Sparknotes emphasizes the role of empowerment by stating, “The witch trials empower several characters in the play who are marginalized in Salem’s society”. In fact by empowering individuals who were previously powerless in the society (in The Crucible) crumbles. Arthur Miller’s trying to convey that absolute power will often lead one to the abuse of power. Abigail Williams ,a 17-year-old Puritan girl, is a good example of power abuse because once she realizes that an accuser can be powerful, she takes on the role. To cover up that she’s been dancing in the woods she blames Tituba, a servant, and others for her crimes. She first throws Tituba but under the bus, so she can get out of trouble. “I never called him! Tituba. Tituba” (85). When …show more content…
Joseph McCarthy was a United States Senator. He was the face of the period most commonly known as the red scare, where they tried to find evidence of communism in the United States. They both dropped out of school, and they were insignificant to their communities before they worked their way up in society. Both accused people of being something they were not, and they were not able to accurately prove the accusations. Joseph and Abigail gained power that they did not originally have. Joseph was strongly against communism he thought he was doing good both were look down upon in the end they abuse their power to convict innocent people of crimes they did not commit. They use hysteria to their advantage because in all the chaos it becomes easier to get away with things. Miller uses these comparisons to show how crazy people get when given too much …show more content…
He becomes blind with power, and he does not want to see the truth. He condemns innocence people to their deaths without concrete evidence that the allegations are true. Danforth believes what he is doing is right. He does not consider the unjust nature of people being accused without solid evidence, “You misunderstand, sir; I cannot pardon these when 12 are already hanged for the same crime. It’s not just” (68). Miller is trying to depict that power can blind those of wrongdoing. Danforth does not for a second think that he has overlooked evidence. He does however silence anyone trying to prove him wrong saying they should not “undermine the court”(69). Danforth also begins to use scare tactics towards the end of the play. He tells Giles Corey to “sit down and take counsel with [himself], or [he] will be set in jail until [he] decides to answer all questions...this is a court of law...I’ll have no effrontery here!” (121). Miller is depicting the chaos that goes along with false allegations, and how people can lose themselves in the
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”.
Even though the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism occurred in different time periods in American history, the two share a lot of comparisons than one tends to believe. The Salem Witch Trials consisted of false accusations being made towards mostly women in the town of Salem for practicing witchcraft. As a result, many women were hung and fear that the devil would take over kept the trials alive. Arthur Miller wrote a play in 1953 called “The Crucible” and used the trials as an allegory for the McCarthyism paranoia in the 1950s. Both historical events contributed to the spread of hatred, fear, and zealotry.
“We all have a fear of the unknown, what one does with that fear will make a difference in the world”- Lillian Russell. Since the beginning of time, fear has been something everyone has, especially when it comes to the fear of the unknown. The Salem witch trials, is a good example of that. The fear established by the claims of witchery that lead to the death of nineteen men and women, and two dogs. The play, “The crucible” by Arthur Miller, tells the story of what happened during the witch trials and the fear that lead to the to the imprisonment and death of many innocent people. Arthur Miller uses these rhetorical elements in his play to support the character’s arguments and better define the way they felt.
Image, being brought in forcefully, thrown in front of an audience like a wild animal or a deformed being, to give them (the court) some entertainment, while hearing that you're being sentenced to death. McCarthyism is the hysteria of believing that everyone around you is a communist. It was named after McCarthy, who accused and hunted people down, using unjust methods, who he believed to be communist. By being accused, people would be blacklisted and they'd be shunned by society. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible because he believed that, what was happening was similar to the Salem Witch Trials. In the story, people would accuse other people to save themselves and at the time of McCarthyism, people were doing the same in The Salem Witch Trials. The HUAC also noticed that as well. Why is it that The Crucible and McCarthyism are similar? While many people have found many different parallels between The Crucible and McCarthyism, the main ones are the unjust accusations, inaccurate information, and
The McCarthy era was the period in American history where the fear of communism spread across America. Threats spread noting that people in industries (entertainment specifically) would be accused of being communists and that would cost them their jobs and have them blacklisted. Arthur Miller writes The Crucible as an allegory, comparing the Salem witchcraft trials to McCarthyism. The Salem witchcraft trials took place when women were accused of practicing witchcraft and black magic, while McCarthyism was accusing people of being communists. The Salem Witchcraft trials and McCarthyism are both similar in the aspect that they have moral characters and power hungry people who unscrupulously accuse people for something they did not do.
The year is 1692. Throughout the small, Puritan, seaside community of Salem, rumors and accusations fly like gusts of ocean wind. Neighbors turn on neighbors, and even the most holy church-goers are accused of being the devil’s servants. The Crucible details this real-life tragedy of the Salem witch trials, in which nineteen members of the Salem community were hanged for alleged witchcraft. Abigail Williams, a seemingly innocent girl, accuses dozens of Salem’s citizens of witchcraft through the support of her mob of girls and the complicity of the court officials. The title of this play gives significant insight into the experiences of several of these Salem citizens. Although a crucible is often used in chemistry for heating up substances, the title of the play carries a much greater weight. In his famous play The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses the title of “crucible” to signify the severe and unrelenting tests of faith and character that many of the community members endure throughout the Salem witch trials, which he achieves through the use of figurative language and fallacies of relevance and insufficiency.
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.
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.
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, many women were powerless previous to the witchcraft trials. Especially in a Puritan town, women had no choice in society and weren’t fully treated as respected members. However, when the women of Salem, Massachusetts gained power over the court and church, some used the newly founded power for selfish and immature reasons while others, found it an unbearable burden to carry. The Crucible depicts the effects power can have on others. The role of women then became a firm driving force of the plot line. The characters of Abigail, Mary Warren, and Elizabeth Proctor each portray a different stage of moral development through their actions during the Salem witch trials and societal roles in the play.
Sparknotes emphasizes the role of empowerment by stating, “The witch trials empower several characters in the play who are marginalized in Salem’s society”. In fact, by empowering individuals who were previously powerless, the society (in The Crucible) crumbles. Arthur Miller is trying to convey that absolute power will often lead to corruption.
A Negro back in the Puritan era was in the lowest rank of society. As she was accused of witchcraft by Abigail’s troop, she accused others of witchcraft to save herself . She also discovered herself similarly empowered through the witch trial. In particular, in Act I she said" I don't know, Sir, but the Devil got him numerous witches" [49]. At the same time she proclaimed that she has seen “white people”, thereby the first time she was given the power over the white community.
Authors used their literary work to get a point across to the public in the story The Crucible; Arthur Miller used events and characters to show the similarities to McCarthyism which was prevalent in the 1950s. McCarthyism was associated with the period in the United Sates also known as the Second Red Scare. McCarthyism is very similar in the way that Joe McCarthy accused Americans of being communist and in The Crucible people were being accused of being witches. It is known that Arthur Miller wrote this story as a reaction to a tragic time in our history.
The Crucible is a play by Arthur Miller about the Salem witch trials, written in 1953 as an allegory to the McCarthy “witch hunts” against communism. Both the Salem and McCarthy “witch hunts” created a “mob mentality” through fear that led to trials against the accused. The girls in The Crucible, when they were discovered dancing naked in the woods and having fits, claimed that witches were responsible for their “sickness.” The powerful personality of one of the girls, Abigail, created a kind of hysteria in the other girls that led them to point fingers at specific women in Salem.
The 1950s was a chaotic time for the United States. China had just fallen to communist forces, Russia was in an arms race, and national security was at an all-time high. Accusations were flying against anyone thought to be a security risk, and throughout it all, Joseph McCarthy trumped the blame card more than anyone else. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller alludes to this period of time by using Abigail Williams to represent Joseph McCarthy and by using the General Court of Salem to represent the Division of Security.
A second theme revealed in The Crucible is empowerment. During the trials in the play, many characters were given power, which they never had before. These characters were the women. Women in Salem are generalized to be governed by the men and have no choice in anything. The women either work as servants to men or get married and have children. An example of this theme is Abigail Williams. She’s seventeen-years-old and has a great amount of power with the witch trials. In one scene with Reverend Hale, Reverend Parris, Abigail, Mrs. Putnam and Tituba, Abigail is explaining to Reverend Hale about the incident with Betty. Once she sees Tituba, Abigail points at her and says to Reverend Hale, “She made me do it! She made Betty do it!” Abigail also says, “She sends her spirit on me in church, she makes me laugh at prayer!”With these serious accusations, Tituba is imprisoned just because Abigail accused her of practicing witchcraft. The idea of empowerment is universal and enduring because anyone in the world with no supremacy, can suddenly have all the power. Today in modern society, people all over the world set aspirations in order to gain authority and be ahead of everyone else. Furthermore, many people in the world have power and authority over others. Empowerment will always be in societies around the world.