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 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.
In “The Crucible”, Arthur Miller displays one of the flaws of mankind by bringing us back to a period of time where confusion and panic spread. The Salem Witch Trials were a dark period of time, filled with false accusations and unjustified executions that ultimately showed how humans are able to be manipulated and used by others to achieve personal goals. A similar period of time to that of “The Crucible” was during the 1950s, when Senator Joseph McCarthy accused many individuals of being associated with communists including Miller himself. Miller’s usage of irony in “The Crucible” brings to light all of the imperfections that occur in these situations and shows the extent of how brainwashed a society can become. Irony was a prevalent rhetorical
Fear, it causes people to be blinded by the truth. People can’t tell right from wrong. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible to show how no one could see what was right. During the 1950’s communism was spreading throughout Europe like a wildfire, then it slowly made its way over to the U.S. This was known as The Red Scare.
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.
Cameron Oldfield Mrs. Brincks English III 15 November, 2015 The Crucible and Red Scare Imagine being thrown in jail, blamed for something that you didn't do .The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a story about how certain propaganda and false accusations can ruin lives, just like in the case of the Red Scare. Although 1692 the Salem witch trials and the Red Scare were over 200 years apart, The similarities are striking. both trials used intimidation, fear, hatred, and false accusations to ruin innocent lives. Both trials resulted in terrible outcomes, with both ending with innocent people being put to death and shunned from society.
The Red Scare and The Crucible Backstabbing is the most painful thing you could emotionally feel. It was a common occurrence when it was displayed in The Crucible and during the Red Scare. People would walk around on a daily basis with a knife to their throats and were watched every day on what they would say. One slip up and their lives and careers could and would have been ruined.
In the 1950’s senator Joseph MacCarthy targeted people, and accused them of being disloyal or supporting communism often without evidence. He believed that communism was being infiltrated through the American government, military, and entertainment. The Crucible by writer Arthur Miller depicts the events that occurred during the Salem witch trials. During the Salem witch trials, people falsely accused their neighbors of witchcraft in order to save themselves. This practice took the lives of twenty-five innocent people.
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.
Tony Reynolds-Villegas Mrs. Howard Period 3rd May 23, 2023 McCarthyism in The Crucible Arthur Miller’s book The Crucible is an incredible representation of McCarthyism. Arthur Miller represents McCarthyism using religion. The Crucible, a book based on the Salem Witch Trials is used to showcase McCarthyism, which is a idea in which people are accused without any evidence. McCarthyism happened during the second red scare which was people of democracy against communism, or in The Crucible religion against witchcraft.
Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953, as a response to McCarthyism, which is, in general, accusing people of crimes with little to no proof. It ran rampant through the United States during the Second Red Scare through the early 1950s (exactly when Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible). In The Crucible, Miller juxtaposes the leaders, who rationally think for themselves, and the followers, who believe what everybody else believes, through irony, imagery, and denotation. The Crucible is riddled with irony, and Arthur Miller utilizes situational and dramatic irony to show the difference between followers and leaders.
At the time when Arthur Miller wrote the play “The Crucible”, he was coming from the position of a victim. Arthur Miller was accused of being a member of the communist party in the McCarthy era better known as The Red Scare. “The Crucible” is an allegory to The Red scare that was going on when Arthur Miller wrote the play. An allegory is a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning. “The Crucible” contains many similar events to what had been happening during the Red Scare, with some events being very similar, making “The Crucible” a perfect allegory for Arthur Miller to write a play about.
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.
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.
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.
