The Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy Red Scare are historical events that occurred in different time periods of history. These events share many similarities such as mass panics, hysteria, paranoia, false accusations, and incarcerations. During the mid 20th century, the United States experienced the McCarthy era. This era was a period full of paranoia, fearing communists had infiltrated the US government and American society. According to “McCarthyism”(2022) “He declared that 205 Communists had infiltrated the U.S. Department of State.
“I have here a list of names…” is a quote that is not only spoken in history during the Salem Witch Trials, but also in fairly recent history. Joseph McCarthy used this phrase to present his list of believed communists to the government, while Abigail Williams used a similar accusation for the witches in Salem. Matter of fact, McCarthy’s accusations have been called by many “witch hunts” as an allusion to the Salem Witch hunts that occurred hundreds of years before. The Salem Witch Trials shares many similarities with McCarthyism, however, with the similarities come several obvious differences.
Occasion’s Effect The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism are very similar even though they took place such a long time from each other. If someone was accused of witchcraft in 1692 they had to confess and lose all social standing or be executed, in the 1950’s if a person was accused of being a communist they would be fired and put on trial, if they would not confess they were blacklisted until they admitted to their “crime”. Arthur Miller used the Salem Witch trials to protest McCarthyism in a somewhat discreet way that proved to be a timeless comfort to the citizens experiencing oppression from their government (“Why I Wrote The Crucible”, 911).
In 1692 there was the Salem Witch Trials and then in the 1950s the McCarthy trials happened, it was like history repeated itself. Both of these trials were very sad and tragic. In both of these events, many bad things happened to very good people. Bad people lived and good people died. Abigail, who was part of the Salem Witch Trials, basically started the whole thing by having an affair, being jealous, and being caught dancing in a forest with some friends.
McCarthyism and Salem Witch Trials Many things in history can relate in different aspects. Salem Witch trials and McCarthyism are examples of things in history that are kind of similar to each other. Looking at these two events, we can see that madness existed even way back then, It is evident that this evilness and hysteria ruined people’s lives because of the accusations that were being made towards witches and communists. The most common thing that I see from these two events is that they both were irrational fears that witchcraft and communism were going to invade society if nothing was done about it.
Arthur Miller, the writer of the play The Crucible, made a story that is based off of real events in 1692 that draws comparisons to McCarthyism. The characters of Salem are quick to follow behind people in authority even if what they are saying might not be a smart decision in most circumstances. People such as Danfourth, Parris, and Putnam all have a significant amount of power in the town. Danfourth, the judge, seems to have the opinion that anyone that is called out as a witch is most likely a witch.
The Salem witch in 1692 and McCarthyism was during the 1950's. it was primarily due to Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Miller wrote the play as a response to what he thought was a modern day witch hunt. Joseph McCarthy, the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities, wanted to weed out and expose communist sympathizers in the U.S. Even though Miller researched several historical records of the 1692 trials.
Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem,¨ written by Rosalyn Schanzer, starts off with a group of Puritans from Europe who have come to settle in Salem, Massachusetts. This religion is very different from modern-day Christianity. People started being accused as witches in the 1640s. However, witch hunts aren 't as rare as people might think; there have been a few witch hunts since the 1690s.
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.
The word hysteria defines an exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion among a group of people. “Paranoia breeds paranoia,...” a famous quote from Arthur Miller’s essay that alludes to the use of mass hysteria that struck fear to the bourgeois of two eras that stained the face of American history. By creating and exploiting public hysteria as a means to obtain power and manipulate people as seen through the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and the McCarthy Era which lasted a little under a decade. Both calamitous events shared common factors that contributed to their beginnings as well as helping them retain momentum.
In times of fear and hysteria in the U.S. it is mass chaos and it only gets worse and worse. During the time of both the witch-hunt eras, whether for communist or actual witches, they prove to have many similarities between them. Both of these times were full of confusion and lying which lead to the temporary downfall of the authority at that time. Joseph McCarthy proved to be a factor in this time and add on to the chaos that was America. Arthur Miller wrote about these times in a book called The Crucible, based on the witch trial era.
The McCarthy hearings and the Salem witch trials accurately represent the saying, "Desperate times call for desperate measures. " In the 1950s, the McCarthy hearings tainted lives by falsely accusing those in the film industry of being associated with Communism. In the 17th century, the Salem witch trials charged innocent villagers of practicing witchcraft. Victims from the McCarthy hearings were isolated and ruined, while victims from the Salem trials were hanged and shunned.
Can the similar type of instinctive prejudice and panic that seized a small Massachusetts settlement more than 300 years ago take over the thoughts in the prevailing society triggering “witch hunts”? The goal of these actions was to alienate particular members of our civilization, and arouse condemnation of those who may have diverse beliefs, attitudes and practices. Citizens of this community began to establish separate policies and condemnations of hostility for any person who does not go along with the existing social behaviors and trends. To get a better view on the matter, I would like to go review four separate eras in our history. The Salem Witch trials, the Holocaust, The Red Scare, and current Middle Eastern terrorist groups.
The Salem witch trials proved to be one of the most cruel and fear driven events to ever occur in history. Many innocent people were accused of witchcraft, and while some got out of the situation alive not everyone was as lucky. Arthur Miller the author of The Crucible conveys this horrific event in his book and demonstrates what fear can lead people to do. But the reason as to why Arthur Miller felt the need to write The Crucible in the first place was because the unfortunate reality that history seemed to have repeated itself again. In the article “Are You Now or Were You Ever”, Arthur Miller claims that the McCarthy era and the Salem witch trials were similar and he does this through his choice of diction, figurative language, and rhetorical questions.
The Salem Witch Trials in 1692, and the Fear of Communism in the 1950’s McCarthyism involves the practice of making accusations or subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence. In the town of Salem, Massachusetts the majority of the ladies in salem could've gotten arrested for the threat of witchcraft but there’s no evidence placed on them that’s fully charged. “Giles: I will not give you no name, I mentioned my wife’s name once and I'll Burn in hell long enough for that. I stand mute. Danforth:
