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.
In “The Crucible” hysteria spread by teenage girls in hopes of love in Salem during 1692 causes a drastic number of unfair trials that lacked people's rights, ways of proof, and solid evidence which affects the lives of many innocently accused people of the puritan community. Arthur Miller uses the theme of vengeance; mostly shows the use of ethos in the play to inform the reader of the ways people of the puritan society thought; uses logos to show the lack of logic and science within the community. Arthur Miller's “The Crucible” symbolizes the UNFAIR government in 1692 AND in 1920 during the communist era of THE RED SCARE. Mr. Miller asserts, “Inevitably, it was no sooner known that my new play was about Salem than I had to confront the charge
An allegory is a story that can be interpreted in both a literal and symbolic sense. A great example is “The crucible” which was written by Authur Miller to symbolize what had happened to him during the 1950’s red scare through the 1692 Salem Witch Trials; Where more than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft and 20 of them were executed. Arthur Miller was convicted of contempt of Congress for failing to name names of communist sympathizers during the McCarthyism era. Many of the people targeted during the 1950s Red scare were writers, actors, and homosexuals. In ‘the crucible’ he symbolizes this by having the poor citizens be targeted.
The Crucible’ is an allegory for the McCarthyism Red Scare era of the 1950’s. An allegory is a story, poem, or image that can be decoded to reveal a hidden meaning, usually moral or political one. Arthor Miller uses the Salem Witch Trials as a metaphor for his historical setting during the Red Scare. This account of “The Crucible” shows the author’s sense of being attacked for writing a story about witches and people who take accusations very seriously. The novel does an excellent job of demonstrating the absurdity of the charges, and the reader gained an understanding of how personal things became during the Red Scare.
Allegory is a story that can mean something in a symbolic way or have meaning in a literal way. The author of the crucible came from a victim standpoint because he was involved in the accusations on people in the Red Scare. “The Crucible” is an allegory to the McCarthyism Red Scare around the 1950’s. An allegory is a story that can relate to something in a symbolic way or have meaning in a literal way. The author Arther Miller uses the Salem Witch Trials as a symbolic story to his situation back around the Red Scare.
The truth and self salvation dont always coincide. This is shown in The Crucible by most every character, be it an internal or external conflict. Author Arthur Miller shows this himself by writing The Crucible as an allegory to the Red Scare. The main antagonist Abigail Williams shows this many times.
Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in response to the “Red Scare”. The story took place on Salem, Massachusetts, where people accused others of being witches. They didn’t have evidence to prove their accusations, but the government ignored the facts and decided to believe rumors. This play is a contemporary example of what was happening to the American society during McCarthyism.
In The Crucible, Arthur Miller creates an indisputable connection between the Salem Witch Trials and the Red Scare, the fear and persecution of suspected communists in the USA between the 40s and 50s. The hysteria and paranoia that took America by storm during the Red Scare are effectively criticized through the use of characters and plot. Through the depiction of the Salem Witch Trials, Miller shows how patterns of investigation, accusation, and punishment are correspondent between the trials and the Red Scare. The common themes of fear, hysteria, and dangerous mob mentality are explored through the use of irony, symbolism, and characterization. Arthur Miller successfully creates an allegory of the Red Scare in The Crucible while showing
Accused, outcast, alone, and afraid. You might associate it with The Crucible if I told you those simple adjectives, but they also correlate with the Red Scare; the sole basis of inspiration for The Crucible. The Crucible is a play that was created to enact change in the American society. The author, Arthur Miller did this by taking a historic event such as the Salem witch trials which now are perceived as terrible and wrong. Then, the author connected it into their modern society for them to realize the obvious wrongdoings of the past were happening in front of their very own eyes, just in an unusual way, the red scare and effects of McCarthyism.
Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible as a social commentary on McCarthyism, the practice of making accusation of communist treason without proper regard for evidence which mainly occurred in the 1940s and 1950s. The Crucible takes place in Salem where people accuse the innocence for witchcraft in order to sustain or even gain power; Miller uses this play as an allegory to criticize McCarthy for gaining power through false accusations. In this play, Miller claims that people can gain power by telling lies. He shows his point through one of the main character of the play, Abigail Williams. Abigail is a teenage girl who is an orphan, being a female causes her to have little power in the beginning of the play.
Have you ever been accused of something you did not do? Well that is what a group of people in Salem in 1692 experienced, however their outcomes were much worse—they ended up being hung. The Salem Witch Trials is a dark time in American history, where many innocent people were accused of witchcraft and the accusations were only based off of spectral evidence. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is an allegory for the Salem Witch Trials. The Crucible revolves around a group of girls, which include Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, who accused several people of witchcraft.
The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were considered a dark period of time for the Puritans of Salem, Massachusetts. Accusations flew, and many were hung for false accusations of witchcraft. During the 1950s, a similar situation arose across the United States with the “threat” of communism. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible during that time as an allegory to draw parallels to the horrific events of the past. Times of trouble, like these two examples, have different effects on people.
Ryan Whitlock Mrs. Chelsea Russell-ice AP English Literature 26 March 2024 The Crucible: A Stark Warning of the Dangers of Blind Conformity and Human Selfishness The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller in 1953, serves as a testament to the harmful nature of human selfishness and fearful congruity. The play is set in protestant Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692 during the perilous Salem Witch Trials in which more than 200 people were accused of witchcraft and 19 were executed by hanging. Mass hysteria and sorrow were caused by the accusations of people by others to save themselves and many were forced to oblige or meet their demise through hanging. Through the setting of the Salem Witch Trials, The Crucible displays an eerie allegory to the
The crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegory for the red scare in the McCarthy era because fear, Intimidation, and Deception played bigger roles in these Stories. Because of the crucible focusing on the inconsistencies of the salem witch trials and whole cause of McCarthyism was having a witch hunt for people involved in communistic activities it plots a point that through manipulation and disloyalty the trials served as an explanation of how people’s beliefs burns away the outer shells to reveal their true intentions and character beneath and how people see them after all is concluded. “Like the american people, the town folk of salem were willing to believe that there were witches in their town since witchcraft had just been discovered
The Crucible, published in 1953 by Arthur Miller is a very popular book written about the 1692 Salem Witch Trials. While most people use the book to study the Witch Trials, with closer examination it is easy to conclude that it is a direct allegory to the Red Scare and the McCarthy era of 1950s America. An allegory is an extended metaphor in which the characters or objects in the story represent an outside meaning. The Crucible is an allegory to the Red Scare and the McCarthy era drastically by its plot, characters, and the flow and outcome of the court trials. To begin with, The Crucible is an allegory because the plot of the book closely resembles the events that occurred during the Red Scare.