Examples Of Mccarthyism In The Crucible

Justice cannot be achieved without a fair trial based on evidence. McCarthyism and Arthur Miller's play "The Crucible" are interwoven in history due to their connections to the Red Scare and the fear of communism in the United States during the 1950s. McCarthyism refers to the intense anti-communist movement led by Senator Joseph McCarthy when the government and society engaged in a witch-hunt against suspected communists, often without any concrete evidence, while "The Crucible'' is a story about the witch trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts in the late 17th century when people where being accused of witchcraft. However, with his play, Arthur Miller is actually trying to show the parallels between the unjust prosecution of so-called

Miller wrote The Crucible as a response to the McCarthy era and the witch hunts that characterized it. He saw parallels between the two events and used the play as a way to criticize the unjust prosecution of people without evidence. In The Crucible, characters are accused of witchcraft based solely on hearsay and rumors. Similarly, during McCarthyism, individuals were accused of being communist sympathizers without any concrete evidence to support the claims. In “The Crucible '' Rebecca Nurse is accused of killing Ann Putnam's babies with witchcraft. Ann lost seven children shortly after birth and blames Rebecca, who was her midwife. For example it says “Hale: How is Rebecca charged, Mr. Nurse? Francis, with a mocking, half-hearted laugh: For murder, she’s charged! Mockingly quoting the warrant: “For marvelous and supernatural murder of Goody Putnam’s babies.”(Miller 76.) Ann had no proof that Rebbeca killed her babies but she was jealous of Rebecca and blamed Rebecca for the death of her babies, so she accused her of being a witch causing her to be charged with

In The Crucible, the Salem residents were afraid of the devil and his influence on their community, while in McCarthyism, Americans were afraid of Communist infiltration and the perceived threat it posed to their way of life. This fear led to suspicion that anyone could be a witch or a communist and anyone could be accused and punished without fair trial or evidence. The Miller Center has claimed that “American leaders repeatedly told the public that they should be fearful of subversive Communist influence in their lives. Communists could be lurking anywhere, using their positions as school teachers, college professors, labor organizers, artists, or journalists to aid the program of world Communist” This suggests that anyone, even high-looked people in society may be communists, which lead people to be fearful and paranoid. This is seen in the Crucible as well for example “The witch hunt was a perverse manifestation of the panic which is set in among all classes when the balance began to turn toward greater individual freedom” (Miller 13.) This explains that the results of the Salem witch trials and the trials themself resulted in a panic and affected all different kinds of people. Both eras demonstrate skepticism and a lack of trust, as well as the uncertainty regarding whether or not individuals were communists or