Similarities Between The Crucible And Mccarthyism

The Crucible, an allegorical play, was written by Arthur Miller because he observed and personally experienced events occurring in America during the McCarthyism Era in the 1950s that were similar to those of the Salem Witchcraft Trials in 1692. Now, there are various ways to how the Crucible and the McCarthyism Era are similar, these reasons being the strongest ones. McCarthyism and the Crucible both contained the idea of higher status people having the most power in these situations. To illustrate, Abby accuses the wife of a government man in the Crucible movie. Danforth tells Abby that she must be mistaken and that she should rethink about it again.

There are many similarities between the Crucible, McCarthyism, The Kniffens child molestation case, and the David McCallum/ Willy Stuckey murder case. In every case each subject of the story was falsely accused, based on no facts and were subjected to a “witch hunt” based on fear and deception. In each case there were facts that were produced that were false in order to frame someone. One of the biggest factors was the lack of evidence and witnesses being coheres.

In McCarthyism people were taken to HUAC to be questioned while in The Crucible the people were taken to Judge Danforth. Therefore both of them required the accused to give names of people that they knew who were committing the crime. In McCarthyism, the names came from mainly one source and it was Elia Kazan. Elia Kazan was a famous director of Broadway plays and movies. He testified twice because the first time he testified he did not confess the names of people who he knew to be Communist sympathizers.

The trials of McCarthyism were held to judge if you were a part of a group of communism. In The Crucible, the girls were urged to confess that they were conjuring spirits. In the McCarthyism trials, they were urged to name other actors/actresses' names if they were involved. In document A, Kazan said, “I have come to the conclusion that I did wrong to withhold these names.” They wanted to exploit the followers and punish them.

The first similarity between The Crucible and the McCarthy Trials is that they both include fear. Citizens who resided in each of these affected areas grew afraid of the authorities due to the consequences one would face if they were accused of the problem of the time period. During the McCarthy trials both the citizens and the Government were afraid of being accused of Communism: “Advances made by the Soviet Union following World War II, coupled with the victory in 1949 of the Chinese Communist Party in establishing the People’s Republic of China and the apparent inability of the United States to prevent the spread of Communism.” (Achter) This shows that fear was present during the McCarthy trials due to the number of accusations of being a communist.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “the term McCarthyism is applied to the persecution of innocent people using powerful but unproved allegations”. This very idea is prevalent throughout the Crucible, even more so within the court gatherings. An example of this is found within ACT IV of the novel,

History repeating itself:The Crucible and McCarthyism The Crucible and McCarthyism is like history repeating itself. Both events are very parallel in many ways! The Crucible consists of how people were treated during the Salem witch trials in the 1690s and McCarthyism took place in 1940s/1950s it consists of how people were accused and treated as a threat to the government. The Crucible and McCarthyism both are parallel by accused people making sacrifices to prove innocence,abuse of great power and the effects of hysteria in both events. Looking back, One similarity on how the Crucible and McCarthyism are parallel is because of the sacrifice people made because they did

The Similarities Between McCarthyism and The Crucible Communism was a serious controversy in America in the early 1950s. Framing someone or being framed was a common way of survival for those who have been accused of a secret conspiracy. Interrogations were practiced among those who were opened minded. Intellectuals were targeted the most. Citizens who were victims of unfair accusations lost their jobs and economical earnings for not giving evidence to the House of American Activities Committee, also known as HUAC.

In the case of the Salem Witch Trials, the discrimination was primarily against women, who made up the majority of those accused and convicted of witchcraft. Many of the women who were accused and punished were independent, rebellious, or separated themselves from traditional gender roles. This suggested that the accusations were partially motivated by a desire to control and punish women who threatened the social order. Similarly, during the Red Scare, the discrimination was primarily against individuals who were suspected of being communists or having communist sympathies. Many of these individuals were targeted because of their political beliefs, their support with certain groups, or their social backgrounds.

Miller wrote The Crucible as a response to the McCarthy era and the witch hunts that characterized it. He saw parallels between the two events and used the play as a way to criticize the unjust prosecution of people without evidence. In The Crucible, characters are accused of witchcraft based solely on hearsay and rumors. Similarly, during McCarthyism, individuals were accused of being communist sympathizers without any concrete evidence to support the claims. In “The Crucible '' Rebecca Nurse is accused of killing Ann Putnam's babies with witchcraft.

Occasion’s Effect The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism are very similar even though they took place such a long time from each other. If someone was accused of witchcraft in 1692 they had to confess and lose all social standing or be executed, in the 1950’s if a person was accused of being a communist they would be fired and put on trial, if they would not confess they were blacklisted until they admitted to their “crime”. Arthur Miller used the Salem Witch trials to protest McCarthyism in a somewhat discreet way that proved to be a timeless comfort to the citizens experiencing oppression from their government (“Why I Wrote The Crucible”, 911).

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.

In the Crucible those who were accused of being guilty, put on trial, and who are expected to confess. Unsuccessful to that led to death. In McCarthy, the media were not disposed to stand up to Senator McCarthy for the fear of being accused of being a Communist. Fear is the main factor playing in both situations, terror of being accused or what people might say, or think.

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.

The McCarthy hearings and the Salem witch trials accurately represent the saying, "Desperate times call for desperate measures. " In the 1950s, the McCarthy hearings tainted lives by falsely accusing those in the film industry of being associated with Communism. In the 17th century, the Salem witch trials charged innocent villagers of practicing witchcraft. Victims from the McCarthy hearings were isolated and ruined, while victims from the Salem trials were hanged and shunned.