Examples Of Hysteria In The Crucible

“Even in an enlightened democracy, the media have to check themselves to make sure they are not contributing to an unnecessary mass hysteria” (Brainyquote). Even the most sophisticated governments can lead the public into a state of hysteria. Often times when people become hysterical, others take that opportunity to obtain power for their personal benefit. In history and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, public hysteria was exploited in order to obtain and manipulate power for personal gain.

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.

“Miller also observes the tremendous forces that mere accusation had at this time, something that was evident as well in the McCarthy witch-hunts. A man’s career could be ruined if he were merely asked, “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist party?””

In today's society there are many cases of mass hysteria just like long ago. In the book John Proctor says a quote that hits big time for mass hysteria, he says “God is dead” while laughing insanely, and if that does not cause mass hysteria then nothing does.

In Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” it tells the tale of the Salem Witch Trials. At the time of the play, the McCarthy trials, named after Sen. Joseph McCarthy, were underway. Though, instead of hunting for witches, they were hunting for communists. These two trials may have happened at different points in history, but were in many ways the same. Whether it was death to job loss a lot of lives were changed on account of these trials. “The Crucible” and the McCarthy trials have become historically important because they show the process of power, fear, and turmoil.

In the 1940s and 1950s a man named Mccarthy decided to make a fake list of 200 peoples names just like the governors in the Crucible. He forged the list claiming “ here lays a list of paternal communist.” To get the public more on his side using the mass hysteria to his advantage controlling their fears. In the Crucible the people on the list portrayed the same tone saying “Here on this paper are the names of the damned.” Whether the people were good or bad were seen as enemies and a big

Throughout one’s lifetime a person is always trying to climb higher to success no matter what it takes, trying to become the leader of the pack. Both the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy hearings are a perfect example of that. In Salem the girls were given almost no power in the town and when people started believing their accusations of witchcraft, they became power hungry and longed for the sense to control whether someone potentially lives or dies. Similarly, in the case of the McCarthy Hearings, Senator Joseph McCarthy was never very well known as a Senator. Taking advantage of the public views of communism at that time, McCarthy in fact did become an influential power in the Senate. McCarthy and Abigail both used people’s fear of the unknown to further their own efforts at power no matter whether they hurt someone in the process. Both accused the right people in society that they would be taken seriously, but no one powerful enough that they would be questioned further. In both cases someone with almost no control over themselves rose to the point where they could control

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.

Both were hypocrites. Not only did McCarthy and Abigail accuse the general public, but both accused those in a position of higher power. Abigail threatened the Salem judge Danforth with “Think you to be so mighty that the power of Hell may not turn your wits,” while McCarthy accused Shirley Temple, the Girl Scouts, the head of the United States army, and other highly respected names of being communist (Miller 1307). In both cases the people began to doubt Abigail and McCarthy’s credibility.

“This is the time of the cold war. This is the time when the entire world is split into two vast increasingly hostile armed camps” (Joseph McCarthy). He thought that to find the peace that people wanted they could no longer close their eyes and close their ears to the problems in the government and in the world. To think that the communist revolution could not be carried out peacefully within the framework of a Christian democracy means one has either gone out of ones mind and lost all normal understanding, or has grossly repudiated the communist revolution. He knew that “The time was now”, that when a great democracy is destroyed, it will not be because of enemies from without but because of enemies from within (The Annals of America).

Joseph McCarthy 's time in office was a very intense and nerve racking period since he used brutal force to track down suspected communist. In the excerpt “How McCarthyism Worked” states, “Taking advantage of people 's concerns about communism, McCarthy made one

Imagine being a citizen in salem in 1692 and one day you are being accused of witchcraft or being with the devil and than being thrown into jail without any proof accept the words of someone else. After that if you didn't confess you were committing such acts of heresy you were executed. Besides all the witchcraft accusations, this was how it was for a lot of people during the mccarthyism era where a man named Joseph Mccarthy would accuse anyone of communism and everyone else would believe him. The crucible by arthur miller is an allegory for the red scare and the mccarthy era because mccarthy was known for seeking out communist in america just like abigail would accuse people for being witches in salem. Throughout the crucible the character, Abigail, would accuse people of salem for power and to get what she wanted.

During the era of McCarthyism, the country was divided by McCarthy’s accusations, threats, and intimidating tactics. Many Americans were accused of being Communist, both by their government, friends, neighbors and co-workers who had lost their jobs because of being accused of being Communists. McCarthyism had an enormous effect on the emotional aspect of the country. Non-Communists had to endure the trauma of being accused by their own country. McCarthy’s tactics were dishonorable, as was stated in the video, “McCarthyism,” McCarthy exploited the “Red Scare” for political gain; he claimed to have a list of people that were affiliated with Communism. He threatened the president, used severe intimidation, and threatened prison, when trying to

During his writing of the crucible, Arthur Miller reflected his own personal experiences into the ideologies occurring throughout the book. The argument of McCarthyism being reflected throughout the story is very evident. During the 1940s and 1950s Americans were overcome with the thought of communism possibly reaching America, due to its major growth throughout Asia and Eastern Europe. These concerns began to develop in the US government, with young senator, Joseph McCarthy, taking particular concern. Exploiting already present fear of communism among American people, McCarthy public announced that more than two hundred “card-carrying” communists had infiltrated the United States government. Although these accusations where later confirmed to be false, McCarthy’s pursuit towards allegation of communism became the center of political tensions. During his anti-communism campaign, McCarthy became known for his paranoid, ridiculous and obscure accusations upon any well-known individuals during the time. This system

Both The Crucible and McCarthyism convey the reoccurring theme of mass hysteria caused by false accusations. Before The Crucible play was available to the public, there were investigations to expose radicals, former radicals, to name other people part of the communist infiltrations (Popkin, 13). This illustrates the similarity between the social injustices during McCarthyism and The Crucible. In both, the