Misunderstanding and ignorance paves the path for fear. Fear becomes the greatest enemy and turns into hate. These two factors have become the root problems in both the Salem witch trials in 1692 and the Cold War during the 20th centuryThe Crucible by Arthur Miller, discusses the Salem witch trials and the underlying causes such as fear and ignorance that led to the horrific witch hunting. These factors contribute to the citizens of the time, leading to mass hysteria to build up. Similarly, the Cold War was embedded in the science and terror that people had towards each other. The Cold War was a rivalry between the U.S. and the Soviet Union which lasted for decades between 1945 and 1991, leading to anti-communist suspicions and international …show more content…
The Cold War was a time of ongoing anxiety. The public was under constant fear of nuclear attacks. Due to this, the public was under a demeanor of panic resulting in many discriminating against one another. Those who were from the Soviet Union were constantly blamed for any negative events and were isolated as they could be “dangerous”. In the “Origins of the Cold War” by Arthur Schlesinger Jr., he talks about the true foundation of the Cold War, such as fear and outcasting of those with different cultures. In his text he says, “For nearly two somber and dangerous decades this antagonism dominated the fears of mankind; it may even, on occasion, have come close to blowing up the planet”(Schlesinger 22). May put an actual quote. Fear of the nuclear threats became a massive cause for the Cold War. Continuously, the Soviet Union and the U.S. kept threatening each other, putting the population under mass hysteria. Moreover, this fear led to hate towards opposing countries and discrimination against those who didn’t believe in the same ideology. The trepidation during the Cold War due to the nuclear threats led to discrimination against innocent people from the Soviet Union, showing how the fear was a root conflict of the Cold
Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, describes the hysteria that took place during the witch trials. The Crucible shows us how manipulation can easily cause human minds to support and condone a terrible tragedy like that of the witch trials. The Red Scare, meaning the fear of communism, took hold in America during the Cold War and caused a very similar kind of hysteria, thus, making events like these seemingly repeatable and not as rare as hoped. Moreover, this frenzy described in the play is one expected to repeat itself throughout American history.
Many people in this world are accused of crimes so absurd that when put to trial, they name others of the same crime to redirect the focus from them to others like it happens in the actual day, every year, with minor cases. McCarthyism was one of those cases that changed history, likewise the Salem Witch Trials. McCarthyism had the same effect on people, people who were accused of communism blame others to lessen their penalty like in the Salem Witch Trials, so how the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy Era can connects although the great difference in time?
The way many events in the world today are depicted although entertaining and good news stories are not necessarily true. We must go beyond the news and find the real facts of what happened before jumping to conclusions and panicking. As with all popular culture people believe what the news tells them, whether it is true or not, it is a crucial that the true facts are provided to prevent events of mass hysteria such as the Salem Witch Trials and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Salem Witch Trials in "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller and the Cuban Missile Crisis are both great examples of widespread panic leading to mass hysteria, major events of chaos in history, and two situations that eventually were resolved whether the outcome was bad or good.
The McCarthy era is very similar to the Salem Witch trials. They are both similar, because they both dealt with hysteria. Hysteria is an uncontrollable fear or outburst of emotion. Both things had to do with people accusing each other of people being communist, and people being witches.
Throughout history , it has been shown that, history has a tendency to repeat itself. In 1692, men and women were accused of witchcraft whether they were guilty or not. The place that this was occurring was, Salem, Massachusetts, a city full of puritans who came from Europe. Witchcraft was the among the worst crime any individual could do. This often times led to people being hung or exiled from the church. Many people were hung, even though they were innocent. Many years later during the WWII era, there was a lot of speculation about communists and their impact in America This era was known as the McCarthyism era, because, Sen. McCarthy was the leading America into a anti -communist state. In one case in particular was of a U.S AIr Force Lieutenant, Milo Radulovich, who was released from the Air Force due to the fact that his father, read a newspaper which was from Serbia, because he has a Serbian background, the Air Force believed his was pro-communism, since the newspaper favored communism. The Air Force also believed Milo was pro-communism because, his sister peacefully protested outside of a hotel which didn’t allow a communist member to stay at . Milo was born and raised in Michigan, he also dedicatedly served his country, he had no form of favor in communism. but was automatically placed under the notion that he supported communism and was fighting for them because his dad read a newspaper from a different country and his sister protested for equal rights. Neither Milo or his family did anything bad. Assumption thinking leads to stereotypes.
The Cold War was a period of dark and melancholic times when the entire world lived in fear that the boiling pot may spill. The protectionist measures taken by Eisenhower kept the communists in check to suspend the progression of USSR’s radical ambitions and programs. From the suspenseful delirium from the Cold War, the United States often engaged in a dangerous policy of brinksmanship through the mid-1950s. Fortunately, these actions did not lead to a global nuclear disaster as both the US and USSR fully understood what the weapons of mass destruction were capable of.
Analysis and Comparison of the Witch Trials In modern times, the most infamous witch trials are the one that occurred in Salem. These specific witch trials are known for the unjust killings of several accused women and men. The Salem witch trials of 1692, is a big portion of what people refer to, when they want to analyze how Puritan life was during the colonial period. According to ‘Salem Witch Trials’, “The witch trials are often taken as a lens to view the whole Puritan period in New England and to serve as an example of religious prejudice…”
Playwright Arthur Miller wrote a play about the Salem Witch trials, and he was able to refer to the similarity of 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 1690’s. The Salem Witch trials and the anti-communist trials had some similarities and differences. During the 1690’s people in Salem would accuse other of witchcraft; similarly, testifiers and informants would say the names of communist members.
During the Cold War from 1945 to 1953, the civil liberties faced many challenges as the citizens of the US faced and lived in a lot of terror. The Cold War in 1945 to 1953 brought about a period of tension and hostility due to the feud between the United States and the Soviet Union. The period began with the end of the Second World War. The situation acquired the title for there was no physical active war between the two rivals. The probability of the tension is the fear of the rise in nuclear ammunition.
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...
In this paper I am going to talk about the relations between the Salem witch trials and the Cold War. Covering this with evidence and facts about the theme. I think that this is a fair comparison and is very interesting what they have in common.
Is it possible for history to repeat itself? This seems like an unlikely concept, but it is not as far-fetched as it may seem. There have been many times throughout history that things have seemingly repeated themselves. One of the best examples of this is the Salem Witch Trials in the 1690’s being repeated in the form of the Red Scare of the 1950’s. The Red Scare is reminiscent of the Salem Witch Trials in that people were accused of doing something they did not do, they were only given the choices of condemn or confess, and more harm was done than avoided as a result of the scares.
Inspired by the Red Scare, which was fuled by use of the either-or ( black and white) fallacy of thinking, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible depicts the village of Salem undergoing its own period of black and white thinking along with the suspicion and hysteria which followed. Miller exploits the literary element of setting to support the portrayal of the effects of black and white thinking in Salem Witch Trials of 1692.
According to Elaine Tyler May in her article Security against Democracy: The Legacy of the Cod War at Home, the cold war made an impact on Americans state of mind. During the nuclear arms race, many Americans became paranoid about their own country as well as foreigners . Instead of trying to get rid of this situation and mediating it , America decides to join this race, which only fuels the fire. At the same, American citizens were living their lives in fear everyday. Citizens were preparing themselves in case of an attack, as a result of the government doing nothing to try to protect America. Elaine Tyler May also states that the media back then was only fueling this phobia to grow. For example, the Los Angeles Times showing hypothetical bomb targets if the Soviets were to attack in Los Angeles. Some Americans, who were considering the possibility of a nuclear war, modified their homes into concrete to resist an atomic blast, created backyard bunkers, or even sheltered in their basements. In addition, whether you were for or against the buildup of nuclear weapons, fear would be present.
The purpose of my paper is to compare and contrast Arthur Miller’s The Crucible with the actual witch trials that took place in Salem in the 17th Century. Although many of the characters and events in the play were non-fictional, many details were changed by the playwright to add intrigue to the story. While there isn’t one specific cause or event that led to the Salem witch trials, it was a combination of events and factors that contributed to the birth and growth of the trials. Some of these events included: a small pox outbreak that was happening at the time, the revocation of the Massachusetts Bay Colony charter by Charles II, and the constant fear of Native attacks. These helped in creating anxiety among the early Puritans that they were being punished by God himself.