Page 3 /4 Page 1 of 4 Richardson1 NaQuavius Richardson Mrs. Camp English III 26 February 2017 McCarthyism in the Crucible The Crucible showed many similarities towards the phenomena of McCarthyism in the 1950s. For example, The Crucible shows how the Salem Witch Trials mirrored McCarthyism. The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism share many similarities such as people being accused of things with no proof, people were put on trial for false accusations, and many innocent people were killed. One similarity between McCarthyism and the Salem Witch Trials is that people were being accused of being something that they were without solid proof, The Salem Witch Trials being witches and McCarthyism being communists. As shown in The Crucible, during the Salem …show more content…
But when their accusers were prompted to provide proof of the witchcraft, they could not deliver any viable proof. For instance, in The Crucible, Abigail accuses Elizabeth Proctor of being a witch but instead of admitting that she had no proof, just envy and jealousy, she created “proof” by sticking herself in the stomach with a needle that was claimed to be pushed into a poppet by Elizabeth in order to hurt Abigail (Miller 1201). That is just one of many things that shows the comparison with the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism. Everybody in The Crucible accused Tituba, a black woman in the play, of being a witch just because she was black and not like everyone else. That could not be solid evidence as to whether or not she is a witch. Page 1 of 4 Page 2 of 4 Richardson2 The Salem Witch Trials also show similarities to McCarthyism by portraying people who were falsely accused of something and were automatically put on trial. Most of the accused were sentenced to hearings with prosecutions following them. This took place in Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693 (Wilkins). Miller wrote The Crucible to show