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Comparing arthur miller's crucible to the real salem witch trials
Mccarthyism in the crucible essay
Comparing arthur miller's crucible to the real salem witch trials
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Cassidy Menard Mrs. Myllyla Comparison Essay 1 December 2017 Salem Witch Trials VS. McCarthyism Trials In both The Crucible and McCarthyism, we see that dishonest people get ahead by using distractions of other people. In both instances, falsely accuse other people of wrongdoing in order to divert attention away from their own wrongdoings.
Almost every kid in school has read a passage or a story, and never really understood the purpose of learning the topic in school. The teachers expect us to do the work, and hopefully understand it, but we never truly understand why we learned such a topic or event. The Crucible is a prime example on what students read in school, or why we’re obligated to read the book. The crucible and McCarthyism have many similarities that many people over look, and don’t realize, and connects more than we perceive. Books like the crucible and McCarthy are historical events, many schools have very few books based on historical events, which is why teachers spend more time on them.
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.
The Crucible and McCarthyism The Crucible is as a 1950’s play which is an allegory that compares McCarthyism to the Salem witch trials. The drama written by Arthur Miller is based on the Salem witch trials and it captures the hysteria and the unjust judicial system at the time. McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations without the proper evidence and The Crucible based its drama off the historical documents of McCarthyism. “The 1950s Part One: McCarthy and the Red Scare” describes Joseph McCarthy and the Red Scare is greater detail.
In the play, The Crucible, Salem, Massachusetts, along with the United States during McCarthyism, is engulfed with paranoia. Although both situations include different causes, their effects are strikingly similar. For instance, throughout The Crucible, Abigail Williams is being shown repeatedly accusing innocent people of witchcraft. Her actions begin sending the small town into a panic as they throw people into jail and hang them in an effort to try and cleanse the town from any aspect of evil. Similarly, throughout 1950-1954, Joseph McCarthy falsely accused people within the United States Government of being a member of the Communist party.
The Similarities Between McCarthyism and The Crucible Communism was a serious controversy in America in the early 1950s. Framing someone or being framed was a common way of survival for those who have been accused of a secret conspiracy. Interrogations were practiced among those who were opened minded. Intellectuals were targeted the most. Citizens who were victims of unfair accusations lost their jobs and economical earnings for not giving evidence to the House of American Activities Committee, also known as HUAC.
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.
When people are placed under an intense feeling of fear, they begin to commit actions they never thought they were capable over. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a young group of girls commit witchcraft which eventually leads to the arrest of over 100 women. This is similar to a time in the 1950s when Joseph McCarthy accuses government officials of communism and that ultimately leads to hundreds of citizens losing their jobs. The Crucible reveals the similarities between The Salem Witch Trials of the 1690s and McCarthyism of the 1950s because it demonstrates how a society can be tremendously impacted by the feeling the fear.
When Arthur miller wrote the play “The Crucible”, he was coming from a victim position. Author miller was once accused of being a member of the communist party in the McCarthy era. Witch is also known as the Red Scare. The crucible is a story talking about the allegory for McCarthyism and the Red Scare. Miller wrote The Crucible as an allegory for the unfound accusation of communism and witchcraft.
In 1692, The Salem Witch Trials were conducted in Salem, Massachusetts. During the trials nineteen people were killed out of the 200 accused. Arthur Miller later wrote The Crucible, an allegory using the story of the trials to reference communism. The play was produced in the year 1953 and focused on the actual people who lived in Salem at the time of the trials. The young girls of the town started the trials by claiming to be bewitched and accusing the ones who they “saw with the devil”, which were really the people they were envious of.
The Salem witch trials proved to be one of the most cruel and fear driven events to ever occur in history. Many innocent people were accused of witchcraft, and while some got out of the situation alive not everyone was as lucky. Arthur Miller the author of The Crucible conveys this horrific event in his book and demonstrates what fear can lead people to do. But the reason as to why Arthur Miller felt the need to write The Crucible in the first place was because the unfortunate reality that history seemed to have repeated itself again. In the article “Are You Now or Were You Ever”, Arthur Miller claims that the McCarthy era and the Salem witch trials were similar and he does this through his choice of diction, figurative language, and rhetorical questions.
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.
The Power of the Individual Throughout American history, famous authors often protest injustices in society and help protect the rights of the people. One such author is Arthur Miller who wrote The Crucible, a tragedy set during the Salem witch trials, to protest the unjust hunt for suspected communists in 1950’s America. This era, known as McCarthyism, emerged from a fear of the expanding communist empire, resulting in hundreds of allegations against suspected communists by The House Un-American Activities Committee. Similarly, The Crucible, set in 1692, depicts the sudden burst of hysteria and fear in Salem, Massachusetts after witches were believed to be cursing the town. Miller uses the real events of the Salem Witch Trials and a fictional
In the late 1940s – early 1950s, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy made the grandiose pledge to uncover a communist plot to overthrow democracy in United States. No one was safe from persecutions, and the “witch hunts” for communism began. In response to the mass hysteria over this communist infiltration, Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible. In the play, the people of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 sought to destroy the devil’s influence by seeking and destroying witches. This began the Salem Witchcraft Trials.
In the Crucible, we see the presence of the crime of witchcraft. Arthur Miller based his play on the events of the Red Scare, which happened in the 1950s. The Red Scare happened when people believed that communists were taking over the country. We see the same thing happening in Salem, but with witches. In Salem, residents were blamed for an invisible crime.
