Comparing McCarthyism and The Crucible by Arthur Miller Essay

The horrors of history are passed on from generation to generation in hopes that they will never occur again. People look back on these times and are appalled at how horrendous the times were; yet, in the 1950s, history repeated itself. During this time, Joseph McCarthy, a United States senator from Wisconsin, began accusing people of being communists or communist sympathizers, which is parallel to the Salem witch trials in the late 1690s when innocent people were accused of practicing witchcraft. One of the people McCarthy accused was author and playwright Arthur Miller. To express his outrage at McCarthy’s actions, miller wrote The Crucible, intentionally drawing similarities between the McCarthy hearings and the Salem witch trials.

As expressed I feel there are a few connections between The Crucible and real life events such as McCarthyism or the real witch trials. The first

Communism. Witchcraft. These two highly controversial topics are either feared or adored by people. There are numerous similarities and differences between both, yet one thing is prominent: they both incite hysteria. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegorical play mirroring 1950’s America during the Red Scare. “McCarthyism” is the act of accusing someone of an act of treason without substantial evidence. It relies on the uncertainty and the fear of the unknown among people, which in turn, incites hysteria. Joseph McCarthy accused many people of being communists without much evidence or reason. The accusations in The Crucible also are proposed without evidence and cause much hysteria among the town. Since The Crucible was written as an

Common to these two events is the ruthless hunting down of victims. The judges in The Crucible pressure Abigail and the girls for the names of possible witches. Their

A well renowned founder of western philosophy, Socrates stated, “False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil” (Socrates). This quote relates to the evil that Senator Joseph McCarthy and antagonist of The Crucible Abigail Williams brought to their time. Abigail used her opportunities to strike fear into everyone in her town.This resulted in, the Salem Witch Trials were a series of witchcraft cases brought before local magistrates in a settlement called Salem, which was a part of the Massachusetts Bay colony in the 17th century (History of the...,3). Also, Arthur Miller was one of the Hollywood 10 accused of being a communist and that affected his life which he wrote The Crucible to not only show the Salem Witch Trials but to give insight to the readers about the time during McCarthyism. Secondly, Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed that over 200 communist have infiltrated the U.S government, as a result the 1947 Taft-Hartley act had an anti-Communist clause that required union leaders to take an oath stating that they were not communists (Facts about McCarthyism, 6). McCarthyism and The Crucible were very similar in the way they were governed, their judicial systems and the way they blamed the people.

‘The Crucible’ is an allegory. An allegory is a story with an obvious meaning but if you look deeper into it, there is another meaning. In this case, the obvious meaning is the Salem witch-hunt and the hidden meaning is McCarthyism. McCarthyism started in the early 1950’s and it was governmental accusations with no evidence. Joseph McCarthy started doing trials on those he thought were communist, but he had no evidence for it. This is the same as the witch trials in The Crucible. Arthur Miller wrote this in response to McCarthyism.

Fear was a major factor, in using allegories to relate The Crucible to McCarthyism. As in both individual times, people often disassociated themselves from any means that could possibly have them relate to those crimes. The McCarthyism era, was a dark time for the United States, citizens were alarmed at the rising number of communists throughout Eastern Europe and parts of Asia. With an obscure veil of fear, altering people's judgements, the basis of the countryś beliefs began to tremble. As stated in paragraph three, of the McCarthyism Introduction, ¨The

n the time of being treated like nothing, there were multiple things that made people feel that way and were brought to light. McCarthyism and The Crucible were examples of horrifying events in history that gave a whole new meaning to unfair trials. For witches, if they were found guilty, their life would be spared. If they chose to stay with God, they were killed for choosing the right choice. The Crucible and McCarthyism are very alike and different because of the way Arthur Miller made people feel based on assumptions.

The novel, The Crucible was written in 1953 by Arthur Miller, which was based on the Salem Witch Trials existing in the late 1600s. In the play, Abigail and several other young women accuse innocent citizens of Salem for the action of witchcraft. During the trials, many individuals were unfairly persecuted; such as John Proctor. This event in history may be associated with the Red Scare, in which individuals were tried for their questionable influences of communism in the United States. When Miller compares the character of John Proctor to himself, the reader is able to relate the similar experiences that both men faced. The Crucible demonstrates the struggle against corruption involving the court, which lead to the death of many innocent individuals in Salem. The Crucible generates an allegory for Arthur Miller’s struggles with McCarthyism because of his similar experience relating to John Proctor’s battle against the Salem Witch Trials, and the relation between the actions of the court in both situations. Arthur Miller uses several writing methods in order to convey The Crucible as an allegory for his struggles with McCarthyism. Miller demonstrates how the Crucible represents an allegory for his conflict with McCarthyism by relating his experiences with the plot of the novel. Miller relates the novel to his struggles by stating, “Should the accused confess, his honesty could only be proved by naming former confederates.” (Are You Now… 34) Miller is explaining how the court

In The Crucible, there was a lot of senseless behavior. The purpose of The Crucible is to educate the reader on the insanity that can form in a group of people who think they are judging fairly upon a group of people. Judge Hawthorne believes what he is told by certain people is the truth even if little evidence is to be shown. The young girls with Abigail convince Hawthorne of others being witches so that Abigail can get what she wants, John Proctor, also so that Abigail does not blackmail the girls. The Crucible by Authur Miller investigates the effects of hysteria, superstitions and repression on the Salem Community in the late 1600’s.

Arthur Miller's The Crucible, depicts the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 but is analogous to the McCarthy trials of the 1950s. In both situations, widespread hysteria occurs, stemming from existing fears of the people of that particular era. The Salem witchhunt trials parallel the McCarthy era in three major aspects: unfounded accusations, hostile interrogation of numerous innocent people and the ruination and death of various people's lives.

In order to be accurate in accusing someone of a crime, you must have the appropriate evidence to back up your story. In The Crucible, many people were accused of practicing witchcraft. The ones who confessed, were sentenced to jail and the ones who denied it, were killed. The only way they had to prove what was being done, was spectral evidence. Therefore, the only person known to tell the truth was the victim. McCarthyism involved communists, like The Crucible, those who were accused were sentenced to jail time. The parallels between The Crucible and McCarthyism are naming names, the lack of evidence, and rebellion against the government in which they served.

The play “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller was written in response to McCarthyism in the 1950’s. In 1692 and 1693 the Salem witch trials took place in Salem Massachusetts. Girls believed to be involved in witchcraft were responsible for these trials. In the late 1940’s and early 1950’s senator McCarthy came to office. Senator McCarthy and some of his allies were responsible for hysteria in the United States of America in the 1950’s. The scare was also in result of a communist scare after World War II and leading to the cold war. The behavior of the people of the Salem witch trials and Americans in the 19050’s resulted in a big scare in reaction to hysteria.

The Crucible is a play by Arthur Miller written in the 1950’s. It was set in the 1690’s in Massachusetts. The play is about the witch trials and how something like a group of girls in the woods could lead to about 200 people being hanged and accused of witchcraft. The people of Salem were new to Massachusetts as they were puritans who went off to America to set up a new religious colony . The people were new to their surroundings had the Native Americans as enemies because they took their land. Although the Crucible is about the witch trials, it is thought to be a metaphor for the McCarthy Communist trials

In the 1940’s America was living in fear.Communists were violating the country and the Government Employees were being forced to testify before Congress.The reason behind the cause of this event is because of Senator Joseph McCarthy.McCarthy scared the country into large groups.This obsession lead to a congressional committee of accusing and imprisoning the citizens.The reason for their imprisonment was because of the beliefs they had.Arthur Miller’s Play “The Crucible” has a similar connection to this time period,where there was fear and continuous accusations.Miller connects The Salem Witch Trials and The House Un-American Activities Committee and the damage of their communities.