In the past there have been major events that have shaped the country we live in today. Two of the major events of our time are McCarthyism and the Salem Witch Trials. These two events there hold many similarities like the fear and anger that went on but there is a lot of contrast between the two, such as the consequences. Because of these controversial topics, Arthur Miller wrote his play, The Crucible, which focuses on these issues and makes a connection. He also wrote it so that we would learn and grow from the past, instead of ignorantly repeating it. The first way McCarthyism and the Salem Witch Trials are similar is that they both were fueled by fear. McCarthyism was fueled by the fear of nuclear war. Communists snuck into America from the Soviet Union to spy on the United States. America and the Soviet Union were on the brink of a nuclear war. He made it hard to trust people, and they were afraid of being accused themselves. The Salem Witch Trials was the same way because no one wanted to get in trouble or worse, killed. When Abby started accusing people of communicating with the devil, people started getting scared that she would accuse them. A lot of people were afraid to do things that they might normally do throughout the day because they were afraid of being accused. …show more content…
There was a lot of anger among the people of this time. During the Salem Witch Trials, Abby hates Elizabeth Proctor because of her love for John Proctor, which causes Abby to accuse Elizabeth of practicing witchcraft and communicating with the devil. In McCarthyism, anger is shown when McCarthy accuses people of being communists. Anyone who expressed their freedom of speech was labeled a communist just because someone might not have liked what they said. There was so much anger from the war and tension in this time that people just let it take
Does history repeat itself? Lots of people think that the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s are a repeat of history from the Salem witch-hunts of 1692. All of the accusations were false, and also fictitious. The main reason people were blamed was so that ones who were condemning would receive their own personal gain. Both parties (McCarthy and the girls in Salem) accused people to make themselves look better to others and gain respect. They both gained respect from others, which was something they did not have a lot of, especially the girls of Salem, Massachusetts. In 1692, people blamed of being witches were used as scapegoats for society's problems, and then again in 1950, those blamed of being communists were used as scapegoats for society's problems. In the long run, both cases were worthless except for the lessons that it may teach those who look back at the awful experiences. Many people were killed in the diminutive town of Salem and the ones who weren't killed had their reputations forever lowered. Everyone who was charged by Joseph McCarthy had his or her own reputation diminished also. All of this would have never happened if the people, who were involved, would have only opened their blinded eyes and saw the truth, which lied right in front of their faces.
Playwright Arthur Miller wrote a play about the Salem Witch trials, and he was able to refer to the similarities between America during the 1940’s and 50’s. While writing the script, Miller visited Salem in order to grasp a sense of the scenery. In the Salem Courthouse he saw the red-hunt of the 1950’s as he had in mind the trails that occurred during the 1960’s. The Salem Witch trials and the anti-communist trials have some similarities and differences. During the 1690’s, people in Salem would accuse others of witchcraft; similarly, testifiers and informants would say the names of communist members.
The Salem witch trials and the story of Joseph McCarthy are very similar; they both accused innocent people of doing things that were “bad” at the time. The Salem Witch trials were persecutions of men and woman on account of performing witchcraft. Two girls accused a woman of doing witchcraft and then the accusations continued, people accused other people to relieve their own punishment in a last ditch effort to save their lives, but it was in vein. After the witch trials were over “19 had been killed and an elderly man pressed to death under heavy stones”(Linder). “Some accused of witch craft were burned at the stake all in the name of justice”(Brown). Others were finally let out of jail after being in imprisonment for months at a time. Joseph McCarthy was the U.S senator for the state of Wyoming from 1947-1957, the year that he died. McCarthy became the most visible face in public during the time of the cold war in America. “McCarthy pursued unnecessary investigations, imprisonments and unprovoked acts to those who were being accused of being a communist”(Glitterrich). The term McC...
similarity to the Salem witch trials. The McCarthy hearings are trials in which Senator Joe McCarthy accuses government employees of being Communists. He exaggerates and exploits the evidence and ruins many reputations just as the girls do in the Salem witch trials. The accused, in both cases, are used as scapegoats for society’s problems and the only way to escape direct punishment is to admit to guilt.
Authors often have underlying reasons for giving their stories certain themes or settings. Arthur Miller’s masterpiece, The Crucible, is a work of art inspired by actual events as a response to political and moral issues. Set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, The Crucible proves to have its roots in events of the 1950’s and 1960’s, such as the activities of the House Un-American Committee and the “Red Scare.” Though the play provides an accurate account of the Salem witch trials, its real achievement lies in the many important issues of Miller’s time that it dealswith.
McCarthyism, became a term that referred to Senator Joseph McCarthy from Wisconsin and the ruthless tactics he employed and institutionalized while seeking to destroy the threat of Communism to the United States government and society between 1950 and 1954. Fears of communism and self-promotion were utilized by McCarthy to promote himself as a politician end protector of the American way of life. Generally, McCarthyism became synonymous with the Medieval Witch Hunts and trials in that unfair prosecutions were based on fears and rumors. Both, McCarthyism and witch hunts were products of generally unfavorable times. Similarly, testimony and confessions were often forced by threat and coercion. Seemingly plausible accusations containing innuendo
The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a timeless piece of work that is applicable to many societies. The Crucible was written to criticize the outrageous behavior of Americans in the 1950’s. The McCarthy Era in the 1950’s parallels the witch hunt in Salem. Miller’s work is still relevant for political situations today even though it was specifically written to criticize that time period. Both the McCarthy Era and the Salem Witch Trials display the danger of collective hysteria, the speed of rumors, and the inability of accusers to stop the accusations once they have started.
The play “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller was written in response to McCarthyism in the 1950’s. In 1692 and 1693 the Salem witch trials took place in Salem Massachusetts. Girls believed to be involved in witchcraft were responsible for these trials. In the late 1940’s and early 1950’s senator McCarthy came to office. Senator McCarthy and some of his allies were responsible for hysteria in the United States of America in the 1950’s. The scare was also in result of a communist scare after World War II and leading to the cold war. The behavior of the people of the Salem witch trials and Americans in the 19050’s resulted in a big scare in reaction to hysteria.
Arthur Miller was one of the most famous authors of his time. He wrote many plays and novels that people still read and cherish today. One of his most famous and widely read plays by Arthur Miller is The Crucible. A tale of the Puritan “witch” hunts. The play makes the reader think of the time period of which Miller was writing about. Miller links the Puritanical time period with the Cold War Era and the Red Scare which happened just after World War II. History shows us the reasons Miller writes the way he did. McCarthyism was a big problem in America, and Miller, through his writing shows us the struggles of innocent people being accused of something they did not do. Just like the people that were accused of being communist spies in America during the Cold War Era. In the play, The Crucible, Miller shows many themes but, hatred for the “unholy” is the main theme and is justified but the justification of hatred for people because of their differences of belief, practices, and customs by the Puritan people and their values and their religious beliefs which; therefore, is justified by The Holy Bible.
The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism are very similar in what they talk about during each period of time. The definition of McCarthyism is “a voracious campaign against alleged communists in the United States government. The first paragraph of McCarthyism states McCarthy spent five years trying in vain to expose communists. His words were so intimidating that only few people dared to speak against him. McCarthy insinuates disloyalty which is what convinced many Americans to believe that their government was packed with traitors and spies. When McCarthy won his election, he did so by criticizing his c
Second, the Salem Witch Trials and the Red Scare were compared because in both events, there were intolerant laws that targeted witchcraft and communism. The Bible claimed, “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 19:31). This verse concludes it is a sin to practice witchcraft. The Puritan society based their government on religion, thus they were to follow this law and did not tolerate witchcraft. Furthermore, they took serious action on people suspected to be involved with the devil. There were also laws that were intolerant with Communism, such as the Smith Act of 1940 that declared, “Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction
In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, which details the Salem witch trials, Abigail has an affair with John Proctor, and then tries to kill his wife with a charm. This leads to her being thought a witch, but they point fingers at others to keep the spotlight off of them. Eventually many people are hung for witchcraft because Abigail and her friends will not tell the truth of what happened the night they were dancing. During the McCarthy trials, the Cold War was currently going on, and the public was getting anxious about the recent findings that Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were found guilty of being communist spies. Joseph McCarthy used this to get power by convicting others of Communism in his trials. McCarthy and the witch trials is a classic example of history repeating itself, when there is no way to prove yourself innocent of an invisible crime.
McCarthyism would have power over Americans where his campaign would spread more fear over the people about communist and with no media, there would blind more Americans of what is happening within their own government. What the author relates McCarthy as Abigail were she made sure that the girls would say nothing about what they did in the woods where she tells them they have “Danced.and Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam's dead sister. And that is all. And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or edge of a word, about the other things, and I will shudder you”(The Crucible). Abigail had full-on control over people because she had higher power over the townspeople where no-one was willing to stand up to the court in fear of being accused of
Events have played out in history that made people realize the inhumane acts of people and the Salem witch trials and the McCarthy era were two of them. The Salem witch trials in 1692 were almost 260 years before the McCarthy “witch hunts” in the 1950s yet there are similarities between them. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller in 1953, is about the Salem witch trials and is an allegory to the practicing of McCarthyism during the Second Red Scare in the United States, which Miller was a victim of. Although there may be differences between “The Crucible” and McCarthyism, ultimately the anger, lack of evidence, and the people were alike in both events.
Multiple killings of innocent, unarmed people seemed to spark the rise of social injustice of African Americans. Such as Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner. The comparison of the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism, social injustice against African Americans became greatly common in today's society. The unjust accusations of a specific group of people because of their race or beliefs influenced The Salem Witch Trials, McCarthyism, and the killings of African Americans. These accusations didn’t just lead to killings but an uproar in the African American community.