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Comparing and contrasting the historical Salem Witch Trials with the way that they are portrayed in The Crucible
Connecting mccarthyism to teh crucible essay
Comparing and contrasting the historical Salem Witch Trials with the way that they are portrayed in The Crucible
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McCarthy and a Witch As high schoolers, students learn about the world of politics in their history courses. Makes since, right? Well, there is also a great deal of politics in English, though it is brilliantly hidden in the eloquent writings that are studied. A perfect example of this undercover political lesson can be found in Arthur Miller's, The Crucible; a brilliant piece of work that parallels the historical havoc of the Salem Witch Trials to the Red Scare of the 1950’s.
In response to the second Red Scare, prompted by the accusations of Senator Joe McCarthy, Arthur Miller felt it necessary to express his political feelings through an author’s medium. Similarities are shown between McCarthyism and the Salem witch trials in the way Senator McCarthy gained power and control by inducing fear and hatred of communists in America, comparable to the fear and hatred of witches in the late 1600s. Miller shares that themes of paranoia and vengeance continue on even as society progresses, and presents The Crucible as an example to shed light on issues inherent with using accusations to gain power. With its ability to relate to a number of political situations in many countries, even as far as 50 years past its creation,
Can the fear of people control the way certain things and events are looked at? In 1950 a nationwide historical campaign called McCarthyism took place. The campaign was against alleged communist in the U.S government and other institutions and accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence which was carried out by Joseph McCarthy. The primary targets were usually union activist, government employees, educators, and entertainment industry. Many people people lost their trust in others, causing a new outlook on life while relationships were destroyed. McCarthyism was caused by the fear of the people due to past events.
In the movie the Crucible, young men and women were accused and persecuted for supposedly using witchcraft and performing satanic rituals. A very similar concept of accusation was used in the movie Good Night and Good Luck; senator Joseph McCarthy made an attempt to “Abolish” communism from the US Government. However, he was mocked by CBS News. In both situations, the accused either received a death penalty (in the Crucible, they were hung), or faced public humiliation by Joseph McCarthy. Whether the people were really either satanists/witches or communists, both measures of persecution were a bit extreme; it could have been handled in many different ways.
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.
Rod Serling, by creating the episode “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street”, Serling is trying to show an aspect of history like McCarthyism. During the episode, a lot is going on and it causes the residents to lose their sanity. The problem starts off small, and soon the whole situation is flipped from being about a power outage to blaming each other about who caused it. Lastly, the end of the show is total chaos. Much like McCarthyism which is making accusations to transform the established social order and treason without regards to evidence, the show represents that in a way that’s subtle.
Compare and contrast the Red Scare and the McCarthy trials to the situation in The Crucible; contrast Deputy Governor Danforth with Senator Joseph McCarthy. Could this type of hysteria happen today? Discuss. Response: Miller composed The Crucible to demonstrate the impacts of mass mania, relative to that of the Red Scare, and to endeavor and help foresee it later on.
Mass hysteria was present in both The Crucible and McCarthyism. Mass hysteria is when people went crazy because people were accused of being communists and or witches. Mass hysteria was however started by specific people in both scenarios. In Mccarthyism Joseph Mccarthy a United States Senator and in The Crucible Abigail Williams who was accused of having an affair with John Proctor her employer were the specific ones who accused people of being communists and witches. Even though the Salem witch trials happened in the late 1690s and McCarthyism in the 1950s they paralleled each other.
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.
Arthur Miller fell victim to what many labelled McCarthyism. Miller wrote “The Crucible”, with the intention of showing how unethical these accusations were. The expectation that Miller had for his
Arthur Miller constructs his play upon the famous Salem witch trails. Miller's Crucible was written in the early 1950s. Miller wrote his drama during the brief reign of the American senator Joseph McCarthy whose bitter criticized anti- communism sparkled the need for the United States to be a dramatic anti- communist society during the early tense years of the cold war. By orders from McCarthy himself, committees of the Congress commenced highly controversial investigations against communists in the U.S similar to the alleged Salem witches situation. Convict communists were ordered to confess their crime and name others to avoid the retribution.
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.
The 1996 drama film “The Crucible” is written by Arthur Miller and based on his same titled play from 1953. It was directed by Nicholas Hytner, produced by David Picker and Robert Miller and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The movie stars Winona Ryder as Abigail Williams, Daniel Day-Lewis as John Proctor, Bruce Davison as Reverend Parris, Joan Allen as Elizabeth Proctor, Paul Scofield as Judge Thomas Danforth and Rob Campbell as Reverend John Hale. In the play the actions take place at four different places – the anteroom of the courtroom, the jail and the homes of Parris and Proctor, all of them are indoors though.
The Salem witch trials and McCarthyism have an uncanny relation to one another. In Salem people were afraid of not appearing christian enough, meanwhile during the 50’s Americans feared of being accused of communism. Also during the McCarthyism era and the witch trials innocent lives were ruined when people were forced to accuse others or be accused themselves. Though The Crucible is an allegory for McCarthyism, it focuses some of its attention on the question what is more important, your honor and reputation or your life?
Period4 The Crucible Essay Communism and Witchcraft have the same effect on humans, that effect is fear, when you hear fear you think of your worst nightmare or someone hiding in your closet, during the McCarthyism era and the salem witchcraft people had fear about whether their life is on the line or not. It all depended on one person in their community whether or not they choose to save their life. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegory for the Red Scare in the McCarthy era because the girls feared Abigail just like everyone feared J.McCarthy, Elizabeth being accused is similar to McCarthy accusing the US Army, they are innocent just like Elizabeth.
