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Comparing Settings And The 50s In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

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Behavior and choices are often affected by the society we live in, these are commonly reflected through literary works. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play that follows the lives of the characters who play citizens of the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the time of the Salem Witch Trials. This play is set in 1692, and written close to 300 years later, in 1952. To someone with no knowledge of the political climate in the 1950s, writing The Crucible during that time may seem arbitrary. However, both settings - the late 1600s and the 50s - influenced very similar actions within the play, and in real life. The Crucible explores many topics, such as the amount of impact faith has on the lives of people in certain settings. This …show more content…

In the 1950s, around the time that The Crucible was written, America was having a "communist witch hunt" which landed the name “The Red Scare”. The Red Scare was frightening for the people of America because they were afraid of communism and wanted to make sure that they kept their capitalist government. They believed that by identifying these people and dragging them out of positions in which they could use their communist influence in government/powerful situations (BBC Bitesize). Many of Arthur Miller's friends were questioned by the House Committee on Unamerican Activities for being considered to influence public opinion. Since these people were writers and members of the theater business, they were most likely considered to be outspoken and controversial at the time. In 1956, Arthur Miller was questioned by this committee as well, which was three years after the release of The Crucible (BBC Bitesize). A Republican Senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy made himself well known by stating that communists had permeated into the U.S. State Department (Storrs). Because of this political climate, the term “McCarthyism” was born, meaning “the tactic of undermining political opponents by making unsubstantiated attacks on their loyalty to the United States” (Storrs). McCarthyism seems almost analogous to the method of persecution used by the characters in The Crucible, but instead of proving their patriotism for their own country, the people of Salem had to prove their faith. As mentioned before, stating one’s knowledge or love of faith was used as a valid practice of proving innocence during The Salem Witch Trials. Even church attendance was taken into account as a valid reason to persecute someone. “I note that you are rarely in the church on Sabbath Day… Twenty-six time in seventeen

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Even with the play’s puritan disguise Miller was still sent on trial for suspicion of communism. If “The Crucible” had been written at another time it probably would not have gained much interest and there would not have been something to bring people to the realization that McCarthy’s accusations and methods were really somewhat uncalled for. Both the Salem Trials and McCarthyism were cause by the spread of something that created fear and paranoia and allowed chaos and revenge to take

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Throughout history the fear of corruption and change has compelled people to go to drastic measures to prevent it. The Crucible, a play by arthur Miller, is set in an environment of religious citizens who fear that the devil and witchcraft will corrupt their society. Much like The Crucible, McCarthyism caused the citizens in America to fear corruption of the government by communism. Arthur Miller used his play the crucible as a direct response to McCarthyism and through this play Miller writes about the Salem witch trials during the McCarthy period to comment on how history repeats itself. The social and political factors in The Crucible resemble those in America during the red scare and McCarthyism.

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Arthur Miller based his piece entitled “the Crucible” on the Terror Campaign that was led by the United States to demonize USSR and other Countries who are exercising communism during the Cold war. Religion affects every part of life, but it is the religion where there are constrictions that leads to the difficulty of managing emotions such as rage, jealousy, or resentment that had led to interpersonal arguments and grudges over property, religious offices, and sexual behaviour that have generated to rise underneath the theocratic surface. These had caused a great pressure that was combined with fear about supernatural forces, resulted to a mania of the witch trials. 250 years ago, things like this has been happening for years, The Crucible was just a manifestation of McCarthyism during the Cold War. It gives us the emphasis of looking back in the past so that we will know the mistakes that had been occurring due to the misjudgement of authorities and to ensure that it does not happen again..

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The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, reenacts the events of The Witchcraft Trials of Salem in seventeenth-century Massachusetts, an event that many people were labeled witches to which were prosecuted. Within the community, it was alarming that anyone can be convicted with just an accusation. This was similar to McCarthyism, an event during the 1950s initiated by Joseph McCarthy where many people were accused with severe consequence. Throughout The Crucible, it illustrates examples of McCarthyism because people were biased on how they assume one's guilt.

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Allegory in Miller’s The Crucible and Real-Life Examples Arthur Miller’s The Crucible has been renownedly known for it’s expression of human nature when confronted with fear and the unknown. This allows for the play to develop a lot of allegories and symbolic figures that can further highlight the message the author wants to get through. These hidden meanings, when explored, can enhance the play and it’s meaning to represent something much larger than the initial perceived message. The Crucible constantly explores a theme of fear, specifically a fear of the unknown.

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Miller had been accused of being a communist sympathizer during the Cold War. Miller said in a New Yorker article, “”The Crucible” was an act of desperation.” He then explained that his desperation likely stemmed from his Depression-era trauma. He later said was motivated to write The Crucible because he felt that liberals were afraid to speak out against civil rights violations, because they felt like they would be accused of being a Communist. This is very similar to what was going on during the Salem Witch trials and in the play, with Townsfolk afraid to speak out against the accusations made onto others that hadn’t done anything wrong out of fear that they would then get accused of witchcraft as

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In history there have been many major events that have shaped the times we live in. Two of the major events of our time are the "witchunts" of the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism. The Crucible is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a drama and fictional story of the Salem Witch Trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692-1693. Miller wrote the play as a parable for McCarthyism, when the United States government ostracized people for being communists.

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“As the Cold War intensified between the United States and Soviet Union during the late 1940s through early 1950s, there was mass hysteria over the threat communism poised here in the United States. The House Un-American Activities Committee, led by Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, investigated allegations between government and Hollywood industries” (Lavanture para 1). When Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible, he wanted to show readers the injustice delivered when both groups of people are placed in a vulnerable position. In The Crucible, the girls that thought to be “possessed” by the devil are regarded as sufficient evidence to continue accusations, showing injustice because the girls were seen as victims of a horrible crime when there was no such

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Arthur Miller constructs his play upon the famous Salem witch trails. Miller's Crucible was written in the early 1950s. Miller wrote his drama during the brief reign of the American senator Joseph McCarthy whose bitter criticized anti- communism sparkled the need for the United States to be a dramatic anti- communist society during the early tense years of the cold war. By orders from McCarthy himself, committees of the Congress commenced highly controversial investigations against communists in the U.S similar to the alleged Salem witches situation. Convict communists were ordered to confess their crime and name others to avoid the retribution.

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In Arthur Miller’s historical fiction play The Crucible, based on the tragic Salem witch trials, there are numerous displays of courage, weakness, and truth. Essentially, this is what the play is about. Word is spreading throughout the town of Salem, Massachusetts. The smell of witchcraft is filling the air.

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In the play The Crucible there are many liars and people that know how to deceive others. The play, by Arthur Miller, is set in the year of 1692 in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. There is a theocratic society in place, which helped spin the problem at hand way out of proportion. Suspicions of witchcraft grow when a young girl suddenly becomes inert. People believe that her soul has been taken by the Devil.

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892 Words | 4 Pages

The Flow of Power in The Crucible The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, is set in Salem, a small town in colonial Massachusetts where a real historical witch hunt occurred. In the play, individuals did not have much power to begin with, so they created a mob and then gained power by manipulating it. This was accomplished by making vicious statements about others, riling up the town’s anger and directing it towards witches, and using the assumption that the accusers are always holy. Having little power in Puritan culture, Abigail and the other girls had to undermine others through vicious attacks to increase their influence.

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The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is about real life events that has been changed a bit by the author. The play is set back in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, were the Salem Witchcraft Trials were going on. The Witchcraft Trials were trials that mostly girls, but some men got accused of seeing the devil and doing work for him. If you were accused of being a witch you were to admit to seeing the devil, accuse other people, or you would get hung. Some people wouldn 't admit to being a witch just to save their life because of their faith in Jesus.

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803 Words | 4 Pages

As said in the documents I read, the theme is "the fundamental and often universal idea of a literary artwork". One major theme that I have learned throughout this play is Intolerance. The society set in The Crucible is theocratic. That means that the church and the state are one.

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The Crucible is a play, written by Arthur Miller, about the Salem Witch Trials that took place in Massachusetts in 1692. In the play, most of the people in the town of Salem seem to favor their reputation over the truth. Reputation played a big part in The Crucible and had a large impact on how the characters acted and reacted to the events that were going on in the town. The characters in The Crucible allowed the need to uphold their reputation to get in the way of the truth.

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