Mccarthyism In The Crucible

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
Because of this, Block and Miller illustrate the lunacy of McCarthy’s accusations, as he had an enormous influence on America but had insufficient evidence to back his claims. In the cartoon “I Have Here In My Hands,” Block uses McCarthy holding a “doctored photo” and “faked letter” as an example of the deceitful documents used to convict communists. Additionally in The Crucible, the proof used to accuse witches includes mumbling, reading books, and owning poppets. These insignificant pieces of evidence could lead to conviction and even death, despite the fact that this meager proof hardly justified these punishments. Furthermore, in “We Now Have New and Important Evidence,” two men are shown carrying a poorly made sign with multiple mistakes, which is considered as crucial evidence in accusing communists. Despite the fact that the wooden sign is clearly homemade, the court accepts it because no real evidence truly exists. This can also be found in The Crucible, as Abigail and the girls tell ridiculous and erroneous stories to convict whoever they please, and the court accepts their testimonies regardless of the logic lacking in their