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Examples Of Propaganda In The Crucible

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The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller in 1953, is a play that depicts the Salem witch trials of 1692. The play is a commentary on the McCarthy era, during which Miller himself was accused of communist sympathies. The play uses propaganda to depict how the Salem witch trials were fueled by fear, hysteria, and the desire for power. This essay will explore the different types of propaganda used in The Crucible and how they serve to further the play's themes and messages. One of the most prevalent forms of propaganda in The Crucible is fear-mongering. The characters in the play are constantly worried about their reputations, their families, and their lives. The idea of witchcraft and the devil's influence is used to create an atmosphere of fear and terror. The characters are afraid of being accused of witchcraft themselves and will do almost anything to avoid being labeled as such. This fear is used by the authorities in the play to control and manipulate the population. For example, when Reverend Parris discovers his daughter Betty and several other girls dancing in the woods, he immediately assumes that they were practicing witchcraft. He uses this fear of witchcraft to control the community and to gain power over his rivals. …show more content…

The play depicts a society in which the accused are assumed to be guilty until proven innocent. The characters in the play are quick to assume that anyone who is accused of witchcraft is guilty and has made a pact with the devil. This assumption leads to the demonization of innocent people, such as Rebecca Nurse and John Proctor. Both of these characters are accused of witchcraft even though they have done nothing wrong. The demonization of these characters is used to create a sense of righteousness among the accusers and to justify their

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In the play The Crucible, playwright Arthur Miller protests the Red Scare of the early 1900s, a period of public hysteria in which Senator Joseph McCarthy accused many innocent Americans of Communism. Appalled by this tragic period of modern history, Miller suggests a parallel in The Crucible, in which he attempts to convey “‘the essential nature of one of the most awful chapters in human history’--the trials for witchcraft in Salem in 1692” (Background: About Arthur Miller” 3). In both periods of history, Miller warns that mass hysteria often results from people who claim, that principle motivates their actions, while they may actually have other secret incentives such as greed or revenge. In The Crucible greed motivates some characters and revenge motivates others, creating the tragedy of the Salem Witch Trials.

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In the play, almost every woman was falsely accused of witchcraft. The people feared for anything strange and out of place and would be quick to judge and accuse. Someone who was falsely accused, for instance, was Elizabeth Proctor, who received a doll as a gift, then later on it resulted in the false accusation that she was doing witchcraft. An event that recently happened was the 14 year old Muslim student, Ahmed, in Texas who built a digital clock he had made from a pencil case and was arrested when he took it to school. Apparently, the teacher saw it as a threat instead of a wonderful job done by a young kid.

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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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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

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People were being hanged in front of the town, and as those accused did not want to meet the same fate, they confessed because they were in fear. This was very effective in the Crucible as it was able to create tension among the town of Salem. It caused people to fear, and turn against each other and create mass tension. Fear was a very important type of propaganda in the Crucible, but there is one more very important

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Power Fabricricating Fear Power, the ability to maintain control, command, or authority over others can often be determined by one’s reputation and their ability to persuade others. This principle is displayed within The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, which follows the town of Salem, Massachusetts navigating through a “Witchcraft” outbreak supposedly lead by the Devil. Within such a theocratic society such as Salem, the Devil is often associated with death, fear, and uncertainty, with his name alone often believed to influence others into following through with certain actions. The Devil, as a key figure behind the immense “witchcraft” occurring in Salem, is crafted by Miller as the most influential “character” based off the fear

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