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Examples Of Mccarthyism In The Crucible

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Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is the story of two times in our country’s history in which we gave in completely to our paranoia, causing mass hysteria. Although The Crucible takes place in Salem Massachusetts during the colonial era, Arthur miller wrote the play as a reflection of the social and political situation happening in his time of McCarthyism and the Second Red Scare. The universal theme of religion, and how far people are willing to go when they believe they are carrying out their god’s will, is represented in the conflict between religious-based decisions of the court in Salem and the people in town who were accused and prosecuted due to rash, religious, decisions, complete blind faith in God, and the ability to justify one's actions …show more content…

Abigail and the other girls got away with accusing several people of witchcraft, securing their downfall, because they did so by saying that it was the will of god and that they were protection the town from the devil, convincing the town that the accused had sent their “spirits out to attack [her]”. This theme also applies to McCarthyism and how, because so many americans believed communism was the devil’s work, people began taking advantage of the paranoia and accused people they did not favor and were able to get away with it, because they said that they were working under God to protect democracy. The universal theme of religion and the great lengths people are willing to go to follow it is applicable to not only the two time periods surrounding The Crucible , but also to modern times. Along with the beginning of “the war on terror” with the attacks on 9/11 came a new wave of mass hysteria which is accompanied with the illusion religious justification. The terrorists who attacked the U.S. believed that they were serving the will of their god and used that to justify

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The Salem Witch Hunt and the Internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller, which is based on the events of the Salem Witch Trials. In the play, a girl accuses innocent people of witch craft, and many people died because of the misunderstanding that it was all a lie. There are many historical events that are similar to the Salem Witch Trials, such as the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII. In this event, Japanese-Americans were put into internment camps, which were solitary camps made to separate these people from the rest of the U.S. The bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan caused the distrust of Japanese-Americans similar to those accused of witch craft in the Salem Witch

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1687 Words | 7 Pages

Do you know the similarities between McCarthy and Abigail? Through this essay I am going to be pointing out their similarities. The Crucible and McCarthyism have many similarities about their actions, thoughts, and behavior. They had many things in common but the three I choose were they accused people,started off strong and finished with no victories, they both ruin people's lives. 1 Abigail accused people and anybody names were offered with not knowing what could happen after they were released. When they first started to this huge lie they didn't expect it to go as far as it went.

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807 Words | 4 Pages

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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1722 Words | 7 Pages

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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278 Words | 2 Pages

The crucible is full of a lot of conflicts. Arthur Miller presents different conflicts in his play The Crucible. It takes place in Salem during the famous witch trials which caused a lot of controversy. Lies and deceit were major factors in the rising conflict between Abigail Williams and John Proctor, John and Elizabeth Proctor, and Abigail William and the girls. Abigail Williams worked for John and Elizabeth Proctor but was fired for an apparent affair with John.

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835 Words | 4 Pages

In the play “The Crucible”, Arthur Miller uses his writing as a way to inform readers of the dangers of conforming. He writes about the years of the Salem witch trials, while adding realistic fiction drama in

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503 Words | 3 Pages

Imagine pursuing your dreams only to have them taken away from you under false pretenses and against your basic rights as a human being. From 1947 to 1956 this was prevalent due to the communist hunt in America. This hunt provided the proper environment for which innocent people were charged with little to no evidence. Arthur Miller was targeted by HUAC for his play The Crucible because of its correlations between the play and modern events.

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601 Words | 3 Pages

The speaker of “The Crucible” is Arthur Miller because he wrote it, the subject is the play, “The Crucible”, and the audience is the many people who read this play or saw it performed. Joseph McCarthy was a Senator that accused many authors and artists of communism. McCarthy would make an accusation, and go to trial against the particular author. Because there was no actual way to prove they had the views of a communist or not, many of their careers were ruined. Some of McCarthy’s victims lost their ability to travel and others even got arrested.

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1539 Words | 7 Pages

In The Crucible all the characters were hung up on their paranoia of the Devil based off their religious standpoints. As researched, the Puritan society was a very religious one, very fearful of the Devil, and the people of The Crucible were convinced the Devil was causing mischief in Salem. “Abigail: Uncle, a rumor of witchcraft is all about; I think you’d best go down and deny it yourself.” (pg. 9, The Crucible). This quote from the text proves that the people's paranoia and threat of the Devil in their society was enough to make people fear for the lives and reputations of themselves and their family.

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749 Words | 3 Pages

The Crucible by Arthur Miller uses the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 to criticize anti-communist witch hunts. The Crucible serves as an allegory representing McCarthyism in the 1950’s where many people were accused of being part of the Communist party and supporting them. The paranoia surrounding the witchcraft trials in Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony paralleled McCarthyism. In the Salem Village, people were accused of being in compact with the devil and the only way to get out of the accusation was to accuse others of the same crime. Henceforth, the theme of integrity and morality is tested for each character throughout the play.

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1737 Words | 7 Pages

Amidst times of chaos when fear and uncertainty is abundant, many individuals prioritize their own survival above all else. Arthur Miller's 1953 play The Crucible, is an examination of this instinct in the framework of the Salem witch trials. Through his use of literary devices, specifically dialogue, Miller delves into complex themes of self-preservation, mass hysteria, and truth. In The Crucible, Miller employs character dialogue to illustrate the unfortunate reality that during the witch trials, self-preservation often held more value than moral principles and honesty. By exploring the different characters and their motivations, Miller reveals the dangerous consequences of prioritizing self-preservation above fundamental beliefs.

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370 Words | 2 Pages

Tradition is where society finds it’s comforts as humans are creatures of habit, but what happens when that tradition leads to imprisonment or worse? Comparing “The Lottery” and The Crucible, one start’s to notice common themes between the two works. Like in The Crucible the constant lies and deception that led to countless deaths, or in “The Lottery” the ignorance that tradition breeds, these two stories share common albeit, disturbing themes. Ignorance, tradition, and judgement three themes these stories shared and explored in numerous ways.

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832 Words | 4 Pages

Many people view religion as a way to maintain order in society; it’s a moral code for people to follow. It can cultivate community, provide people with structure, and overall create a sense of belonging. The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller, explores the opposing impacts of religion. Through his depiction of the Salem witch trials, he shows how religion can tear communities apart, and be used as an excuse for hate. Miller specifically shows the impact that the overwhelming presence of Puritanism has on women in the Salem community.

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677 Words | 3 Pages

In the small town of Salem, religion was a strict priority, and strange illnesses like these were often thought to be the devil’s work. Miller demonstrated the paradox in The Crucible from the beginning of the play by allowing Abigail Williams and the other girls to unjustly accuse whomever they wanted of witchcraft. The play presented us how too much power is dangerous, for the temptation was always there to abuse it. Under the justification of a theocratic government, the people in authority in Salem abused their almost absolute power, destroying many innocent people in the process. What theocracy illustrates is how the law is not always based on truth, and that if it is not we should stand up to it.

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469 Words | 2 Pages

Sarah Paroya D period I hate MUSH The end of World War II should have marked a period of relief in America but instead, it lead America into a completely different type of war called the Cold War. The Cold War was an ongoing state of political and military tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. This constant state of tension and fear had been embedded deep in the American public.

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