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Salem in the crucible
Salem in the crucible
The red scare and comformity
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Salem in the crucible
Salem in the crucible
The red scare and comformity
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
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.
The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller, was published on January 22, 1953. This play was based on the 1692 Salem Witch Trials. He used the 1692 Salem Witch Trials as an allegory to show the similarities between the 1692 Trials and the 1950’s Red Scare and how hysteria tears apart a community. In The Crucible, the mass hysteria, imaginary fear/anxiety, of witchcraft uncontrollably spread into the Salem community leading to many innocent deaths. This draws a clear parallel to the 1950’s Red Scare where the scare for communists spread through the United States of America.
The Red Scare is a lot like what happened a few weeks ago in a Europe airport. There was a terrorist attack on the Brussels airport, and it killed at least 30 people and wounded 230 others. It was witnessed by a cab driver and anyone who had been there when the attack happened. There is a suspect held in custody. The red scare killed at least 2 people.
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 Red Scare during the 1920’s caused many Americans to change their views on foreign policy by making them more cautious of the new settlers in the country. Because many of the views of the immigrants were much different than that of an average American they were definitely easier to accuse for crimes, and seemed to be much more suspicious now. In 1921 two Italian immigrants we e convicted for murder and executed in 1947; it was only till after they died that they were proven not guilty. “Because of the circumstances of the case and the widely held belief that the pair were innocent, the case is still cited by many as evidence of the excesses of the Red Scare and the rampant hostility and suspicion of immigrant that characterized the 1920’s”
In a news article published during the Red Scare, the author describes the Communist red flag as symbolizing “defiance of law, order, and constitutional government. It is an insult to the stars and stripes.” It also states, “There is no room in this country for any flag but our own.” (source) The article goes on to say that the federal government must do whatever it takes to eradicate any forms of communism.
‘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.
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.
It is against god and being look at as being possessed by the devil to possess and act upon others cruelly. During the time, The Crucible by Arthur Miller was published, the Red Scare was coming to an end. It was a case of communism within the government of the time that reflected upon Miller's book. The government of the town was ran by the judge, one person, who had everyone talking in his ear. However, only the people of his board he believed and took pride in their word.
While many hoped the end of WWI would mark a return to normal life for Americans, but the war’s end brought only another crisis: the Red Scare. Though the anti-German hysteria caused by the war had subsided, Americans were quickly swept up in wave of anti-Russian paranoia after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. Citizens were suspicious and fearful of any signs of Russian spies, communist ideas or anarchistic statements. The American government was no less afraid, establishing an “anti-radicalism” division of the justice department, which would later become the Federal Bureau of Intelligence (Pearson Prentice Hall). Several States even passed "anti-revolution" legislation which prohibited anarchistic advocacy.
The plot models a situation similar to a problem that existed during Miller’s lifetime. The play was written during the Red Scare, when people were being wrongly accused of spreading Communism throughout the United States. The Crucible
The Crucible, is a story of mayhem, deceits, and riot. It is a classic example of how lust and vengeance affects the reality in which we find ourselves in. In The Crucible, the desire for revenge and the resulting spreading panic led to many innocent deaths. It is written to mirror a world where the fear of communism is so widespread - that citizens are arrested on no-solid grounds, and the disruption of daily life and death are prevalent. In short it is a clear example of McCarthyism – or making accusations without the proper regard for evidence.
The Crucible was written as an allegory for McCarthyism in the United States during the 1950’s. People accuse those who are different out of fear and misunderstanding and are not challenged out of fear for being next. Fear is one of humans most powerful emotions. Fear is the reason for hatred, making people do the unthinkable.
In particular the play focuses on the accusation of several people as associating with witchcraft rather than suffer severe and inevitable punishment for their actions. These inconsistencies and the extreme behavior that results due to the upbringing of excess fear is a parallel of the time period in which McCarthyism is based upon. In the 1950’s, McCarthyism produced an excess of paranoia that could relate to the plot of The Crucible because Americans often turned in their peers in hopes to
In the Crucible, fear, hysteria, and revenge are the most important elements where fear spreads around the whole village. Hysteria involving witchcraft would end up with many innocent people killed. With many false accusations of a long held grudge with another villager would kill others they would have problems with. Revenge would later involve the slaughter of another bad blood of another villager. “God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat.