What Is Arthur Miller's Convictions In The Crucible

The people in charge may have argued that he was too involved and even though he never went through with the plots he deserved death. Since he had no protection from a jury or even his own input he was hung for just being involved. His name was attached to Booth’s and this made him a wanted man. This world is full of sin and corruption.

During the Red Scare there was an enormous amount of McCarthyism, accusing people with no evidence; this explained best, “Joseph McCarthy thought that it was his duty to get rid of communists in Washington”(Kraine).”Worries that the Soviet Union 's communist ways would infiltrate the United States led to a significant amount of paranoia within the American government” (“Why”).Senator Joseph McCarthy was

He even tried to get the FBI to stop the investigation of the crime. Some of Nixon’s aides testified before a grand jury about the president’s crimes. They also testified that Nixon had secretly taped every conversation that took place in the Oval Office. All the prosecutors needed was to get their hands on those tapes. That would prove that Nixon was guilty.

There are two ways that stick out to me that The Crucible is an allegory for McCarthyism. In Salem the people accused were “tried and the court had the power to hang them” (52) if they didn’t confess and accuse others of being witches. This same thing happened during McCarthyism, those accused were assumed guilty, put on trial, and expected to accuse other people of being Communist. Since the girls were “all marvelous pretenders” (106) and lied about actually seeing spirits they ruined lives of many people. This same thing happened with McCarthyism, since McCarthy claimed he had a list of over 200 names of Communists in political positions he ruined lives as well.

Imagine the wicked House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) arrest an innocent man. The HUAC does not arrest the man because he has committed a murder, but because he is a communist. Many communists became victims of HUAC in the Red Scare crisis of the 1950s. These communists made the right decision to speak out for their freedom and against injustice. These communists also spoke out for their freedom of different beliefs.

The fist argument that will show the prosecutor brining irrelevant evidence to the court was, “Q. And you were arrested for shoving and shuffling against people in that casino, weren’t you? A. They arrested me inside of the star casino, when I was taking to a man that is a member of a society that had a parade that day.” (Pg.36).

Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953, as a response to McCarthyism, which is, in general, accusing people of crimes with little to no proof. It ran rampant through the United States during the Second Red Scare through the early 1950s (exactly when Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible). In The Crucible, Miller juxtaposes the leaders, who rationally think for themselves, and the followers, who believe what everybody else believes, through irony, imagery, and denotation. The Crucible is riddled with irony, and Arthur Miller utilizes situational and dramatic irony to show the difference between followers and leaders.

Similarly, “Good Night and Good Luck” by George Clooney was written in 2005 about Edward Murrow and the CBS News’ coverage of McCarthyism as a method to censor the media. Their newscast was against Senator Joseph McCarthy. They blamed McCarthy because he was discovered of being a communist. Clooney’s film addressed how communism

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.

The Salem witch trials and McCarthyism have an uncanny relation to one another. In Salem people were afraid of not appearing christian enough, meanwhile during the 50’s Americans feared of being accused of communism. Also during the McCarthyism era and the witch trials innocent lives were ruined when people were forced to accuse others or be accused themselves. Though The Crucible is an allegory for McCarthyism, it focuses some of its attention on the question what is more important, your honor and reputation or your life?

The law ordered all Communist organizations to register with the Attorney General, and created a board to investigate people suspected of sympathy with Communism. Those individuals found to be “Reds” were barred from leaving the country or working in government. McCarran also wrote the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which allowed the government to restrict visas and citizenship based on political affiliation. This meant that many esteemed international figures—including Gabriel García Márquez, Pablo Neruda, and Michael Foucault—were not allowed to enter the country. When McCarran died in office in 1954, his name was held in rather high regard; an airport had even been named after him.

The explanation given was that he lied to superiors in court about passing the papers to Chambers, and for denying that he hadn’t seen Chambers since 1937. In 1949 the first of two trials came to an end with a deadlocked jury. In January 1950 the second trial took place with guilty verdicts on both sides. Many people then thought that Hiss was a victim of communism, while other thought he knew what he was doing, and justice fulfilled.

Arthur Miller makes many different connections to the acts of Senator McCarthy throughout The Crucible. The Salem Witch Trials display many similarities to the acts of Communism in the 1950’s. First of all, false accusations and accusations made without any hard evidence are seen in both The Crucible and the acts of Senator McCarthy. John Proctor in The Crucible was put accused and put on trial for taking part or concealing witchcraft without any evidence of this actually happening. Just like Proctor, Arthur Miller was accused for being a communist during the McCarthy era, although nothing could prove this.

The red-baiting carried out by McCarthyism even found its way into CBS. In June 1950, a book called Red Channels was published with the names of 151 broadcasting figures suspected of being affiliated to the Communist party. Two of Murrow’s correspondents were listed, yet

The McCarthy hearings and the Salem witch trials relate because they both blacklisted citizens. During the McCarthy hearings, the HUAC committee believed that Communists were incorporating subversive messages into Hollywood films (Georgakas). Some of the people who were a part of these films were put on the Hollywood blacklist and most couldn’t continue their careers. Whoever hired them would be suspected of working with Communists, which made it extremely difficult for actors to land auditions. Not only were careers ruined, but some victims even spent a year in prison for their false crimes.