Comparing The Crucible And The Mccarthy Hearings

This time period was known as McCarthyism because U.S Senator Joseph McCarthy started to excuse people of being communist. They all the following things in common: false accusations, lack of evidence, and resistance. One parallel of McCarthyism is that they both gave out names in order to save

The Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy-era hearings had some events in common. In the Salem Witch Trials the town was on the hunts for witches. Nobody was safe from the accusations. This is similar to the McCarthy-era hearings. In both Situations, if one person did not like the other, they could accuse them of either witch craft or being an undercover communist.

The stories will come to a point that they are the same but are in different time periods. There will be two topics that this essay introduces that will have similarities and differences, one is based on witchcraft and black magic, the other is based on post world war two hysteria. One background comes from a village in the late 1600’s when there were catastrophic things going on with people being blamed for using witchcraft, and being hanged without it being proven for their pagan beliefs. The next story comes from Wisconsin in the 1950’s when a Senate produced a lot of investigation and hearings to try and expose the infiltration of communism in the US government. The Stories will have a way of exposing the events that have happened and

McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence. This term was coined to criticize anti-communist pursuits of senator Mccarthy. During the Salem Witch trials, victims were often accused of being a witch based on someone's word no one had actual proof that these victims had actual powers from the spiritual world or so called satanist they were demeaned too. Coming back to the reality of accusing with no tangible evidence.many tactics were also brought upon this idea of fear many civilian and townspeople were burdened with the idea of guilt and fear of what would happen to them if they didn't partake in these so-called “witch hunts” of Mccarthy and the governing court of Salem.

Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in response to the “Red Scare”. The story took place on Salem, Massachusetts, where people accused others of being witches. They didn’t have evidence to prove their accusations, but the government ignored the facts and decided to believe rumors. This play is a contemporary example of what was happening to the American society during McCarthyism.

Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953 during Senator Joseph McCarthy 's congressional investigations to root out suspected Communists in the State Department, the entertainment industry, and the US Army. Miller himself had been blacklisted after being accused of supporting communism. The Crucible mirrored by Miller of how McCarthy accused people for communism, just like the people in Salem, both McCarthy and The Crucible accused for revenge towards their enemy 's. One theme of The Crucible is that fear motivates people to do unspeakable actions. The girls in in Salem had fear towards the punishment that would happen if they were caught lying about conjuring spirits. Some of the girls faked to be in a spell out of fear of their

This is a completely backwards rule of law compared to today. Instead of being innocent until proven guilty, the accused witches were guilty until proven innocent. Many people accused in both McCarthyism and the Salem Witch Trials had no form of defense against the claims made against them because most of them had no actual logic or reasoning behind

The play takes place in Salem, Massachusetts which was the town of the witch trials, but it parallels to the time of the Red Scare and the persecution of individuals falsely accused of being communists. Miller uses the events of the play to highlight the harm caused by false accusations and the destruction of innocent lives and reputations. The characters in the play, who are falsely accused of witchcraft, are forced to confess to crimes they did not commit or face death. Through the play, Miller illustrates how fear and suspicion can lead to a lack of civil liberties. Miller shows how the abuse of power can lead to the manipulation of the legal system and the persecution of individuals without evidence.

In the late 1940s – early 1950s, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy made the grandiose pledge to uncover a communist plot to overthrow democracy in United States. No one was safe from persecutions, and the “witch hunts” for communism began. In response to the mass hysteria over this communist infiltration, Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible. In the play, the people of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 sought to destroy the devil’s influence by seeking and destroying witches. This began the Salem Witchcraft Trials.

In the McCarthy era, according to “hunting the communist” video on youtube, people that were accused of being a communist and not admitting to it were blacklisted, sent to jail and labeled as a communist. False accusations was another thing that allegorically connects with both the crucible and the McCarthy era. In Arthur Miller’s “the crucible” on pages 74 to 76 it infers that Abigail accusing Mary Warren of being a witch. Abigail did this so she can be closer to john. In “what is McCarthyism?

Cameron Oldfield Mrs. Brincks English III 15 November, 2015 The Crucible and Red Scare Imagine being thrown in jail, blamed for something that you didn't do .The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a story about how certain propaganda and false accusations can ruin lives, just like in the case of the Red Scare. Although 1692 the Salem witch trials and the Red Scare were over 200 years apart, The similarities are striking. both trials used intimidation, fear, hatred, and false accusations to ruin innocent lives. Both trials resulted in terrible outcomes, with both ending with innocent people being put to death and shunned from society.

People were terrified of communism spreading to the United States, so when accusations started floating around everyone would believe them. McCarthy accused people of communist behavior, although many were falsely accused, no one knew better than to think they were guilty because of how scared they were of communism spreading. This resembles how certain characters were accused of witchcraft in The Crucible. The Red Scare caused nationwide hysteria just how the Salem Witch Trials caused hysteria to the people of Salem.

When people are placed under an intense feeling of fear, they begin to commit actions they never thought they were capable over. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a young group of girls commit witchcraft which eventually leads to the arrest of over 100 women. This is similar to a time in the 1950s when Joseph McCarthy accuses government officials of communism and that ultimately leads to hundreds of citizens losing their jobs. The Crucible reveals the similarities between The Salem Witch Trials of the 1690s and McCarthyism of the 1950s because it demonstrates how a society can be tremendously impacted by the feeling the fear.

What a Horrible World     In today 's day and age we have more technological, medicinal, societal, and worldly advancements than we did in either 1692 or 1947, but we are still just as easily corrupted by jealousy, power, and paranoia. The years 1692 and 1947 are perfect examples of prospering societies that became undermined through very similar processes. In 1629 the Salem Witch Trials and in 1947 the McCarthy Communist Trials- were both held unjustly, involving condemnation based on unfair trial practices. People desperately admitted to being a witch (1692) or to being a communist (1947) only because they didn’t want to die. Even if you were found innocent your life was virtually over because your career and livelihood had been destroyed

In history there have been many major events that have shaped the times we live in. Two of the major events of our time are the "witchunts" of the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism. The Crucible is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a drama and fictional story of the Salem Witch Trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692-1693. Miller wrote the play as a parable for McCarthyism, when the United States government ostracized people for being communists.