Writers often have an uncanny ability to drown out the outside world and isolate themselves in strenuous periods of releasing their emotions in order to create a literary masterpiece. For Arthur Miller, he utilized the outside world and his environment to pen a play that showed how fear is the spark that ignites racism and, in some cases, xenophobia. His 1953 production regarding the Salem Witch Trials carried a deep, underlying message beyond living a pure and holy life. His ultimate goal was to prove the irrationality behind the Red Scare that was occurring at the time. However, his play can also be historically connected to events not directly occurring during his lifetime. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible can be analyzed and criticized using …show more content…
The Puritans always knew what witches were and that they were quite insidious in their views, much like Americans did before the attacks. However, once they felt the entity’s presence in their own territory, the Puritans, much like current Americans, spiraled into a mass panic and scrambled to exterminate every possible associate of the antagonistic entity without much rhyme or reason. In The Crucible, people were brought into court for questioning simply because of mere coincidences or flaws that were ignored until then. Post-9/11, airports still have an uneasiness toward those of possible Middle-Eastern descent or heritage merely because of nineteen outliers that committed a terroristic crime. This is in no way downplaying the severity or atrocity of the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Using a study from the U.S. Department of State, it is estimated that there are 184,000 potential terrorists in the world, and only about six to eight percent are Middle-Eastern. One could then use the census estimates from all seventeen countries deemed to compose the Middle-East region. In doing so, the population of those living in the Middle-East is just over 400 million people. This means that the percentage of Middle-Easterners who are potential terrorists is between 0.000027% and 0.000037%. These studies go to show that if the American Federal Government had taken a step back and examined all options, the bombings on Afghanistan could have been avoided and therefore the current conflict in Afghanistan may not be happening. The United States could have easily taken a more precisely-controlled route and aimed their weapons before spraying their bullets. This shows how fear can consume us in new circumstances, leading to terrible
The focus of Miller’s The Crucible is an appalling witch trial that morfs the once-peaceful town of Salem into a cutthroat slaughterhouse. As a lucrative playwright and a not-so-subtle allegory author, Miller is a seasoned wordsmith who addresses people akin to himself, and is not secretive about that information. The Crucible best serves its purpose as a learning device and a social statement, especially at the time of its publishing. Miller‘s piece showcases the appeals in an easy-to-identify manner that is perfect for middle or high school students who are new to the appeals, or for English majors who have no problem pinpointing them, making this play ideal for a classroom setting.
During the early years of the colonies, there was a mad witch hunt striking the heart of Salem. Anger, reputation, and even religion play an important part during the play of The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller. The author allows us to witness the vivid idea of the hysteria taking place in Salem, Massachusetts, and why it was so vulnerable during the time.
hysteria brought about by the witchcraft scare in The Crucible leads to the upheaval in people’s differentiation between right and wrong, fogging their sense of true justice.
9/11 is a horrific moment in history, and is well recognized for it’s spawn of mass hysteria in America. Because of this, The Crucible and 9/11 are highly similar in that both situations caused people to become so fearful and paranoid to the point where they began to treat others unfairly, and become more vulnerable/gullible to people’s selfish schemes. In the Crucible, the people of Salem wished for there to be safety in their town and in their religion. However the fear of witchcraft interfered with that, causing a mass hysteria to flood throughout the town. They began to point fingers. It also caused them to be vulnerable. hence becoming more gullible. These same situations happened to America after 9/11 occurred.
First of all, In both scenarios innocent people are targeted and both the Play and the events that happened during WWII had people who were against or had little against what the mainstream society was acting upon; there were also others who showed a deep hatred and went above and beyond to make the lives of some innocent people miserable. An example of deep disgust in The Crucible was Mrs. Putnam’s; right from Act one she showed a biased opinion on witches based on her personal past: “They were murdered, Mr. Parris! And mark this proof! Mark it! Last night my Ruth were ever so close to their little spirit; I know it, sir. For how else is she struck dumb now except some power of darkness would stop her mouth?”. (Miller 15) However, John Proctor was the opposite and disagreed with the fact that these supernatural powers existed, he was told by Abigail herself that all the things they had done was just sport. He was also notorious for not following all the church/religious rules; he would plow on sunday’s, didn 't have his son baptized, and did not regularly attend church. It seemed as if John was not as superstitious as other community members. This was the same for people on the issue of Internment camps; Many people of Japanese descent also were in fear during the attack on Pearl Harbour, they were citizens and some of them had adapted that the US and Canada
The Crucible: Hysteria and Injustice Thesis Statement: The purpose is to educate and display to the reader the hysteria and injustice that can come from a group of people that thinks it's doing the "right" thing for society in relation to The Crucible by Arthur Miller. I. Introduction: The play is based on the real life witch hunts that occurred in the late 1600's in Salem, Massachusetts. It shows the people's fear of what they felt was the Devil's work and shows how a small group of powerful people wrongly accused and killed many people out of this fear and ignorance.
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a play that discusses many issues and spurs contemplation within the reader. While reading this play, because of the controversy of many issues detailed within, it is difficult for one not to take a look at one’s own morals and determine what one would do if placed in a similar situation. The key issues discussed within this play, the effects of hysteria, marital betrayal, and the murderous powers of lies, are portrayed intriguingly and effectively. The lessons that can be learned from The Crucible are still quite applicable today.
The world revolves around hysteria, paranoia, and accusations. All three behaviors can be seen throughout history and everyone has at least felt or acted upon it. There were many different historical events that caused it. Many include the Holocaust, the McCarthyism, the Red Scare, and 9/11. All were such horrific and sorrowful events that unfortunately occurred. These all relate to The Crucible in a particular way. An event that I found interest in is 9/11. In the drama The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the story portrays how there was fear and accusations throughout the play. The Puritans and the Islamic culture were so quite alike it’s comparable. Lots of Puritan people (especially women) feared of being falsely accused of being witches and
Explore Miller’s dramatic presentation and development of the theme of power and authority. Even though The Crucible is not historically correct, nor is it a perfect allegory for anti-Communism, or as a faithful account of the Salem trials, it still stands out as a powerful and timeless depiction of how intolerance, hysteria, power and authority is able to tear a community apart. The most important of these is the nature of power, authority and its costly, and overwhelming results. “But you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or against it,” says Danforth conceitedly. With this antithesis, Miller sums up the attitude of the authorities towards the witch trials that if one goes against the judgement of the court
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a play that was first performed in 1953 in the United States of America in the midst of the persecution of alleged communists during the era of McCarthyism. Although the play explicitly addresses the Salem which hunt, many find that the play is an analogy to McCarthyism due to the striking similarities in which the people behaved. Miller highlight the different groups of characters in order to reveal overlying ideas of the play such as: Self preservation, power, and hypocrisy.
Parallels between Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, and his article Why I wrote the Crucible, can easily support Miller’s reasons for writing this classic play. Miller’s purpose in writing both the play and the article was to emphasize the similarities between the 1692 witch hunt and the 1950’s Red Scare. Miller simply wanted to convey the message of fear over reason, express himself in a new language of old English, to warn of mass hysteria, and most importantly compare his life in the 1950’s to the irrational trial in 1692. Miller’s reasons are numerous, and while they are all stated flat out in his article, they are also clearly stated and understood in the play.
In The Crucible, the mass hysteria surrounding the witch trials caused paranoia amongst the people of Salem. Miller uses the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 as a symbol and allegory of the fear surrounding the spread of communism during the 1950s in America. The community’s sense of justice was blinded by the mass hysteria and for some, a desire for vengeance and personal gain. The Putnams
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.
The Crucible is a famous play written by Arthur Miller in the Early 1950’s. It was written during the “Red scare, when McCarthyism was established. Many anti-communists wanted to prevent communism from spreading just like in The Crucible many wanted to get rid of witchcraft. Many would accuse others of witchcraft in order to not be accused just like many would accuse people of communism. In The Crucible witchcraft would be punishable by death. Many were scared to be accused; therefore many would admit practicing witchcraft in order to save their lives. The Crucible is considered a good play because it is based on real life events during the Salem witch Trials and shows how fear played a role in the individual’s life just like during the “Red” scare.
Puritan societies usually don’t trust the world outside their own and back then they were quick to denounce the most imperceptibly different actions as being evil or having to deal with the Devil. Characters in “ The Crucible” showcase just how easy it is for a misunderstanding to spiral out of control, and how a person’s paranoia can be the undoing of a whole