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The theme of fear in the crucible
How does the crucible resemble fear in the crucible
How does the crucible resemble fear in the crucible
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Millions of people through history have been treated unfairly. During WWII, the Holocaust was one of the greatest atrocities of all time. People were also wrongly accused and punished during the witch trials in Salem that occurred during the 1600s. these two events have differences but they also have similarities as well.
“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.
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.
American playwright Arthur Miller’s 1953 play, The Crucible, is a dramatized story of the Salem witch trials in the 1690s. Miller wrote this play with the intent to criticize the American anti communist witch hunt of the McCarthy era. Miller’s timeless classic demonstrates the impact the witch trials had on the community, the government, and the economy The ruling force of the time were extreme religious beliefs. The witch trials brought doubt into the people’s beliefs and everything they thought they knew.
Throughout history many nations in many places would hunt for invisible enemies, threats so great that even the government itself couldn’t see them behind the shadows. Two of these hunts were in the United States, one being the Salem Witch Trials back when the US was just a meer colony, and then the Red Scare, where everyone was afraid of communists entering our ranks. In Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” he wrote about such fears and event of the Red Scare, but through the lenses of the Salem Witch Trials. But later, in a almost strange twist of fate, began to mirror the actions one of the characters, this being an example of the mirror between fiction and reality. Arthur Miller’s actions during the Red Scare mirrors the actions of John Proctor
Imagine living in Puritan New England, near the end of the seventeenth century, specifically a small village by the name of Salem. While life in Salem is usually peaceful, in the year 1692, a series of events, summarize to be the Salem Witch Trials, would become famous for the death and destruction they caused. The playwright, Arthur Miller, investigates motive and blame connected these trials in his play The Crucible. Miller uses dialogue and plot to show that it was mainly hysteria caused by self-preservation that is to blame for the event in the play. One of the most prominent examples of this is the girls who accused others of witchcraft in the court, specifically Abigail.
Elia Kazan a Greek-American director once said, “Whatever hysteria exists is inflamed by mystery, suspicion and secrecy” In The Crucible by Arthur Miller the town of Salem gets warped into a loop of lies and false accusations. A group of girls claim to be able to see spirits to avoid being called witches, and accuse others of being witches, starting a chain reaction. Now others accuse people of being witches in order to get rid of those they don‘t like, and so they be hanged. Hysteria and conformity cause an uproar of lies that kill innocent people in Salem.
There is no human being in the world who has never experienced a form of fear in their life. Fear comes in many forms, that all result in very disparate consequences. One might fear the outcome of a critical academic test or athletic game. Communities might fear a particular form of government. In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, fear was the very power that drove the entire plot.
The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were considered a dark period of time for the Puritans of Salem, Massachusetts. Accusations flew, and many were hung for false accusations of witchcraft. During the 1950s, a similar situation arose across the United States with the “threat” of communism. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible during that time as an allegory to draw parallels to the horrific events of the past. Times of trouble, like these two examples, have different effects on people.
Margo Burns, the author of “Arthur Miller's The Crucible: Fact & Fiction” clears up misconseptions and answers the questions many reader ask. As one reads, Burns explains what really might have happened and how events in the play “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller have been changed to benifit the readers appeal. Miller creates many claims, however most of them do not belong to her. She talks about other writters and their points more often than her own views and opinions. Yet, she has been studying the Witch Trials when she states “I've been working with the materials of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 for so long as an academic historian” (Burns 1).
Through the context of the injustice and paranoia entrancing Americans during the 1950’s, Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, sheds a new light on how the witch hunts of Salem are
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible tells a story about the witch trials of 1692. The Crucible is based on the McCarthy trials of the 1950’s. The setting of The Crucible was in Salem were Reverend Parris catches a group of girls, including his niece Betty and servant Tituba in the forest dancing around a fire chanting. After the group of girls get caught Betty ends up sick, When Parris finds out, the rumor of witchcraft arises. Parris is mainly focused on his reputation, The group of girls consisted of Abigail Williams, Betty Parris, Tituba, and Susanna Walcott.
Many authors are influenced by what’s going on in the world around them. Historians will often examine literature from previous eras to give insight into what that time was like. Authors like Arthur Miller are often affected by whatever controversy is ailing the world at that period in time. Authors often will also write about the problems in their own personal lives. Therefore, Arthur Miller’s arguably most famous work, The Crucible, was influenced by the paranoia of communism in the 50s and his personal relationships.
The Crucible final essay Refugee situations has been increasing by a vast amount each year, and ISIS is hiding under their curtain by sneaking into countries and committing terrorist attacks. The crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, took place in Salem. In the town of Salem the people believed in witchcraft and their imagination perhaps went wild, when they thought that witchcraft can cause chaos in their town. Compare this with salem, in the old days they feared from witches, in these days people fear terrorists! Fears that encounter us today are might be so threatening.
In this regard, Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible is similar to Robespierre’s France. The Crucible connects American society in the 1950s to Puritan society; in both instances, strict regulation imparted on free speech perpetuated mass hysteria. Miller employs The Crucible to emphasize that conversation is the primary vehicle that drives societies toward beneficial change. The Crucible details Salem town’s descent into a state of mass frenzy as a result of the witch trials; this extensive panic is able to persist because of the limits imposed on free speech.
