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The Crucible Dbq

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One parallel between McCarthyism and The Crucible is that immense power was given to those who accused others. McCarthy’s unsubstantiated claims ruined the lives of many people living in America, and the girls’ unsubstantiated accusations ruined the lives of many people living in Salem. Both McCarthy’s actions and the girls’ actions led to increased hostility and hysteria. In both instances, the accusers could accuse anyone they wished to accuse, and they did not have to show much or any evidence; their claims were unreliable and erratic. This is portrayed in Documents B and C. In both of these documents, accusations are thrown with no evidence, and the accusations are very inconsistent. For example, in Document C, Joseph McCarthy originally accuses 205 people in the State Department of being members of the Communist Party, but that number soon decreases to 57, increases to 81, and finally falls to 10 people. In addition, in Document B, the girls unsystematically accuse 11 people of being seen “with the Devil”, with only their testimony as evidence. Both cases illustrate the unreliability of the accusers' claims. The unsubstantiated accusations of both McCarthy and the girls in Salem ruined the lives of many innocent people. With only the testimony of the accuser, the accused was jailed and/or killed. In Document …show more content…

Joseph McCarthy was a United States Senator who gained fame through his accusations of communists in the State Department. Similarly, Abigail Williams was a character in the play, The Crucible, who gained recognition and power through her accusations of witchcraft in Salem. Both Joseph McCarthy and Abigail Williams tried to take advantage of a situation in a time of great fear by feeding the hysteria of people; they both tried to manipulate the beliefs of the common people by spreading hateful and false accusations with little or no

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In The Crucible Abigail Williams would cause trouble in salem and accuse many innocent people of witchcraft yet she was the mastermind behind it all. In that being said Joseph McCarthy in Good Night and Good Luck hid many secrets from society so he would not be indicted of his wrongdoings. McCarthy was a communist and would accuse others of being one so he would not be exposed. In both The Crucible and Good Night and Good Luck, Abigail Williams and Joseph McCarthy were secretive and would indict innocent people of crimes that were not committed.

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Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, is seen as a true piece of American Literature that presents itself at the core of McCarthyism in the bitter wake of Communists spies inside the United States. In many cases the main character of Abigail Williams is considered secondary to that of John Proctor. However, many years later, Miller writes a screenplay for the 1996 film adaptation starring Hollywood heavyweights like Winona Ryder; whose portrayal seems to allow the character of Abigail to have more room to expand. It is to my opinion that the author does this to present a more rapid and truthful motif that differs from that of the 1950 ‘witch hunt’ for communists. It is shown in the differing aspects of Abigail’s character from play to screen,

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Therefore, The Crucible and McCarthyism are related due to the false accusations and the Hollywood Ten, those falsely accused. Throughout the play, a multiplicity of people are accused of witchcraft. Of course, these accusations are false and made based of off the townspeople’s

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McCarthyism, the practice of publicizing accusation was used when punishing those convicted of witchcraft. By the end of the Salem Witch Trials, more than 200 people were imprisoned and 20 were sent to death. In the play, John and Elizabeth Proctor are a married couple that endures extreme hardships in their marriage. Throughout the course of “The Crucible”, Miller uses dictation to reveal John and

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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.

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In the Crucible those who were accused of being guilty, put on trial, and who are expected to confess. Unsuccessful to that led to death. In McCarthy, the media were not disposed to stand up to Senator McCarthy for the fear of being accused of being a Communist. Fear is the main factor playing in both situations, terror of being accused or what people might say, or think.

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In the story, The Crucible, Arthur Miller talks about the Salem witch trials in which nineteen accused witches are put to death. In Good Night, and Good Luck, Edward R. Murrow discusses the tactics and lies of Joseph McCarthy. How can we compare and contrast Joseph McCarthy and Abigail Williams? What makes them similar? What makes them different?

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Viewing The Crucible as a direct parallel to McCarthyism one could compare Abigail and Joseph McCarthy as similar factors. Abigail causes the town to turn against certain characters much like how McCarthy turns everyone against those 81 that he

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McCarthyism and The Crucible caused a feeling of hysteria and paranoia in all the people that were accused and others that were not accused. Abigail Williams and McCarthy had no evidence on the people accused except rumors that were

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Also, since The Crucible was written to be parallel to McCarthyism, the same idea is shown. The same situation can be seen in The Crucible as Arthur Miller was influenced by the events that occurred during McCarthyism. In the Crucible, anyone whose name that had been mentioned underwent an investigation and was asked to prove that they were not partaking in witchcraft. Because this task was impossible, the court made rash decisions such as sending people to jail or sentencing them to be hanged. This scenario is seen in the crucible when Rebecca Nurse is accused.

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Political Representation in The Crucible Arthur Miller, the author, wrote The Crucible in 1952 during the Red Scare, an investigation into Communist spies in the U.S. Government. A result of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, numerous citizens, including Miller, were interrogated for being accused of association with the Communist party by Senator Joseph McCarthy. The author used the Salem Witch Trials in his play to represent and criticize the search for Communist party members during the rise of McCarthyism. In The Crucible, Abigail Williams and the other “afflicted” girls compare to Joseph McCarthu and his actions in the 1950s.

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“No one man can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all his accomplices.” Is a quote by Edward Murrow that states one man can not harm an entire nation unless the people in that nation help him with the destruction. The whole town of Salem, in The Crucible, was put into a quarrel because multiple girls were calling everyone witches and all of the townspeople went along with their mischief. As Arthur Miller was writing The Crucible a belief known as McCarthyism was being spread about. The belief was that many Americans in the Congress had pro-communist beliefs.

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Miller’s purpose of The Crucible was to represent and mirror the social injustice under McCarthyism as people falsely accused each other because their fear, jealousy and solely hatred of one another. Although, around 1950-1954 the “innocent until proven guilty” clause existed, most trials and accusations were led by “guilty until proven innocent.” Despite Miller’s efforts to criticise people’s actions as

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Fueled by fear, McCarthy’s false accusations affected Arthur Miller and had him blacklisted along with several artists like his friend Elia Kazan. Miller obtained plot ideas for the book from the Salem Witch trials and the era of Mccarthyism. Miller used Mccarthyism when Abigail and her friends were able to name people guilty just with their sole distorted statement. In the Crucible the character Abigail Williams a

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