The Crucible By Arthur Miller

Any individual could be found guilty due to the claims of their neighbor. During the McCarthy trials; Senator McCarthy accused a majority of the State Department of being communists, because he blamed them for China turning to Communism. In both occurrences, those who had been accused had no way to defend themselves. This was due to the idea that if someone accused you of being a witch or a communist then there was no doubt that the accusation was credible, and therefore you were guilty. In modern times, if a person is accused of sexually harassing women, they too have no way to defend themselves from the accusations. An example of this from The Crucible is when Rebecca Nurse was put on trial for witchcraft because one of her neighbors claimed that she had killed all of the woman’s children during childbirth. This was an effective way to represent how witch hunts bring such great harm to people, due to the fact Rebecca Nurse was portrayed in Miller’s play as a respectable, kind, and religious elderly woman. As the audience comes to realise that such a noble character will be destroyed because of false claims from a resentful person, they are angered. This appeal to emotion helps the reader to consider coming to understand both the victim and the accused before finding them

From the Cold War Museum it says “These people on the list were in fact not all communists” Everyone was so scared they had no reason to question it and they just wanted to make sure communism would not start. This started the Red Scare and caused anyone they have seen could be a communist with how many people McCarthy had found. This is also relatable to the crucible and the girls from salem. Abigail and the girls started pretending to be possessed and blaming people all over for witchcraft. Everyone was so scared that they believed everything the girls said and got rid of anyone the girls called out. In the Crucible Abigail says “Why do you come, yellow bird?” Abigail and girls talk about a yellow bird that only they can see that Mary Warren sent to hurt them, most people in the court believe the girls even if none of them can see it. Arthur Miller made this book as an allegory to show how easily you can destroy someone's life by blaming them for something.

Imagine being accused of something you never did just because someone had something against you. That is exactly what the characters in “The Crucible” were going through. The author, Arthur Miller, used the play as an allegory. He wanted to compare the Salem witch trials to the McCarthyism. McCarthyism, created by Joseph P. McCarthy, was popular during the cold war and it falsely accused people of being a communist with no evidence to support the accusation. It became popular because of the spread of communism in China and Europe. In the United States, anyone could accuse someone of being a communist and could ruin their lives. That is exactly what Miller was trying to portray in “The Crucible.” If someone accused another person of witchcraft their whole lives could be turned upside down. They could even possibly be hanged. Throughout the story there are an abundance of arguments. Most of the arguments come from Act III in the courthouse. The arguments are all different, but they all end up being the same in the sense that people are being falsely accused. The arguments that are like that include Giles accusing Putnam, Proctor accusing Abigail, and Parris accusing Proctor.

So far throughout The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, many are being accused and many are the accusers. In Salem there is a major mystery of who is practicing witchcraft and people are naming off there enemies, without knowing if they are innocent or guilty. The accusers are powered by the emotions of envy, fear, and bitterness. People like Abigail Williams, Mary Warren, and Ann Putnam have hidden agendas and want there enemies to hang.

“The Crucible” written by Arthur Miller, is a play that takes place in a Puritan town where witchcraft trials fueled by hysteria are taking place. These trials are based on the accusations of group of young Puritan girls who claim they can see spirits and determine which citizens are witches. One of the most well known and cruel of these girls is Abigail Williams. Throughout the play Abigail Williams shows her despicable nature by falsely accusing innocent people of witchcraft in order to get revenge on her peers that have wronged her in the past.

In The Crucible, Arthur Miller shows how evil may be spread by ordinary citizens who are mindless agents or unwitting victims. In this Play the people of Salem are persuaded that there is supernatural events in their town and begin prosecuting for it. First, in act 3 when Mary tries to go to the court to blame Abigail and the other girls including herself for lying about the spirits, Danforth says to mary, “Then you tell me that you sat in my court, callously lying, when you knew that people would hang by your evidence?“(101), Mary then agrees to the statement. Evidently, Mary and the other girls used the towns fear of the supernatural to get all the people that they dislike in jail or killed.

You are guilty of witch-craft, and you will be hanged immediately! In “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, written in 1953, was written during the Red Scare when people would get blacklisted for being associated with Communism. Arthur Miller published this book in order to get the message across of what was happening with McCarthyism, but instead this book deals with witch-craft in Salem. People were accused of being witches and allying with the devil. Many of them were being executed till they confessed or gave them a name of the people dealing with the devil. Innocent people were being punished due to people having more of an authority as others, especially if they have a good name in the village like Abigail. Elizabeth Proctor is a woman of God and is accused of witch-craft by Abigail. Also Elizabeth is motivated by anger and jealousy, after she finds out her husband has been cheating on her with Abigail, she decides to make him feel guilty, which leads him to confess to witch-craft.

​There are usually at least a few instances when a person gets wrongfully accused of something they did not do, whether it would be taking the last cookie out of the jar, picking their nose, or even something to the extremity of taking someone's life. A tragic, real-life example of this is when Michael Morton got sentenced to life in prison when he was falsely accused of murdering his wife. Twenty-five years later, he was eventually exonerated from prison by the use of DNA evidence. In Arthur Miller's ​The Crucible, while the witch trials were underway, situations like this were common occurrences. The play which took place in Salem, Massachusetts, was centered around many innocent people getting framed for witchcraft by licentious people who wanted to place blame on them due to jealousy or hatred for the sole purpose of revenge. The rumors quickly spreading through the town caused hysteria, defined by people behaving in an uncontrolled way due to fear or anger, eventually leading to nineteen righteous people being hung. Reverend Hale, a supposed expert on witchcraft was one of the main people to blame for the witch trials according to the vast majority of readers. Despite that, his probity becomes clearer and clearer when scrutinizing the text for its true meaning. After all, he was not responsible for the spread of the rumors about witchcraft, he began to realize the flaws in the Salem witch trials as the story progressed, and he tried to compel everyone condemned to death

Page 1 of 3Hai Nguyen John Proctor and the McCarthyism “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller illustrates the reflection of the anti-communist hysteria in the United States known as McCarthyism. Miller uses the character John Proctor as a force in demonstrating the way lives were destroyed by McCarthyism. Throughout the story, while Proctor is respected in the community, he has conflict secretly with many people as well as himself. John Proctor is a perfect character because the readers are able to view him as a victim in the society where McCarthyism took place. He is also an adulterer, husband of Elizabeth, and knows what is happening in and outside of the Salem society. Proctor was having a conflict with his wife, Elizabeth Proctor. Elizabeth did not trust John because he had an affair with Abigail Williams. Elizabeth was supposed to trust John, but she refused to because he said he was alone with Abigail for a moment. John cannot say or argue against Elizabeth because of his guilt:” Because it speaks deceit, and I am honest! But I will plead no more! I see how your spirit twists around the single error of my life, and I will never tear it free!” Elizabeth tried to make John feel guilt, so John wanted to make sure she understood her cold nature may have prompted his cheating. He also has conflict with Abigail Williams which is his mistress. John Proctor was so angry because Abigail accused his wife to witchcraft. She sent Mary Warren with a puppet that has needle inside its

With all that is going on in the world today, what is more important to you freedom or Safety? In The Crucible, Abigale choose her own safety over hers of her friends and family, and in Fahrenheit 451, Guy choose his freedom over the safety of him and his wife and, in Berlin you either live on West Berlin were you were free or you lived on the other side of the wall where you had no freedom but you were safe. So which side of the wall do you want to live on?

Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible show the hysteria that took place in Salem in 1692. Even though this play is fiction, Miller based the plot of his play on a real historical event which was McCarthyism in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. There’re many connection in The Crucible to be considered as an allegory due to similarities themes and how the characters are being portrayed. Miller does an excellent job of portraying numerals characters used fear for benefit and they showed selfishness and malfeasance. This is also similar to how Joseph McCarthy’s oppressive by using intense fear of the spread of the economic system called communism.

In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, hysteria breaks out in Salem when young girls begin pronouncing accusations of witchcraft. One of the accused, Elizabeth Proctor and her husband, John Proctor, live on a farm where he provides and cares for their family. When Elizabeth becomes sick John is unfaithful and has an affair with one of the accusers, Abigail Williams. Through the course of the story, John Proctor moves from denial and deflection of his actions and their consequences in order to maintain his public dignity, to public confession and condemnation for his actions in order to soothe his conscience and maintain his internal sense of integrity. This progression is illustrated by his interactions with his wife, their accusers and the court, who ultimately condemns them.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. It all started when Reverend Parris discovers a group of girls dancing in the woods. After he found the girls in the wood, his daughter Betty fall ill. Since Betty wouldn’t wake up, people become paranoid and started believing that witchcraft was real. Fake accusations were made and innocent people kept dying. In The Crucible there are many people to blame for all for everything that occurred, characters such a Abigail Williams, Reverend Hale, and Reverend Parris. Abigail Williams is to blame because she accused everyone else just to protect herself. Reverend Hale is also blame because he was the one who got people to think that witchcraft was real. Lastly Reverend Parris is to blame because he was just worried about himself and his reputation in Salem.

Most people would not like to be known as a coward. Mary Warren was not aiming for that title, but that is what she ended up with. She gave herself this negative reputation. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a play about the undergoing of the Salem Witchcraft Trials in 1692. A group of Salems girls, are caught dancing in the woods. To take allegation off of themselves, they accuse other innocent townspeople of practicing witchcraft. Multiple victims are murdered or imprisoned. Mary Warren, one of the accusers, plays a big role in this play. Mary Warren’s character changes from cowardly, to brave, and back to cowardly, throughout the story which shows how she evolved throughout The Crucible.

The Salem Witch Trials: a time where the innocent were guilty and the guilty got away with murder. This horrendous event can be further explained through Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible. Miller has won many awards in his time for writing many dramas that are very popular amongst the people and The Crucible just so happens to be one of them. It tells a story about a harsh time that many people faced when they were losing loved ones who were found guilty since they didn’t confess to a crime that they never committed. While reading the play, a person will find a theme of power. One specific character, Mary Warren, helps show this theme because as soon as she gains power, her character changes drastically. Throughout The Crucible, Mary Warren is portrayed as a very dynamic character since she begins as being very wimpy, then she gains confidence and becomes brave, and then she goes right back to being timid and controlled by Abigail.