A Town in Salem, The Crucible was Written by Arthur Miller

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The Crucible is based around a small, religious town in Salem, Massachusetts. The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller around the theme of the Red Scare. Like the Red Scare, people were falsely accused of committing crimes against the people, however, unlike the Salem Witch Trials, the Red Scare was secular and focused around the Russian dictatorship. During The Crucible justice, integrity, and mass hysteria are all key themes.
Justice in Salem was determined by accusations of being the devil's servant, the church held all the power, and an appeals system was non-existent. The main way ‘witches’ were found was people accusing others of committing witchcraft. These baseless accusations led to false allegations for vengeance or self-gain. When accused of being a witch, the church would sway most influence of what events proceeded. Unlike todays current justice system, there was no way to appeal; as Judge Danforth said “This is the highest court of the supreme government of this province…” (1189), this shows the ‘witch’ court was the final court, and their ruling was final. Justice wa...

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