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Similarities Between Mccarthyism And The Crucible

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The Crucible was a play written by Arthur Miller and he discusses dreadful events of the witch trials that took place in Salem in 1692. Arthur Miller uses the Salem Witch Trials to represent the McCarthy Era and to show connections and parallels between The Crucible and McCarthyism. The Salem witch trials were many different hearings and prosecutions of people being accused by a group of girls of witchcraft which caused distress in the community. McCarthyism was also popular at this time. “McCarthyism represented a prolonged effort (1948–54) to expose and root out domestic communism.” (Oshinsky). This campaign against communists was carried out by Senator Joseph McCarthy. Both The Crucible and McCarthyism consisted of giving names, having no proof or evidence, and people refusing to answer questions and testify. …show more content…

“Take courage, you must give us all their names.”(Miller). In The Crucible, Reverend Hale has arrived in Salem after hearing about the witch allegations. He decided to question Betty and the others and he demanded a list of all the names of the people being accused. This scene is similar to Elia Kazan returning in April 1952 to give his testimony. “I have come to the conclusion that I did wrong to withhold these names before, because secrecy serves the Communists, and is exactly what they want.(Kazan). Elia Kazan was a well-known Hollywood director who has testified before the HUAC, but he failed to answer one question. He was asked to name the people he knew to be members of the Communists Party and he returned in April 1952 to give his

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