Accusation

The hysteria depicted in "The Crucible" is a manifestation of fear and paranoia, fueled by personal vendettas and societal pressures. The initial accusations of witchcraft by Abigail Williams and her peers set off a chain reaction of accusations and trials, resulting in the unjust deaths of many innocent people. This frenzy of accusations reflects the intense fear and suspicion that permeated Salem, mirroring the paranoia of the McCarthy era in the 1950s when Miller wrote the play. Miller

The first execution took place in October of 1692 following the accusation by a young girl who inhabited Andover, Massachusetts (Brooks 1). The girl claimed that her neighbor’s dog attempted to bewitch her (Brooks 1). Subsequently after the accusation was made the dog was shot (Brooks 1). Shortly following the execution of the dog in Andover, a dog in the village of Salem began behaving outlandish (Brooks

it. She manipulated several girls into believing in witchcraft and was a major cause of hysteria. Events in the Crucible are very similar to the McCarthy era in the 1950’s. Similar to Abigail, McCarthy accuses innocent people of communism. These accusations result in arrests and damage the reputations of several people. Miller uses events in the crucible to teach people that hysteria does not lead to good outcomes. The Puritan community in Salem, believes in strictly following the bible and harshly

does not confess. This would not have happened if Abigail chose to do everything differently and not make false accusations. Throughout all of the deaths and problems caused because of Abigails accusations, her motivations do not change. Abigail still wants to have John as her own, which means she still wants to rid of Elizabeth. She refuses to confess to the falseness of the accusations. Due to all of her lies in attempt of making others continue to believe there are people that were contacted by

Witchcraft accusations in the sixteenth and seventeenth century saw a dramatic increase in the sheer amount of accused witches that were tried and executed. “Between about 1450 and 1750 maybe 40,000 of Europe’s inhabitants, most of them women, were executed, many of them by burning at the stake, as witches.” (Sharpe 65) The vulnerability of society to so blindly accuse others of witchcraft stemmed from not knowing about certain types of illnesses or why horrible things sometimes occurred. Some accusations

Joseph Raymond McCarthy, once a senator, is best known for his accusatory remarks on communism. During a time of cold war, opposition to McCarthy was the last thing the public wanted, in fear of being accused themselves. McCarthy led a life of almost fifty years, beginning on November 14, 1908 and ending on May 2, 1957 due to acute hepatitis and numerous additional ailments and liver problems (Reference Staff). Joseph McCarthy was born in Grand Chute, Wisconsin on November 14, 1908 to Timothy and

article was published in the most recent publication of the Rolling Stone Magazine, so the fraternity in question does in fact have a libel case against Rolling Stone, if the allegations are false. There is not a defamation-of-group case because the accusation is only referring to 7 members of the large fraternity, which likely has more than 75 members. However, the article suggests that the gang rape took place as a part of an initiation ritual, which implies that every

Finding someone to blame is human nature. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, almost any character can be blamed in some capacity for the deaths of innocent people. The play follows the story of the Salem witch trials. A group of Puritan girls; including Abigail Williams, Mary Warren, and Mercy Lewis; are found dancing in the woods and accuse Tituba, a slave, of witchcraft. Tituba accuses two others of witchcraft to spare her own life. The girls, led by Abigail, begin to accuse others. Abigail eventually

being a witch in Salem, Massachusetts through the time period of February 1692 through May 1693. This was a dark time in history as more than 200 prosecutions took place and at least 20 people were killed during this time of fear and hysteria. The accusations began as three girls Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne were accused of witchcraft from other young girls in the community. During this time period, fear of the Devil was common as people in Salem were very devoted to their religion and religious

related back to many different events in history that took the same course as the Salem Witch trials. Most notably it has been related to McCarthyism. Many people say that The Crucible is an allegory to McCarthyism. This is due to its nature of false accusations. While the main event in The Crucible, the Salem Witch Trials, can be similar to McCarthyism there are also some ways in which they are not alike. First off, an allegory is defined as a story in which the participants and the events in the story