How good a reflection is The Crucible by Arthur Miller of Anti-Communism in the McCarthy era of America? The trials in The Crucible and those in America were conducted with very similar intent as in both there was only an interest in proving guilt despite the lack of evidence against the suspect. This can be seen in the trials conducted by the House Committee on Un-American Activities as the accused became automatically guilty if they refused to answer questions on their stance on communism. Defendants were blacklisted which put most out of work for life, thus conveying that the committee was certain of their guilt if such permanent damage was to be inflicted. All of the Hollywood ten, who rebelled against the committee by refusing to …show more content…
testify, were fired after being blacklisted which highlights the profound effect it had on the livelihood of the accused. This is lack of regard for empathy is also evident in The Crucible in the trial of Martha Corey in the quotation; "I know not what a witch is" (Miller, 1992) and the reply "How do you know, then, that you are not a witch" (Miller, 1992).
This conveys the eagerness of Judge Hathorne to condemn all those accused as he has already decided that they are guilty. The twisted logic he uses is not empathetic and does not attempt to understand Martha Corey's side of the argument. Although Hathorne grasped the meaning she tried to convey, he behaved overly pedantically and misrepresented her. Another example of this would be when Judge Danforth states "Witchcraft is an invisible crime; the witch will not confess, so the only admissible evidence can be from the victims" (Miller, 1992). This is another way of saying that the court will only accept one side of the argument, thus making it impossible for the defendant to be found innocent. The phase "the witch will not confess" (Miller, 1992) is factually incorrect as the whole inquiry is based on the idea that in the end, the witch will do so and the use of the word "victims" (Miller, 1992) demonstrates how he views the accused already as the perpetrators. This is emphasised by the quotation "I will not receive a single plea" (Miller, 1992) which suggests that he classes any objections to the court's rulings as "pleas" rather than evidence and is therefore adamant that he is correct and will not be proven otherwise. The use of the word …show more content…
"only" in both quotations denotes the black and white way in which Danforth views law and judgement which is shown throughout the play; for example in the sentence "a person is either with this court or he is against it, there be no road in between". This makes him a biased judge as he lacks empathy and will not attempt to symathise with both sides of the argument, therefore only allowing him to glean the most basic of facts all of which from the side he has chosen to favour. However, all of the Hollywood ten were also members or had once been members of the American communist party, giving the HUAC far better grounds on which to convict them than Judges Danforth and Hathorne had for the accused witches. Both incidences show encouragement of the defendants to testify and accuse others in order to save themselves. This is shown in the trials conducted by the HUAC, notably in that of Arthur Miller. Miller refused to sign an anti-communist declaration after "Death of a Salesman", another of his play was considered to have anti-capitalist connotations. Miller refused to name others he had seen at a meeting of socialists when he was "called to testify in 1956" (Reference, 2016). Subsequently he was charged with contempt of Congress which inspired him to write The Crucible to encourage Americans to draw parallells between This is reflected in The Crucible in the quotation "Did you ever see anyone with the devil" (Miller, 1992) which demonstrates how those testifying were pressured into naming names.
The phrase " a score of people have already testified they saw this woman with the Devil" (Miller, 1992) indicates how eager people were to save themselves and shame others in the process. Although, initially the defendants are asked to accuse others it quickly becomes apparent that the meaning would have been more clear had the command not been phrased as a question. This is evident in the phrase "you mistake your duty […] tell me now what persons conspired with you" (Miller, 1992). The word "duty" shows how Proctor, the defendant, is obliged to name others which is highlighted by the us of the imperative "tell me" which conveys the force of the words. The word "persons" suggests that in panic, the accused named multiple people in their attempts to retain their lives and that Judge Danforth expects Proctor to do the same and the word "conspired" references to the nature of Proctor's supposed
crime. Many characters, such as Giles Corey were also charged with contempt of court in The Crucible. Corey refused to name the "honest" (Miller, 1992) man who asserted that Thomas Putnam was "reaching out for land" (Miller, 1992) for fear of being the cause of his imprisonment. Proctor and Francis Nurse were also threatened with contempt of the court for providing evidence with which to defend their wives with. This links to the idea that the judges will only accept one side of the argument as the evidence submitted by the other side is almost dismisses as an attack on the court. This is very similar to the actions of the HUAC.
In the article, Miller discusses the rise of McCarthyism, and how it affected the American people and him personally. Being that Miller lived in the time of McCarthyism and was interviewed by the committee in charge of “Un-American Activities”, Miller is a very credible source on the effects of mass hysteria and paranoia. The article “Are You Now or Were You Ever” can be used as a source when discussing McCarthyism and its effects, and other studies of the era. This article is a valuable resource for studies of The Crucible and studies of Arthur Miller
In conclusion Arthur Miller saw the similarities in The McCarthy Era and The Salem Witch Trials, and portrayed them in “The Crucible.” The lives of many people were destroyed during these times in history.
Joseph McCarthy was a Republican senator who did as much as he could to whip up anti-communism in the 1950s. In the time of his term, he didn’t attach his name to anything significant until February 9, 1950. On that day, he gave a political speech claiming that he had a list of 205 Communists in the State Department. Although nobody saw the list of names and it wasn’t clarified by anybody else, the speech made national news. Furthermore, this relates to The Crucible because Abigail, like McCarthy, made multiple false witch accusations on women in Salem. Arthur Miller’s historical play, The Crucible, portrays the historical events of the Salem witch trials through a number of memorable characters and a background based off of McCarthyism. While
Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible as a protest paper to the brutality of the Red Scare .The Red Scare was the inoperable fear of Communism within the United States. This scare was caused as a result of the Cold War in the 1950’s. During the Cold War the US was scared of an attack of the Soviets, and the Soviets were equally as scared of an attack upon them by us. Joseph McCarthy, a Senator from Wisconsin, saw this fear as an opportunity to rise to power. McCarthy had many supporters that were primarily Republicans, Catholics, Conservative Protestants, and Blue-collar workers. McCarthy ruthlessly utilized scare tactics to get people to believe and follow him blindly into his accusations as to innocent citizens supporting Communism and either having them jailed or killed by providing phony evidence. Arthur Miller was not intimidated by this he wrote the Crucible as “an act of desperation” (Miller). This desperation was to counteract the lack of speaking out about personal beliefs during the Red Scare for the fear of breaking the law. In The Crucible, Miller wrote about a character named John Proctor who is very similar to Miller himself. Both the author and the character had to overturn the same personal paralyzing guilt, not speaking out soon enough. Nonetheless, their eventual overcoming of this guilt leads them to becoming the most forthright voice against the madness around them.
Firstly, throughout the play Judge Danforth acts with pride and arrogance. At the commencement of act III Judge Danforth voices his view on the ongoing phase of the witchcraft trials by stating that “Do you take it upon yourself to determine what this court shall believe and what it shall set aside?” (Miller 85). Here Danforth establishes an ultimatum to Giles Corey when he comes to defend his wife Martha Corey from the accusation of being a witch. Danforth sarcastically questions Giles Corey whether he has the authority to make any decision on the ongoing matter and thereby silences him. He makes it clear that no one else can determine what and how the court should act. In addition, the tone with which he delivers this dialogue is filled with arrogance as displayed by the movie “The crucible”. Overall, the picture profile of Judge Danforth created while saying these lines reveals his pride and haughtiness. Another instance where Judge Danforth reveals this attitude of his is when he snubs Francis Nurse for questioning his judgment and wisdom during the trials. In return Danforth replies “ And do you know that near four hundred are in jail... upon my signature”(Miller 87) and “ seventy-two condemned to hang by that signature?” (Miller 87). These lines show that Judge Danforth is proud of his actions and his power as a judg...
Arthur Miller's portrayal of Salem, Massachusetts can be juxtaposed with Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany. While the motivations differ, societal similarities exist and both teach us that when a whole society of people have a fear so great that it can be used against them, the society will try to do anything and everything in their power to prevent this from happening. Even when the means of prevention involves innocent people dieing and the judiciary system becoming corrupt, the society will act upon this fear of wickedness and the devil.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller The Crucible is a fictional retelling of events in American history surrounding the Salem witch trials of the seventeenth century, yet is as much a product of the time in which Arthur Miller wrote it, the early 1950s, as it is description of Puritan society. At that particular time in the 1950s, when Arthur Miller wrote the play the American Senator McCarthy who chaired the ‘House Un-American Activities Committee’ was very conscious of communism and feared its influence in America. It stopped authors’ writings being published in fear of them being socialist sympathisers. Miller was fascinated by the Salem Witch Trials and that human beings were capable of such madness. In the 1950s the audience would have seen the play as a parallel between the McCarthy trials and the Salem Trials.
Great events, whether they are beneficial or tragic ones, bring change in a person. These scenarios can give one an entirely new perspective on life, and turn around his way of thinking. Events such as the Salem Witch Trials show the people involved what they could not see before. In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, Elizabeth Proctor, Reverend Hale, and John Proctor gain valuable insight into themselves, as well as others.
During Author Miller’s era of the 1950’s, the ‘cold war’ was happening. Senetor Joeseph McCarthy was completely against communism and began to arrest the communists and people assosiating with them. Those arrested were forced to either name names to identify those who were communists or thought to be, or else they would remain in jail. This was callef McCarthyism For many, being prisioned was a terrible frightening thought so they would name names including any that they could think of that could be innocent. Author Miller was arrested for associating with communists and refused to identify others, and wrote The Crucible, using it as an allegory to identify the problems of society and it’s flaws of the corrupt government.
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.
The lack of evidence was why so many innocent people were convicted when it was obvious no harm was done. Everyone who were “accused in The Crucible and those accused during the McCarthy hearings were found guilty with such little evidence” (Comparing the Crucible and the McCarthy Hearings). In “The Crucible” many false accusations can be seen throughout the play, but the major ones are at the beginning of play with numerous characters being accused including Sarah Good and Goody Osburn. The accusers are no other than the little girls who are accusing others for their own personal gain. The girls’ “unsubstantiated claims about the existence of witches in Salem” not only led to their own downfall but it also “[ruined] lives and lead to increased hostility in Salem” (Similarities between McCarthyism and The Crucible). The same lack of evidence plays out in McCarthyism. Joseph McCarthy came in during the 1950s when “it [was] obvious that America’s position in world affairs [was] seriously weakened” because it allowed him to gain people through peoples’ fears (Pg. 7 McCarthyism - The Fight for America). Since there were rumors of communists of America it “sparked a hunt that many backed because they were scared” and so even with the lack of evidence “everyone was willing to support it” just out of fear (Comparing the Crucible). McCarthy’s use of fear on the people also led to unsubstantiated
"'A person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between.'" Act 3, Scene 1 pg. 87 . The characters in the play are either portrayed as good or evil with no in between , which makes life even harder for them . Salem mislabeled people in town as good or evil , but they had very little or no evidence at all to support it . Salem labels Rebecca nurse as a witch and evil , when really she was innocent and took care of everyone's babies. Abigail was an evil character who was a liar, vindictive and careless , the people of Salem viewed her as good character .
...ations were accused without solid information that could not be proved in any way. These events in history affected people by basically destroying their lives. McCarthyism affected people that were put on those black lists. Once they were put on those black lists it was almost impossible for them to get a job that would help support them and pay for all of their bills that they had. During the Salem witch trial the event destroyed john procter’s family and forced his children to live without a father. Although McCarthyism was mostly bad the good was that the idea of McCarthyism destroyed it self and ended the rise of communism in the United States of America. Due to hysteria in the 1950’s America and the Salem witch trials both resulted in corruption and the destruction of people’s lives. “The Crucible” was written in response to this hysteria in the 1950’s.
The Salem witch trials were a time period when any individual could be accused of witchcraft for numerous reasons. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller focuses on the deviation of the trials and how the town’s most religious and honest members of the community are tried with witchcraft. John Proctor, the town’s most honest man, is accused of being a witch and must decide if he should confess or not. Proctor’s confession will stop the town from rebelling and uphold the reputations of Deputy Governor Danforth and Reverend Parris. Hale also wishes for Proctor’s confession so he does not have to feel responsible if Proctor were to be hanged for his witchcraft accusations. The confession of Proctor would convince others in the town to confess to their
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.