Similarities Between Witch Hunt And The Crucible

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The Internet, one of the greatest inventions in mankind’s history, has facilitated a massive rise in globalisation. So much so, one person can release information about a person and millions can read it on the other side of the world in seconds. It is more likely to be misinformation. It can be much like McCarthyism, spreading the good news of democracy by eliminating the apparent threat of communism. The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller in response to highly personal accusations, crystallises the cyclical nature of witch-hunts and the dangers inherent in allowing them to recur. The uncanny similarity between the witch-hunt depicted in The Crucible and the witch-hunt that occurred over the internet following the Boston Bombings is …show more content…

According to the Pew Research centre, 7% of US adults use Reddit. Of that portion, 78% of them use it as their primary news source. Following the attacks, hundreds and thousands of people flooded onto Reddit to pay tribute to the victims but also to fulfil their duty to find the bombers. Their warped mindset came as a result of the unreasonable fear of them carrying out another attack if Reddit could not find them. A subreddit or a forum dedicated to a specific topic on Reddit was created called ‘/r/FindTheBostonBombers’. It grew to 272,000 people constantly browsing it almost overnight. This is evidence that a fanatical desire to eliminate the dangerous enemy captivated the minds of the people of Reddit, beginning the …show more content…

One example is Rebecca Nurse; previously a respected member of the Salem community, imprisoned and hanged simply because of the girls’ unfounded accusations. It is this irrational fear of the Devil destroying the Puritan lifestyle of Salem that controls the minds of the townsfolk, forcing them to conform to the Court’s agenda. The overpowering ideology of Puritanism compels them to condemn anybody who shows any sign of deviation from the strict path that their religion

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  • Rebecca Nurse: Fact Vs. Fiction

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  • Modern Day Witch Hunt In The Crucible

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  • Mass Hysteria In The Crucible

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    Many people believe that the infamous witch trials ended, however, facts prove otherwise. Long ago, there were believed to be witches in a place called Salem Massachusetts. The book The Crucible written by Arthur Miller in the year 1953, is a retelling of the horrific events that took place many years earlier that took the lives of 20 people. These people were hunted down for whatever evidence, fake or real, that would convict them. The new witches of today may have different labels or may not do do actual witchcraft, but they do get hunted down for reasons that are quite unfair. The goal is to bring these “witches” into the light so it may see what the people or you, the reader, are truly doing out of fear and anger what shouldn’t be done at all. The witch trials never ended and are almost identical to the ones today, which are are just as horrific as they were then with terrorists and racism abounding and modern day fears as well as the original mass hysteria in tow.

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    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.

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  • The Role of Fear Depicted in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible

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    The play “The Crucible” is an allegory for the McCarthyism hysteria that occurred in the late 1940’s to the late 1950’s. Arthur Miller’s play “the crucible” and the McCarthyism era demonstrates how fear can begin conflict. The term McCarthyism has come to mean “the practice of making accusations of disloyalty”, which is the basis of the Salem witch trials presented in Arthur Miller’s play. The fear that the trials generate leads to the internal and external conflicts that some of the characters are faced with, in the play. The town’s people fear the consequences of admitting their displeasure of the trials and the character of John Proctor faces the same external conflict, but also his own internal conflict. The trials begin due to Abigail and her friends fearing the consequences of their defiance of Salem’s puritan society.

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