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Discuss the characterization of the crucible by arthur miller
Contrast salem witch trials and mccarthyism
Contrast salem witch trials and mccarthyism
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Arthur Miller's The Crucible, depicts the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 but is analogous to the McCarthy trials of the 1950s. In both situations, widespread hysteria occurs, stemming from existing fears of the people of that particular era. The Salem witchhunt trials parallel the McCarthy era in three major aspects: unfounded accusations, hostile interrogation of numerous innocent people and the ruination and death of various people's lives. The unfounded accusations that Joseph McCarthy and the girls in The Crucible make are what fuels the widespread hysteria in both situations. McCarthy is quoted as declaring in a speech, "I have here in my hand a list of 205 that were known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who, nevertheless, are still working and shaping policy in the State Department." This is the first of the many unwarranted charges that he claims. The girls in The Crucible, all make unwarranted charges against people for witchcraft, especially Abigail Williams. The leader of the accusations, she accuses various people from Elizabeth Proctor to Tituba. Joseph McCarthy and the girls earn the respect and awe of the people, instead of being riduculed for their unfounded accusations. 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...
In “The Crucible”, the author, Arthur Miller, conveys what he believes Senator Joe McCarthy is doing during the Red Scare. The Salem Witch Trials were true events, while this play uses these trials and adds a fictional twist to show a point. Witchcraft was punishable by death during this time. Once names started flying in town it was like a chain reaction, people were accusing others of witchcraft because they were not fond of them or they had something they wanted. Some definitions state mass hysteria as contagious, the characters in this play deemed it true. In this play, innocent people were hung because some of the girls in town cried witch.
similarity to the Salem witch trials. The McCarthy hearings are trials in which Senator Joe McCarthy accuses government employees of being Communists. He exaggerates and exploits the evidence and ruins many reputations just as the girls do in the Salem witch trials. The accused, in both cases, are used as scapegoats for society’s problems and the only way to escape direct punishment is to admit to guilt.
In the1950s, the world though that they are not as ludicrous as the people of the past, but ultimately they were the same. In the past, people believe that witches were among them, and that practiced black magic and used it on people. Later on, they have drawn away from those silly associations, but are still as naive as they were, but in a different way. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, he uses a comparison from the Salem Witch Trials in the 1500’s to the Red Scare epidemic in the 1950’s. The term, McCarthyism was formed in the 1950’s due to a man, Joe McCarthy, making poorly supported accusations of people being communist. Arthur Miller used this in his play to depict the events taken place. Although what Miller may not have known at the
Fake Claims were a big part of the McCarthy communist era because if you accused someone of being a communist you would a safe from government even if it is not true. In the McCarthy era Joseph McCarthy claimed he had a list of 81 people that worked for the government but were also communists. “McCarthy accuses 81 people of being a communist.” (jigsaw chart) McCarthy told everyone that he had that list when in the end, none of the people that were on the list were communists. This connects to The Crucible in the same way. In The Crucible if you accused another person of being a witch then you were safe from accusation and the court. “For murder Rebecca is charged! For the marvelous and supernatural murder of Goody Putnam’s babies.”(71) Rebecca was charged with supernatural murder against Goody Putnam's babies.
Arthur Miller wrote this essay to tell us how life was back in puritans time, he wasn’t from puritan time time period nor he was a puritan. Arthur Miller lived during the red scare where he was accused and he wrote this story as to compare characters from The Crucible mainly Abigail with McCarthy. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller shows us that Abigail is a metaphor for Joseph McCarthy as they both used the so called “witch hunts” to falsely accuse other of communism or witchcraft in order to gain more power or attention.
In both the Salem Witch Trials of 1652 and the McCarthy Era in the 1950s, they see that unscrupulous people get ahead by using the fears of other people. These people, who are hungry for power, pick on some convenient scapegoats as a way of improving their own standing in the community. Senator McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in which cold war tension fueled fears and whispered communist subversion. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin changed our nation and world by creating McCarthyism. (“McCarthyism.”)
The Crucible by Arthur Miller was made in reference to McCarthyism, or paranoia of the presence of Communism in the United States in the 1940’s and 1950’s. During this time many citizens were accused of being Communist and were punished, even though they were innocent. The purpose of The Crucible was to depict how McCarthyism was just as unfounded and nonsensical as the witch trials that occurred centuries prior. Miller had made numerous connections between the hunt for communists and the witch hunts in Salem in 1692 (“Salem Witch Trials”). This is a description of how they overlapped and how Miller showed this correlation in his story.
Although Arthur Miller’s The Crucible takes place during the 1692 Salem Witch Trials, the play was presented in the 1950s as a commentary on McCarthyism throughout America during the Cold War. In many instances, the events that take place during the Salem Witch Trials are equal and very similar to those by McCarthyism. After conducting research, reading articles and finding sources, the conclusion can be made that the events that took place during the Salem Witch Trials were very similar to those of McCarthyism, in terms of people, events and mass hysteria. This statement can be supported because evidence presented during the events were not credible, both events led to mass hysteria in surrounding areas and last, being innocent or guilty would
In Arthur Miller’s “Why I Wrote The Crucible,” he parallels the Salem Witch Trials and the Second Red Scare to criticize the prosecution of suspected Communists in the latter. During the Red Scare conservative politicians, most notably Senator Joseph McCarthy, claimed that Communists had infiltrated the United States government. They used the resulting hysteria as well as hearsay accusations to mar their opponents’ reputations. Likewise, in Miller’s The Crucible, spectral evidence – which is a claim from the witness that the offender’s spirit has harmed them – is used to convict potential witches during their trials. Throughout these two works, Miller effectively links the witch trials to the hearings of accused Communists during the Red Scare and defends his modification of history except about the creation of Abigail Williams and John Proctor’s affair.
This fear allowed for opportunistic individuals seeking personal fame to gain power and influence and remove their opponents. In the Crucible Abigail uses the witch hunt to further her vindictive plans against Elizabeth Proctor. This is proven in act 1 when Betty exclaims “You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor” (Miller 20). When the incumbent senator McCarthy campaigned for reelection after a disappointing first term he turned to corruption to achieve victory. Edmund Walsh a close friend of McCarthy prompts the idea of a crusade against the Communists to gain favor in the government. As the Cold War Museum states “McCarthy enthusiastically agreed and took advantage of the nation’s wave of frantic terror of communism, and emerged on February 9, 1950, claiming he had a list of 205 people in the State Department who were known members of the American Communist Party.” The established court in Salem was quickly enveloped in the terror and sought out the accused the potential witches and when someone confesses they are required to tell the court another that could be a witch or wizard. Much like the American government when they ask the accused they are required to give up another communist. This process creates a never ending vicious cycle of accusations and
The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is about the Salem witch trials in 1692, when ordinary people were being accused of prodigious behavior. Miller wrote The Crucible in the early 1950s, during the period of a governmental “witch hunt” known as McCarthyism, led by Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. In this period, those who were accused of being a communist were either blacklisted or lost their jobs; either way, their reputations were ruined. With the hopes of altering social attitudes against people who were being accused of communism, Miller wrote The Crucible as a way to dissipate the hypocrisy in society.
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, which refers to the fear of communism that permeated American politics, culture, and society from the late 1940s through the 1950s. Similarities between The Crucible and A Decade of Fear pertain to the bombshell dropped by the accusers and their fame that grew from their accusations. In both The Crucible and A Decade of Fear the accuser both dropped a bombshell with the accusations they made towards people. According to Sam Roberts, author of “A Decade of Fear,” “McCarthy dropped a bombshell.” McCarthy had accused The State Department of being
Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’ is set during the Salem Witch Trials, a time where McCarthyism was an acceptable idea. McCarthyism is a practice where accusations are made on people based on little to no evidence. In 'The Crucible' allegations are made against innocent people, especially women. The women and men are then put on trial for practicing witchcraft. The court system functioned on unfair and unjust trials; their main motive being for the accused to confess. The only way to survive being executed was to confess and give names of others who were involved. Failing to confess eventually lead to one’s death by hanging, pressing, and other horrific inhumane methods. In modern times, we see McCarthyism linked to race. Criminal accusations are placed on African Americans today that date as far back as the 1700s. African Americans were seen as inferior people and more prone to committing crimes. These accusations prompted many unjust arrests and deaths.
The Crucible is a four-act play written by Arthur Miller in 1953. The story takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692 and the action is based on the witchcraft trials of that time. A group of girls had been caught performing a pagan ritual and accused of witchcraft. One of the girls, Abigail, had previously had an affair with a local farmer, John Proctor. It is revealed that she asked a negro slave, Tituba, for a charm to kill John’s wife, Elizabeth. She ‘confesses’ having pact with the Devil and “names” the first people. Thus starts the witch hunt, with the girls as chief witnesses. 9 days later, Abigail accuses Elizabeth and she is also arrested. Proctor, in order to save his wife, admits his adultery and denounces Abigail as a fraud. But when Mary Warren is
The McCarthy era is very similar to the Salem Witch trials. They are both similar, because they both dealt with hysteria. Hysteria is an uncontrollable fear or outburst of emotion. Both things had to do with people accusing each other of people being communist, and people being witches.