Similarities between The Crucible and McCarthyism Arthur Miller wrote this essay to tell us how life was back in puritans time, he wasn’t from puritan time time period nor he was a puritan. Arthur Miller lived during the red scare where he was accused and he wrote this story as to compare characters from The Crucible mainly Abigail with McCarthy. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller shows us that Abigail is a metaphor for Joseph McCarthy as they both used the so called “witch hunts” to falsely accuse other of communism or witchcraft in order to gain more power or attention. In 1950s, Joseph McCarthy started to accuse hundreds of people for believing in communism so that he can strike fear in people hearts and can remain in power, just …show more content…
John got upset because he knew it would ruin his life when everybody who know him see the confession on the church. He knew if he let them hang the paper on the church door, he cannot face his friends or be respected by anyone.“Why Abigail William charged her”(Miller 11). Proctor and Abigail had an affair and and Elizabeth fired her. Abigail then accused Elizabeth for hurting her, because of that Elizabeth had to leave the house with three kids in there.“Among those well-known artists accused of communist sympathies or called before the committee were Dashiell Hammett, Waldo Salt, Lillian Hellman,Lena Horne, Paul Robeson, Elia Kazan, Arthur Miller, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Charlie Chaplin and Group Theatre members Clifford Odets, Elia Kazan, and Stella Adler”(Arthur).McCarthy accused all these people who were mostly authors. one of them Arthur Miller, who wrote the crucible. By accusing them he scared people so they wouldn’t stand against him and he will remain in power McCarty and Abigail accusation made a lot of people suffer for sins they didn’t
In the 1950s, the Red Scare over Communist infiltration grasped America, turning friends against one another and prompting Communist accusations left and right. If accused, you could confess to Communism and accuse others, or face indictment yourself. This concept is quite similar to the Salem witch trials, in which accused witches were put in the same predicament. Written during the Red Scare, Arthur Miller produced a play called The Crucible, which uses the Salem witch trials as an allegory for the Communist hysteria. In this play, rumors of witchcraft stemmed from the boredom of a few teenage girls, and blossomed into an unprecedented hysteria. Accusations became widespread, and, since confession was the only way to avoid a hanging, confessions became widespread as well. When only a small group of stubborn resisters were left, the main character John Proctor had to make a difficult decision on whether he should confess or hang, and ends up hanging along with a few others to help save the integrity of their community. In his play The Crucible, Arthur Miller demonstrates that while some may view self-sacrifice as a pointless loss due to pride, the decision to sacrifice one’s life for the good of his community and the elimination of conformist attitudes is very noble. The enormity of this decision can instill a feeling of guilt and responsibility upon another, as occurs to the protagonist John Proctor, and can cause one’s views and actions to be altered.
Herbert Block, a cartoon illustrator during McCarthyism, depicts the absurdity of the communist accusations during the 1950s through his drawings of fictitious evidence and the power hungry government. Despite the lack of evidence, the influence of the government’s spurious claims causes unnecessary hysteria and chaos within America. Likewise, these events are prevalent within Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible. The witch trials symbolize the court hearings during McCarthyism, and an identical absence of feasible evidence and a town overridden by fear lead to fallacious convictions. Block’s political cartoons embody the fraudulent evidence and hysteria over communism during McCarthy’s reign, which relates to the witch trials that Miller describes
Was The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, just an “irrational fear?” (Arthur Miller’s The Crucible: Fact & Fiction Par.1). The panic of Communism during the Cold War and Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti-communist hearings on February 3, 1953 led to this “irrational fear.” There are several major differences from the true version of the story and Miller’s version. These differences could have made the whole event much more interesting and eerie. Many specific details were overlooked that could have changed the play around. For example, Parris’ wife was not dead. In Miller’s play he refers to the group of girls as Abigail’s girls, but there were many other girls that were included in the group of the “afflicted”. Another difference that could have reconstructed how the play was is Abigail’s age. Because Miller used different context from the event, the true facts of history could have made the play much more interesting.
Similarly, McCarthy accused innocent people of being communists in order to get what he wanted: popularity in the political race for reelection as senator of Wisconsin (“Persecution” 1). McCarthy gained his credibility through Whittaker Chambers’ admittance of being a communist and Chambers’ revelation of other communists (“Whittaker Chambers” 1).
The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is quite possibly one of the most controversial books of all time. This book is about a small Puritan town in Massachusetts where group of girls are caught dancing in the woods and are accused of being witches. After that, lots of innocent people were convicted of being witches as well. The group of girls, with Abigail Williams leading, lie and testify against them in court. Abigail Williams is a sinful character in The Crucible. This is proven through her actions, speech, and thoughts.
The Red Scare caused many innocent people to become very afraid to express their ideas. This, due to the risk of communist accusations. This relates to the crucible because in The Crucible people feared practicing there normal beliefs and living out there day to day lives because they feared to get accused of witchcraft.
The Crucible is interpreted as an allegory on the intolerance of McCarthyism, allowing Miller to express his criticisms towards the practice through a crucial period in American history. After its publication, it was widely expressed that the Crucible illustrated Miller’s opinion on McCarthyism and its effect on society. McCarthyism is defined as the political practice of broadcasting accusations of disloyalty and undermining power and authority without providing legitimate evidence. This was specifically targeted to communists, who similarly were the innocent citizens falsely accused of witchcraft in Salem. Although Miller does not specifically mention McCarthyism, he incorporates analogies to elements of McCarthyism. A direct connection to it is Danforth states "a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between.” This crucial quote loosely references the aspect of McCarthyism that loosely states a person is either with the government, or suspected of communism. Miller continues to reinforce this technique through the representation of his characters. Abigail reflects on the encouragement of accusations of innocent folk without providing solid evidence, such as claiming “I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil!” therefore encouraging the fellow girls of Salem to follow. This parallels to McCarthy’s allegations against anyone regardless of their social status. Proctor however, represents the injustice placed upon the honest citizens who attempted to clear their names. The hangings reflect on the citizens during the McCarthy era who were blacklisted and therefore excluded from society. Although there is no direct symbolism, this practice is clearly depicted in t...
Why is The Crucible and McCarthyism is significant? It’s significant because The Crucible is taught in school today and Salem witch trials, that is portrayed in The Crucible, is similar to McCarthyism. The Salem witch trial as well as the McCarthyism share a similarities. There are many life lasting lessons we can learn from this event. Also there are many problems from the Salem witch trials, that is still relevant today.
In 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts an outbreak of Witchcraft among the people takes place where they claim to see the Devil and spirits roaming around them and other people. In 1950 an outbreak of Communism occurs, people become wrongfully accused, making events that happen during this time period similar to events that happened in Salem in 1692. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible parallels the Red Scare of Communism created by Senator McCarthy in the 1950s.
In Arthur Miller’s “Why I Wrote The Crucible,” he parallels the Salem Witch Trials and the Second Red Scare to criticize the prosecution of suspected Communists in the latter. During the Red Scare conservative politicians, most notably Senator Joseph McCarthy, claimed that Communists had infiltrated the United States government. They used the resulting hysteria as well as hearsay accusations to mar their opponents’ reputations. Likewise, in Miller’s The Crucible, spectral evidence – which is a claim from the witness that the offender’s spirit has harmed them – is used to convict potential witches during their trials. Throughout these two works, Miller effectively links the witch trials to the hearings of accused Communists during the Red Scare and defends his modification of history except about the creation of Abigail Williams and John Proctor’s affair.
“In 1950, Joseph McCarthy made a public accusation that two hundred plus “card carrying” communists have become a part of the United States government.” (Kazan) “In the 1940s, Americans feared communism.” (Lorcher) The Soviet Union was growing in power. Paranoia enthused a communist threat. “The incoming communists had their passports taken. While other “communists” were jailed for refusing to accuse others. The hunt for communists was difficult for writers, and entertainers. Many were labeled communist and were not allowed to continue work anymore.” (Kazan) “McCarthy's accusations heightened political tension. In formed the anti- communist group in 1938.” (Kazan) “During the two years following the publication and production of The Crucible, Arthur Miller was investigated for possible associations with the communist party, then he
Just as Joseph McCarthy made false claims in the 1940s an extremely similar situation occurs in The Crucible. A group of young girls made claims involving witches appearing in Salem. When stating these remarks none of these young ladies had any real evidence to confirm their story. In the witch trials and Joseph McCarthy’s case, the people who were accused were put on trial and assumed to be guilty though there had been no hard evidence to go off of. When analyzing The Crucible readers will find how arrogant some of the citizens in Salem are and how far they are willing to go to maintain a prestige reputation. We see this when Proctor is conflicted whether or not to tell the truth about his affair, “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (Miller 103). It took having his wife go to jail for John Proctor to finally come out and tell the
“She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore’s vengeance, and you must see it, I set myself entirely in your hands.” John Proctor says this to Danforth in the movie “The Crucible,” which is a fascinating, and disturbing story based on an important event in history. This event was the Salem Witch Trials. The author Arthur Miller wrote this story in response to the major event the McCarthy Era. The Crucible showed the similarities between the McCarthy Era and the Salem Witch Trials.
Arthur Miller wrote “The Crucible” to criticize McCarthyism and everything happening with McCarthy. Miller made sure people who read the play can make a connection to the Salem witch hunts. Major characters in “The Crucible” have connections to major people during the McCarthy era. Abigail Williams has a distinct connection to Joseph McCarthy as both are the main starters of both events. Abigail went to accuse many people without any proof because she disliked them for her own personal gain. McCarthy also went to accuse many people without any proof which led to his personal gain, but it was off of anger towards the communists and not individuals. John Proctor and Arthur Miller are also two major people who are alike, as both of them criticized the court and were accused for being a witch or a communist. The two were convicted on false accusations but most importantly Proctor did not want to sell out his friends to the court, which Miller did the exact same with the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). Miller not selling out his friends to the HUAC was the reason for his conviction while Proctor not selling out his friends helped him see the truth in
The play “The Crucible” is an allegory for the McCarthyism hysteria that occurred in the late 1940’s to the late 1950’s. Arthur Miller’s play “the crucible” and the McCarthyism era demonstrates how fear can begin conflict. The term McCarthyism has come to mean “the practice of making accusations of disloyalty”, which is the basis of the Salem witch trials presented in Arthur Miller’s play. The fear that the trials generate leads to the internal and external conflicts that some of the characters are faced with, in the play. The town’s people fear the consequences of admitting their displeasure of the trials and the character of John Proctor faces the same external conflict, but also his own internal conflict. The trials begin due to Abigail and her friends fearing the consequences of their defiance of Salem’s puritan society.