The Crucible Comparison Essay

The Play The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, is a book that explains the salem witch trials and how it relates to the cold war. During the cold war and the red scare everybody was scared that they were gonna get tried for being a communist. Everybody was scared in the crucible also. Arthur Miller explained the relationship really good. He used many different satirical devices, such as parody, incongruity and exaggeration.

Witchcraft in Salem brought out the true colors in Abigail Williams and everyone in the community with how they reacted to the situation. The same thing happened with McCarthyism but it only brought out McCarthy’s bad side and the citizens good side in the McCarthy era. With having the fear of either communism or witchcraft come into your city the emotion of fear takes over everyone. An example of fear rising in a city would be communism trying to take over America and then an “obscure US senator” rises and tries to fix the communism problem but then only makes it worsts. Everyone is impacted with fear no matter how they deal with this emotion it doesn’t go away unless you find where the problem is coming from, for instance the acustions in both The Crucible and the McCarthy era both started with one person telling a

In real life, Reverend John Hale was a well respected expert on the work of the Devil from Beverly, called into Salem to help investigate the girls. He was one of the first to suggest the girls were tormented by outside sources, and helped spearhead the search for the guilty. However, as the number of accusations increased, so did his disbelief of them. He was probably teetering on the brink of for and against the trials, when his wife was accused and it put him over the edge. After this he came out against the Salem Witch Trials, proclaiming them hysteric.

People were being hanged in front of the town, and as those accused did not want to meet the same fate, they confessed because they were in fear. This was very effective in the Crucible as it was able to create tension among the town of Salem. It caused people to fear, and turn against each other and create mass tension. Fear was a very important type of propaganda in the Crucible, but there is one more very important

As the play progress and people confess he starts to notice that what people are saying and accusing people of is not true but just getting to people they do not like. Lastly, At the end of act 3, Hale quits the court. Hale quit the court because he knew that a lot of innocent people were getting killed for not confessing to a crime they did not

Later in the story Tituba under the pressure of the court confest which ignited a hunt for witches. in both the salem witch trials and the red scare people where both paranoid of something. At the time of the witch trials the people were afraid of evil spirits, and the devil if you were accused of being a witch you would lose almost everything you owned. With the power of the church the people of Salem where easy overpowered by Propaganda and hysteria, with this people started so claim any was a witches for power, land, and even political strength. “We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law!”

He argues that his conviction of witchcraft, will serve as a model, for then others to openly declare of their involvement in witchcraft. Throughout the town of Salem, John Proctor almost has a sense of authority over the other townspeople. His lack of religious background allowed him to be easily convicted, as witchcraft could be associated with religion. The phrase, “good instruction of the village,” is almost saying that because of his conviction, it will give the accused a reason to convict to witchcraft too. John Proctor is upset that his name must be posted for all the village to see, because it will tarnish his name.

This announced the church’s issue of indulgences which were paid forgivenesses, which is not right at all. Some popular supernatural beings were ghosts and demons, which were considered evil. King James 's book on witches also sparked the witch trials and honestly ended up in a lot of innocent women being killed. The thoughts of this era where very controversial

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.

According to “Journal of the Early Republic” eventually, the community admitted the trials were a mistake and ended up compensating the families of those convicted. Since then, the Salem Witch trials has become synonymous with paranoia, injustice, and fear; therefore, continues to occupy a unique place in our collective history. Because the belief in the supernatural and in the devil’s practice became widespread in the Salem village, it evoked fear among the community. Witchcraft was considered a sin and a crime because the witches were able to conjure the Devil to perform cruel acts against others.

Arthur Miller’s inspiration for his play The Crucible resulted from his observation of the repetition of “witch trials" throughout history. All of these witch-hunts, especially the one that occurred in Salem, were bred from the political and social repression present in the communities. This communal repression influenced a hypocritical mindset, which then prompted some individuals to manipulate others’ fear in order to gain a breath of personal freedom. Through comparing the Red Scare to the trials of Salem and analyzing the repetitive nature of these horrific acts, Miller emphasizes the idea that it is human nature for people to turn to the manipulation of fear in order to liberate themselves from their present reality.

Many times it has been said that if people learn from their mistakes they are doomed to repeat them. Such is the case throughout history. There are many different examples of this, but one example is the blatant similarities between the witch hunts in Salem Massachusetts and the era of McCarthyism. When looking at either one of these events separately it is hard to believe that they could have actually happened, not only once but, twice. If one takes the time to look at both events simultaneously they are able to make many comparisons and enable numerous similarities be seen.

Page 3 /4 Page 1 of 4 Richardson1 NaQuavius Richardson Mrs. Camp English III 26 February 2017 McCarthyism in the Crucible The Crucible showed many similarities towards the phenomena of McCarthyism in the 1950s. For example, The Crucible shows how the Salem Witch Trials mirrored McCarthyism.

Arthur Miller, a playwright, wrote The Crucible, a dramatized and fictionalized play. The setting took place in Salem, Massachusetts, during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. The play is about the witch trials, which started due to the jealousy and lust of Abigail Williams, the leader of the witchcraft trial, wanting to have John Proctor, the main protagonist, again. At the end of the play, Proctor is led to his hanging. Throughout the play, there are many events that had helped him made his decision.

In the book The Crucible by Arthur Miller takes place in 1692 during the Salem Witch Trials and it shows an abundant amount of examples of how puritans are not pure. Arthur Miller has made many detailed characters that showed how being a pure Puritan is not capable of a human. One of these characters is John Proctor, John is an average person in this time period just living his Puritan life; but is broken by a horrible sight in the woods. John Proctor also has a wife named Elizabeth, and she had her life changed greatly shortly after breaking news was passed throughout the village. The main cause to this news was caused by a housekeeper of John Proctor named Abigail Williams; Abby was caught dancing in the woods with other girls performing spells and witchcraft.