Growing up, money wasn’t something that came easy for the Miller family. In 1929, they were affected by the Wall Street Crash and were forced to move to Brooklyn (Biography). He didn’t let this personal and financial hardship affect him, though. “The Depression (the most formative crisis in Miller’s life) was in many ways a positive force…” (Carson). “Miller’s refusal to believe that man is helpless” influenced him to find work for small jobs, and even manage to save up enough money for him to attend the University of Michigan where he was able to complete his very first original play, No Villain (Carson).
This play was written in 1952 during the period of the “Red Scare”. This is when people who believed or invested in Communism they were treated like being a witch in Salem. In The Crucible, ideas of truth and sacrifice and evil and injustice are displayed throughout. John Proctor and Giles Cory are two characters chosen to show truth and sacrifice. They had sacrificed there life to keep some truth in Salem during the play
Power is said to corrupt anyone sadly not even children are immune. In The Crucible written by Arthur Miller tells a story about witchcraft which is based on actual past events that happened in Salem. In this story, Reverend Hale plays a very important role being one of the few who realizes that the witchcraft claims are a sham. It is interesting to see Hale as he is forced to deal with a major conflict, come to terms with his own motivations, and characteristics. Throughout the story, Hale served as the main mediator who tried to no avail to end the witch hunts.
Occasion’s Effect The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism are very similar even though they took place such a long time from each other. If someone was accused of witchcraft in 1692 they had to confess and lose all social standing or be executed, in the 1950’s if a person was accused of being a communist they would be fired and put on trial, if they would not confess they were blacklisted until they admitted to their “crime”. Arthur Miller used the Salem Witch trials to protest McCarthyism in a somewhat discreet way that proved to be a timeless comfort to the citizens experiencing oppression from their government (“Why I Wrote The Crucible”, 911). As the 1950’s continued, and the McCarthy trials along with it, Miller noticed that the trials had the same overall process of the Salem Trials so he began writing “The Crucible” hoping that his play would help people realize that McCarthyism may not be as justified as it seems (Miller Interview part 1.1). In a discussion between McCarthy and Joseph Welch-a special council for the army-about Fred Fisher-a lawyer and suspected communist who had been recommended by Welch to join McCarthy’s Committee-the topic of a “needlessly inflicted” scar on Fisher caused by McCarthy could make a person wonder how many more scars were given in this publicity stunt (“McCarthy-Welch
Cameron Oldfield Mrs. Brincks English III 15 November, 2015 The Crucible and Red Scare Imagine being thrown in jail, blamed for something that you didn't do .The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a story about how certain propaganda and false accusations can ruin lives, just like in the case of the Red Scare. Although 1692 the Salem witch trials and the Red Scare were over 200 years apart, The similarities are striking. both trials used intimidation, fear, hatred, and false accusations to ruin innocent lives. Both trials resulted in terrible outcomes, with both ending with innocent people being put to death and shunned from society. Arthur Miller was one of the most popular American playwrights
One of the major themes in The Crucible is hysteria and how it allows the people of the town to give up reason and morality. In order to understand why so many of the towns people are afraid, the community of Salem begins to believe that this fear has justifiable origins. The people of Salem are so concerned with their reputations that they are willing to let others be harmed, fuelling hysteria in the process, just to protect themselves (Florman and Kestler). Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible shows how hysteria, powered by religious zeal, replaces logic, leading to chaotic situations that ultimately tear apart the community. Much of the hysteria brought onto the community is powered largely by the strict Puritans’ religious zeal.
However in the end, 20 innocent people died because of people’s vengeance, hatred, and greed. By carefully analyzing Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, it becomes clear that selfishness, honesty, and the corruption of the court in Salem enabled to the witchcraft hysteria to spiral out of control. With people being accused of witchcraft to gain more power, the people of Salem clearly are selfish. Citizens of Salem are looked as pure and kind however deep inside, they are greedy people who want money and
In a story, the events within the plot reinforce the overarching principle. This overarching principle is the theme. Two of the themes I mentally conceived stood out in “The Crucible” were hysteria and reputation. Author Miller uses authentic life events from the Salem Witch Trials in 1692 to show that fear and suspicion are infectious and engender a mass hysteria that ravages public order and rationality. One example of this is the afflicted girls utilize the peoples fear of witches to get rid of people that they don’t like.
The Crucible Essay Analysis “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.”I agree with this quote from Karl Marx and it means when people repeat the history, it is a tragedy but when when people keep repeating it, then it would display the ignorance and stupidity of people. This quotes relates to the Crucible from Arthur Miller and the Red Scare in the past because of the similar background, consequences and victims in both stories. First, the Crucible and the Red Scare have similar background due to the fact that the Crucible in 1953 is written only a little later than the event of Red Scare. In Crucible, there is only one lead accuser of a crime of witchcraft is Abigail Williams and on the other side, the accuser was senator Joseph McCarthy. As The Crucible began with an actual witchery incident, The Red Scare began with accounts of communism within the American government.
This is exactly how Arthur Miller wrote his play, The Crucible. The Crucible, written in the 1950’s era, shows a direct correlation to the 1950’s Red Scare. If you are unaware of the Red Scare, or simply are unfamiliar with the terminology, the Red Scare refers to The Cold War, that shortly took place after the end of World War II. The Cold War was a time that Americans,