McCarthyism have been an issue spread throughout America has been taken it’s toe with lives and reputations taken without any legitimate evidence. McCarthyism all begins when Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy started up with a series of investigations and hearings in the 1950s to present communist gaining access to areas in the United States government. It is also a term to attack a person's reputation by false publication with random allegations and unproven charges (Achter, Paul J. "McCarthyism." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 28 Nov. 2016. Web. 14 Jan. 2017). In the movies On the Waterfront and The Crucible, they show what was the same problems with McCarthyism without legitimate evidence. First contrast between the two movies they’re polar opposites of time periods when the story sets place in the early …show more content…
In The Crucible it sets place in New England where it’s very religious also in its government and judicial system. In a different world where in On the Waterfront in a rugged place in New Jersey by the dockyard and gangsters at large. Contrast number two is the motivation of the two characters of John Proctor and Terry Malloy. John Proctor from The Crucible has a sense of guilt of his actions and decisions what he has done where Terry Malloy is about self presentation. Towards the end of The Crucible John Proctor confesses of his wrong doings in honesty, but it backfires. “A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. I beg you, sir, I beg you-see her what she is. My wife, my dear good wife, took this girl soon after, sir, and put her out on the highroad. And being what she is, a lump of vanity, sir. Excellency, forgive me, forgive me. She thinks to dance with me
Terry’s often felt compelled to say things he didn’t want to say based his moral, and the truth, as opposed to self-preservation as in Proctor’s case. After a series of exchanges and events the story led up to Terry Malloy’s decision to seek justice and to testify against the mafia. This action diminished his reputation in the community at first, he because a “victim” and received “wounds he truly did not want to exchange” (Trumbo). As a result of his actions against the mafia, his friends turned their backs against him, even the boys that helped take care of the pigeons went against him, as they killed the pigeons. However, ultimately, Terry Malloy emerged from this nightmare without sin, he persevered and came out on top, as he defeated the negative aspects that was affecting him. In The Crucible John Proctor felt “compelled to say things he did not want to say” and received wounds he did not wish to. Proctor’s conflict arises as he was accused to witchcraft, a crime he did not commit. At first, he did confess, but in the end sacrificed himself to maintain his
“I visited Salem for the first time on a dismal spring day in 1952….” (Miller 1095) that’s what started it all. Arthur Miller was motivated to write The Crucible due to the trauma done to the liberals during the McCarthyism trials. The question is, was he a little too motivated to write it? Could his thirst for vengeance for those accused fuel him to over-exaggerate what happened in order to prove a point? Arthur Miller overused his artistic license because Joseph McCarthy was accusing important people of being communists, he wasn’t exactly like Danforth, and some of the accused in the McCarthyism trials were actual communists.
In 1860-1960 there was lynching in the United States. When the confederates (south) lost the civil war the slaves got freedom and got rights of human beings. This was just to say because segregation wasn 't over in the South and didn 't go away for over 100 years. Any black person in the South accused but not convicted of any crime of looking at a white woman, whistling at a white woman, touching a white woman, talking back to a white person, refusing to step into the gutter when a white person passed on the sidewalk, or in some way upsetting the local people was liable to be dragged from their house or jail cell by lots of people crowds, mutilated in a terrible
In both storylines, there are characters that parallel each other and allow the viewers to see the overarching themes that permeate both movies. In Good Night and Good Luck, the main antagonist, Joseph McCarthy, is a foil for The Crucible’s Abigail Williams. They play the same role in the plot development of the movies and serve as antagonists who cause nothing but trouble. Although they differ in some aspects of their character, much of their motives and methods are quite similar.
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
"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).
The only thing John Proctor wants to be is an honorable man in the eyes of Puritan society. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible John Proctor repeatedly tries to do good for other people. John’s motivation motivation to retain his honor is seen throughout his actions. Since John Proctor is motivated by his honor, his decision to admit he committed adultery creates doubt in the guilt of the accused.
In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, various characters, whether it is from physical trials or unseen personal struggles, experience some kind of major conflict. There are those who spend every day in fear, wondering whether or not they will be falsely accused of witchcraft. There are others who struggle with more internal trials, such as forgiving those who have hurt them. The protagonist, John Proctor, was a man of strong moral constitution, and held himself to a high standard for the sake of his good name and family. As a result of this, he struggled with a major internal conflict throughout the play.
“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.
This reveals that the lies and deceit told throughout the play drive the plot, as characters, such as Elizabeth and John Proctor, in the play are significantly affected by the accusations made against them. This is revealed, as Proctor is too concerned with his reputation to confess his affair with Abigail and end the witch trials. Throughout the play, the imagery of God and the Devil is directly tied in with lies and deceit. The Crucible is set in a Puritan theocratic society, where every citizen is concerned with religious piety and purity.
“No-no. There be no unnatural case here.” (Parris, The Crucible Act 1 Line 34) The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller about the Salem Witch Trials. Miller wrote this play as a critique of McCarthyism, but distanced it by using the Salem Witch Trials as the setting. McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of treason without proper evidence. Using the Trials as the setting has strong suits, such as allowing him to compare McCarthyism indirectly and the events related strongly with society, and weaknesses, including the time period being so long-standing that it is not a modern example in their era and the idea of witches is farfetched compared to Communism.
The Crucible and today’s society are similar in the way the judicial system works. The Puritans and our society’s judicial system are similar in a good way. In the crucible the Salem witch trials are held which show how the puritans handled trials where people were accused of crimes. Although they did not require evidence to hold or try the accused their process was still a lot like our own.
In 1956 Arthur Miller was subpoenaed by HUAC (the House Un-American Activities Committee) and refused to identify writers that were believed to hold communist sympathies. Due to his refusal he was convicted of contempt of congress. The next year, however, the United States Supreme Court overturned this conviction. Under the leadership of McCarthy the committee had so much power that just knowing someone who was suspected of having ties to the communist party was a danger. The lives and careers of hundreds of Americans were ruined because of being blacklisted. Prison, bankruptcy, passport revocation, unemployment were threats made against people for them to testify and “name names.”
Many people look back on the events of the Salem witch trials and laugh at the absurdity of the allegations. It seems crazy that society could be fooled into believing in things like witches and deal with the events in such an extreme manner. It is a common belief that witch hunts are things of the past. Many people would agree that they no longer exist today; however Arthur Miller, author of the play, "The Crucible", points out that society has not come very far from the days of the Salem witch trials. In his play, he used the Salem witch trials to represent the McCarthy Era because he saw that the nation was facing the same events that Salem went through back in the late 1600's. Arthur Miller wrote "The Crucible" in an attempt to create moral awareness for society. He did so by making a few small changes to the history and creating parallels in the play with racism, human tendencies, and H.U.A.C.
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.