The Salem Witch Trials Vs. The Crucible

Groupthink is the practice of thinking or making decisions as a group in a way that discourages creativity or individual responsibility. Groupthink discourages any argument through numbers rather than creative thinking against regularity. Arthur Miller tries to reveal to the audience that groupthink can be dangerous, and how it related during the Red Scare back in the late 1940s, and early 1950s. The Red Scare was the event that America turned on one another. Joseph McCarthy, a U.S. senator from Wisconsin, made false accusations of “un americans” being communists; while Arthur Miller himself was accused of being a communist.

“Everyone loves a witch hunt as long as it's someone else's witch being hunted.” this is a quote by Walter Kirn. The Crucible and the Salem Witch Trials are very similar to the time of McCarthyism and it the most likely reason the why the book was written. “It was not only the rise of "McCarthyism" that moved me, but something which seemed much more weird and mysterious.” (Budick 1985) a quote by the author himself proving it was a factor that made him write the book. They were both witch hunts one literally one not so much a witch hunt as a communist hunt. Events in the play and events in McCarthyism are both very similar. A general thing that happened during both is hysteria, a mass feeling of fear in a way. They were both about people

Infused with mystery, fear grim facts and records, Witchcraft history can be traced back to centuries. During the Salem Witch Trials, false accusations were being spread around leading to the community of Salem to be filled with fear and death. In his novel, The Crucible, Arthur Miller argues that making false accusations and rumors can ruin a person’s reputation, and eventually, a community.

Have you ever felt so burdened or overlooked that it leads you to deception? How can one readily react to these feelings, and what can be done if we find ourselves submerged in duplicity far beyond any point of return? In order to better answer these questions, one must first look to both literature and history for demonstrations of such conceptions. Just one example of this being that of the well-known play and movie, The Crucible. As first written in 1953 by Arthur Miller, The Crucible is the powerful production and retelling of the erratic events which took place in the town of Salem during the late 1600’s. The story follows a group of young girls who, after being discovered in the woods dancing, decides it is best to charge the honest as partakers in witchcraft; and instill turmoil and distraction not just within Salem, but the entire region as well. One of the girls guilty of such accusations is that of Mary Warren; the tentative, disingenuous housemaid of John and Elizabeth Proctor, who during the progression of the story, felt ashamed of her actions and took the sand to confess not just her own, but all the girls’ fabricated behavior. However as the confession wore on and testimonies denying her statement true came forward, Mary ultimately gave to the pressure and returned to her previous actions of fraud and deception. Doings which only compliment her many viable flaws of a naive judgement, weak minded demeanor, and inability to stay true to her word; and that

The United States of America is filled with many historic events, enriching its history. Many events that occur are compared to past events in our history. In particular, the McCarthy Era in the 1950’s was compared to the Salem Witch Trials which occurred in 1692. This correlation was first made by Arthur Miller who wrote the play “The Crucible”. He connected the time period of McCarthy to where there was a hunt for communists, to the Salem Witch Trials where there was a hunt for witches. Following that, many comparisons and contrasts have been made between the two. The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthy Era are both similar, yet different.

The book“The Crucible”by Arthur Miller, describes the ultimate twist of the Salem Witch Trials, and origins, which happened between the colonial years of 1692-1693 in Massachusetts. The novel is filled with characters which are bad and good, they all have certain “issues”. The person who started the crazy in Salem is Abigail, she is Reverend Parris’s niece. The logical fallacies in the book played a big role in making bad decisions, this is the reason why the obnoxious accusations of witchcraft and prosecutions lasted so long. The most dangerous logical fallacy that happened  in the Crucible is the Bandwagon occurrence because people have no choice but to pick a side and makes people believe in that certain truth or story even though it may be wrong.

Colonial Massachusetts in the late 1600s was very complex. The small colony consisted of mainly puritans, who had come to escape from the Church of England. Puritans believed that those chosen by God to be saved — the elect — would experience "conversion." In this process, God would reveal to the individual His grace, and the person would know he was saved. One of the many issues within the society was religion. A very big problem that would cause a lot of tension and problems later on was witchcraft. The Salem witchcraft hysteria started because of personal jealousies, it targeted those who went against puritan beliefs, and it was an explanation of all the weird things happening.

The Salem Witch trials are a very known event in history. Groups of people were accused as being witches by the church and its followers. The murders of the West Memphis is another very similar situation of the West Memphis police blaming three teenage boys because they stood out from other citizens. There are many similarities between these two events of mass hysteria and false accusations.

These days, dressing up like a witch for Halloween is very normal. The year was 1962 when Salem Massachusetts was forever cemented in history because of the Salem witch trials. People accused of witch craft were imprisoned or hung and in one occasion a person was pressed to death. I can only imagine what the people of Salem were going through those days. There was a fear in the entire town because you couldn’t trust anyone. It became neighbor against neighbor as the small town was torn apart and people didn’t know who to trust. One of the most important persons from these times was Cotton Mather. He was an accomplished author, researcher, and preacher who worker under his father at Boston’s North Church. In “From the Wonders of the Invisible World” Mather writes about the Salem Witch Trials and what happened when some people recanted their testimony of being witches.

In the book, The Crucible Arthur Miller tries to demonstrate that the Salem Witch Trials and the red scare had a huge impact on the lives of many people. But mainly that there was lots of fear during that time. And people like for example McCarthy saw that as an opportunity to Manipulate people for personal gain. Also, Arthur Miller is showing how these two events really relate to each other and share the same concept.

“All wish to possess knowledge, but few, comparatively speaking, are willing to pay the price(Juvenal)”. This quote represents the knowledge that a single human being may have, but may not wish to use in situations. Numerous Historians have marked The Salem Witch Trials and The Red Scare as both Era’s of Hysteria among the people of the U.S, this research will explain the makings of a hysterical nation.

The connection between “The Red Scare” and Salem witch trials shows that history can repeat itself because the people who started it accused many people, people from two different time periods can both accuse other without any remorse, and while trials have been placed for those innocent victims. Accusation was a known thing for people back then and is what made such events take place. In Salem, Massachusetts around 1690’s the Salem Witch Trials took place. The Salem Witch Trials was a dark period in time where woman and men were accused of interacting with the Devil and interacting with Witchcraft. While 2.5 Centuries later a nationwide issue took place during World War 2, “the most widespread war in history (Wikipedia) “. People would ask themselves what

The Creation Of "The Crucible" And Similarities Between The Salem Witch Trials And Communism Era

The evidence of witchcraft and related works has been around for many centuries. Gradually, though, a mixture a religious, economical, and political reasons instigated different periods of fear and uncertainty among society. Witchcraft was thought of as a connection to the devil that made the victim do evil and strange deeds. (Sutter par. 1) In the sixteenth, seventeenth, and twentieth century, the hysteria over certain causes resulted in prosecution in the Salem Witch Trials, European Witchcraft Craze, and the McCarthy hearings. These three events all used uncertain and unjustly accusations to attack the accused.

The Salem Witch Trials and the Würzburg Witch Trials Have you ever wondered about the effects of mass hysteria? Mass hysteria is a condition that can affect groups of people, usually as a result of fear. One of the earliest recorded examples of mass hysteria is the Salem Witch Trials. In the year 1692, more than 200 people were accused of performing acts of witchcraft and as a result, 20 people were executed. At the time, the people of Salem were afraid of being called a witch, which only further enhanced the mass hysteria of Salem.