Similarities Between Mccarthyism And The Crucible

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McCarthyism is the term that came to be in 1950 when Joseph Mcarthy accused 205 people that were in the State department of being Communist. McCarthyism is falsely accusing someone of treason without proof or much reason. At the height of anti- communism Aruthur Miller wrote a play called “The Crucible”. The play was set in 1692 based on the Salem witch trials. Salem witch trials in his play was a time where everyone was falsely accusing someone else of being a witch just like McCarthyism is falsely accusing someone of treason. McCarthyism and “Crucible’ are similar in many ways

McCarthyism is falsely accusing someone of treason without proof or much reason. This is exactly what happened in the book ‘Crucible” where they accused …show more content…

We see this in stories many times as if people didn't they would be punished severely and by death so sometimes people just pleaded guilty even if they weren't. According to the video “What is McCarthyism And how did it happen? - Ellen Schrecker” “If you don't cooperate you risk jail or losing your job.''An example of this from the Crucible is Giles. They just expected him to plead guilty and he didn't so he got death. According to the passage,” He was not hanged. He would not answer aye or nay to his indictment; for if he denied the charge they’d hang him surely, and auction out his property. So he stood mute and died Christian under the law. “(Miller, 1953 135, pg. ACT IV)That quote explains how no matter what you would do you would get punished but if you didn't plead guilty it would be even worse. Another parallel is how if you went against and for the accused you would seem disloyal or you're one of the witches or the communists. Like if you went against them they would counter-attack with you're a witch or for the McCarthy era you're a communist, The people in the story were so scared to do this that even if something seemed wrong they went along with it. The same happened in the real world during the time of McCarthyism.Both of these ruined people’s life and loved ones'