Witch Hunts and Communism The Second Red Scare, a string of words denoting the mass hysteria and confusion of the mid-twentieth century, has come to be closely tied with the Salem Witch Trials chronicled in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. In this tale, the pervasive fear of witchcraft demonstrates that intense pressure from others can bring out resentments and anxieties from the past. Specifically, Mary reveals that Abigail will murder her for telling the court that Abigail put the needle in the poppet, Proctor exposes to the community that he had an affair with Abigail, and Abigail slowly revealing the occurrences in the woods, emphasizing her hatred of Goody Proctor. The first instance of detestation highlighted by pressure is Mary’s anxieties towards Abigail surrounding the needle being found in the poppet. Upon being commanded by Proctor to tell the court how the needle was stuck in the poppet, Mary exclaims, “‘she’ll kill me for sayin’ that!’” (80). At this moment in the tale, it is revealed that Mary is deeply threatened by Abigail and frightened even of the idea of going against Abigail’s desires, though the girls seem to be friends. In essence, the pressure placed upon Mary Warren by those questioning her, especially Proctor, forced her to …show more content…
Ultimately, a very similar occurrence took placed in the mid-1900s, known as the Second Red Scare. Citizens of the United States were intensely scrutinized to find the roots of communism, occasionally coercing deep, long-held secrets pertaining to the communist influence. Ultimately, history repeated itself in the 1900s upon the occurrence of the Second Red Scare, once again demonstrated mass hysteria characterizing the Salem Witch
This article shows how America was when there was communism. The Crucible took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. During this time the people of the society were accused of being witches. If the people of Salem got accused for being a witch they had two choices, they would have to confess to it, tell someone elses
In times of fear and hysteria in the U.S. it is mass chaos and it only gets worse and worse. During the time of both the witch-hunt eras, whether for communist or actual witches, they prove to have many similarities between them. Both of these times were full of confusion and lying which lead to the temporary downfall of the authority at that time. Joseph McCarthy proved to be a factor in this time and add on to the chaos that was America. Arthur Miller wrote about these times in a book called The Crucible, based on the witch trial era.
One day Abigail visits the Proctor Household and sees Mary Warren who is the Proctor's servant, making a poppet. As Mary was creating the poppet she placed a needle into the doll, and Abigail twisted the context of her doing as something supernatural and evil. Abigail proceeds to stab herself with a needle and claims that Elizabeth is responsible. Shortly after the accusation Cheever and Hale visit the Proctors to investigate and search the house for a poppet or any other possessions that may be linked to witchcraft. Mid way through their search they discover the poppet with a needle protruding out of it, astonished Hale states,” Mary - you charge a cold and cruel murder on Abigail”.
Cameron Oldfield Mrs. Brincks English III 15 November, 2015 The Crucible and Red Scare Imagine being thrown in jail, blamed for something that you didn't do .The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a story about how certain propaganda and false accusations can ruin lives, just like in the case of the Red Scare. Although 1692 the Salem witch trials and the Red Scare were over 200 years apart, The similarities are striking. both trials used intimidation, fear, hatred, and false accusations to ruin innocent lives. Both trials resulted in terrible outcomes, with both ending with innocent people being put to death and shunned from society.
Stopping Panic One of America’s greatest plays is “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller. The Crucible is based off of the true events of the Salem Witch Trials, which caused mass hysteria all throughout Salem; However, it was a satire that explained the hysteria during Arthur Miller’s time known as the “Red Scare”. During this satire, he uses characters that had real-life counterparts to explain how mass hysteria, which is exaggerated and uncontrollable emotions of fear, to show how people of his day were doing the same things and how they needed to stop it before it got worse. In the play, two characters who could have stopped the hysteria that plagued Salem were Abigail Williams and Reverend Hale. One character that could have stopped the hysteria was Abigail Williams.
Communism—culminated in public hysteria over internal communist threats, efforts to contain communism, brinkmanship, advancement races, and other issues. Anything remotely socialist was marked as suspicious, and the public began to suspect not only one another but the government. Author Miller illustrates how logical fallacies create mass hysteria and cloud a society’s judgment; this is seen throughout the Salem Witch Trials in The Crucible and in times of history, such as the Red Scare. The logical fallacy called faulty causality—falsely assuming the correlation between two events—creates baseless accusations and paranoia within the public during times of crisis. In The Crucible, Abigail uses the dangers of faulty causality to deceive the public.
During the late 17th century a total of 200 people were accused of participating in witchcraft, while 19 people lost their lives to the mass hysteria. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a group of girls start a huge uproar in Salem, Massachusetts when they start screeching about Salemites being associated with the Devil. Throughout the play write, it shows the consequences of mass hysteria and how it puts people's lives in danger. Abigail Williams causes a wave of mass hysteria and because of her trickery, innocent people have died by her and the other girl’s actions, for this Abigail is the most unforgivable character in The Crucible.
This kind of hysteria caused the Red Scare, which was a period that Americans thought communists were working to destroy America. This mass fear of communism ruined people’s lives and made them turn against their own family and friends. Joseph McCarthy played an
Mary warren contributed to the hysteria because she gave Elizabeth a doll with a needle in it. This doll Abigail gave Mary to give to Elizabeth because Abigail wanted to frame Elizabeth. Abigail then stabbed a needle into herself and showed it to Reverend Parris. Reverend Hale and Cheever were sent to investigate the Proctors house, where they searched for the doll with a needle in it. Elizabeth said, “I never kept no poppets, not since I were a girl” (Miller 73).
However, during the time of McCarthyism, people suddenly believed if a person went against the government thoughts, they were a communist. Similarly, this is like a time in The Crucible when a mass amount of women were arrested for witchcraft. After Mary Warren comes home from watching the witchcraft trials, John Proctors asks if it is true if only fourteen women arrested. Instead Mary Warren replies, “No, sir. There be thirty-nine now” (Miller, Act II).
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the setting is Salem, Massachusetts during the late 1600s where the town’s pious Puritan beliefs directly influence their government. A 17-year-old girl named Abigail Williams had an affair with John Proctor, a wealthy, married man. Abigail is told by John to move on but instead, Abigail starts accusing the townspeople of witchcraft, including John Proctor’s wife Elizabeth. As this hysteria begins to rise, other people such as Thomas Putnam, a rich landowner, start to also allege Salem villagers. In this play, the author illustrates the central idea that people should not allow jealousy to control their actions.
After continuous pressuring Mary Warren replies with ‘I cannot, they’ll turn on me— “showing us the mob has driven fear into people and how Marry is afraid to tell the truth in the case everyone will turn on her and blame her. Mary’s feeble attempt to recompense backfires, so when Abigail uses the poppet to blame it on Elizabeth, making Mary feel even worse thus she agrees to go with proctor to testify against Abigail in court. Later after agreeing to go to court to support Proctor Mary is asked who is at fault and in fear replies pointing to proctor “You’re the devil’s man!” (act three, page 119). This demonstrates how the fear of the mob and the overwhelming pressure from the Abigail makes her turn from the truth.
Under the pressure of the court Mary breaks and says while pointing at proctor “My name, he want my name. ‘I’ll murder you’ he says, ‘if my wife hangs! We must go and over throw the court,’ he says!” (194). She completely changes her stance and prosecutes Proctor because she is scared of being dissent and wants to conform to everyone else.
Individuals must stand in opposition to collective injustice. By the end of the summer in 1692, twenty three innocent citizens of Salem, Massachusetts had lost their lives to the tyranny of the Salem witch hunts. By the end of the year 1956, countless U.S. citizens were victims of a second witch hunt which destroyed careers, friends, and lives. This is why there should be opposition against collective injustice. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible innocent people were getting accused and punished for witchcraft, when in fact they were not guilty.
The McCarthy hearings and the Salem witch trials accurately represent the saying, "Desperate times call for desperate measures. " In the 1950s, the McCarthy hearings tainted lives by falsely accusing those in the film industry of being associated with Communism. In the 17th century, the Salem witch trials charged innocent villagers of practicing witchcraft. Victims from the McCarthy hearings were isolated and ruined, while victims from the Salem trials were hanged and shunned.