“The Crucible” Prewritting/Drafting Due 4/29/24 FINAL DRAFT Due 5/1/24 (START) How someone put an end to mass hysteria in the situation in “The Crucible” would be John Proctor because he was the one who was speaking up. The difference between fear and phobia is that fear is like being on a roller coaster and being scared, afraid or anxious. Phobia is the same thing as fear, just that phobia can impact daily life. In (author’s name) “The Crucible,” the depiction of the Salem witch trials offers a compelling parallel to the hysteria and paranoia fueled by the Communist Red Scare of the 1950s. During the Red Scare, people were terrified by the sudden rise of the communists and began to report people for being communists. Both historical contexts reveal many people in the urban area are willing to lie and defend themselves and to not be killed for …show more content…
That shows how he wants to protect his family and clear his wife's name from that false accusation. However, he realizes it was wrong of him to have an affair with Abigail because she was too young for him, and didn't want to ruin his family, he breaks down and tears up because with his wife over his family because he knows he is going to die and that's another reason why he tears up, he realizes that he ruined it and the mistakes he has made. After that, he refused to sign the paper because he didn't want to put false information and admit to being involved in witchcraft. He knew that signing it would mean admitting to something he didn't do. Furthermore, John Proctor could’ve had the ability to stop the mass hysteria in Salem. He knew the truth about Abigail and could expose all the lies and manipulation. The affair with Abigail added to his situation. As a respected member of the town, his words would have carried and could have helped put an end to
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.
The Crucible was a rather strong book, it had battles both internal and external, there were also betrayals and vendettas… but a few stuck strong to their morals of what was wrong, and what was right. After the girl’s acts were, undoubtedly, in the eyes of the law, seen as entirely real, people who would not otherwise have been accused of witchcraft were now eligible to be under Satan’s spell. One John Proctor, saw himself above the nonsense, that witches could not exist in Salem, his wife, his children nor him; But, when Mary Warren said to the court that he used his spirit to drag her into court to testify against the girls, the judges deemed her word more truthful than his. After actively and repeatedly denying the claims, he was sentenced to death, for only a witch could lie in the face of god.
In the 1950s, the Red Scare over Communist infiltration grasped America, turning friends against one another and prompting Communist accusations left and right. If accused, you could confess to Communism and accuse others, or face indictment yourself. This concept is quite similar to the Salem witch trials, in which accused witches were put in the same predicament. Written during the Red Scare, Arthur Miller produced a play called The Crucible, which uses the Salem witch trials as an allegory for the Communist hysteria. In this play, rumors of witchcraft stemmed from the boredom of a few teenage girls, and blossomed into an unprecedented hysteria. Accusations became widespread, and, since confession was the only way to avoid a hanging, confessions became widespread as well. When only a small group of stubborn resisters were left, the main character John Proctor had to make a difficult decision on whether he should confess or hang, and ends up hanging along with a few others to help save the integrity of their community. In his play The Crucible, Arthur Miller demonstrates that while some may view self-sacrifice as a pointless loss due to pride, the decision to sacrifice one’s life for the good of his community and the elimination of conformist attitudes is very noble. The enormity of this decision can instill a feeling of guilt and responsibility upon another, as occurs to the protagonist John Proctor, and can cause one’s views and actions to be altered.
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible utilizes a fictional account of the Salem Witch Trials to expose the mob mentality associated with the Red Scare of the 1950’s and the sometimes overzealous fight against communism in America. By references to the events that took place in the Witch Trials, the playwright successfully portrays society’s behavior at its tyrannical worst, exposing fraud, faulty logic, vindictiveness, zealotry, and evil (Brater). Arthur Miller creates a parallel between the societal events of mass in the 1600’s and those in the 1950’s. In both instances, leaders use the fear of the masses for their personal gain. Abigail, the lead character in the play, and Senator Joseph McCarthy are both able to generate a groundswell that takes on a life of its own and ruins the lives of others. Arthur Miller created this analogy in order to expose Senator McCarthy and his anti-Communist propaganda by creating an analogy to the ferocity of the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials and the Red Scare fed on the anxiety of the general public. The Salem Witch Trials magnified society’s ability to influence the judicial system. As the hysteria regarding the existence of witches swelled, innocent individuals were executed. McCarthyism also demonstrated society’s ability to influence the judicial system. As the hysteria regarding the threat of communism in America swelled, innocent individuals were jailed, blacklisted, deported, and fired from their jobs. The Crucible first staged in 1953, was meant to raise awareness of the effect that fear can have on human behavior and judgment. The play illustrates how Abigail’s intent to avoid punishment by accusing others of culturally deviant activity led to mass hysteria. Senator McCar...
After Elizabeth, his wife, finds out about his affair with Abigail he tries his hardest to prevent anyone from finding out because he doesn’t want to go to prison and doesn’t want his good name ruined. Again, that isn’t the best thing to do but it proves that Proctor has immense pride in himself and what he has accomplished in his lifetime that he doesn’t want to be looked down on after years of being a role model to all the civilians of Salem. At the end of the play, the only way to save himself from hanging is by confessing to the act of witchcraft. He almost does it, but he says, “I am John Proctor! You will not use me! It is no part of salvation that you should use me!”(pg.538, lines 879-82) He doesn’t confess because can’t handle ruining his name anymore than it has been and because he is a man of truth.
Few people are willing to stand up to the overwhelming power of authority, especially during a time like the Red scare. Hardly any authors are able to recognize meaningful similarities between the present times and an event that happened many years ago—and write about it effectively. Only one has had the courage and intelligence to do both. Arthur Miller was an American author who wrote plays, essays, and stories and has published works dating from to 1936 through 2004. The Crucible, one of his most famous plays, premiered in New York on January 22, 1953 (InfoTrac). It is a historical-fiction story set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The witch hunt described in this play is similar to the Red Scare, an anti-communist movement led by Senator Joseph McCarthy that lasted from the late 1940s to the late 1950s (Broudin). During both time periods, most people respected high authority while a few dissenters challenged conformist views. The public was censored in what they could say because of the fear of being accused of witchcraft or communism. The hysteria of the times triggered a mob-mentality to emerge among the citizens, which influenced nearly everyone to join the terrible movements. Miller presents all of these ideas in The Crucible using his own experiences as influences. He incorporated many of his own traits into the characters’ dispositions. He also described many situations in the play that were similar to the ones he was in, including how he was censored by the Red Scare. Many people will often conform while only a few will challenge authority, will use censorship to prevent others from expressing their views, and are easily affected by hysteria; these characteristics influenced Miller’s life and are reflected by him in Th...
In The Crucible, the mass hysteria surrounding the witch trials caused paranoia amongst the people of Salem. Miller uses the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 as a symbol and allegory of the fear surrounding the spread of communism during the 1950s in America. The community’s sense of justice was blinded by the mass hysteria and for some, a desire for vengeance and personal gain. The Putnams
Arthur Miller’s "The Crucible" illustrates a powerful drama based on the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. A very strict theocracy rules Salem; a place where the bible is law and anyone who does follow the rules to the letter, must have dealings with the devil. The accusations of witchcraft in Salem start off by a group of girls who were caught dancing in the woods. Dancing is forbidden and out of fear of being punished or even accused themselves of witchcraft, the girls begin to accuse others for having been seen with the devil. In an attempt to prove that they were lying John Proctor sacrifices his own life to protect others. (LEAD IN SENTENCE). John Proctor portrays the classic tragic hero, in where his tragic error and overcoming of evil, becomes the cause of his untimely death.
Every event in history can be attributed to a collective of emotions. In 1692, in Salem, Massachusetts, a group of girls claimed to have seen other villagers working for the devil and began accusing people of practicing witchcraft. This soon created a sense of mass hysteria throughout the town that resulted in the death of twenty people and the imprisonment of over two hundred. We now refer to these events as the Salem witch trials. In the 1950’s, Senator Joseph McCarthy conducted similar trials accusing people in prominent positions of being Communists. McCarthy implemented unfair investigative techniques, similar to those used in the Salem witch trials. Arthur Miller’s play, “The Crucible”, creates a story around the known details of the Salem witch trials and focuses on the relationship
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 play “The Crucible” is an allegory for the McCarthyism hysteria that occurred in the late 1940’s to the late 1950’s. Arthur Miller’s play “the crucible” and the McCarthyism era demonstrates how fear can begin conflict. The term McCarthyism has come to mean “the practice of making accusations of disloyalty”, which is the basis of the Salem witch trials presented in Arthur Miller’s play. The fear that the trials generate leads to the internal and external conflicts that some of the characters are faced with, in the play. The town’s people fear the consequences of admitting their displeasure of the trials and the character of John Proctor faces the same external conflict, but also his own internal conflict. The trials begin due to Abigail and her friends fearing the consequences of their defiance of Salem’s puritan society.
The Crucible, as Originally produced by Arthur Miller in 1953, is a well acclaimed tragedy that still holds reverence today. Given its prestige and overall dramatic richness, it can be understood why the Playmaker’s very own Desdemona Chiang chose to recreate and reimagine the play. The Crucible, being set in Salem Massachusetts, is centered around the spectacle of witch hunts that occurred in the year 1692. As imagined, mass hysteria, fear, and paranoia, occurred because of this. The plot of the play is centered around the protagonist John proctor (Ariel Shafir), a prideful man who finds himself entangled in these bizarre events. Throughout the play, Proctor (Ariel Shafir) and his allies struggle to convince the Salem townspeople of the nonsense and inaccuracies that surround the witch hunts. The conflict of the play has an underlying message as it represents the struggle between reason of the human mind and irrational hysteria. The theme of The Crucible embodies how a community can turn so quickly on one another, and
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. During this time period, Salem is in hysteria due to the witch hunts and trials of the seventeenth century. The hysteria of the witch trials paints a picture of Good vs Evil which makes The Crucible a morality play. Furthermore, Miller intended to create his characters this way in order for people to reflect on their current way of life. Specifically, the Red Scare that was taking place when the play was first released.
The Crucible is a famous play written by Arthur Miller in the Early 1950’s. It was written during the “Red scare, when McCarthyism was established. Many anti-communists wanted to prevent communism from spreading just like in The Crucible many wanted to get rid of witchcraft. Many would accuse others of witchcraft in order to not be accused just like many would accuse people of communism. In The Crucible witchcraft would be punishable by death. Many were scared to be accused; therefore many would admit practicing witchcraft in order to save their lives. The Crucible is considered a good play because it is based on real life events during the Salem witch Trials and shows how fear played a role in the individual’s life just like during the “Red” scare.
Kelly presents several interconnected elements to support his argument that the “Hookup” culture, commonly found on college campuses is morally problematic. Kelly defines a hookup as the practice of pursuing a sexual activity without any expectation of a relationship. He also provides four other requirements to help narrow down his definition of hookup culture. These requirements are, lack of commitment, acceptance of ambiguity, a role with alcohol, and social pressure to conform. These elements when paired with sexual activity outside of a relationship generate the potential for gender power struggle, abuse, manipulation and inequality.