The Crucible And Civil Disobedience Analysis

Martin Luther King was a honourable leader during his time he was famous for his speech “ I had a dream’ In this speech he calls for an end to racism in the United States and preaches his vision of a society in which race was not an issue in how people were treated or in how they were allowed to live their lives. Because of this speech the Negros respected him. He said this speech in front of millions who came to listen and for that he is a very brave man.

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.

The Crucible written by Arthur Miller to draw parallels between the Salem Witch trials in 1692 and the McCarthy anti-communist hysteria of the 1950s. In the opening of his story, Miller writes: “When one rises above the individual villainy displayed, one can only pity them all, just as we shall be pitied someday. It is still impossible for man to organize his life without repression, and the balance has yet to be struck between order and freedom.” The quote use by Arthur Miller can be applied to the current present day American society. A few problems in society today are government surveillance, gun regulations, and LGBT rights where people backup their options with freedom or order but at the same time they are being repressed by their laws.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” collectively persuade their audiences to disobey authority when it concerns social injustice. King takes a more assertive yet respectful approach, and makes it a point to explicate the intolerable treatment that the black community had to endure under the encroachment of segregation laws. In addition, Thoreau expounds why it is so important for citizens to object and take action upon the corrupt laws that the government had imposed on the blacks, insisting that civil disobedience is a means of freedom. Both of these influential men successfully utilize occasion, purpose, tone, appeals and rhetorical strategies to

Both of these men's work was considered to be Civil Disobedience. However, their peers judge them differently due to their different circumstances. First of all, Martin Luther King was black and Thoreau was white. Since they

“I decline to make any such statement which I found demeaning; what right had any organization to demand anyones pledge of loyalty?” Those words, were Arthur Miller’s reply to the House of Un-American Activities Commision. In which he was being questioned and then later indicted and found guilty of contempt of congress. Just like the many characters in his book The Crucible, who refused to comply with the unjust questioning and in turn, point to another in order to keep their integrity amongst the court. The story is based on false accusations which lead to the downfall of their town, by the multiple deaths due to the corrupt system of court; which is very much similar to the McCarthyism era. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegory considering, the fear of the respective crimes, biased acustations which lead to tainted trials and then the effects on one's life due to those corrupt sentences.

As J.K. Rowling once said, “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.” As a country, we have struggled with numerous situations involving individuals standing up for what they believe is right. But many individuals discover the courage to be able to express their true thoughts and feelings. In the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, these types of situations are exhibited through John Proctor and Mary Warren speaking out against the town of Salem. This is also demonstrated in real life situations such as Martin Luther King Jr.’s fight for African American rights. All of these examples display the amount of boldness and strength it takes to repulse against society. Having true courage will notably separate a person apart from society.

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.

Reading Henry David Thoreau’s essay Civil Disobedience (1849) I find a parallelism between his thoughts and the coming of age of the United States as a nation. This piece was originally delivered as a speech before the Concord Lyceum in January of 1848 on the subject "On the Relation of the Individual to the State", and published under the title Resistance to Civil Government in Elizabeth Peabody's Aesthetic Papers, in May 1849. Thoreau wrote it from a personal experience: in 1846 he had been imprisoned for not paying his taxes as a protest for the actions of the government because he opposed slavery and the Mexican War. This essay is part of the literary period called The

     Martin Luther King and Henry David Thoreau both believed that one should stand up for what he believes in, as wells as accepting the consequences for his actions. Even though they also had different views about what makes law just or unjust. First of all, Martin Luther King believed that a law that is just should be square with the moral law or the law of God. This basically means a law should pertain to the Ten Commandments according to the bible. He also thought an unjust law was one that was inflicted on to a minority who did not even have the right to vote for this law in the first place.

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.

“A very few—as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men—serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated as enemies by it,” Henry Thoreau claimed in his essay, “Civil Disobedience.” Martin Luther King Jr. indisputably served the people of the state by his own conscience and was definitely treated as an enemy. “We want to be free!” King cried out during his “I've Been to the Mountaintop” speech. It didn't matter that it was seen as an evil act against the men in charge to him. “Civil disobedience” immensely impacted Martin Luther King and supported his views and drive that lead to the Civil Rights Movement.

:”Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”, said by Martin Luther King, Jr. The Crucible written by Arthur Miller in 1953 introduces us a story of this kind that injustice brought by a character named Danforth brings the social malfunction of Salem accompanied by a breakdown of humanity and faith. In our modern society, the public requires the power and presence of laws and justice system to protect their rights. However, when the structures become shackles and the judges mute off their voice of the truth, it leads the tragedy and misery to the people.

The Crucible, a twisted playwright, written by Arthur Miller is an allegory to the McCarthy trials of the 1950’s. An allegory is a story with two levels of meaning- literal and symbolic. In an allegory the characters, events, and instances relate to real people, events, and instances. (“Definition of Allegory” R104). Characters like John Proctor, Abigail Williams, and the Court, represent real people like Arthur Miller, Joseph R. McCarthy and the organization created, the HUAC. Events like the puritans being brought into the court and John Proctor having to choose between staying to oppose the court or using his wife as leverage were similar to the accused that were brought in, as well as Miller refusing bribery. Instances when the court had no substantial proof were in comparison to the HUAC having no evidence and taking away the passports of the accused. Miller wrote The Crucible as an allegory to show that people in power take advantage of their authority. He wanted to teach that being under pressure and living in fear can affect the decisions that are made in everyday life and to criticize the institutions that wronged the vulnerable people during these times.

To begin with, Dr. Martin Luther King as well as many other African- Americans fought for equality, social justice, and a better life for African- American resulting in a great cost. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was ridiculed and was the target of many attacks simply for