What Are The Similarities Between The Crucible And Salem Witch Trials

The worst quality in humanity is the instinct to find scapegoats—to cast blame on others for the occurrence of misfortunes. In 17th century Salem, residents lived in the constant fear of smallpox and war with the Native Americans. To subdue the fear, witch hunts were initiated, and more than a hundred people were accused of practicing witchery. After the Salem Witch Trials, people regarded the witch hunts as inane hysterias; however, 200 years later, Americans did not learn from the unjustified accusations cast in the witch trials. The Red Scare in the 1900s was the mirror image of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692, and we made the same mistake and reacted unreasonably in response to fear. Fear commenced the Salem Witch Trials and the Red Scare

However, the trials each accused went through in Salem and during Red Scare were unjust and oddly similar. In The Crucible, Abigail Williams, Betty Parris, and Tituba are accused of conjuring in the forest and when threats of hanging are administered, they confessed to witchery, cleansed themselves of the Devil, and named others associated with the Devil (Miller 42-46). Warrants were given out based on the confessions of these women. One gets the impression that these women were confessing to avoid being executed and by naming others, they felt like they were redeeming themselves in the eyes of God. Later in The Crucible, Elizabeth Proctor is arrested and accused of keeping bewitched poppets and when John Proctor defended his wife, he was questioned when the possibilities of Elizabeth keeping poppets she had as a child (Miller 96). From the way the judge handled John’s defenses, witnesses were charged guilty until proven innocent and it was extremely hard to prove someone innocent. In hindsight, one may scowl at the lack of natural rights and justice in the judicial system during Salem Witch Trials, but were the trials during the Red Scare any different from those of the Witch Trials? According to Georgakas, witnesses from the Red Scare were “expected to state that they had been misled or confused in the past and were now regretful [by] naming other[s] who had been with them in Communist organizations or at Communist functions” (Georgakas). And those accused who refused to name others were jailed or had their passport confiscated (“Auther Miller: McCarthyism”). This unjust treatment of the accused was in clear violation of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Citizens were pronounced guilty and jailed based on unsubstantial