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Similarities Between Were You Ever And The Crucible

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How would society members feel today if they were killed or put in jail for things that they weren’t involved in? In America during the 1950s, there were a lot of people punished. The Red Scare happened during this time. This was a time when people were jailed, accused, and put on trial. The Red Scare inspired Arthur Miller to write the play, The Crucible and was the author of “Are You Now or Were You Ever”. The Crucible represents Arthur Millers own life experiences with the Red Scare. “Are You Now or Were You Ever?” was about McCarthyism, it was written in the 1950’s and was called the Red Scare. During the Red Scare people were being accused of being communist, at this time they didn’t get killed if they were accused. Instead of getting killed, the people were put into jail for their accusations. This period was a terrible time for the people that got accused for things that they didn’t have anything to do with. This article shows how America was when there was communism. The Crucible took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. During this time the people of the society were accused of being witches. If the people of Salem got accused for being a witch they had two choices, they would have to confess to it, tell someone elses …show more content…

This was conveyed that Tituba was interrogated about whether or not she was associated with the Devil. In “Are You Now or Were You Ever?” Arthur Miller said, “Harry Bridges, the idol of west coast longshoremen, whom he had all but single-handedly organized, was subjected to trial after trial to drive him back to his native Australia as an unadmitted communist.” (Miller, “Are You Now…?” 2). This piece of textual evidence showed that he was interrogated for being a non admitted communist, and because of that a lot of others in academics and in major fields with working jobs were losing them because they thought the people were not

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The Crucible Comparative Essay

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Various components of The Crucible may be related to the Red Scare, more specifically McCarthyism. Senator McCarthy condemned communism and black-listed many famous actors and actresses as communists. When one was blacklisted under Senator McCarthy’s reign, they would never be hired again thus ruining their career and livelihood. This concept may be related to The Crucible as when people were accused as being witches during the Salem Witch Trials in Puritan New England, they would be shunned from the community and ultimately hanged. These women were hanged for being evil, thus connecting to the theme of human wickedness.

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Elizabeth Ergot Poisoning In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

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The Crucible was about the Salem Witch Trials. The duration of these “trials” were a time of general revenge based on jealousy, lust, and possibly the effects of ergot poisoning. More than two hundred men and women were accused of witchcraft. Twenty of which were executed, along with one man being brutally pressed to death for not admitting to witchcraft. These “trials” could very well have been started because of jealousy.

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The Salem Witch Trials and the 1950’s Red Scare are easily relatable considering that the two events killed several innocent lives, when that individual did nothing wrong. The community around has always been a place where secrets and grudges are held against someone. During the Salem Witch Trials, according to Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” and the Red Scare, it focused on how much power a character could have, and that one character also can lead to convincing the community to be with them or against their personal thoughts. Furthermore, the power that is lead to one's head could destroy the thoughts of other about yourself as an individual.

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The Crucible Act 1 Summary

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The Crucible was based in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The book starts off with Reverend Parris finding the girls in the woods dancing. Upon finding them Betty Reverend Parris’s daughter and some of the girls become ill. Abigail Reverend Parris’s niece tells him that when he found them in the wood Betty was so frightened when Parris found her she fainted and won’t wake. With Betty and the other girls unable to wake rumors of witchcraft start around the community.

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807 Words | 4 Pages

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Arthur Miller wrote the novel The Crucible as a way to reflect the state of hysteria the United States was in at the time. The novel was written during the time of the Red Scare, when people believed that there were communists inside the United States’ government. The fear of communism grew when Joseph McCarthy accused 205 people of being communist within the government, this is why many people refer to this hysteria as McCarthyism. In the novel, parallels are drawn between Joseph McCarthy’s accusations and the acts of a group of girls in a small puritan town called Salem. The girls throw false accusations of witchcraft towards people causing a mass hysteria within their town.

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‘The Crucible’ is an allegory that was created by Arthur Miller during the times of the Red Scare. When A.Miller created the allegory he was being accused of being a communist by politician McCarthy. McCarthy started what is now called McCarthyism in an attempt to root out communism. During this time many people were accused of being communist, because of this many were blacklisted, lost their jobs, and were disgraced. People were accused without any proof, most if not all were innocent.

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1035 Words | 5 Pages

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1112 Words | 5 Pages

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1490 Words | 6 Pages

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847 Words | 4 Pages

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