Power can turn people into liars and make them greedy for more power which might take away some people’s freedom The Crucible took place in Salem, Massachusetts 1692 innocent people were being falsely accused of doing Witchcraft. McCarthyism took place in the 50s Wheeling,West Virginia in the era influential celebrities in the entertainment industry were particularly targeted for being communist. The Crucible and McCarthyism are similar because they both name names of people,they had no clear evidence and they didn’t testify. They are both connected because in both documents A&B they named names of people and they falsely accused people of doing things they really didn’t do. For example in Document A” I did wrong to withhold these names”
The Crucible and McCarthyism: What are the Parallels? Is it true that history repeats itself in different ways? McCarthyism and The Crucible have a lot of common despite them being in different time periods. The Crucible is a book written by Author Miller, which explained why the witch trails that took place in Salem, Massachusetts during the 1600’s. Author Miller wrote The Crucible because he got accused of being a communist during McCarthyism period.
“I have here a list of names…” is a quote that is not only spoken in history during the Salem Witch Trials, but also in fairly recent history. Joseph McCarthy used this phrase to present his list of believed communists to the government, while Abigail Williams used a similar accusation for the witches in Salem. Matter of fact, McCarthy’s accusations have been called by many “witch hunts” as an allusion to the Salem Witch hunts that occurred hundreds of years before. The Salem Witch Trials shares many similarities with McCarthyism, however, with the similarities come several obvious differences.
The main people in both The Crucible and The Red Scare also known as McCarthyism is used the witch hunts to gain power and look good in their community. For example, people stood up for themselves in both of these witch hunts. Arthur Miller who wrote the Crucible to stand up to Mccarthy about how ridiculous the communist witch hunt and was willing to stand up to the truth even though he knew he was going to get in trouble for telling the truth. Arthur Miller went to the House Committee on American Activities, “refuses to name suspected communists.” These people that stood up for themselves had punishments, “had their passports taken away, while others were jailed
In 1953 Arthur Miller took out a play called The Crucible. People started to noticed that it has some similarities to Joseph McCarthy's life. Because they both were related on some subjects. So thats why The Crucible parallels McCarthyism in three significant ways:Naming names,lack of proof and resistance.
Arthur Miller created an allegory to signify the era of McCarthyism in 1953 when he wrote The Crucible, arguing that power is often used for the wrong reasons, false accusations, and the use of fear tactics. History has often shown that power in the hands of the wrong people can be dangerous and often lead to nothing good. This is proven true in the Crucible through the girls and the church. The girls in the book were given much influence because the villagers thought that they could accurately convict those who were accursed with the devil and that is exactly what Arthur Miller saw in real life with Senator Joseph McCarthy. Americans thought that he was able to convict communists when in reality it was nothing more than guessing off of rumors.
The Crucible was based in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The book starts off with Reverend Parris finding the girls in the woods dancing. Upon finding them Betty Reverend Parris’s daughter and some of the girls become ill. Abigail Reverend Parris’s niece tells him that when he found them in the wood Betty was so frightened when Parris found her she fainted and won’t wake. With Betty and the other girls unable to wake rumors of witchcraft start around the community.
Allegory in Miller’s The Crucible and Real-Life Examples Arthur Miller’s The Crucible has been renownedly known for it’s expression of human nature when confronted with fear and the unknown. This allows for the play to develop a lot of allegories and symbolic figures that can further highlight the message the author wants to get through. These hidden meanings, when explored, can enhance the play and it’s meaning to represent something much larger than the initial perceived message. The Crucible constantly explores a theme of fear, specifically a fear of the unknown.
The crucible essay What comes to mind when you think of the red scare? The ussr? Communism? The threat of invasion by communist russia? The crucible might be one of them.
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.
Similarities that both share start with the higher authority figure. In The Crucible, the highest authority is Judge Danforth, and the highest authority in the real life situation is Senator McCarthy. Both share the act of accusing many people in their communities for a form of treason. However in Danforth’s case its a group of women for being witches, and with McCarthy, its people for being communists. Another similarity both share is the person or peoples who rebut the accu from them.
Fear, it causes people to be blinded by the truth. People can’t tell right from wrong. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible to show how no one could see what was right. During the 1950’s communism was spreading throughout Europe like a wildfire, then it slowly made its way over to the U.S. This was known as The Red Scare.
When people are placed under an intense feeling of fear, they begin to commit actions they never thought they were capable over. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a young group of girls commit witchcraft which eventually leads to the arrest of over 100 women. This is similar to a time in the 1950s when Joseph McCarthy accuses government officials of communism and that ultimately leads to hundreds of citizens losing their jobs. The Crucible reveals the similarities between The Salem Witch Trials of the 1690s and McCarthyism of the 1950s because it demonstrates how a society can be tremendously impacted by the feeling the fear.
Mass hysteria was present in both The Crucible and McCarthyism. Mass hysteria is when people went crazy because people were accused of being communists and or witches. Mass hysteria was however started by specific people in both scenarios. In Mccarthyism Joseph Mccarthy a United States Senator and in The Crucible Abigail Williams who was accused of having an affair with John Proctor her employer were the specific ones who accused people of being communists and witches. Even though the Salem witch trials happened in the late 1690s and McCarthyism in the 1950s they paralleled each other.
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.
In the play, The Crucible, Salem, Massachusetts, along with the United States during McCarthyism, is engulfed with paranoia. Although both situations include different causes, their effects are strikingly similar. For instance, throughout The Crucible, Abigail Williams is being shown repeatedly accusing innocent people of witchcraft. Her actions begin sending the small town into a panic as they throw people into jail and hang them in an effort to try and cleanse the town from any aspect of evil. Similarly, throughout 1950-1954, Joseph McCarthy falsely accused people within the United States Government of being a member of the Communist party.