Franklin D. Roosevelt once stated “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” this is extremely apparent in the play The Crucible written by Arthur Miller that depicts the events that took place during the salem witch trials. These events in American history had countless similarities that led to the persecution of many innocent individuals. Arthur Miller effectively demonstrates this concept in his play The Crucible by drawing parallels between the witch trials of the 1690’s and the “The Great Fear” of the 1950’s. The Salem Witch Trials and the “The Great Fear” were both the product of fear, hysteria, and false accusations.
Our history is swarming with discrimination. Humans have a tendency to see something that is different from themselves and fear it, or hate it. This hatred often leads to the destruction of these so-called “different” people. The Crucible by Arthur Miller tells a story of the Salem witch trials, where a town becomes hysterical when several young girls are falsely accused of witchcraft. This play was written as an allegory to McCarthyism, and the destruction of innocent lives that came because of it.
In the play The Crucible, playwright Arthur Miller protests the Red Scare of the early 1900s, a period of public hysteria in which Senator Joseph McCarthy accused many innocent Americans of Communism. Appalled by this tragic period of modern history, Miller suggests a parallel in The Crucible, in which he attempts to convey “‘the essential nature of one of the most awful chapters in human history’--the trials for witchcraft in Salem in 1692” (Background: About Arthur Miller” 3). In both periods of history, Miller warns that mass hysteria often results from people who claim, that principle motivates their actions, while they may actually have other secret incentives such as greed or revenge. In The Crucible greed motivates some characters and revenge motivates others, creating the tragedy of the Salem Witch Trials.
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. ”(Roosevelt). The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a historical fiction about how hysteria and groupthink can have drastic consequences. It follows the Salem witch trials and the events that led to 19 people being convicted of witchcraft and subsequently killed. The most important subject in The Crucible is how fear can affect decisions.
I am exploring the question of are we are motivated by fear, human nature, and just how far we will go for our reputations. All three of theses are major themes in the Cucubile by Arthur Miller. And each theme plays a major part in how the Crucible was rounded while also showing a very strong perspective on how the author wanted the reader to perceive the crucible. The reason I think that we continue to read, study, and perform the Crucible to this day is because it was a major part in history where many innocent people were killed due to fear and false accusations. The Crucible was written about a time period that Arthur Miller acknowledges as a time where fear and reputation totally took over.
Arthur Miller’s work, The Crucible, was written during the “Red Scare” time period, and many themes and ideas regarding both events are presented through a drama based on the Salem witch trials. In this drama, a lack of justice is shown when some jealous, vengeful characters in Salem are willing to use manipulation and deceit, and sacrifice the reputations and integrity of all involved, in order to empower themselves.
Amidst fear’s suffocating embrace, each moment feels like each heartbeat is a thunder that will last an eternity. It spreads to others until the entire community thinks irrationally, only yearning for someone to bring guidance and certainty. In Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” the depiction of the Salem witch trials offers a compelling parallel to the hysteria and paranoia fueled by the Communist Red Scare of the 1950s. During the Red Scare, fear of communism led government officials to seek out suspected communists, creating conflict among citizens. Resulting in infringement of fundamental rights granted by law and constitution.
Throughout history the fear of corruption and change has compelled people to go to drastic measures to prevent it. The Crucible, a play by arthur Miller, is set in an environment of religious citizens who fear that the devil and witchcraft will corrupt their society. Much like The Crucible, McCarthyism caused the citizens in America to fear corruption of the government by communism. Arthur Miller used his play the crucible as a direct response to McCarthyism and through this play Miller writes about the Salem witch trials during the McCarthy period to comment on how history repeats itself. The social and political factors in The Crucible resemble those in America during the red scare and McCarthyism.
The Hysteria in The Crucible and Terrorism Hysteria can bring people to do the unthinkable; for example, taking someone's life. The hysteria in societies throughout history has resulted in endless problems and many deaths of innocent people. Though during extremely different times, the hysteria in the play The Crucible and the hysteria that has resulted from acts of terror by the group al Qaeda can be closely related to one another. The time periods in which the events happened resulted in some differences between the two, but the result is the same, mass hysteria. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and the al Qaeda terrorist attacks have many similarities and differences.
Miller wrote The Crucible as a way to show that letting fear control decisions is a bad
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.
Terror is normally caused by a threat of danger and can cause people to do things they may later regret. To start, Arthur Miller wrote the allegory tragedy, “The Crucible”, with the storyline of the Salem Witch Trials with the underlying story of the Red Scare. Each one brought horror into citizens’ lives, which influenced their actions. In the play, the town of Salem broke out in a hysteria of witchcraft. This caused people to accuse one another in spite of internal or external problems.
The 9/11 tragedy was a moment where people had their guard up at all times. This was a time where life had strike to reality of time warfare with every person and country. Couldn’t trust no one that came to the U.S. America is the land of the free and the home of the brave, were brave because the generations before us had to face what had happened and to what is going to happen. This had left the buildings torn instantly killing hundreds of many people, getting them stuck in the higher floors. This attack was the worst in America ever since the Pearl Harbor All over our nation saw a major impact of devastation in the face of the September 9, 2001attacks.
The Crucible: How Fear Changes People During his first Inaugural Address, Franklin D. Roosevelt once announced, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. Fear manipulates a persons rationality resulting in them behaving in ways they normally would not, especially in the story The Crucible written by Arthur Miller. The characters in The Crucible allow fear to manipulate their beliefs and actions. They all know what is right, but fear alters their mindset causing them to act differently.
The U.S. and Russia have been big rivals for the past half century. They both were against each other during the Cold War. The Cold War between the U.S. and Russia went on from 1947 to 1991 which the United States ultimately won. After the Cold War the Soviet Union (Russia) disbanded and Russia’s economy collapsed. Russia also employed a failed system of government called Communism which is pretty much exactly like how the farm in the Animal Farm, the book we are reading in English, is run.
