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Mccarthyism In The Crucible

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The Second Red Scare, which took place from the 1940s through 1950s, was instigated by Wisconsin senator Joseph Mccarthy when he claimed in a speech that 205 communists had infiltrated the State Department. Mccarthyism resulted from a group panic over fear of Communism, and the ulterior motives of influential conservative figures, who hoped to limit liberals’ influence. Hundreds of Hollywood artists were accused of harboring Communist sympathies. Among the people implicated was Arthur Miller, whose experiences and observations during Mccarthyism inspired him to write his famous 1953 play, The Crucible, which takes place in 1692 during the infamous Salem witch trials. The play follows farmer John Proctor as he attempts to mend his strained marriage …show more content…

Mccarthyism and the Cold War are broad and extensively researched topics, and there was an overwhelming amount of sources to choose from. Another challenge I encountered was that because Mccarthyism was born out of panic, it was hard to find sources that examined the rationale behind the event that were written closer or during the time when Mccarthyism was taking place. For example, one source I looked at that, but did not use, was written in 1951, however, because the source was written so close to Mccarthyism, the situation was normalized, and the author was wrapped up in the hysteria. In other sources written long after Mccarthyism, the documents were more thorough with clearer opinions regarding why Mccarthyism happened. In this case, distance in time helped to strengthen the perspective. Another challenge I encountered was that I had idealized sources in my mind that would have helped my argument, but in some cases they did not exist or were not accessible. I wanted a chance to examine Miller’s court conviction and hoped to find a transcript, however, I could not find it. I was so caught up in trying to find this one source that I imagined, that I ended up wasting time that could have been spent examining other sources or writing my IA. I ended up using a New York Times article that covered the conviction, and had useful information on the trial that proved very helpful, although it was not exactly what I had in

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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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McCarthy and the red scare is a very interesting topic, mainly because it fits into history and English. In a article Scott Beason and other sources says that McCarthy was right to flush out communists, and he also thinks ‘it’s inappropriate for Alabama high school students to read the crucible”. “So we’re comparing the McCarthy investigations of the 1950s, in which he turned out to be right, with the Salem witch hunts” Beason stated. There is so much history behind it all that we’re still figuring out today, which is why it makes the story so widespread.

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Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953. Arthur Miller wrote the play because he was inspired by McCarthyism. McCarthyism was the hunt for communists that was taken too far. In The Crucible he presented a universal message. He was comparing how communists did exist and witches did not, but yet they were both taken as serious.

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People were terrified of communism spreading to the United States, so when accusations started floating around everyone would believe them. McCarthy accused people of communist behavior, although many were falsely accused, no one knew better than to think they were guilty because of how scared they were of communism spreading. This resembles how certain characters were accused of witchcraft in The Crucible. The Red Scare caused nationwide hysteria just how the Salem Witch Trials caused hysteria to the people of Salem.

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McCarthy created the uproar of having a ‘witch hunt’ on communists in America. His influence on the people gave him credibility when he accused those innocent people. “He cited 81 cases that day. He skipped several numbers, and for some cases repeated the same flimsy information. He proved nothing, but the Senate called for a full investigation.”(ushistory.org).

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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.

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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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The Soviet Union was on the verge of a nuclear war, so McCarthy put fear in everyone because no one had any idea who was a communist and who was not. He made everyone afraid to trust people, even the friends other had. They were afraid that they would be accused

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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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1973 Words | 8 Pages

“The Crucible” is a play about the unfortunate Salem Witch Trials but if one dug deeper, the events of “The Crucible” closely relate to the events of McCarthyism in the 1950’s. The people during the 1950’s were very distraught and constantly looking over their shoulders in fear in search of Communists because they were a national and social threat to the Democratic Republic. People were turning their backs on their moral and personal values to point out yet another victim to the Communist chase. The US authoritative figures conjured a hysterical fear of their government collapsing and the people losing their rights which turned them into hypocritical pursuants. Arthur Miller targets these points in “The Crucible” with his knowledge of the Salem

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McCarthyism resulted in Americans turning against each other because of politicians greed for power, paranoia, and the fear of communist infiltration. Clearly, Senator McCarthy’s greed for political power led to American citizens’ unrest. In Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”, John Proctor dealt with the corruption of power in his town when Abigail Williams and many other girls accused those, who were innocent, of witchcraft. Similarly, americans were being blacklisted by McCarthy because they believed these people may have

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719 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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1413 Words | 6 Pages

Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible is one of these social commentaries. Many critics and even Miller himself has stated his play was an allegory for the McCarthy’s red hunt. He feared the red scare, and such writing a play directly on the subject would’ve been dangerous. Miller wrote an article on why he wrote The Crucible, and he references the thought process in which people were undergoing.

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886 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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Hysteria in Salem The Crucible is a play written by American author, Arthur Miller, in 1953. It is a somewhat fictional play about the Salem Witch Trials. Miller wrote it as an allegory to the Red Scare, the promotion of fear of a potential rise of communism. Miller himself was blacklisted for refusing to testify in front of the HUAC, a committee that was created to investigate any person who might be a communist.

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