The Crucible is a playwright of the Salem witch trials that was written by Arthur Miller as an allegory for McCarthyism in the 1950s. Allegations from the characters in the Crucible very closely related to the claims made by Senator Joseph McCarthy. Both situations caused mass hysteria that contributed by the people of Salem and McCarthy. The accusations of McCarthy caught the attention of many people and the US Federal government. Communism during this time was frightening because the US was apart of a cold war with the Soviet Union. Communists in a critical area of the state allowed the Soviets to gain secret information about atomic weaponry and US government political strategy. The hysteria grew as accusations from McCarthy were investigated …show more content…
The townsfolk pressed young girls to confess who in the town was involved in the witchcraft. They named three people who eventually were hanged along with 16 others.
This fear arose on February 9, 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy, spoke, “Today we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between communistic atheism and Christianity. The modern champions of communism have selected this as the time. Moreover, ladies and gentlemen, the chips are down, they are truly down” (McCarthy 191). These effects of fear led to trials and investigations of the accused creating the second red scare in US history.
Mass Hysteria: Arthur Miller wrote the play, The Crucible in the 1950s, right in the middle of when the McCarthyism era was taking place. Miller wrote about the Salem Witch Trials to hint at the theme of mass hysteria that was occurring with McCarthyism at the time. The witch trials of The Crucible closely resemble what McCarthy did by accusing many people. In The Crucible, the people feared witches and charged innocent people because of the hysteria. With McCarthyism, the people concerned communism and accused innocent people in hopes of destroying it. The mass hysteria included in both situations left the population curious about their decisions in government and
The Parallels between Crucible/McCarthyism McCarthyism is seen to be the modern day Crucible. The Crucible and McCarthyism are somewhat very involved with fear, false convictions, and punishment. The book Crucible was written by Arthur Miller who was one of the people supported and called upon by the HUAC committee. The HUAC is a committee of people trying to find individuals disloyal to the government or their way of order. The HUAC paved the way for Joseph McCarthy while allowing the Wisconsin Senator to be at the top of almost all household conversations.
The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism share many similarities such as people being accused of things with no proof, people were put on trial for false accusations, and many innocent people were killed. One similarity between McCarthyism and the Salem Witch Trials is that people were being accused of being something that they were without solid proof, The Salem Witch Trials being witches and McCarthyism being communists. As shown in The Crucible, during the Salem
During this time Americans feared the invasion of Communism. The Soviet Union was growing in power. Americans began to feel that they were surrounded by a Communist threat. Joseph McCarthy, U.S Senator, made claims that there are more than 200 “card carrying” members of the government living amongst the people. Just like the girls in the Crucible the girls made claims that certain men and women were witches they didn’t have proof either.
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.
Hysteria in Salem The Crucible is a play written by American author, Arthur Miller, in 1953. It is a somewhat fictional play about the Salem Witch Trials. Miller wrote it as an allegory to the Red Scare, the promotion of fear of a potential rise of communism. Miller himself was blacklisted for refusing to testify in front of the HUAC, a committee that was created to investigate any person who might be a communist.
The play is about a city, Salem Massachusetts, in 1692. Written by Arthur Miller, who identified with and then inspired during the Cold War to make sense of what Joseph McCarthy and other politicians persisting. Joseph McCarthy, Republican U.S. Senator, represent among many who spoke of fear of communism, eventually taking over the United States. He began accusing many of being communists. This reflects in The Crucible by Abigail Williams and the other girls in the city claiming that other women there who occupied with the Devil and supposedly practicing witchcraft.
People were terrified of communism spreading to the United States, so when accusations started floating around everyone would believe them. McCarthy accused people of communist behavior, although many were falsely accused, no one knew better than to think they were guilty because of how scared they were of communism spreading. This resembles how certain characters were accused of witchcraft in The Crucible. The Red Scare caused nationwide hysteria just how the Salem Witch Trials caused hysteria to the people of Salem.
The Soviet Union was on the verge of a nuclear war, so McCarthy put fear in everyone because no one had any idea who was a communist and who was not. He made everyone afraid to trust people, even the friends other had. They were afraid that they would be accused
In the Crucible those who were accused of being guilty, put on trial, and who are expected to confess. Unsuccessful to that led to death. In McCarthy, the media were not disposed to stand up to Senator McCarthy for the fear of being accused of being a Communist. Fear is the main factor playing in both situations, terror of being accused or what people might say, or think.
McCarthyism period took place over the years The Crucible has been written and significantly impacted Arthur Miller’s thoughts while writing the book. The Crucible was seen as a modern-day witch hunt story in the McCarthy period. McCarthyism means the practice of publicizing accusations of political disloyalty or subversions without any evidence. Joseph R McCarthy made false accusations while being senator and charged people for being communism. Both McCarthyism and The Crucible by Arthur Miller are connected because paranoia is evident and innocent people are accused.
McCarthyism ended not to pose any real threat to the United States security, and the Salem witch hunts ended up to be all made up and found untrue. Both events grew in paranoia and destructiveness because they all stemmed off of some rumors they grew into huge problems. The Salem witch hunts intertwine with ideas of McCarthyism, since they both have so much in common with each other that in handily inspired Arthur Millers The Crucible. Without McCarthyism, Millers play most likely would have never happened, considering he would not have been inspired by anything else to write the
Madailein McLenna Connors English 11 4B 13 January 2016 Tit For Tat Written in 1952, Arthur Miller wrote a play known as The Crucible as an analogy to the strike the senator was putting on all the communists soon after World War II. Arthur used the Salem Witch Trials in the 1690’s to show that the same tragedies and sentences that befell people during the McCarthyism trails. Arthur used the Salem Witch Trials as a metaphor to draw national attention towards the doings and executioners of the McCarthyism propaganda. The innocent people during the McCarthyism trials relate to the situation a character known as John Proctor undergoes in the play.
Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953. Miller wrote this because of his communist “witch hunt” situation. Miller had ties with communist and was suspected of it. He was summoned to the House of Un-American activities because of his connections, by Joseph McCarthy. Miller was condemned for 30 days without any evidence to support that he had any connections with communists.
The Crucible is a story by Arthur Miller this story was released during the Mccarthyism era and is written to relate what is going on during Mccarthyism time and compared to what had happened during the time of the Salem witch trials. The setting or the crucible will impact the characters, the plot and the tone of the story. The setting of The Crucible affected the characters because during this period of time Salem Massachusetts was a Puritan colony. The Puritans were very strict people, for example on page 1154 of Arthur Miller's The Crucible Paris the town's Minister threatens to beat his slave Tituba “ You will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to death Tituba” that statement says that the fact that Parris is going to whip Tituba to death if she doesn't do what he says and confess that he is willing to kill anyone who does not follow the rules. Another
Arthur Miller constructs his play upon the famous Salem witch trails. Miller's Crucible was written in the early 1950s. Miller wrote his drama during the brief reign of the American senator Joseph McCarthy whose bitter criticized anti- communism sparkled the need for the United States to be a dramatic anti- communist society during the early tense years of the cold war. By orders from McCarthy himself, committees of the Congress commenced highly controversial investigations against communists in the U.S similar to the alleged Salem witches situation. Convict communists were ordered to confess their crime and name others to avoid the retribution.