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Joseph Mccarthy And Abigail Williams Essay

724 Words3 Pages

Abigail Williams in The Crucible by Arthur Miller and Joseph McCarthy in Good Night and Good Luck have similar in behaviors, beliefs, and motives by how they both blamed and accused many people. Abigail Williams and Joseph McCarthy both believed they were doing the right thing, accusing innocent people. Joseph McCarthy was against communism, as well as Abigail Williams “was” against witchcraft. They both strongly disagreed with the theme. Joseph McCarthy thought he was serving justice for the United States just like, Abigail Williams tried to clear her name, within the name of god; thinking it would get her out of trouble. Although the two people had different problems during their era, the reader believes they both were very alike by how they’re …show more content…

The Salem witch trials can be considered as a series of hearings and prosecution of people accused of being witches or involved with any type of witchcraft. They are based on the belief in the conflict between God and Satan. Like the Red Scare, the idea of witchcraft was also a fear the people had.Everyone had a suspicion of who was a witch? Did witches exist? Abigail Williams is very similar to Joseph McCarthy in the way they accused random people, even though they were innocent.Again they both thought they were doing “good”. It's not fair to blame others for something that isn't true, we were taught this from a young age. So why is it okay for them to? Well keep in mind that in The Crucible everything was getting out of control with the blaming, lying, and faking things that never existed. An example can be when Abigail Williams fakes seeing the yellow bird in the court house, which just made a whole scene. The crying and mocking about mary “sending her spirit.” In conclusion Joseph McCarthy and Abigail Williams are very similar in the ways they think, and their beliefs. Abigail William is the one who is totally against witchcraft and is “committed” to god although, she put a spell on Elizabeth Proctor, which is witch craft. And she was John's Proctor’s partner in sin.In the case of Joseph McCarthy he aswell accused people of being communist, but yet he had little evidence to support his

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She was independent but couldn't teach herself boundaries towards John Proctor. She despises his wife Elizabeth because she was keeping her and Proctor apart. No matter how she didn't that one day Elizabeth would be out of her and Proctors life. McCarthy believed nothing really. He thought becoming senator and “going against” communism was a good way to slowly turn the community and country into communist.

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780 Words | 4 Pages

Do Abigail Williams and Joseph McCarthy share the same beliefs, behavior, and motives? Or are they completely different people with different characteristics? In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail is a very important role in the book. In the movie Good Night and Good Luck Joseph McCarthy is a big part of that movie. Not only are they both very important, they are also rude and manipulative.

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One example, is when Mary Warren is well into her testimony, and Abigail including the other girls say that Mary Warren bewitched them and soon Marry follows suit and pleads with them. This represents how McCarthy and his committee claimed that 205 people were communists as they labeled them being fascists, alcoholics, and sexual deviants. Abigail and McCarthy both the rightful head leaders of their group, have found ways to manipulate, persuade, and deceive the general public into believing that anyone could be affiliated with either communism or witchcraft. All the claims they made have no evidence at all which allowed them to accuse anyone due to their

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1711 Words | 7 Pages

A play, The Crucible, was written about these trials as an attack on McCarthyism. In the Crucible, the entire conflict of the trials began with an affair between a married man, John Proctor, and a maid, Abigail Adams. Sparknotes confirms this in their summary saying, “Unbeknownst to anyone else in the town, while working in Proctor’s home the previous year she engaged in an affair with him, which led to her being fired by his wife, Elizabeth. Abigail still desired Proctor, but he fended her off...” (The Crucible - Plot Overview).

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258 Words | 2 Pages

Abigail williams and a few others falsely accuse those in Salem

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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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582 Words | 3 Pages

Abigail's sudden switch of character demonstrates pure insanity. “I say shut it, Mary Warren!” (Miller, Arthur. The Crucible.) Abigail’s vicious approach almost failed but, pulled through as a twisted

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1081 Words | 5 Pages

In both cases, Abigail and McCarthy impede the people’s ability to think rationally, allowing them to act on a fear of the unknown. Their actions thus reflect the common trust in the accusers, as “the thought that the state has lost its mind is punishing so many people is intolerable” (“Why I Wrote the Crucible”). Both Abigail and McCarthy gain the trust of their peers, allowing them to spread falsified truths to their communities and gain power. However, by accusing the innocent and using the fear of the unknown to justify their actions, they are able to convince citizens that they are acting for the greater good of society. They consequently spread the belief that those in power cannot misdirect them, giving them even more control over the people.

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624 Words | 3 Pages

The Salem Witch Trials accusing others of a feared crime showed definite evidence that mass hysteria was to blame. Salem was a religious settlement, following Puritan beliefs (Miller, 6). A large fear for everyone in Salem was the touch of the Devil (Miller, Arthur). According to Puritan beliefs, if a man or woman was touched by the Devil he would convince them to do witchcraft. Once word was mentioned the Devil had possibly touched Salem, the fear spread.

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462 Words | 2 Pages

As time has passed, throughout history, during different periods of time there are parallels. There are three eras that we are focussed on, where there are three types of people during each era. The three different eras that we’re focusing on, are The Salem Witch Trials (1600s), The McCarthy Era (1950s), and Today (2000s); the three types of people are the people who are the reasons why there’s accusations towards the accused, the accused, and finally the accusers.     In The Crucible, or during the Salem Witch Trials, the person that’s the reason why characters were accused is John Proctor. The accuser in the play, who decides to point fingers at everyone, is Abigail Williams.

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568 Words | 3 Pages

In the play The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, the character Abigail Williams is an orphan who likes to keep her private life a secret to where no one knows what she is doing. Abigail is the type of character that likes to lie about the things that she does, and blames things on others to make sure she is not being suspected of any wrong doings. She makes sure that if people are suspecting her in any type of way then she has an excuse to prove them wrong that she is the innocent one. Abigail Williams is lying throughout the whole play. Her motivation to keep her reputation throughout the play is to lie, or cover up the sins and wrongdoings that she does.

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419 Words | 2 Pages

In every written play there is always one character that stands out from them all, who drives the story and influences the events around them. In this case, Abigail Williams, from The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, proves to be one of those characters. Throughout the play, Abigail uses her magnificent lies to manipulate the people around her and avoid being accused of witchcraft. In Act I, as Abigail is nearly accused of witchcraft, she manages to turn the blame onto Tituba and several other citizens of the town, claiming they were with the devils’ spirits; this is especially ironic considering the fact that Abigail persuaded Tituba to cast the spells.

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464 Words | 2 Pages

No one wants to be framed for something they didn’t do, and when they are framed they do what they can to prove their innocence. Throughout the novel many accusations made towards someone in the village who is known to have a bad name, Abigail Williams. Abigail is known to make up lies about the citizens in her village that she doesn’t care for, such as Elizabeth Proctor. She manipulates people and makes them do what she wants, because she scares people, and they know what she is capable of. Abigail Williams in the novel The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a deceitful girl who is known to have a bad name in her village because of her willingness to shame innocent people.

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825 Words | 4 Pages

In the play, the Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Salem, Massachusetts was a place of constant hysteria in the 1600s because of what would come to be commonly known as the Salem Witch Trials. This was a full-blown witch hunt for people found to display signs of witchcraft. Abigail Williams was the main person to blame for this pursuit of witches in Salem because, first off, she was the one who caused hysteria about witchcraft just to cover up the fact that

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429 Words | 2 Pages

Abigail Williams is not your typical teenage girl. She is a girl that will drink blood to kill someone, accuse people of witchcraft, and have a affair. By looking at The Crucible, one can see that Abigail Williams develops the theme of reputation, which is important because people who fear losing their reputation spread hysteria. Protecting her reputation motivates Abigail Williams to accuse others of being a witch.

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