Corruption In The Crucible

If the group of girls had just been honest and upfront at the beginning of the story, 90% of the events that occurred would have never even took place. Since the group of young ladies were seen doing witchcraft in the forest late at night, they felt as if they had to lie in order to save themselves from being hanged; because the truth was not revealed in the beginning a whole investigation soon took place and spread fear throughout the entire town. Since the panic overtook everyones good judgment, many innocent people were accused and punished for doing absolutely nothing wrong, it was just chaotic and the town soon because frantic with people running around and arguing amongst each other. Another case of lying between these pieces of literature was done between Roger Chillingworth and the townspeople. Roger came into town and soon saw that his wife Hester has committed adultery.

In Massachusetts during the late 1600’s, a series of prosecutions accusing people of witchcraft was a prominent event known as the Witch Trials (Salem witch trials, Wikepedia.com). As a result, many literature pieces, books, and poems were written based on the Witch Trials in Salem particularly, like Arthur Miller’s novel, The Crucible. The Crucible is well known for its incorporation of the Puritan community, making it an extensive novel, as noted by Susan Abbotson, an author who critiqued Miller’s work. Ms. Abbotson notes that much of the story is spent outside the courtroom and in the society as a whole. Consequently, her remark founded the discussion about the idea of power- hungry characters and corruption in The Crucible. In The Crucible

Even though McCarthyism is not as gruesome as the Witch trials, it did destroy people’s reputations, they were unable to get a job, and as mentioned before, it made it so people that were accused of being communist were not accepted in

McCarthyism has a lot to do with America 's history, even still today examples of McCarthyism are seen in america . Most victims of mccarthyism are hollywood actors and famous people because they impact american society more than regular people. Famous people such as Helen Keller, Leonard Bernstein , Burl Ives, Pete Seeger, Artie Shaw, Zero Mostel, Charlie Chaplin, Langston Hughes, Orson Welles, and Dolores del Rio were blamed for supposedly being part of the communist party. But that was not all, there was also another 205 average people that were blamed for being a part of the communist party as well. McCarthy’s committee then started investigating the United States Army. His charges kept affecting more and more powerful people.

In the 1950’s there was a scare of communism and people were being accused of being communist. From the article “McCarthyism: Witch Hunting and Blacklisting in the 1950s” “McCarthy's claims continued into 1954, this time targeting the Army. For eight weeks, in front of millions of television viewers, McCarthy questioned Army officials, including many war heroes.” Many people were getting questioned about being communist even though there wasn’t any real proof. McCarthy had questioned a lot of people including two people that had been Secretary of State. He had made a list of questionable claims, he didn't have any real proof but the Senate called for a full investigation. In the article “Famous Speeches: Joseph McCarthy's “Enemies from Within”, “This is glaringly true in the State Department, where those who were born with every possible advantage are the ones who have been most traitorous.” He is saying that the people with the most opportunities and that the country has been good too have been traitors. There is no actual evidence to this statement. He is picking out a group of people and using them. Because of his experience in the Red Scare he was able to write “The Crucible”.

Do you feel that your leaders ever fail to use their authority in the way you believe they should? James Madison believes that government is power, and since humans are in charge of the right, it always has the ability of being misused. Communities revert to chaos when the authority figures abuse the influence they have. Madison’s argument is correct because people in general need strong rulers, so if the privilege given to the superiors is exploited, society begins to break down.

Life teaches one very valuable lesson: with power comes the abuse of power, which results in hysteria and fear. Fear comes in many forms; fear for loved ones, fear for health, fear of losing reputation and fear of reprisal. Throughout history, a powerful few have abused their power. An example of this dilemma occurred in the 1950’s when Senator Joseph McCarthy started accusing innocent people of being communist sympathizers. Contemporary author, Arthur Miller, visited this concept of corrupt power and disapproval of McCarthyism in his classic, The Crucible. Good Night and Good Luck, a movie which was about the hysteria McCarthy caused to innocent lives, and The Crucible have one major thing in common: the corruption of power. This thematic idea reveals that the corruption of power can not only affect and impair mainstream society, but also the people which live within it.

“The arrogant are wise in their own eyes, but the wise will recognize their lies” (Anonymous). This quote accurately describes how the events in the Salem Witch Trials unfolded. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, places the reader into the city of Salem, Massachusetts. Arthur Miller tells a fictional story based on real events of how people who were wise in their own eyes used others to better themselves in a community based on honesty. Three characters from the story stand apart in their arrogance. Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and Reverend Parris were conceited and cared only about their personal gains. These characters used their power to blame, but not to be blamed or accused of alleged witchcraft which resulted in the deaths of several townspeople. Arthur Miller used these characters to illustrate how simple lies and rumors can spread and become an unstoppable force. With these simple but powerful accusations, well respected citizens soon became the targets of these characters manipulation.

In Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, Arthur intrigues audience time and time again with the historical context, social implications, and the Salem, Massachusetts Witchcraft Trials of 1962. Most members in Salem feel the need to prove their authority in ways such as accusing those who have done nothing or hanging them without proving their innocence first. The thing is authority is not made up by an authority figure, but by society. Miller’s The Crucible, demonstrates how people misuse their authority for cruel purposes through a fascinating plot, well-crafted characters, and well-set theme. During the hysteria of witchcraft trials in Salem, there were multiple figures of authority or per say the community who abused their power, Reverend Hale, Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris and Judge Danforth.

Imagine living in a society where you are guilty till proven innocent, instead of innocent til proven guilty. Due to the bias preference of the word of “God” in the story The Crucible By Arthur Miller, it is greatly implied that many of the casualties such as John and Elizabeth Proctor to name a couple was due to the restricted theology of church and state. In the Puritan New England town of Salem, Massachusetts, a group of girls goes dancing in the forest with a black slave named Tituba. While dancing, they are caught by the local minister, Reverend Parris. These girls are who create most of the controversy, as they lie to get through most circumstances. A specific individual is Abigail Williams, playing the victim for example as she blames Tituba in page 43 saying “She makes me drink blood!” leading to Tituba to being pulled to the side in page 44 and yelled at “you will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to death” making her give in, in order for him to spare her life. leading to further unjustifiable atrocities.

In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, mass hysteria causes the characters to act irrationally and lose their sense of integrity. Dishonesty, adultery, and indecency are common examples in this play that show the lack of integrity displayed in the characters. Although some characters such as Rebecca Nurse show that they have some integrity left, characters like Abigail, John, and Elizabeth are just a few examples of characters that do not have much, if any, integrity throughout the play. A synonym for integrity is dishonesty, which is seen through many characters throughout the play.

English written feature article – impact of hysteria We all have flaws, and yet one simple flaw can change the reputation of a single person, household or nation. Flaws can generate either acceptance or hysteria; there is no in-between. Back in the 1950’s, McCarthyism in America created so many imperfections in communists reputations that it lead to deaths in relationships, careers, friendships and loss of credibility. Similar things happened in The Crucible, a play about the Salem witch hunts in 1962, which relates back to McCarthyism in many ways.

McCarthyism is named after Senator Joseph McCarthy. McCarthyism uses fear to gain power and trust: “Insinuations of disloyalty were enough to convince many America that their government was packed with traitors and spies” (History.com). Joseph McCarthy claimed that many people were Communist spies in the United States government. This was a time in history when people were terrified of Communism and wanted to prevent Communist imperialism: “2,000 government employees lost their jobs as a result of McCarthy’s investigations” (History.com). McCarthyism created a lot of distrust between the government and the nation. The Salem Witch Trials are a similar example of McCarthyism. The Salem Witch Trials was when people could accuse others of being

Politics is an inherent concept directly paralleled throughout Millers ‘The Crucible’. There is no one solidified definition of politics, it is viewed in a multitude of ways; as an activity in which people make, preserve and amend rule, as power and the distribution of resources, as a cooperative process and as the art of government. Power, vulnerability, manipulation and the idea of facades are all explored within ‘The Crucible’ and work to represent the differing facets of politics. These ideas are represented and symbolised through the use of characters, objects, dramatic techniques and stage directions. Power is essentially the driving force behind politics and within ‘The Crucible’ it is undeniably the one thing that consumes individuals.

The human lust for power is a concept that is universally evident across both the historical and literary worlds. Historians and philosophers alike constantly analyze its corrupting influence and recursive nature. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, however, highlights a different facet of power: the means by which individuals strive to obtain it. In particular, he focuses on social power and the use of accusatory labels, such as “witch,” to obtain this power. The story is also a clear extended analogy for American McCarthyism, comparing the absurdity of the Salem witch trials to the equally ridiculous accusations of “communist sympathies” that destroyed the careers and reputations of Americans during the 1950s. However, if we limit our view of Miller’s work to these two time periods alone, we do him a disservice, as the thematic concepts within The Crucible are equally applicable to both those situations and societies within the modern era as a whole. The use of false accusations and labels to obtain power over others is a much more widespread phenomenon than a cursory examination of The Crucible leads one to believe. In this paper, I will highlight several examples of these devices in periods throughout the modern era in order to show that the issues raised by Miller’s work are not limited to the events described, or to the past.