...The Crucible and McCarthyism have many similarities when it comes to unjust accusations and the persecution of the innocent. What exactly is McCarthyism? McCarthyism was started and fueled by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the late 1940’s. He proclaimed and insisted that communist spies were all over the U.S. and that he was the country’s only salvation(2). This lead to a wide-spread panic across the country, which led to hundreds of people being accused with little to no proof. This panic was referred to as “The Red Scare”. What does this have to do with The Crucible? The Crucible has many similarities with McCarthyism and the Red Scare. For example, the accusations made by the young girls in the story can be compared to the accusations made...
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...One of these societies, Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, is described in the play, “The Crucible.” Written in the McCarthy era, this play highlights the injustices during the Red Scare in America. As history continues to unfold, more links can be drawn between the message of “The Crucible” and today’s discrimination. The allegorical qualities of Arthur Miller’s, “The Crucible,” relate strongly to McCarthyism, but still have relevant connections to...
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...1.McCarthyism is when you say something to somebody and accuse them of something the people will believe the accuser and not the accused because they deny the accused crime and it makes them look more guilty. An example of McCarthyism is in the Crucible, somebody would accuse somebody else of being a “witch” and the accused person denied of being a witch and then that person would lose his land and die in the same process such as john proctor. The red scare was a time period when fear of communism was spreading around and was getting more and more people of communism. Communism is the same as being called a “witch” according to the Crucible. The United States was involved in the whole red scare time period because i think that the red scare started somewhere in the United States. It affected people in america because people were being accused of being a communist and if they didn’t admit to being a communist, the people would be killed i think probably by being hung up. Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” is similar to the Red Scare/ McCarthyism because the whole situation was based on who was being accused of being what and in the Crucibles case, people were being accused of being witches and in the red scare act thing they were being accused of being communist. It is also similar because if you did not confess to being a “witch” or a “communist”, then they would take away your property and kill you. The difference between them that i noticed through the play was that...
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...The Crucible Analysis Essay Do you wanna know why the Crucible is universal and enduring 60 years later? Rhetorical question, of course not but it must be explained anyways. The Crucible teaches a lesson that we can still learn from today and it also has things in it that can be taught in school which is really fun. Not really but it still is learned because it is important. The Crucible is in the most a lesson teaching us about the horrors of the government in McCarthyism and in the case of the Crucible the court. If you don't know what McCarthyism is it is just the Crucible only during the Cold War so instead of witches people worried about communists. The Crucible is based about 250 years before McCarthyism so things like this has been happening for years. In order to learn now we must look at the past to see what went wrong and then make sure it does not happen again. But it did which is why the Crucible was written at the around the time period of McCarthyism. It was written to teach everyone what is wrong with things like this. The Crucible is also a great teacher of archetypes. This is a good reason why it is so enduring. Every character in the Crucible can be categorized into multiple archetypes. This really makes it easy for people to learn about archetypes since there are multiple examples of them in the play. One of the biggest examples of archetypes in the Crucible would be Scapegoat because everyone was blaming others to get themselves safe. Another reason...
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...jennifer lux 12/8/15 The Crucible analysis “We consume our tomorrows fretting about our yesterday”- Persius. There have been moments in history where people were too consumed in fear that they broke many of their morals and due to powerful situations people behaved differently than their normal self. A play called the Crucible was written in 1953 by Author Miller to portray the unfairness at that time due to people being accused of witches with little to no evidence and then hanged. This event was called the Salem witch trials, which took place in the province of Massachusetts Bay. This play is an allegory to the McCarthy Hearings that took place from 1950 to 1956. The McCarthy hearings occurred in 1947; President Truman ordered background checks of every civilian in service to the government due to a fear of people within the United States being a communist spy. The fear of communism intensified when a high ranked official Alger Hiss was convicted of being a communist spy. Senator Joseph McCarthy stepped in and convinced/alarm people within the U.S that there were Communist and Communist sympathizers that would try to overthrow the government. As a result, he formed a special Congressional committee to investigate Americans who were suspected of Communist activities and this movement was named McCarthyism. The Crucible is a play that is universal and enduring because it uses allegory and archetypes to teach readers...
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...simply break under the pressure to lead a life that is safe, however immoral. These people choose to take the easy road out. They choose to ignore what is morally right in an attempt to fit in with the crowd. They do what is easy, not what is right. However, some people have that strong character which allows them to go against the masses and pursue moral truth and justice always. This describes the theme of personal integrity: a theme which is present in the play The Crucible, historical events such as the McCarthyism era, and religion. In the Salem witch trials of the play The Crucible, the theme of personal integrity plays a huge role. Many townspeople are falsely accused of trafficking with the devil. If they admit to this horrific crime, their lives will be spared. However, if they refuse to admit to the lie, therefore displaying personal integrity, they will instead be sentenced to death. This is clearly a difficult decision to make, with the only options being to lie and live or to tell the truth and...
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...In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the tone of irony boats from every corner you look, this story casts a mirror onto McCarthyism and reflects the outcomes of this ironic process. The Crucible depicts the reality of the Salem Witch Trials in a time of hysteria and fear. Miller uses a past event to emphasize the effects of unnecessary fear imposed by McCarthyism, indirectly relating to the Salem Witch Trials. Miller’s, The Crucible, is one of irony in which it obliquely equates to the consequences of fear and blaming others by relating the Salem Witch Trials to McCarthyism. Abigail’s intentions regarding John Proctor are nothing if not ironic, you can see this perfectly in which Abigail acted out in a complete façade so that she could be...
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...Crucible Essay History repeats itself in many ways sometimes it will be a man making a simple mistake like a man forgetting to pick his dry-cleaning up or it can be something along the lines of people becoming paranoid and fighting and preparing for things that aren’t really there. The Red Scare of 1947 to the late 1950s is a perfect example of our nation repeating a history event from 1692, The Salem Witch Trials an event that our nation still remembers today innocent lives lost that definitely didn’t deserve it. One of the victims to the Red Scare Arthur Miller made a satire of it using “The Crucible” (A play based on the witch hunts) comparing the Red Scare to the Salem Witch Trials, he claims everything he was accused for is just as ridiculous and embarrassing to our country as the Salem Witch Trials were. In this Essay I will be comparing Arthur Miller's Crucible to the Red scare of the 1940's. There’s this Guy who basically claims our government is filled to the brim with communists and we need to weed them out, His name is Joseph McCarthy, he was born in Grand Chute, Wisconsin in 1909 and he died in 1957 on May 2nd due to Alcohol poisoning.(Joseph 1) On 9th February, 1950, at a meeting of the Republican Women's Club in Wheeling, West Virginia, McCarthy claimed that he had a list of 205 people in the State Department that were known to be members of the American Communist Party (late he reduced this figure to 57)(Joseph 1). Joseph McCarthy was a dirty man who in fact...
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...Characterization of Reverend John Hale Throughout The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses the characterization of an archetypal hero, Reverend John Hale, to reveal how when arrogant and nationalistic pride becomes involved even the most intelligent and moral man’s moral compass can be distorted. This universal truth and Hale’s archetypal characteristics were revealed by Miller to reprehend those who fell into McCarthyism and the flaws in the American society in the nineteen-fifties, which were impacts of their blinded morals. To comprehend the idea of this specific universal truth, one first must understand Hale’s characterization through Aristotle’s archetypal hero traits. The first criteria, Noble...
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...“The Crucible” The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller and was published in 1953. Arthur Miller wrote this famous play during the well known “Red Scare” when McCarthyism was first established. The similarities between the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and the Red Scare of 1950 were shown in his writing. Reading The Crucible in high schools today, educates society on the poor judgement of the 1690’s and 1950’s also putting a stop to the chance of it reoccurring in the future. From the 1690’s to the 1950’s, our leaders have made certain decisions that have greatly affected the way we think and act today. The Salem witch trials of 1692 took place in a small farming town in Massachusetts that was categorized as mostly as Puritans. Puritan religion basically opposes anything that is not modest and or proper, this is why it was a big shock when Abigail had told people she conversed with the devil. “I danced for the devil; I saw him, I wrote in his book”. When the town heard this news their fear became overwhelming and they began making...
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...The Crucible and The Salem Witch Trials both contain mass hysteria and elements of McCarthyism. Mass hysteria is defined as, “a condition affecting a group of persons, characterized by excitement or anxiety, irrational behavior or beliefs, or inexplicable symptoms of illness.” McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of treason without proper regard for evidence. During the McCarthy era many Americans were accused of being communist and became investigated and questioned before government agencies. This time period of fear and accusations caused mass hysteria within the country. The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism are similar because they both caused mass hysteria in which people accused each other of things that were not true....
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...does. Due to a perhaps pompous position of power, his attitude and demeanor come across as very stubborn. Nearing the end of the play, his mindset that any wrongdoing is punishable becomes applicable to him, and he is unwilling to consider the possibility he might have made a grave mistake. Almost ironically however, the real-life Thomas Danforth is much the opposite. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible to criticize the McCarthy hearings and the hysteria surrounding them and he used the Salem witch trails to do so; as he saw many parallels between the two. To do this, Miller portrays Thomas Danforth, who, in real life, did not even sit on the Court of Oyer and Terminer,(Linder 1) (A group dedicated to the prosecution to those accused witches) is a bitter, scrupulous, controlling old man set on keeping order, or, what he believes to be order. The McCarthy hearings were quite harsh and Miller needed a reciprocated leadership shown in the Crucible. (Lorcher 1) To do this, Miller bent the more level headed, genuine Thomas Danforth and transformed him into the domineering Judge we know in the crucible. While the McCarthy era and witch trails follow each other closely, they are not a perfect mesh. To add onto this, the parallels Miller draws are his and they are not made to be completely historically accurate as they are literary parallels and not historical. Both Danforth’s...
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...The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play written about the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. The story shows how people were accused of witchcraft through the corrupt society and killed for their supposed crimes. The time that Arthur Miller lived was filled with fear of communist infiltration into the government and accusations of people who were thought to be communists. Through his use of the Salem witch trials in The Crucible, Arthur Miller effectively illustrates the lives ruined from accusations during the Red Scare, showing the irrational way of dealing with paranoia and mob mentality leading to these accusations. The paranoia growing in people’s minds led to accusations during both the Red Scare and Salem witch trials. In the 1950s communism seemed like America’s greatest fear. The thought of communists infiltrating the American government was terrifying to Americans. With such fear of something comes paranoia of it. Because of this situation,...
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...Historically, witch-hunts are known as an unfair judgement against innocent people derived from fear. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller talks about the Salem witch trials, writing an allegory that references the communists who were being persecuted during the red scare. In fact, witch-hunts can still be compared to events that occur in modern day’s American society. With this in mind it is important to point out racial profiling, which has been increasing lately. It is known as the inclusion of racial or ethnic characteristics in determining whether an individual is considered likely to commit an illegal act, leading to the unfair targeting of its victims. Arthur Miller profits from Salem’s history to address a higher concept, the McCarthyism,...
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...The Crucible was a play off of events that were happening during the cold war called McCarthyism. During this occurrence people would quickly betray on one another based upon on a single rumor said by one another. Witch trials were a show of how when a being believes in something enough that even when a person claims to have been “embraced” by a deity of that belief they think they can see and listen to things that could not previously. Of course i'm referring to the idea that when the girls had viewed the devil that they could suddenly “see” the devil around people that he has “corrupted”. This can all be referred to McCarthyism and the odd control that it can have on people. Ideas of course not the actual McCarthyism but the idea of it....
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