Examples Of Dehumanization In The Crucible

It is commonly accepted that the acts of witch hunts and demonization of people for slightly out of place behavior or actions that took place well over two hundred years ago was appalling and socially detesteable. Yet at the same time, it is also more commonly known that history repeats itself in a vicious cycle. Acts of brutality and social ostracization similar to the witch hunts of the distant past have been seen as recent as the 20th century. In Arthur Miller’s acclaimed play, The Crucible, many instances of conflict, public revolt, and morbid consequences for insignificant occurrences, titles, and accusations. Miller’s work not only made social commentary on society’s behavior within the Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts during 1692,

In which after the daughter, of a reverend, falls ill rather mysteriously as a result of mysterious activities in the nearby woods, people in the town begin to become consumed with the idea that her ailment originates of witchcraft. After all, the daughter, accompanied by several friends and a slave, were documented to be attempting to cast spells in the woods. All the while there is conflict regarding relationships and domestic disputes, conflicts of land claim and salary, even public trials and executions. In the end of it all, no one leaves the story a victor, the town of Salem endures much calamity resulting in imprisonment and execution of many notable members of the community. Regardless of spoken or written truth, rash opinion and decisions prevailed. And in many cases, people throughout the town of Salem were afraid to tell the truth… “I cannot, they'll turn on me... I cannot, I cannot!”, (Miller Act II 427-436). The Crucible is a story of accusations being taken as truth above all other sources, regardless of what might actually

An allegory is a symbolic literary device used when the meaning of a greater, more abstract concept being conveyed within terms, characters, and events. An allegory is distinct from symbolism because an allegory is a story or tale, while a symbol is typically a singular object or thing. What makes Miller’s work an allegory, is that in order to make key commentary against the power of accusations and how they impact our lives, Miller wrote an allegory on the abhorred political practice that we know today as McCarthyism. Simply put, McCarthyism was a series of investigations and hearings prompted after Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy devised a strategy to eliminate communist infiltration within the the United States during the Cold War. The immediate connections to The Crucible become apparent when one analyzes the fact that in many if not all of these McCarthyism trials disregarded evidence or in many cases the truth all together. Meaning that the verdict in these trials, often a guilty verdict for the crime of treason, punishable by death, was administered on broad accusation alone. Many of the townspeople in The Crucible, thrive off of spreading misinformation and spreading around accusations as if they are the word of truth. These accusations spread like