ipl-logo

The Salem Witch Trials In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

642 Words3 Pages

In 1692 two hundred people were victims of witchcraft. Hundreds of years later in 1952 even more people fell to McCarthyism. Arthur Miller, an American playwright, wrote The Crucible to demonstrate how history was beginning to repeat its self, Like for instance in the Salem witch trials people were being accused with no evidence, and during the McCarthy Trails it was the same thing, there was no evidence to show that people were actually communist. The McCarthy Trials were and unfortunate series of events; however, Miller uses the Salem Witch Trails to connect the events through setting, main events or parts, and lastly through characters. In the 1950s Americans feared Communism was approaching. The Soviet Union was becoming more and more powerful everyday, and the thought of a nuclear war was in the back of everyone’s mind. Some European countries were …show more content…

The victims were expected to name names of those who were part of the Communist Party, if one failed to do so they were penalized for disobeying. In act three of the crucible those who were accused were put on trial, the court had already assumed they were guilty. The accused was asked to name the names of people who were working for the devil. If the accused gave names they were spared, however, if one failed the accused would be sentenced to death. Another example would be during the McCarthy Trails Jospeh McCarthy made claims against people in the United States government that Communism was infiltrating the US, he had no proof. During the Salem Witch Trails the girls made claims against the townspeople about witches infiltrating Salem, they had no proof either, just stories. Both examples are connected to McCarthyism because one, people were penalized for not naming names, and two there was no evidence to support the ridiculous accusations made by paranoid

Show More
Related
671 Words | 3 Pages

Miller wrote a play, The Crucible, to express his grievances against McCarthy and his followers (Howard, Amy). The Crucible uses the Salem Witch

Read More
690 Words | 3 Pages

In the 1940s, America was hysterical over communism with McCarthyism everywhere. Author, Arthur Miller felt that the situation had many similarities to the Salem Witch Trials. In both the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism- fear, hysteria, and danger were common. Miller used his play, The Crucible, as an allegory for McCarthyism to tell one story with an even deeper meaning. Miller stated, “Paranoia breeds paranoia, but below paranoia there lies a bristling, unwelcome truth, so repugnant as to produce fantasies of persecution to conceal its existence.”

Read More
631 Words | 3 Pages

Mccarthyism vs Salem Witch Trials “Today we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between communistic atheism and Christianity.” (Joseph McCarthy). McCarthyism is the practice of claiming without sufficient evidence that another person has committed treason ("McCarthyism" lines 1-2 ). During the Salem witch trials, the term Mccarthyism could be used accurately due to the fact that hundreds of people were imprisoned and accused of witchcraft with little to no evidence.

Read More
807 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
532 Words | 3 Pages

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

Read More
1308 Words | 6 Pages

From Salem to McCarthy: How Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" highlights the dangerous consequences of fear and political hysteria. McCarthyism and the Salem witch trials are two significant events in American history, separated by over 200 years. However, they share many similarities in terms of their impact on American society and culture. Both events involved accusations of wrongdoing without sufficient evidence, leading to the persecution of innocent people. In the Salem witch trials, people were accused of practicing witchcraft, while in McCarthyism, people were accused of being communists.

Read More
423 Words | 2 Pages

Arthur Miller wrote the play “The Crucible”, during the “Red Scare” era. The “Red Scare” era, also known as the communist scare, was a time period where communists were often unjustly accused of plotting against the Government. Mass hysteria ensued involving these communists and many trials were had regarding these supposed “criminals”. Senator Joseph McCarthy, who accused anyone and everyone of being a communist or communist-sympathizer, single-handedly lead this hysteria. This label cause some to lose their job, have their homes vandalized, and even worse threats on their life.

Read More
608 Words | 3 Pages

In history there have been many major events that have shaped the times we live in. Two of the major events of our time are the "witchunts" of the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism. The Crucible is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a drama and fictional story of the Salem Witch Trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692-1693. Miller wrote the play as a parable for McCarthyism, when the United States government ostracized people for being communists.

Read More
906 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
1257 Words | 6 Pages

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.

Read More
643 Words | 3 Pages

The Salem Witch Trials in 1692, and the Fear of Communism in the 1950’s McCarthyism involves the practice of making accusations or subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence. In the town of Salem, Massachusetts the majority of the ladies in salem could've gotten arrested for the threat of witchcraft but there’s no evidence placed on them that’s fully charged. “Giles: I will not give you no name, I mentioned my wife’s name once and I'll Burn in hell long enough for that. I stand mute. Danforth:

Read More
719 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
805 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel the Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the small town of Salem, Massachusetts wreaked havoc on those who were thought to have practiced witchcraft. The year 1692 was a bad one for the strict and Puritan town. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft and 20 were executed. Though not all characters in this novel were based on a single person, each portrayed the lives of many during the horrific trials. The story of John Proctor, one of the main characters in the Crucible, was dealt a bad hand and went through a torturous trial just to have a fatal outcome.

Read More
800 Words | 4 Pages

The Salem Witch Trials has developed its own reputation. Some people think that it was a good representation of older history and how it has helped our justice system develop. Others think that along with it being a good history lesson, the trials were also gave early settlers the embarrassing title of ignorance and selfishness. The play The Crucible shows us that the court was ruled by two things, The Bible and the value of people giving “their word”.

Read More
459 Words | 2 Pages

McCarthy unlawfully accused American citizens of being Communist without substantial evidence. Senator McCarthy used his authority to spread anti-Communist hysteria across the nation in order to further his political career (“McCarthyism”). Thus proving the Second Red Scare was based upon hysteria and that Communism posed no real threat to American politics. The third example that proves the Second Red Scare was based upon hysteria not legitimate political threats is the investigations of the Loyalty Review Board. “By mid-1950, when more than 4 million people, actual or prospective employees, had gone through, the [Loyalty Review] boards had… dismissed or denied employment to 378… None of the discharged cases led to discovery of espionage” (“Anticommunist Hysteria”).

Read More

More about The Salem Witch Trials In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

Related Topics

Open Document