The Crucible Anti Communism

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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…

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…

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

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