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Crucible Vs Mccarthyism

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The Crucible is Inspired by the McCarthy time the 1950’s, Arthur Miller’s play, mainly focused the Salem witch trials, carelessness that can result from desires, and pleasure for others. Arthur Miller bases the play on historical things of the Salem witch trials. He starts of the play with Revered Samuel Parris’ daughter, his niece Abigail, the slave Tituba, and some village girls dancing in the woods. Rather than suffer punishment for their actions, the girls accused other women and men of witchcraft. The girls say that they saw the other people practicing witchcraft. The girls avoided their punishments by accusing others of the things they were guilty of. This childish finger-pointing resulted in the town becoming paranoid and they feared …show more content…

During this time Americans feared the invasion of Communism. The Soviet Union was growing in power. Americans began to feel that they were surrounded by a Communist threat. Joseph McCarthy, U.S Senator, made claims that there are more than 200 “card carrying” members of the government living amongst the people. Just like the girls in the Crucible the girls made claims that certain men and women were witches they didn’t have proof either. Joseph McCarthy made claims that ruined lived and lead to increased to hostility, same as Abigail and the other girls made claims that ruined lives. In conclusion Arthur Miller was commenting on the behavior of society, comparing the Salem witch Trials within the McCarthy hearings in the 1950’s, when the United States Government sought to identify any Americans were Communists or Communist protectors and friends. The problem for either side is never solved only by the ending of persecution of people with no

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“The term ‘"McCarthyism’" has passed into general usage as a synonym for the anticommunist political repression of the early Cold War”. (Schrecker 3) The Crucible shows the similarities between the Salem witch trials and the Red Scare. The Crucible displays a relationship between the Salem Witch Trials and the fear of McCarthyism in the 1950s. Like The Crucible, with people terrified of witchcraft, people during the Red Scare feared communism and feared the punishment that came with an accusation.

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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.

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767 Words | 4 Pages

People were terrified of communism spreading to the United States, so when accusations started floating around everyone would believe them. McCarthy accused people of communist behavior, although many were falsely accused, no one knew better than to think they were guilty because of how scared they were of communism spreading. This resembles how certain characters were accused of witchcraft in The Crucible. The Red Scare caused nationwide hysteria just how the Salem Witch Trials caused hysteria to the people of Salem.

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1371 Words | 6 Pages

In the 1950’s senator Joseph MacCarthy targeted people, and accused them of being disloyal or supporting communism often without evidence. He believed that communism was being infiltrated through the American government, military, and entertainment. The Crucible by writer Arthur Miller depicts the events that occurred during the Salem witch trials. During the Salem witch trials, people falsely accused their neighbors of witchcraft in order to save themselves. This practice took the lives of twenty-five innocent people.

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1035 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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906 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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397 Words | 2 Pages

Meanwhile, McCarthyism caused many people to lose their jobs, because “they were labeled as ‘Communists” (“Senator Joe McCarthy”). False labeling generated an adverse effect on the psychological aspect of the people’s life, for “innocent people had to go through the trauma of being prosecuted by their own country” (“Senator Joe McCarthy”). Finally, “The Crucible” and McCarthyism both embody a type of logical fallacy, appeal of popularity. In Act One of “The Crucible,” Abigail claims that she saw several women, Sarah Good and Goody Osburn, “with the Devil” (Miller 48); once she initiates this idea, all other girls also jump on the bandwagon by accusing women that they do not like. Similar to Abigail, McCarthy could not have persecuted so many individuals “without the help of his staff members and supports” (“Senator Joe McCarthy”).

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Arthur Miller fell victim to what many labelled McCarthyism. Miller wrote “The Crucible”, with the intention of showing how unethical these accusations were. The expectation that Miller had for his

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Reasons Behind The Crucible Arthur Miller’s main purpose in writing The Crucible was to show the similarities between the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy Trials and to warn against government propaganda. At the time that The Crucible was published, America had a huge fear of communism. Anyone accused of having ties with the communist party was shunned. It much resembled the Salem Witch Trials in how the government, or leader of the time, used fear against the people to gain power. For example, Joseph McCarthy can be compared to Reverend Parris in how they both lead the people into the belief that there were intruders in their mists that had plans to sabotage the community.

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To begin, Arthur Miller claims that the McCarthy Era and the Salem witch trials were in fact very similar through the use of diction. Throughout Millers article, it can be seen many times the way that he compares the McCarthy Era to The Crucible. At one point of his article, Miller uses the adjective of “cautionary” to explain the people chose of words during the Salem witch trials and the McCarthy Era. Millers choice of diction conveys the fear and the reluctance that people had in speaking of the events taking place due to the claims made against the accused witches and accused communist during the two different time periods. Miller explains how at those points in time “words had gotten fearsome” and people were

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535 Words | 3 Pages

In 1952 Arthur Miller published a play “The Crucible” which was based on his research of the witch hunts in 1692, where it took place in Salem, Massachusetts. The play, though, was more, than a recollection of tragic medieval events, it was an allegory of the 1950’s red hunt by a Republican U.S senator Joseph McCarthy, where a witch hunt was replaced by a hunt for communists. The Crucible reveals moral and political messages such as an allegory for the greed of power, betrayal, and the courage to stand up to public opinion. This pertains to the history of McCarthy and the House of Un-American activities committee.

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719 Words | 3 Pages

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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660 Words | 3 Pages

Miller’s purpose of The Crucible was to represent and mirror the social injustice under McCarthyism as people falsely accused each other because their fear, jealousy and solely hatred of one another. Although, around 1950-1954 the “innocent until proven guilty” clause existed, most trials and accusations were led by “guilty until proven innocent.” Despite Miller’s efforts to criticise people’s actions as

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877 Words | 4 Pages

In particular the play focuses on the accusation of several people as associating with witchcraft rather than suffer severe and inevitable punishment for their actions. These inconsistencies and the extreme behavior that results due to the upbringing of excess fear is a parallel of the time period in which McCarthyism is based upon. In the 1950’s, McCarthyism produced an excess of paranoia that could relate to the plot of The Crucible because Americans often turned in their peers in hopes to

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886 Words | 4 Pages

Period4 The Crucible Essay Communism and Witchcraft have the same effect on humans, that effect is fear, when you hear fear you think of your worst nightmare or someone hiding in your closet, during the McCarthyism era and the salem witchcraft people had fear about whether their life is on the line or not. It all depended on one person in their community whether or not they choose to save their life. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegory for the Red Scare in the McCarthy era because the girls feared Abigail just like everyone feared J.McCarthy, Elizabeth being accused is similar to McCarthy accusing the US Army, they are innocent just like Elizabeth.

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