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The Crucible Historical Force

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During the 1950’s Joseph McCarthy brought upon a new fera in the United States, the fear of Communism, McCarthy proclaimed that government officials were communist spies. This can also be seen/ compared to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692-93. In Salem people were accusing each other of being witches. A book that I referred back to many times was The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, which gave a well written representation of the mass hysteria during the Salem witch trials which can be compared to The Red Scare. This can be a representation of Historical Force as history repeats itself once again from The Salem Witch Trials to almost 300 years later during The Red Scare and from the 2001 fear/accusations of middle eastern people. A form of Historical force in The Crucible is Abigail and her control and manipulation over the people in Salem by imprinting the idea of witches and the devil being amongst the townspeople. Then 243 years later it is Joseph McCarthy who in Wheeling, West Virginia proclaimed that he …show more content…

Historical Force is the past trying to teach us something it is a force which keeps history from repeating itself. It is the mistakes done in the past and this keeps it from happening in the future. It is how we learn from the past and use it as guideline to better ourselves in the future. This is not the case with The Crucible and McCarthyism. Since we did not learn from the past and it repeated itself. This form of accusing someone of something has been seen in the year 2001 as well. When the twin towers were brought down people of muslim descent were discriminated against and persecuted due to their heritage. During the time people were accusing almost any muslim person of being a terrorist. People are doomed to do the same thing when they are scared and they don't trust the very people that live amongst them. This is Historical force present as history is doomed to repeat

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553 Words | 3 Pages

The times back then were terrible. The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1953 about The Salem Witch Trials of 1692.McCarthyism was the “witch hunt” for the communist in 1953.the parallels between The Crucible and McCarthyism are naming names,lack of proof ,and reststance. The first reason they are parallel is because of naming names. Hollywood director Elia Kazan went in front of the HUAC twice. The first time he did not confess and names.

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343 Words | 2 Pages

Almost every kid in school has read a passage or a story, and never really understood the purpose of learning the topic in school. The teachers expect us to do the work, and hopefully understand it, but we never truly understand why we learned such a topic or event. The Crucible is a prime example on what students read in school, or why we’re obligated to read the book. The crucible and McCarthyism have many similarities that many people over look, and don’t realize, and connects more than we perceive. Books like the crucible and McCarthy are historical events, many schools have very few books based on historical events, which is why teachers spend more time on them.

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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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532 Words | 3 Pages

In both cases people were charged and put on trial in court. In the end of both scenarios starting falling apart when the truth started coming out. Fear and hysteria can be easily spread by highly trusted individuals. Yes, these two sources serve as a warning to not let history repeat

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394 Words | 2 Pages

The crucible is an allegory for McCarthy and the red scare of the early 1950, in the early. Many Americans were afraid that communism might infiltrate the American government and cause the US government to fall. Arthur Miller, the author of the crucibles wrote about Salem witch trials, but used the story to illustrate the unsubstantiated fear, panic hysteria of looking for communist support in America. In the early 1950 Americans became fearful that their friends, neighbors, or cow-workers might be communists attempting to undermine American democracy and spread communism throughout the world. Playwright Arthur Miller, in researching the sale, witch trials and a red scare of impending communism.

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608 Words | 3 Pages

In history there have been many major events that have shaped the times we live in. Two of the major events of our time are the "witchunts" of the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism. The Crucible is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a drama and fictional story of the Salem Witch Trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692-1693. Miller wrote the play as a parable for McCarthyism, when the United States government ostracized people for being communists.

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624 Words | 3 Pages

Reasons Behind The Crucible Arthur Miller’s main purpose in writing The Crucible was to show the similarities between the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy Trials and to warn against government propaganda. At the time that The Crucible was published, America had a huge fear of communism. Anyone accused of having ties with the communist party was shunned. It much resembled the Salem Witch Trials in how the government, or leader of the time, used fear against the people to gain power. For example, Joseph McCarthy can be compared to Reverend Parris in how they both lead the people into the belief that there were intruders in their mists that had plans to sabotage the community.

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293 Words | 2 Pages

The pursuit of power outweighs moral motives causing the manipulation of fear and its detrimental consequences. In The Crucible, Miller represents the dangers political power poses to individuals that are manipulated with fear for political gain through the parallel of the 17th century Salem Witch Trials to the 20th century McCarthy trials. In both contexts individuals experience social injustice as a result of political wrongdoing. Salem “developed a theocracy… to keep the community together” whose fundamental purpose was to guarantee that individuals in society adhere to a moral code of conduct. However, this theocracy enabled religious individuals to further their motive of power by dictating the lives of others.

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1085 Words | 5 Pages

The Crucible Fear has effected much of history. Many of these events in history are very similar. One of the biggest examples in history would be The Holocaust. An example would be the Salem witch trails which were depicted in the book The Crucible by Arthur Miller. The Crucible and The Holocaust are related because one person was to blame for the mass hysteria, there was one person in power, fear was used to control the people and many people were wrongly punished.

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879 Words | 4 Pages

Despite their deeply religious values, the members of the Puritan Society in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible are equally as sinful as the rest of the world. The Puritans, known for turning to God when given any matter at hand, lay blame on the Devil, regardless of their contradictory values. By blaming on him for their wrongdoings, the Devil earns power through the Puritans restoring to involve him whenever any one thing goes wrong. Power is defined by one’s reputation, status, wealth, gender, and age; although the natural deciding factor of one’s power in the Puritan society is land, the Devil himself holds ultimate power. Despite the fact that he does not appear as a human figure, he controls the thoughts and actions of the Puritan society, serving as the ultimate threat.

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775 Words | 4 Pages

Good afternoon teachers and fellow peers, In order to achieve their own personal and communal ambitions, figures in society manipulate and persuade people through events and situations to conform to their own political agenda. In the 1955 prescribed text, “The Crucible,” playwright Arthur Miller establishes the exploitative behaviour of characters through dramatised staging features. Similarly in the 1964 related text, “The Times They are A-Changin’,” Bob Dylan insights individual ambitions through musical and poetic devices. The shared ideas of the modernist era such as the significance of religion and political hegemony are investigated by both composers in their perspective texts.

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338 Words | 2 Pages

The Crucible remains important in society today because the hysteria portrayed in the Salem Witch Trials has potential to corrupt our society/America like it did back then. All it takes is just one lie to create chaos and even the lives of others ripped from their hands. In the Crucible it all started because of Abigail, she was out in the woods dancing, doing witchcraft, and drinking blood. She did all this trying to cast a spell on Proctor 's wife Elizabeth. And she threatens the girls that were there during the dancing that if they go against her story and say more than what they are supposed to she will make them regret everything and say they are lying and no one would believe them.

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1076 Words | 5 Pages

The benefit of a community is best served through work and contributions from those who make it up. Every successful society has been sustained through the sacrifices of the subjects who survive in it. The idyllic Puritan community is one that is dominated by faith, commitment, and notably, the selfless work ethic that seeks to serve the common good. The Crucible is not only a retelling of horrific injustices of the Salem witch trials, but also a profound deconstruction of the archetypical Puritan city upon a hill. Through civil unrest and selfishness, the community is torn apart irreparably and the name of the town is forever marred by tragedy.

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942 Words | 4 Pages

Despite this being set in the 17th century, Miller’s manipulation of dual context allows him to tell stories about the past and draw parallels between 17th century Salem and the 1950s era of McCarthyism. Miller draws upon the dramatic form of The Crucible to engage with the emotions of the audience, which allow them to apprehend Proctor’s relentless internal conflict throughout the entire text. Deciding to produce this allegory as a play gave Miller the ability to connect with the audience on a deeper level, as their emotions are easily manipulated through agonizing and high modality dialogue, such as Proctor pleading “spare me!” at the culmination of his emotional conflict with Elizabeth, coupled with visual aids, by stage directions such

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