Mccarthyism The Crucible Essay
“We are who are always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys to the kingdom, and a common vengeance writes the law (Miller Act II:389-390) ” This quote, by Arthur Miller in his famous play The Crucible, depicts McCarthyism as the Salem witch trials. Miller shows the resemblance of both events when people are being falsely accused with little to no evidence, and the trails were prejudicial and horrific. Using this approach has its strengths, weaknesses, and ideas that differs between the two. Depicting McCarthyism as the Salem witch trials strengthens the resemblance. The play accurately describes the mass hysteria of both events. When the character Mary Warren states chants “Abby, you mustn’t (Miller Act 3:1012)”, the other girls, including Abigail Williams, all repeat. Prior to this Abbygail pretends to be bewitched by Mary, and all the other girls follow Abigail in fear. When people are under pressure, like how Abigail threatens the girls, people are in …show more content…
Witches do not exist; communists do. As Danforth states, “But witchcraft is ipso facto, on its face and by its nature, an invisible crime, is it not (Miller Act III:533-535)?” Witchcraft does not exist, but at the time of McCarthyism, the threat of political corruption and the spread of communism is real. Therefore, it is a weakness in this portrayal. Secondly, no other powers or influences are mentioned in the play. Again, Danforth states that no person other than the accused and the accuser may input evidence on the crime. Thus, no other persons, evidence, or influences, may interfere with the trial. The same does not apply to McCarthyism, when published works, such as The Crucible, were there to make aware of the mass, unrationalized hysteria of the decade. In this there is fault due to there not being any other sources of information. Finally, people are hanged for witchcraft, but not for being a
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506 Words | 3 PagesIn The Crucible, the fear of witchcraft precedes the Salem witch trials; however, the accusers capitalize on this fear by alleging that neighbors committed acts of witchcraft in order to obtain their own wishes. An example of their manipulation of the public fears stems from Abigail's intentions behind accusing Elizabeth Proctor. In an attempt to remove Elizabeth from the scenario so she could live with John, Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft with tampered evidence, demonstrating her misuse of the court system and the public’s fear. Thus, Murrow’s description of McCarthy’s actions relate to that of Miller’s The Crucible on a fundamental
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918 Words | 4 PagesThis is shown when Rebecca Beatrice Brooks stated, “As a devout and strongly religious community living in near isolation in the mysterious New World, the community of Salem had a heightened sense of fear of the Devil and then experienced a ‘trigger’ when Tituba, one of the accused witches, confessed that she and others were in fact witches working for the Devil” (Brooks). This example shows how the Puritan society transitioned to the blaming of witch-craft in order to avoid the real situations. An example of hysteria in the play is, “I--I heard the other girls screaming, and you, Your Honor, you seemed to believe them, and I-- It were only sport in the beginning sir, but then the whole world cried spirits, spirits, and I--I promise you, Mr. Danforth, I only thought I saw them but I did not” (Miller).
The Growth Of Hysteria In The Crucible By Arthur Miller
718 Words | 3 PagesIn Act II of The Crucible, Elizabeth Proctor told her husband that “Abigail [Williams] brings the other girls into the court, and where she walks the crowd will part like the sea for Israel” (Miller 50). Prior to the Salem Witch Trials, Abigail and her cohorts had very little influence in the society due to their being young women. However, due to their
Dbq Essay On The Crucible
553 Words | 3 PagesThe 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.
Argumentative Essay On The Crucible
907 Words | 4 PagesScapegoating: Taking Heat From Someone Else's Flame In an interview on Faith and Religion with Bill Moyers from PBS, Margaret Atwood once said, “Under stress, society will always scapegoat a person or a group of people.” This belief is shown in the texts The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the cartoon “It’s okay -- We’re hunting Communist” by Herb Block, and her own poem “Half Hanged Mary”.
The Crucible Social Commentary Analysis
1413 Words | 6 PagesArthur Miller’s play The Crucible is one of these social commentaries. Many critics and even Miller himself has stated his play was an allegory for the McCarthy’s red hunt. He feared the red scare, and such writing a play directly on the subject would’ve been dangerous. Miller wrote an article on why he wrote The Crucible, and he references the thought process in which people were undergoing.
Examples Of Injustice In The Crucible
615 Words | 3 PagesIn this play the crucible does portrays injustice by Danforth is not following court that is ruled by religion, Abigail intimidating the court, and the accused not having proper court rights. The people back in the sixteen hundreds did use the excuse of calling someone a witch for their land. That person then would have no evidence to prove himself innocent. The court back then was people are guilty till proven innocent when our courts today are the total
How Does Arthur Miller Present Power In The Crucible
721 Words | 3 PagesPower in our society nowadays is very misgiven and abused. When people have power they tend to use it for their own benefit and to manipulate people into believing them. In the play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller dramatizes the Salem witch trials of 1692 in order to show his audience how easy it was to be accused and hung for witchcraft. In the Crucible a group of young girls were caught dancing in the woods and in order to not receive a punishment they lied saying they got witched. The girls blamed many people of the town of being witches and caused conflict all over the village.
Essay Comparing The Crucible And Mccarthyism
906 Words | 4 PagesWhen 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.
The Salem Witch Trials In Arthur Miller's The Crucible
1257 Words | 6 PagesThe Salem witch trials proved to be one of the most cruel and fear driven events to ever occur in history. Many innocent people were accused of witchcraft, and while some got out of the situation alive not everyone was as lucky. Arthur Miller the author of The Crucible conveys this horrific event in his book and demonstrates what fear can lead people to do. But the reason as to why Arthur Miller felt the need to write The Crucible in the first place was because the unfortunate reality that history seemed to have repeated itself again. In the article “Are You Now or Were You Ever”, Arthur Miller claims that the McCarthy era and the Salem witch trials were similar and he does this through his choice of diction, figurative language, and rhetorical questions.
Mass Hysteria In The Crucible And Mccarthyism
532 Words | 3 PagesMcCarthyism and The Crucible caused a feeling of hysteria and paranoia in all the people that were accused and others that were not accused. Abigail Williams and McCarthy had no evidence on the people accused except rumors that were
Injustice In The Crucible Essay
660 Words | 3 PagesMiller’s purpose of The Crucible was to represent and mirror the social injustice under McCarthyism as people falsely accused each other because their fear, jealousy and solely hatred of one another. Although, around 1950-1954 the “innocent until proven guilty” clause existed, most trials and accusations were led by “guilty until proven innocent.” Despite Miller’s efforts to criticise people’s actions as
How Does Arthur Miller Present Mccarthyism In The Crucible
461 Words | 2 PagesMcCarthyism and The Crucible Comparison (Act III and IV) After finishing The Crucible, it is certain to believe why Arthur Miller, who was one of the people blacklisted, wrote this novel in response to the McCarthyism. In the Act III of the Crucible, Miller subliminally incorporate events during the times of McCarthyism into his book. One notable example is when he writes how John Proctor is trying to overthrow the court in Salem in response to witchcraft. Procor provides new evidence such as a testament that state that Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey are good wholesome people based on ninety one people’s signatures.
Similarities Between The Crucible And Mccarthyism
1035 Words | 5 PagesIn 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.
Criticism And Mccarthyism In The Crucible By Arthur Miller
719 Words | 3 PagesArthur 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.
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