Reasons Behind The Crucible Arthur Miller’s main purpose in writing The Crucible was to show the similarities between the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy Trials and to warn against government propaganda. At the time that The Crucible was published, America had a huge fear of communism. Anyone accused of having ties with the communist party was shunned. It much resembled the Salem Witch Trials in how the government, or leader of the time, used fear against the people to gain power. For example, Joseph McCarthy can be compared to Reverend Parris in how they both lead the people into the belief that there were intruders in their mists that had plans to sabotage the community. The Salem Witch Trials accusing others of a feared crime showed definite evidence that mass hysteria was to blame. Salem was a religious settlement, following Puritan beliefs (Miller, 6). A large fear for everyone in Salem was the touch of the Devil (Miller, Arthur). According to Puritan beliefs, if a man or woman was touched by the Devil he would convince them to do witchcraft. Once word was mentioned the Devil had possibly touched Salem, the fear spread. Salem was a small settlement, every settler knew one another (Miller, Arthur). And when there were whispers of witchcraft, the whispers became loud and public …show more content…
Joseph McCarthy insisted communist spies were holding governmental positions when he discerned he could control the public with fear (Association, The Independence Hall). Reverend Parris, along with other members of the church holding high positions, insisted witchcraft was to blame for the young girls’ actions (Miller, Arthur). Both of these examples involved a situation where a member of the community that people trust used the power of their position to persuade and command the people. The weight of their opinion was abused to keep their high
Relations between Religion and the 1690’s In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is about hysteria that describes how the characters created social panic to ruin their neighbor’s life. The characters in the play accuse each other of witchcraft in order to protect themselves from getting in trouble. The author’s purpose in writing The Crucible was to reveal the importance of religion because the characters are judged based on the actions that they make. When the people in the town make a mistake, religion is their first sought out as a cause.
The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, reenacts the events of The Witchcraft Trials of Salem in seventeenth-century Massachusetts, an event that many people were labeled witches to which were prosecuted. Within the community, it was alarming that anyone can be convicted with just an accusation. This was similar to McCarthyism, an event during the 1950s initiated by Joseph McCarthy where many people were accused with severe consequence. Throughout The Crucible, it illustrates examples of McCarthyism because people were biased on how they assume one's guilt.
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible was written when Joseph R. McCarthy sprung forward with a list of so-called communists in our government. This was an action that helped create the red scare throughout america, in which many would be accused of communism with little proof. Miller showed that by writing what's seen as a metaphor for a modern day witch hunt. His story gives us a good chance to know the characters with rich text allowing deeper analyzation of them. Many become personally affected in which we can see following each ACT.
“No one man can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all his accomplices.” Is a quote by Edward Murrow that states one man can not harm an entire nation unless the people in that nation help him with the destruction. The whole town of Salem, in The Crucible, was put into a quarrel because multiple girls were calling everyone witches and all of the townspeople went along with their mischief. As Arthur Miller was writing The Crucible a belief known as McCarthyism was being spread about. The belief was that many Americans in the Congress had pro-communist beliefs.
Between 1692 and 1693, in Salem Village, Massachusetts, the Salem witch trials were taking place. In the event, many were accused of witchcraft and some were even executed. This event had left many curious as to what caused the people to accept witchcraft and treat it as a crime. To explain the trials, Paul Boer and Stephen Nissenbaum wrote the book Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft in which they analyzed and broke down key components of the witch trials.
it’s a lose-lose situation. Things like politics, religion, imaginations, and fear of people were just some of the main factors of what aided people into believing that Satan was upon the town of Salem. They believed that the humans were with devil and doing as he said which in turn gave them the power to harm others. One girl named Tituba was trying to save herself by confessing to witchcraft.
When Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible, it was during the era of McCarthyism in postwar America. Artists, creators, and people from all walks of life were being accused of conspiring with Soviet Russia and spreading Communism throughout the United States. These citizens often lost their jobs and had their lives destroyed because of the aggressive accusations coming from the US Government and those who thought its cause just. Similarly, during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, many innocent civilians were hanged because of their suspected connection to Satan. During both of these eras, people rightfully feared that even their closest friends and neighbors would turn them in due to pressure from authority.
Even with the play’s puritan disguise Miller was still sent on trial for suspicion of communism. If “The Crucible” had been written at another time it probably would not have gained much interest and there would not have been something to bring people to the realization that McCarthy’s accusations and methods were really somewhat uncalled for. Both the Salem Trials and McCarthyism were cause by the spread of something that created fear and paranoia and allowed chaos and revenge to take
The main reason that the Salem witch trials were relatively well-known was largely due to the horror of what could happen in a society; the hanging of many innocent people. The broader picture of the Salem Witch Trials tells us more than the actual event, the Salem Witch trials contextualize two main ideas; the changing role of women and the Great Awakening. The role of women was very rapidly changing in the colonies, and the Witch Trials were society’s best efforts to stop the women. The women was supposed to be caretaker of the home and the children, when women challenged this idea by owning property and not marrying, they became easy targets for others. Especially due to the movement of Indians,the actions of some eccentric women, and a general fear of outsiders, this lead to the witchcraft accusations.
People was just finding a reason for their bad luck. Because the people did not find a good reason, their beliefs came out and people started thinking about the witchcraft in Salem.
There are many reasons that the people of Salem were convinced that there were witches among them. People have always believed in magic. Even today there are magicians and superstitious people. Some theories include mental illnesses, the church, and greed being at fault. The church is included simply because it was thought to not be holding the same control over the parishioners anymore.
The times back then were terrible. The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1953 about The Salem Witch Trials of 1692.McCarthyism was the “witch hunt” for the communist in 1953.the parallels between The Crucible and McCarthyism are naming names,lack of proof ,and reststance. The first reason they are parallel is because of naming names. Hollywood director Elia Kazan went in front of the HUAC twice. The first time he did not confess and names.
Scapegoating: Taking Heat From Someone Else's Flame In an interview on Faith and Religion with Bill Moyers from PBS, Margaret Atwood once said, “Under stress, society will always scapegoat a person or a group of people.” This belief is shown in the texts The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the cartoon “It’s okay -- We’re hunting Communist” by Herb Block, and her own poem “Half Hanged Mary”.
Throughout history the fear of corruption and change has compelled people to go to drastic measures to prevent it. The Crucible, a play by arthur Miller, is set in an environment of religious citizens who fear that the devil and witchcraft will corrupt their society. Much like The Crucible, McCarthyism caused the citizens in America to fear corruption of the government by communism. Arthur Miller used his play the crucible as a direct response to McCarthyism and through this play Miller writes about the Salem witch trials during the McCarthy period to comment on how history repeats itself. The social and political factors in The Crucible resemble those in America during the red scare and McCarthyism.
As time has passed, throughout history, during different periods of time there are parallels. There are three eras that we are focussed on, where there are three types of people during each era. The three different eras that we’re focusing on, are The Salem Witch Trials (1600s), The McCarthy Era (1950s), and Today (2000s); the three types of people are the people who are the reasons why there’s accusations towards the accused, the accused, and finally the accusers. In The Crucible, or during the Salem Witch Trials, the person that’s the reason why characters were accused is John Proctor. The accuser in the play, who decides to point fingers at everyone, is Abigail Williams.