ipl-logo

Fear Of Mccarthyism In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

1152 Words5 Pages

People will do anything to stay alive. The things people will do to survive exist at their clearest during the 1950s with McCarthyism on the rise. McCarthyism, otherwise known as the Red Scare, began when senator Joseph McCarthy accused anyone who was a left-wing “loyalist” risk of being a communist. The threat of losing everything in life; if the case escalated that included taking a llast breath. Arthur Miller sums this up beautifully in a quote describing his experience during McCarthyism, “The more I read into the Salem panic, the more it touched off corresponding images of common experiences in the fifties: the old friend of a blacklisted person crossing the street to avoid being seen talking to him; the overnight conversions of former …show more content…

Accusations during this time equate to someone putting pause on life as everyone else continued on with theirs. The great fear of this accusation lead to acts of hysteria. Those accused would do anything to get out of it, even if it meant pinning the blame on someone else whom they know to be innocent. These events inspire Arthur Miller to write “The Crucible” to share his experiences after the government would ban him from entering the United …show more content…

Such as this conversation in “The Crucible” shows. Proctor asks Mary how many people the jail has arrested since the first day of accusations only two weeks before.“‘Mary She halts. Is it true? There be fourteen women arrested?’ ‘No sir. There be thirty-nine people now-’” (Miller 1125). This quote, taken from “The Crucible” just after the trials begin, this shows how quickly things crumble under the influence of fear and paranoia and soon turn to hysteria, blaming everyone who they felt fit their suspicions. Mass hysterics follow the paranoia, quickly everyone launches into a frenzy, confess witchcraft and blame someone else, their only way out. But sometimes, mass hysteria looks different. In this quote Burbano, a victim and survivor of the Pulse shooting, shows how quickly the hysteria took over. “In the confusion of the dark, packed club, people dropped to the ground and hid in bathrooms. Many started to run for the exits, grabbing friends and strangers along the way. “I don’t remember screaming. I don’t even remember breathing,” Burbano told ABC News “I just remember dragging my best friend down”” (Zambelich). This statement from an interview with one of the survivors of the Orlando Pulse shooting perfectly highlights how adrenaline affects the body and how during spats of mass hysteria the body tries its hardest just to survive. This becomes clear throughout history in places such as England during the plague.

Show More
Related

  • The Effect Of Fear In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

    188 Words  | 1 Pages

    Think for one moment, you’re in a situation where you need to make a decision that you have no idea of what the future is going to bring you. Most people tend to have fear when it comes to situations like this. A better understanding is that fear can be inflicted into the mind of individuals and severely affect them and manipulate them . This might seem unusual but, this reason states otherwise. In the play “The Crucible” the author, Arthur Miller, implies that fear can have a dramatic effect on society.

    Read More

  • How Does Arthur Miller Present Deception In The Crucible

    857 Words  | 4 Pages

    Arthur Miller's The Crucible's portrayal of the accusations leading to the demise of any convicted being shows the reader that humans are inherently accusatory, and will do anything to ease blame from ourselves, no matter how outlandish the claim. This treatment of fellow man can only be equated to that of the Red Scare during the Cold War years. The Crucible was published between 1952 and 1953, in the heart of the Cold War, where Miller wrote The Crucible while under stress of Russian engagement. Miller's portrayal of deception is well conceived in the novel, and ties in directly with the deception and espionage-like treatment of people during the Red Scare. Miller also sheds light upon the effects of saving oneself by conviction of another.

    Read More

  • The Second Red Scare

    936 Words  | 4 Pages

    The 1950s harbored one of the largest witch hunts in world history, the second Red Scare. This brutal political movement targeted Communists, Socialists, and members of subversive groups, physically and socially maiming those citizens. Led by Joseph McCarthy, innocent members of society were figuratively “burned at the stake” in public trials and accused them of Communism and espionage. McCarthy’s ruthless tactics sparked the development of “McCarthyism,” which today refers to any unfounded accusation of a person with immaterial evidence. The second Red Scare is comparable to Salem Village, Massachusetts where the original witch hunt began, based off of mass hysteria, just like the Red Scare.

    Read More

  • The Cause Of Mass Hysteria In The United States

    870 Words  | 4 Pages

    Mass hysteria has plagued society for centuries, whether through religious, cultural or medical reasoning. Even society today goes through phases of fear of the unknown. Throughout history, mass hysteria has taken root at specific points in civilization and is usually caused by a tragedy or some form of cultural acceptance. Usually this fear is mandated by the leader of a particular group, and the majority of the group volunteers to isolate the minorities of the group. This is used in order to make themselves believe that they have solved the issue, while in reality all they’ve done is found a scapegoat.

    Read More

  • Essay Comparing The Crucible And Mccarthyism

    906 Words  | 4 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Essay On The Crucible

    630 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shawn Jande Ms. Clancy American Literature B3 15 November 2015 The Crucible Analytical Essay Imagine, being accused of a crime you didn’t commit by your neighbors and friends out of jealousy, and desire. This is what many people in the town of Salem had to go through during the time of the Salem Witch Trials. People's motives such as: gaining and maintaining power, and aspirations for what other people had caused them to make irrational, and atrocious decisions. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, desire and power drive characters to create chaos in the community.

    Read More

  • Mass Hysteria In The Crucible And Mccarthyism

    532 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Who Is To Blame In The Crucible

    811 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a dramatic play that expresses a very important message and that is how far people would go to save themselves from the hands of death. There are many characters in the Crucible who are guilty of taking innocent lives, but there are three major characters who, without a doubt, are the most at blame. The play takes place in the city of Salem, a city filled with people that would do anything to keep their reputation clean. Throughout the play, Miller is introducing multiple characters that experience changes in their decisions and negatively influence more people eventually leading up to the witch trials. The main point that the story revolves around is that people would rather lie and blame someone else instead of confessing and accepting the punishment.

    Read More

  • Collective Injustice In The Crucible

    688 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Arthur Miller’s time, when the Red Scare was happening; they were accusing people of being a communist. If someone was being accused and spoke another person’s name they would automatically be accused. During this time it did not matter who the person was, even upcoming actors were accused and their careers ended. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in response to what happened during the Red Scare. In relation to the Salem Witch trials, the court was doing the same things to the Puritans because they had the power to.

    Read More

  • How Does Arthur Miller Present Mccarthyism In The Crucible

    461 Words  | 2 Pages

    One example, is when Mary Warren is well into her testimony, and Abigail including the other girls say that Mary Warren bewitched them and soon Marry follows suit and pleads with them. This represents how McCarthy and his committee claimed that 205 people were communists as they labeled them being fascists, alcoholics, and sexual deviants. Abigail and McCarthy both the rightful head leaders of their group, have found ways to manipulate, persuade, and deceive the general public into believing that anyone could be affiliated with either communism or witchcraft. All the claims they made have no evidence at all which allowed them to accuse anyone due to their

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Devices In The Crucible

    478 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is a surprising story of a town plagued by the belief that witches have invaded the streets of Salem, Massachusetts. With the use of heavy dramatic irony, those that encounter the story experience frustration as the result of many innocent townsfolk being condemned to death. The readers of the story recognize the fictitious proclamations of witchcraft, but those in the town of Salem actually validate the accusations against the alleged witches. Falsely accused and falsely condemned, the “witches” are sentenced to the rope; all this occurred simply because Abigail Williams wanted to obtain the affection of the man she loved, John Proctor. Through crazy stories and expressive writing, Miller took the reader on a captivating journey back to 1692 where bizarre things befell those residing in Salem.

    Read More

  • Hysteria The Crucible

    760 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a historic play but more importantly is a social and psychological drama that takes place in a small puritan town in Salem Massachusetts. Many different themes find their way through this play but the most important theme is the danger of Hysteria, reputation, and Intolerance can destroy a town no matter the strength of the people in the town. As this play was written during the red scare during the cold war this play shows many aspects as McCarthyism which had similar event that the Salem witch trials had but with the red scare. Hysteria was a major factor in the many accusations of witchcraft that occurred throu out the play “The crucible”, the first example is when the young girls of the community of Salem,

    Read More

  • Similarities Between The Crucible And Mccarthyism

    1035 Words  | 5 Pages

    Also, since The Crucible was written to be parallel to McCarthyism, the same idea is shown. The same situation can be seen in The Crucible as Arthur Miller was influenced by the events that occurred during McCarthyism. In the Crucible, anyone whose name that had been mentioned underwent an investigation and was asked to prove that they were not partaking in witchcraft. Because this task was impossible, the court made rash decisions such as sending people to jail or sentencing them to be hanged. This scenario is seen in the crucible when Rebecca Nurse is accused.

    Read More

  • The Choices In Arthur Miller's The Crucible

    1046 Words  | 5 Pages

    One Choice Can Change Lives Who knew one seemingly innocent lie could cause 19 deaths and pit an entire town against itself? That’s exactly what happens in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Authors often use similar plot devices, and their favorite one is having their characters face a test. In a small town called Salem in early America, something terrible is happening.

    Read More

  • Criticism And Mccarthyism In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

    719 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Fear Of Mccarthyism In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

Open Document