Persecution may happen centuries apart, yet history always repeats itself as seen with The Crucible being an allegory for McCarthyism. Society blames this on superstition. The Crucible is a play portraying witch hunts that occurred in Salem under a theocratic government. In America, over 250 years later, McCarthyism reemerged despite what we should have learned from our mistakes. A pattern that is imprinted on the history of not only our country but of the world, persecution can be uglier than we have the ability to stand, yet it repeats many times throughout our history. “Man, remember, until an hour before the Devil fell, God thought him beautiful in Heaven”(Miller 71). Unforgettable American history, the Salem Witch trials, are taught
World War 1 proved America to be the nation producing the highest amount of propaganda. Through his use of propaganda President Wilson was able to draw American Support for the war. Despite his being elected as the “peace” president. Many Americans believed he’d keep them out of the war, especially after he stated that, “so far as I can remember, this is a government of the people, and this people is not going to choose war.” Before his election, Wilson promoted American neutrality. He pushed for what he believed his Americans wanted. However, through his employment of propaganda, Woodrow Wilson was able
In Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, faith was central to the government, just as freedom was the basic foundation of the American government in 1947. Faith and Freedom are both taken personally to a sizable sum of people, but the true meaning of those words varies from each individual to the next. Despite the thought that each person owns their own definition of the words “Faith” and “Freedom”, people who resided in Salem in 1692 were judged so harshly due to the fact that they did not have the same beliefs or morals as politicians or others who were put in charge above them. Salem is a direct parallel to the McCarthy era when people were accused of being communist due to a different thought system that they possessed that others in the government
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.
“Arthur Miller made the play called “The Crucible” during the 1950’s as a response to McCarthyism and the U.S. Governments blacklisted people.”(Blakesley). Miller was then question and accused of “Contempt of Congress” for not identifying people that were at meetings he attended. McCarthyism and The Salem Witch Craft Trials have been two very wrong things that have happened in the history of the United States for a lot of reasons. First off they both wrongfully accused innocent people of performing not accepted actions of those times. In America you have a right of free will and in both cases they were denied this right just because of someone else’s opinion. In both cases of the Salem Witch Craft Trials and McCarthyism people were being accused of acts with little evidence. People pointed fingers at others so they wouldn’t get blamed for anything, so there was a scare factor taking place. Large groups of people supported these acts maybe because of a get on board everyone’s doing it theme, and if you disagreed you were considered a witch or a communist. Our country supported McCarthy until later we soon regretted it. During the 1940’s and 1950’s communism was a scare in the U.S. so McCarthy capitalized on the subject and said two hundred card carrying communist were in the U.S(PBS). With the Salem Trials people capitalized on the scare of witches and everyone starting accusing the “weird” people. Accusations weather true or false can
During times of intolerance, dangerous m0bs may occur and cause persecution of innocent people. We saw this unfortunate event occur during the 1950’s when the red scare and McCarthyism took place, as well as in the dramatic play, The Crucible. The idea that when intolerance occurs it may cause mobs or persecution of the innocent, was evident in the recent attacks on muslims by buddhist mobs in Sri Lanka. In The Crucible intolerance occurs first when outcasts of the village are accused of participating in witchcraft.
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.
Martin Niemöller once said,“First they came for the communists, but I was not a communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.” The culture of accusations is a part of hysteria. As paranoia ensued in “The Crucible”, Joseph McCarthy made false allegations that influenced many peoples lives. An affair integrated in Arthur Miller’s play created controversy among the community. Trials were held for those accused and lying was the only way to survive. The harsh truth that was revealed in “The Crucible” and the parallels between the Red Scare and the Salem Witch Trials show patterns in which fear was used as an advantage, unsubstantiated claims occurred, and unethical punishments were given.
American playwright, Arthur Miller, in his play The Crucible (1952), suggests that witch hunts still exist in American society. Miller supports this claim by drawing parallels between the Salem Witch Trials and the Senator Joseph McCarthy Trials. His purpose is to warn his readers of the dangers of mass hysteria. He uses emotional appeals (pathos) and logic (logos) to convince the reader that mass “hunts” are still a danger to Americans today. The main way, however, that Miller achieves his ultimate goal of demonstrating the dangers of individuality vs. ideology is through the vivid characterization of Mary Warren. Mary Warren is an example of an outwardly conforming character because in the play she tells Abigail that she wants to tell
Over the course of history, the idea of righteousness has clouded people's thinking, leading to cruel and unnecessary forms of punishment. Arthur Miller's The Crucible significantly illustrates human cruelty in the name of righteousness. Inspired by the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s, Miller's play, The Crucible, focuses on the inconsistencies of the Salem witch trials and the extreme behavior that can result from dark desires and hidden agendas. Miller bases the play on the historical account of the Salem witch trials, a series of hearings before local magistrates followed by trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693. A modern day example that can be recognizably compared to the Salem witch trials is racial profiling that manifested in the 1700s. Racial profiling is the use of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or national origin by law enforcement agents as a factor in deciding whom to investigate, arrest, or detain with no evidence of a specific crime or criminal behavior. Throughout the play, there are numerous instances of human cruelty in the name of righteousness that outline the basis of the Salem witch trials and racial profiling in today's society.
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 concept of being "unstuck in time" refers to a person living from one moment in life to another instead of the day-to-day one we live today. The main character of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, Billy Pilgrim, does just that. He travels through the time line of his life experiencing moments of it in no particular order. In a flash, time travel for Billy happens with no warning to where he will turn up next. On the night of his daughter's wedding, Billy is abducted by extra-terrestrials from the planet Tralfamadore. They enlighten him on the concept of being "unstuck in time." Their belief is that, "When a Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that
The history of religious and government intolerance creates a bridge between the 1692 witch trials and present society, including the impending McCarthyism of the 1950s. Hysteria continues to cause riots and uprisings within the world and reputation is still held to a high level of respect. Without these main themes, The Crucible would not be a piece of work that is still prevalent within society and continues to teach
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 story ¨The Crucible¨ there are many examples of fear leading to superstition then leading to loss of logic. Some examples of superstition in the story are people getting accused of witchcraft for reading, being in possession of poppets (dolls), or just not confessing. People in the story are wrongfully accused and killed because people had lost their logic from being so afraid of witchcraft. They looked for any possible way to accuse anybody, and would believe anyone who would blame somebody. Even if the accusation doesn´t make sense, there was so much fear and hysteria leading people to believe anything. The first example in the story about superstition is when Giles Corey is having a conversation
Once upon a time in a little town called Rabun County there were two girls, Lia and Tiffany. The two were completely different. Tiffany was shy, nerdy and awkward. Lia was bold, popular, and very social. Little did the two girls know that one terrible relationship could bring two people so close together, especially the ones they never expected.