...The Salem Witch Trials took place in Salem, Massachusetts during the 1690s. Mass hysteria broke out as young girls accused people of dealing in witchcraft. The accused were punished and killed for these false accusations. Eventually, the town shamefully realized what they had done. The playwright, Arthur Miller, wrote The Crucible as a display of a corrupt Puritan society as well as an allegory of modern American history. Miller demonstrates the government issues and religious conflicts of colonial and modern-day America in his play, The Crucible. Miller’s play reflects the corruption of humanity that is seen throughout American history. Puritan hypocrisy is a major focus of this work which is portrayed at the end of act one when Abigail Williams...
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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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...An Allegory for McCarthyism “Over there! There’s the commie!” was a sound that was all too common during the 1950’s, or otherwise known as the McCarthy Era. The “threat” of Communist infiltration and nuclear holocaust was at an all-time high. It was a time of fear and paranoia for everyone, and it wasn’t just from the threat of the Communists. There was a nationwide search for Communists, Communist sympathizers, and even anyone who acted suspicious. There was no requirements for an accusation, which led it to become a modern day witch hunt. This idea of the McCarthy Era being a modern day witch hunt is what countless historians, authors, and poets have tried to relate. Which means there is no surprise that Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is an allegory for the Red Scare and the McCarthy Era as well. To start off, the background of The Crucible was awfully similar to that of the McCarthyism Era, making it viable grounds for creating an allegory....
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...McCarthyism and The Crucible During the tense era of McCarthyism, “The Crucible” a book about the Salem witch trials was written and published. The Salem witch trials of “The Crucible” , were women making accusations of people participating in witchcraft. Arthur Miller the author of “The Crucible” is compared to McCarthyism because Joseph McCarthy, a senator, accused people of being communists, or having relations with communist. During the 1950s, if anyone was accused of witchcraft they would be put on trial, or anyone having confession of participating in witchcraft would be given an execution. In Act 1 of “The Crucible”, Betty is the daughter of Rev. Parris who has fell ill after participating in witchcraft with her cousin, Abigail. Abigail...
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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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...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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...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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...source of drama, Abigail Williams was altered The Crucible, a historic play, by Arthur Miller to provoke the witch trials, to develop the protagonist, John Proctor, and to draw parallelism McCarthyism. Abigail, at the age of 17, who is 5 years older than the historical Abigail, was the main accuser in the witch trials. According to the Shmoop Editorial Team, “Abigail is vengeful, selfish, manipulative, and a magnificent liar...She has an eerie sense of how to manipulate others and gain control over them”(n.p). In regards to their remark towards Abigail, we can infer that her personality caused the entire witch trials in the play. Arthur Miller also had to alter Abigail’s real age in order to match her nasty personality and to make her...
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..."The Crucible" Hanging Ending? "The Crucible" was a 1953 play written by Arthur Miller that focuses in on Salem Massachusetts in the breaking point of the 1690's. This work was written to not only inform but to demonstrate the hard times and wrong doings of the Salem witch trials. Miller wrote the play to show the people McCarthyism in its full depth. Having Miller speak his voice in the form of a play write he rose some red flags for many other Authors and pushed them to make works about the issue. Let's just take a look into some of the major discussion topics that make Crucible the great work it is today. My initial thoughts and reactions after finishing "The Crucible" were grief and I felt cheated.It ends completely when John Proctor (our protagonist) is hanged publicly (Miller 1073). John Proctor was a simple and humble man that made one mistake and it haunted him until the day of his death. All of this being said Proctor fits perfectly into Aristotle's concept of being a tragic hero because Proctor is haunted throughout the whole play about one mistake he made, this being the affair with Abigail Williams. Us as...
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...scare led to many people fearing everyone else, thinking of them as Communist. In the Salem Witch Trials, witchcraft haunted the village much like during McCarthy era, Communism haunted America. During the McCarthy era and the Salem Witch Trials, people became so scared of accusations of witchery or Communism that they proceeded to try almost anything to keep themselves out of harm. The Crucible shows a symbolism of McCarthyism in the 1950’s In the beginning of The Crucible, flaws in the Puritan religion shine through Parris. Parris, too drawn up in himself, worried only about his reputation, so when Abigail won’t tell him what happened he yells to her, “I have sought here three long years to bend these stiff-necked people...
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...In the 1950s, America was involved in a Cold War with the Soviet Union, and the U.S. government was deeply concerned with national security. Some federal agents, had been convicted as spies. As a result, Americans became suspicious of plots, treason, and Communism at home. It was in this atmosphere that President Truman allowed Joseph McCarthy, a junior senator from Wisconsin, to lead the interrogation of alleged spies. But as we look, there’s a lot of similarities between the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthyism such as Innocent people were accused of things they didn’t commit, They both had mass fears that happened to them such as worshipping the devil and witches and the other was communism accused all immigrants being communist which made U.S not trust anyone, and lastly Both villains down fell and eventually killed themselves....
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...in the 1600’s A. Puritanism B. Salem Witch Trials III. America in the 1950’s A. Communism B. Joseph McCarthy IV. McCarthyism A. McCarthy Trials (HUAC) B. Blacklisting C. Elia Kazan D. Arthur Miller V. The Crucible A. The Summary B. The theme VI. The Allegory A. Danforth and the HUAC B. Danforth and Joseph McCarthy C. Elia Kazan and Abigail Williams VII. The conclusion The Connection The Crucible written by Arthur Miller has a symbolic meaning. It is an allegory, “a story in which people, things, and events have a symbolic meaning, often instructive.” (Agnes 17). The setting, the Salem witch trials of the 1600’s is similar to the McCarthy trials of the 1950’s. The people, the events, the details relate to one another. Miller purposely wrote his story to instruct the fact that the mentality of the people in the 1950’s was no different than the mentality of people in the 1600’s. In the 1600’s people followed a strict religion known as puritanism. The Puritans believed they were sent by God to purify the world of sin and evil. Because of this they believed they were superior to others. Consequently, when they did sin, they tended to feel guilty and blame others for their faults. This blame and guilt led to one of the most fearful times in America. The Salem witch trials happened during the 1600’s and at a time where everyone was supposed to live a life of pureness. The people from the Salem witch trials whom named names were quickly disliked in...
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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 is an allegorical tale of McCarthyism because of the similarities between the two events. Arthur Miller tries to convey the witch trials to the anti-communist trials in 1950. The 1692 Witch Trials were people accused of witchcraft without any real evidence. They relied on the words of little girls that in reality were trying to keep themselves from getting in trouble. Innocent people were accused and no one had really been a victim of witchcraft. In 1950 when McCarthyism, as it was named by Senator Joe McCarthy, became part of this time period. People were being accused of communism without any real evidence. They were only relying on someone else to tell them who was to blame. Abigail Williams was to blame for the girls to accuse...
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...The Crucible Essay “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller is based on witch trials in Salem 1692. “The Crucible” was written because of McCarthyism which started in 1950 and ended in 1954. Senator Joe and his campaign accused US government and other organizations of communist. Many people lost their job because of McCarthyism. McCarthyism and witch trials in Salem of 1692 are both similar events. Many people had their reputation damaged because of false accusation. In “The Crucible” we see John Proctor character go from being bad to an heroic character. He is introduced to us as a adulterous man, but in the end of the play he is represented as a heroic man. Abigail and her friends start to accuse people of witchcraft. The who village goes crazy about witchcraft. John Proctor decides to go to Salem and talks to Abigail by himself to see what all this mischief is about. Abigail tells John Proctor they are just acting silly and it all sport. Abigail and John talk back and forth and this is when we find out what...
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