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What Are The Similarities Between The Crucible And Salem Witch Trials

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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 …show more content…

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

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The foundation of angst and trepidation during the Witch Trials in 1692 Salem and the Red Scare of 1950’s America was not exceptionally impacted by substantial reasons, but by the mentality of the self-perceived conclusions the citizens brought forth during the two time periods, thus leading to a series of mass hysteria. Prior to the events that happened in 1692, Britain imposed a new charter in which they forced the Massachusetts Bay Colony to accept. The charter united Plymouth and Maine to form a new colony – the Massachusetts colony, and stated that church membership was no longer required for voting, for the colonists had contravened several of the charter’s rules which included basing laws on religious affiliations, for the Puritans

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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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What a Horrible World     In today 's day and age we have more technological, medicinal, societal, and worldly advancements than we did in either 1692 or 1947, but we are still just as easily corrupted by jealousy, power, and paranoia. The years 1692 and 1947 are perfect examples of prospering societies that became undermined through very similar processes. In 1629 the Salem Witch Trials and in 1947 the McCarthy Communist Trials- were both held unjustly, involving condemnation based on unfair trial practices. People desperately admitted to being a witch (1692) or to being a communist (1947) only because they didn’t want to die. Even if you were found innocent your life was virtually over because your career and livelihood had been destroyed

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Fear, it causes people to be blinded by the truth. People can’t tell right from wrong. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible to show how no one could see what was right. During the 1950’s communism was spreading throughout Europe like a wildfire, then it slowly made its way over to the U.S. This was known as The Red Scare.

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How are the Salem Witch Trials related to Arthur Miller’s The Crucible? The Salem Witch trials are both different and similar in comparison to The Crucible. Also, Arthur Miller changes some of the events and some of the details of the characters to dramatize and create character within the Salem community. The similarities between The Crucible and the Salem Witch Trials are shown broadly throughout the book. Although, the book is different in the way the characters are described and their actions, this is only used to make the fictional motives behind this event make more sense.

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People were so full of fear that they would do anything to eliminate their anxiety. The McCarthy hearings of the 1950s reenacted the hysteria of the Salem witch trials of 1692 by spreading mass fear of prosecution, creating false accusations, and blacklisting people. The Salem witch trials were considered to be America 's most notorious episode of witchcraft hysteria. Many innocent people were killed as a result of false accusations, and many other women were put through trials to determine if they were witches.

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To sum it up, beliefs in witchcraft existence, political factionalism, fraudulent accusations and ergot poisoning have caused the Salem Witch Trials which all greatly impacted the lives of the people accused, the accusers and the people around them. The trials can be examined in the ways which the madness occurred. People who experience fear will do their best to feel safe and secure regardless of causing harm to other individuals. The witch trials were an example of hysteria and how people can react when placed in desperate situations. After the unfortunate tragedy of Salem Witch Trials, it was showed the time it takes for a community to fully heal from such loss.

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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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Fear of the unknown, combined with social tensions, led to a frenzy of accusations and trials. In summary, the Salem Witch Trials were a product of not only religious zeal and economic disparities, but also the pervasive fear of the unknown. The trials serve as a haunting reminder of how collective anxiety and suspicion can drive a community to commit grave

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The Crucible was a work of fiction, by Arthur Miller, that weaved real events of the Salem Witch trials. Within the narrative of the play, adultery and jealousy lead to false accusations of the community of Salem. In relation to The Crucible, two non-fiction events that carry the same theme is the Patriot Act and McCarthyism. The Patriot act is a law that was passed after the events of the terrorist attack on September 11, 2011, and McCarthyism is the paranoia and invasive suspicion that followed suit. All three occurrences have similarities between the power of the government and the separation of the people.

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Witch-hunt has happened in America's history twice. The first time occurred in the 17th century, they named it the Salem witch trial. The Salem witch trial are the hearing of the people who have been accused of witchcraft, over 200 people were accused during this time. The red scare is a fear that is spread because of a potential rise of communism.

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The Similarities between The Crucible and McCarthyism In 2009, the Swine flu epidemic brought fear and hysteria to the United States. The new and dangerous disease spreading into the U.S. sparked a fear of becoming infected. The epidemic had become so bad the CDC had opened its Emergency Operations Center to handle the situation. Many schools in the United States offered free vaccinations once one was created.

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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.

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The Salem Witch Trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 was most defiantly a time when one could attribute “moral panic” to the deaths of 20 people who were hung for being what society deemed as witches. It was a time when Christianity was prominent and no one steered away from the biblical beliefs. The small town of Salem, where everyone knew their neighbors was stricken by the physical unnatural actions of two young girls, Abigail Williams and Betty Parris. “The two girls were known to throw fits that involved screaming, crying, crawling, destroying property and contorting themselves in ways that society seen as abnormal bizarre behavior” (Salem Witch Trials HIstory Channel, 2014). These behaviors brought about increased

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The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play about what happened during the Salem Witch Trials. It gives insight about what people had to deal with in this situation and how they handled it. The trials were basically a big test which helped figuring out whether or not people were guilty of witchcraft. This is an example of what a crucible is. In our world today we still have crucibles and even though they are different than back then, they all relate to each other because of what influence they have on people.

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