questions who near them was a communist, the McCarthy trials occurred. These were a series of hearings held to decide on conflicting accusations between the U.S. Government and Senator Joseph McCarthy. He accused multiple members of the army of being secret communists, this how ever spread out as civilians began to accuse their own neighbors of being communists. These trials would eventually become known as the witch hunt for communists. Just as the Salem witch trials were not believed by everyone, neither were the accusations made by the senator. Two significant opponents of the hunt for secret communists that would become known as McCarthyism were Herbert Block, a cartoonist, and Arthur Miller, a significant figure in Hollywood. Though they took different routes they both conveyed similar messages about …show more content…
Looking at the aforementioned cartoon, We Now Have New and Important Evidence by Block, it is not hard for many to see the significant similarities of it to the tones Miller’s work. Both pieces show hat when people are desperate they will take evidence from almost anywhere. In these cases it would be the suited man taking the freshly handmade fence from the other two men , and using it as evidence against someone even though it’s origins are questionable. As well as in the Crucible when not only the towns people but the judge of the court of law takes the words of children whose motives are questionable with the highest regard for them and uses those words as the main basis for deciding if a supposed with would live of die. Both works tell that during the McCarthy trials that those prosecuting were so desperate for evidence that they would take almost anything to decide the fates of people 's lively hood, and or lives
In conclusion Arthur Miller saw the similarities in The McCarthy Era and The Salem Witch Trials, and portrayed them in “The Crucible.” The lives of many people were destroyed during these times in history.
To begin with, Joseph McCarthy wasn’t accusing unimportant people of being communists. In fact, “McCarthy claimed that he had a list of 205 people in the State Department that were known to be members of the American Communist Party.” (Spartacus Educational) Arthur Miller himself was put on a blacklist of the House of Un-American Activity Committee for not giving up names. That begs the argument that Miller had a personal vendetta against McCarthy and would ha...
At that time in American history, paranoia spread around the concept of communism and its potential threats. People began to wrongfully accuse others of being communist or supporting communism, similar to how the characters in the play wrongfully accused people of being witches. Just as those accused of being witches were asked to name whom else they knew of to be witches, those accused of communism were asked to do the same. With this system came the spread of uneasiness throughout the country of America and the town of Salem. Miller wished to showcase the crazy nature of McCarthyism in a way that people would be able to comprehend. The hysteria in both cases was caused simply by fear and not by actual
Allowing Miller to relate McCarthyism in a roundabout approach is a huge strength of using this situation. “I would say, you know, McCarthy is actually saying certain lines that I recall the witch hunters saying in Salem.” (Arthur Miller, The Telegraph) In The Crucible, people
Herbert Block, a cartoon illustrator during McCarthyism, depicts the absurdity of the communist accusations during the 1950s through his drawings of fictitious evidence and the power hungry government. Despite the lack of evidence, the influence of the government’s spurious claims causes unnecessary hysteria and chaos within America. Likewise, these events are prevalent within Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible. The witch trials symbolize the court hearings during McCarthyism, and an identical absence of feasible evidence and a town overridden by fear lead to fallacious convictions. Block’s political cartoons embody the fraudulent evidence and hysteria over communism during McCarthy’s reign, which relates to the witch trials that Miller describes
The hostile interrogation of numerous innocent people occurs during both time periods. During the McCarthy trials, the inquisitors attempt to use slippery tactics to implicate...
"Reasonable doubt" was all that was necessary to accuse and sometimes convict someone of un-American activities in the late 1940's, early 1950's. This period of time was known for McCarthyism--a time of extreme anticommunism, lead by Senator Joseph McCarthy (McCarthyism). The United States pledged to contain the spread of communism globally, as well as locally, and did what it could to keep this promise. Americans began to fear that communism was leaking into the media, government, arts, schools, and other areas. This was called the "Red Scare" (Brinkley). One writer that used this era as a basis for his play, The Crucible, was Arthur Miller. He was able to capture the panic and mere insanity of many Americans in an allegorical way. The "crusade against subversion" played a significant role in the following: the actions and tactics of McCarthy, the reasons why Miller and other artists were targets of McCarthyism, and the relationship of his play The Crucible to the events of the late 1940's to the early 1950's (Brinkley).
According to Miller, the political representatives in the United States were abusing their power. Senator McCarthy labeled and targeted many citizens of the United States as communists. After making “a list of two hundred and five people that were known as… being members of the Communist Party”, he went after them claiming they were unloyal to the US and that they were spies for the communist party. The abuse of power in the United States is demonstrated through the actions of the court in The Crucible. The court, consisting of Danforth, Parris, and Hawthorne, pursue the townspeople that are accused of being witches. They use their power to “try” people of their crimes, but real evidence that the person is a witch is never brought up. The way the people are claimed guilty or not was all up to the judgement of the court after hearing a testimony that may or may not be true. The comparison between the two is they both contain over powering leaders that make decisions based on unverified facts. Likewise, Herblock’s “It’s ok… we’re hunting communists” cartoon portrays how McCarthy took cha...
“The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse” (Burke). Lies, power, and selfishness can destroy families, friendships, and towns. When a person has power, they may not use it properly. There have been many instances where this has happened, but two main examples are in the novel The Crucible, and in McCarthyism. The Crucible is connected to McCarthyism by its model of a desire for power, unsubstantiated accusations, and the detrimental effects of these accusations.
The Crucible is interpreted as an allegory on the intolerance of McCarthyism, allowing Miller to express his criticisms towards the practice through a crucial period in American history. After its publication, it was widely expressed that the Crucible illustrated Miller’s opinion on McCarthyism and its effect on society. McCarthyism is defined as the political practice of broadcasting accusations of disloyalty and undermining power and authority without providing legitimate evidence. This was specifically targeted to communists, who similarly were the innocent citizens falsely accused of witchcraft in Salem. Although Miller does not specifically mention McCarthyism, he incorporates analogies to elements of McCarthyism. A direct connection to it is Danforth states "a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between.” This crucial quote loosely references the aspect of McCarthyism that loosely states a person is either with the government, or suspected of communism. Miller continues to reinforce this technique through the representation of his characters. Abigail reflects on the encouragement of accusations of innocent folk without providing solid evidence, such as claiming “I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil!” therefore encouraging the fellow girls of Salem to follow. This parallels to McCarthy’s allegations against anyone regardless of their social status. Proctor however, represents the injustice placed upon the honest citizens who attempted to clear their names. The hangings reflect on the citizens during the McCarthy era who were blacklisted and therefore excluded from society. Although there is no direct symbolism, this practice is clearly depicted in t...
A parallel between McCarthys world and The Crucible is how the people reacted to the thoughts of witches or communists infiltrating their societies and how that resulted in hysteria throughout towns. In Salem confessing and giving up others “witches” was a way to get out of your noose, but was also a way to augment the rumors of witches in Salem. Tituba was forgiven because she confessed to dealing with the devil and for giving up Goody Osborne and Sarah Good. Then Goody Osborne and Sarah Good were known to be witches, proving witches had come onto Salem, and seeding doubts of others innocence and purity. Many others in the town gave false confessions and countless names when convicted, this was seen as a way to evade punishment, the majority of the confessions being lies only to escape a noose. As with the alleged witches of Salem, suspected Communists were encouraged to confess an...
During Author Miller’s era of the 1950’s, the ‘cold war’ was happening. Senetor Joeseph McCarthy was completely against communism and began to arrest the communists and people assosiating with them. Those arrested were forced to either name names to identify those who were communists or thought to be, or else they would remain in jail. This was callef McCarthyism For many, being prisioned was a terrible frightening thought so they would name names including any that they could think of that could be innocent. Author Miller was arrested for associating with communists and refused to identify others, and wrote The Crucible, using it as an allegory to identify the problems of society and it’s flaws of the corrupt government.
Authors often have underlying reasons for giving their stories certain themes or settings. Arthur Miller’s masterpiece, The Crucible, is a work of art inspired by actual events as a response to political and moral issues. Set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, The Crucible proves to have its roots in events of the 1950’s and 1960’s, such as the activities of the House Un-American Committee and the “Red Scare.” Though the play provides an accurate account of the Salem witch trials, its real achievement lies in the many important issues of Miller’s time that it dealswith.
Events have played out in history that made people realize the inhumane acts of people and the Salem witch trials and the McCarthy era were two of them. The Salem witch trials in 1692 were almost 260 years before the McCarthy “witch hunts” in the 1950s yet there are similarities between them. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller in 1953, is about the Salem witch trials and is an allegory to the practicing of McCarthyism during the Second Red Scare in the United States, which Miller was a victim of. Although there may be differences between “The Crucible” and McCarthyism, ultimately the anger, lack of evidence, and the people were alike in both events.
Just as it was a sin drift on to the side of the devil in the time of the crucible, it was the same to drift on to the side of communism in the 1950's, when Arthur Miller wrote this play. In the 1950's Senator Joe Macarthy set up a campaign to rid the United States of all communist supporters. These communist trials would be broadcast on national television. It would involve the accused to admit their guilt even though they were completely innocent, and give the names of 10 other would-be communists or face exile, torture, invasion of family privacy etc. Arthur Miller uses the events of the Salem witch-hunts to represent and show what the communist trials of the 1950's were. They were both based on false premises and paranoia, and as more people got involved, more people suffered, this can be summarised by calling it the 'Snowball effect.