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Examples Of The Red Scare In The Crucible

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Hysteria throughout The Crucible, the Red Scare and 9-11

Throughout The Crucible, the Red Scare, as well as 9-11, one can see that these three have a lot in common. Whether it is the threat to the society, the wild rumors or the way that people were treated. These three events all relate even though they occurred at three very different moments of the time. In The Crucible, there are only perceived threat as one knows that the society thinks the devil is among them when really he is not. The threats are witchcrafting and the devil moving into the community. These perceived threats that the society has comes from Abigail’s own real threat. Abigail is scared to get whipped after having danced in the wood and drinked chicken blood which is forbidden by the society. Knowing that her cousin, Betty, is unconscious, she pretends having seen the Devil to escape trouble but also to get her revenge on someone, as one can see throughout this quote : “I want to open myself! . . . I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him, I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil! “ ( Miller, The Crucible, For the Red Scare, the real perceived threat is communism to the United States. The Americans perceived communism as a viable to their freedom. As one knows, the communists
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767 Words | 4 Pages

Fear, it causes people to be blinded by the truth. People can’t tell right from wrong. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible to show how no one could see what was right. During the 1950’s communism was spreading throughout Europe like a wildfire, then it slowly made its way over to the U.S. This was known as The Red Scare.

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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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749 Words | 3 Pages

Cameron Oldfield Mrs. Brincks English III 15 November, 2015 The Crucible and Red Scare Imagine being thrown in jail, blamed for something that you didn't do .The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a story about how certain propaganda and false accusations can ruin lives, just like in the case of the Red Scare. Although 1692 the Salem witch trials and the Red Scare were over 200 years apart, The similarities are striking. both trials used intimidation, fear, hatred, and false accusations to ruin innocent lives. Both trials resulted in terrible outcomes, with both ending with innocent people being put to death and shunned from society.

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1256 Words | 6 Pages

Luke J. Williams Ansley Black English III Period. 3 4 May 2023 CAN WE CHOOSE TO NOT FEAR? The human mind has many systems to protect itself. Although fear is the most pertinent system in the human mind to avoid being vulnerable; this is illustrated best in the play written by Arthur Miller, The Crucible.

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1743 Words | 7 Pages

In both events, The Crucible and al Qaeda terrorist attacks, the hysteria was an outburst of fear. The people involved were afraid for their lives, for their well being, and for their sanity. The irrationality that characterized these instances as hysteria were the attacks to kill people based on their beliefs in the attacks of al Qaeda and the accusations of witchcraft resulting in hangings in The Crucible. Undoubtedly, these two topics could be characterized by one thing; that one thing is

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975 Words | 4 Pages

The Red Scare and The Crucible Backstabbing is the most painful thing you could emotionally feel. It was a common occurrence when it was displayed in The Crucible and during the Red Scare. People would walk around on a daily basis with a knife to their throats and were watched every day on what they would say. One slip up and their lives and careers could and would have been ruined.

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1417 Words | 6 Pages

Imagine losing everything: your job, family, and good name all because of someone accusing you of something that there is no sound evidence for. Now imagine people losing their lives for insubstantial reasons, and anyone who spoke out against these would lose everything themselves. Wouldn’t corruption reign from personal vengeance and create an aura of hysteria? Readers see this exact effect in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible as well as in the historical event of The Lavender Scare, in both of which people were wrongfully castigated for unjustifiable accusations. The Crucible and The Lavender Scare were both similar and different.

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875 Words | 4 Pages

During the late 17th century a total of 200 people were accused of participating in witchcraft, while 19 people lost their lives to the mass hysteria. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a group of girls start a huge uproar in Salem, Massachusetts when they start screeching about Salemites being associated with the Devil. Throughout the play write, it shows the consequences of mass hysteria and how it puts people's lives in danger. Abigail Williams causes a wave of mass hysteria and because of her trickery, innocent people have died by her and the other girl’s actions, for this Abigail is the most unforgivable character in The Crucible.

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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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321 Words | 2 Pages

Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by someone or something as likely to be dangerous, painful and threatening. A character that shows an example of such fear in the crucible was a man well known throughout Salem. He is the father of Betty and the Uncle to Abigail Williams. Reverend Parris. Reverend Parris displays an example of great fear After the assumption of his niece dancing in the woods naked and accused of witchcraft.

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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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527 Words | 3 Pages

What is fear you might ask? Fear is that unpleasant feeling you get when you believe something or someone is dangerous. Many people have different fears. For example, I have a fear of needles and a fear of forgetting. Today you will read about how fear is shown and why it is in Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible.

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491 Words | 2 Pages

In Arthur Miller's “The Crucible” (1953), it is shown that people seem to forget basic morals when dealing with mass hysteria. Puritans in the play do not want the devil or any other demonic figures such as witches in their community, they will go to great lengths, as far as turning their back on their own people to get rid of these demonic figures as shown in “The Crucible”. This idea of witches in the community caused chaos in the village which led to the deaths of 20 people in the village. Do people in the play not care about the consequences other people face because of their actions? In the play, loyalty falls far below self selfishness in the face of mass hysteria.

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1413 Words | 6 Pages

Soon after the release of his play critics began to notice the allegorical nature of the play. It was released in a time when the paranoia and hysteria was very relevant. It was dealt with by people regularly. Miller comments though that the reality of the situation was that The Red Scare was almost a more serious event in his mind. “Inevitably, it was no sooner known that my new play was about Salem than I had to confront the charge that such an analogy was specious -- that there never were any witches but there certainly are Communists.(Miller, Why I wrote The Crucible)” Miller was guilty of egocentrism.

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481 Words | 2 Pages

The Crucible Essay The theme of hysteria is evident throughout Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and in everyday life and society. Driven by self-preservation, hysteria influences many characters’ actions and leads to the devastating witch trials in Salem. For instance, many characters in The Crucible are driven to execute drastic actions to sustain their reputation and protect themselves.

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