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McCarthyism and its impact on society
Character analysis essay on john proctor
Character analysis essay on john proctor
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How would you feel if you knew? Based on the crucible, how can the crucible help modern Americans? It can help modern americans different ways. For example those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. The crucible is a play which brings to our attention many timeless issues. The nature of good and evil, power and its corruption. The crucible took place in salem massachusetts in 1692. In the play john proctor shows us how people chase what they think is evil, for example; not going to church, not knowing the commandments etc. Similarities between Mccarthyism and the crucible. In the 1940s and 1950s americans feared the encroachment of communism. The soviet union was growing in power and the threat of a nuclear holocaust was …show more content…
In both paranoia ensued. “The Truman Doctrine was a U.S policy to stop soviet expansion during the cold war”,(The Truman Doctrine, March 12, 1947). The Truman Doctrine was the beginning of actual actions talking against the enemy. In the crucible this would be when Reverend Hale diagnoses Betty of being bewitched and the hunt is on for the witch. In the iron curtain they to isolate them self from the rest of the world, “in society trying to build a wall to separate America and Mexico.” (Donald Trump 2016). Our president today Donald Trump has began to remove immigrants and due to his actions, he has now broken up families who been together their entire lives. Now they're forced out of the U.S because of Trump’s actions. The crucible can change nation as we know it. It will be knew chapter for modern Americans, for them to be able to understand how they act now, is the same way the people from the crucible acted. Mrs. proctor's doll is seized and house is unreasonably searched. They only had a warrant for her arrest, and “the judges bid me search your house” (The Crucible) is not a legitimate warrant. “Here might also be a dragon with five legs in my house , but no one has ever seen it”,( Proctor, The
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
The Crucible was written to show people living during the Cold War how ridiculous their thoughts, actions and beliefs were. The sense of panic inspired by the accusations of one girl were very similar to that of the time when Senator McCarthy began claiming that he had evidence that certain people were Communists. For both Abigail Williams and the senator, the “evidence” each accrued was unable to be neither proven nor disproven by authorities due to the nature of the accusations, but was considered truthful as so many people supported it. The support mainly came from those who hoped to gain from the downfall of others, or as to not be accused themselves. This is furthe...
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.
The Crucible is an incredibly influential play no only in the fact that it displays many important themes, but it also portrays how a theocracy impacts societal actions. The Salem witch trials were the culmination of the problems with theocracy. The actions of society, not only are impacted by their personal thoughts, but also in religious undertones affect them. Act two in the play portrays not only all of these themes, but also some important events leading towards the witchcraft hysteria. Act two in the play portrays how theocracy ultimately leads to chaos.
What is McCarthyism? It is the public onslaught of an individual or an individual’s character by means of baseless and uncorroborated charges, basically the repudiation of a person’s reputation. Joe McCarthy was the Wisconsin senator that evoked this era of fear and paranoia by inflaming the current fear of world domination by the Communist party that enveloped the Nation. He did this by announcing that he had discovered “57 cases of individuals who would appear to be either card carrying members or certainly loyal to the Communist Party, but who nevertheless are still helping to shape our foreign policy.” (McCarthy, 1950, p. 2), later the amount of implicated individuals rose to 205. These accusations launched McCarthy into the national spotlight where he then began his smear campaign against many well-known Americans, which was commonly referred to as “witch-hunts”. Because of McCarthy’s actions, up to 12, people lots their jobs hundreds were incarcerated. He then turned his sights to book banning because he claimed there were 30,000 books written by all shades of Communists. After his lists were made public all were removed from the Overseas Library Program. But he was not finished yet, he then assailed members of the entertainment business. He had writers and actors brought to trial. Many of these people were blacklisted and worse, all without a single shred of evidence. When people spoke out against McCarthy they were thrown onto the communist train, until enough people came forward to rebuke McCarthy’s unprecedented tactics. At this point he fell from political power into dishonor on December 2, 1954. This ended the McCarthy era, but not the atmosphere of paranoia that lingers in the nation today.
There is a strong connection between McCarthyism and the Salem With Trials, which are what The Crucible is based on. Arthur Miller immediately recognized this link, and displayed a great example of an abuse of power, and people going to great measures to get what they want (Brater). The desire for power, unsubstantiated accusations, and the detrimental effects of these accusations are the ways in which The Crucible is connected to McCarthyism. Power and selfishness can destroy the lives of those that possess it, and the lives of people around them. Humans are easily influenced by what others do and say, which is why people can gain power so easily. It is the choice of the powerful to use their power in the correct way. When power is misused, paranoia and chaos, as well as many other negative effects result.
The world revolves around hysteria, paranoia, and accusations. All three behaviors can be seen throughout history and everyone has at least felt or acted upon it. There were many different historical events that caused it. Many include the Holocaust, the McCarthyism, the Red Scare, and 9/11. All were such horrific and sorrowful events that unfortunately occurred. These all relate to The Crucible in a particular way. An event that I found interest in is 9/11. In the drama The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the story portrays how there was fear and accusations throughout the play. The Puritans and the Islamic culture were so quite alike it’s comparable. Lots of Puritan people (especially women) feared of being falsely accused of being witches and
McCarthyism was a big story in the 1950s and so was The Crucible in the 1952. The Crucible reflects some of the thing that were happening during the “red scare.” In this time period both stories reflect selfishness and power. McCarthy wanted to gain power or get a higher level, and in The Crucible the accusers were accusing those that had more land than they did. McCarthy got the nation scared of communism and in The Crucible the accuser were making everyone scared of witchcraft.
McCarthyism and The Crucible relates in similar ways when in the atmosphere when Miller wrote this play. In McCarthyism it talks about Americans fearing the encroachment of Communism, how the Eastern Europe had become a conglomerate of Communist satellite nations and a throw in China and Americans began to feel this unsettling feeling that they were surrounded by a Communist threat and this is when paranoia emerged. Not only was paranoia in McCarthyism, it was also in The Crucible. Mille wrote similar things that related to this. McCarthyism felt fear and paranoia, just like in The Crucible. In The Crucible it talks about Salem being a religious community in the middle part of evil. Salemites considered the forest to main area of the devil,
In The Crucible, the mass hysteria surrounding the witch trials caused paranoia amongst the people of Salem. Miller uses the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 as a symbol and allegory of the fear surrounding the spread of communism during the 1950s in America. The community’s sense of justice was blinded by the mass hysteria and for some, a desire for vengeance and personal gain. The Putnams
The Crucible and McCarthyism is most definitely still relevant in today’s society even though there isn’t an ongoing witch trial in our country. I say that mass hysteria is still a thing.One example would be irrational fear of Muslims, it doesn’t matter how they look, what they do ,or who they are they is an obvious fear in today’s society.This relates to The Crucible because the town turn something so small into something that was completely different, refused to be convinced that the girls were making it up and int urn punished innocent individuals.Throughout the article and the book I learned many things about The Crucible and McCarthyism and why it’s so important that students should learn about this and why it’s still relevant in today’s
Intolerance is synonymous with small-mindedness, parochialism, bias, discrimination, and inequality. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, intolerance is the main theme. In addition to The Crucible, the Holocaust is a prime example of a historical event where intolerance is present. The underlying theme in The Crucible that usually goes hand-in-hand with intolerance is hysteria. There is a cause and effect relationship between the two; when there is a high level of intolerance, the people involved usually end up contributing to the existence of hysteria. There are many similarities between the Holocaust and The Crucible, but the one that stands out the most is the prevalence of both hysteria and intolerance being woven into the culture.
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.
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.
The Crucible is a famous play written by Arthur Miller in the Early 1950’s. It was written during the “Red scare, when McCarthyism was established. Many anti-communists wanted to prevent communism from spreading just like in The Crucible many wanted to get rid of witchcraft. Many would accuse others of witchcraft in order to not be accused just like many would accuse people of communism. In The Crucible witchcraft would be punishable by death. Many were scared to be accused; therefore many would admit practicing witchcraft in order to save their lives. The Crucible is considered a good play because it is based on real life events during the Salem witch Trials and shows how fear played a role in the individual’s life just like during the “Red” scare.