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The Similarities Between The Scarlet Letter And The Crucible

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The Salem Witch Trial era was that of much death and punishment everywhere, not just in Salem. As it says in The Crucible, news of the accusations made its way to neighboring settlements, just as news from other settlements has made its way to Salem. “But the rumor here speaks rebellion in Andover…” (Miller 127). In The Scarlet Letter, the witch trials and witches themselves weren’t as prevalent as in The Crucible, but there were still mentions of said things. Many people were killed or sentenced to life as an outcast due to the ridiculous accusations and the way the Puritans thought. The perceptions that the townspeople of Salem had of the outcasts they deemed unworthy of socializing or being seen with were not very positive. The people refused …show more content…

Some examples of this way of thinking are in The Crucible, when the townspeople decide to hang the witches and when they outcast anyone who admits to witchcraft. This ideology is also shown in The Scarlet Letter when the town and its people sentence Hester to live a life of shame and loneliness due to her sin. They even make her wear a symbol of her sin upon her chest so she won’t forgot what she has done and neither will anyone else. “But the point which drew all eyes… was that Scarlet Letter…” (Hawthorne 51). The people of the town think that by making Hester wear the scarlet letter as a badge of shame, and that by making her live a life of solitude with no one but her daughter to keep her company, that others will learn that what Hester did is a bad thing to do, therefore, hopefully teaching others a lesson that will discourage them from doing the same thing that Hester did. The same thing applies to the hangings of the “witches” in Salem that take place in The Crucible. By hanging the accused and punishing those who admit to witchcraft, the people who run the town hope to use the sinners as an example for others and to stop the things that are happening due to “witches” by striking fear into the townspeople. This ideology of ridding the town of

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