Similarities Between The Crucible And Mccarthyism

In order to be accurate in accusing someone of a crime, you must have the appropriate evidence to back up your story. In The Crucible, many people were accused of practicing witchcraft. The ones who confessed, were sentenced to jail and the ones who denied it, were killed. The only way they had to prove what was being done, was spectral evidence. Therefore, the only person known to tell the truth was the victim. McCarthyism involved communists, like The Crucible, those who were accused were sentenced to jail time. The parallels between The Crucible and McCarthyism are naming names, the lack of evidence, and rebellion against the government in which they served.

“McCarthyism was a campaign against alleged communists in the US government and other institutions carried out by Senator Joseph McCarthy in 1950-1954 (authentichistory.com by: Michael Barnes)”. McCarthyism is when people make false accusations about someone or something with out evidence to back it up. During the cold war Joseph McCarthy had made many false accusations about having a large number of communists and soviet spies in our government feeding top-secret information to Russia, which was not true. McCarthyism didn’t just spread false accusations through out the nation it also spread fear and dread for many. I believe that McCarthyism is just like the Salem witch trials in one way would be that

In the 1950’s there was a scare of communism and people were being accused of being communist. From the article “McCarthyism: Witch Hunting and Blacklisting in the 1950s” “McCarthy's claims continued into 1954, this time targeting the Army. For eight weeks, in front of millions of television viewers, McCarthy questioned Army officials, including many war heroes.” Many people were getting questioned about being communist even though there wasn’t any real proof. McCarthy had questioned a lot of people including two people that had been Secretary of State. He had made a list of questionable claims, he didn't have any real proof but the Senate called for a full investigation. In the article “Famous Speeches: Joseph McCarthy's “Enemies from Within”, “This is glaringly true in the State Department, where those who were born with every possible advantage are the ones who have been most traitorous.” He is saying that the people with the most opportunities and that the country has been good too have been traitors. There is no actual evidence to this statement. He is picking out a group of people and using them. Because of his experience in the Red Scare he was able to write “The Crucible”.

Rough draft Being accused of something you didn’t do isn’t fun right? That is what happened to people during the red scare on the 1950s and the salem witch trials. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegory for the red scare in the MCcarthy era because of lying, the trials, and execution of people based on the word of others The red scare in the 1950s and the salem witch trials are very similar in multiple ways. “Critics of MCcarthy’s anticommunist crusade…”

“Arthur Miller made the play called “The Crucible” during the 1950’s as a response to McCarthyism and the U.S. Governments blacklisted people.”(Blakesley). Miller was then question and accused of “Contempt of Congress” for not identifying people that were at meetings he attended. McCarthyism and The Salem Witch Craft Trials have been two very wrong things that have happened in the history of the United States for a lot of reasons. First off they both wrongfully accused innocent people of performing not accepted actions of those times. In America you have a right of free will and in both cases they were denied this right just because of someone else’s opinion. In both cases of the Salem Witch Craft Trials and McCarthyism people were being accused of acts with little evidence. People pointed fingers at others so they wouldn’t get blamed for anything, so there was a scare factor taking place. Large groups of people supported these acts maybe because of a get on board everyone’s doing it theme, and if you disagreed you were considered a witch or a communist. Our country supported McCarthy until later we soon regretted it. During the 1940’s and 1950’s communism was a scare in the U.S. so McCarthy capitalized on the subject and said two hundred card carrying communist were in the U.S(PBS). With the Salem Trials people capitalized on the scare of witches and everyone starting accusing the “weird” people. Accusations weather true or false can

Did McCarthyism have an effect on The Crucible? Yes, Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible because he basically wanted to lash back at the McCarthyism era. Many parallels appear between throughout the play and I am here to compare the two.

The Crucible is the fictional story of the Salem witch trials in which many women were accused of being witches. The Crucible is written by Arthur Miller, who was recorded as the greatest American playwright (“Arthur Miller” 1). The scene for the play is based in the Massachusetts Bay Colony around 1692. McCarthyism was the act of accusing people of treason without evidence, attacks on a person's character, and attack on their patriotism by accusing many Americans of being communist (Ortega). Lisa Martin says, “Communists control led the two world superpowers, China and the Soviet Union Americans feared a takeover in their own country” (Martin 1). Many people tried to accuse the men and women who were spreading the fear. One man named Joseph McCarthy was a senator that charged communists that interfered with the U.S. State Department (“Joseph McCarthy” 1). The accusations lead to investigations, questioning and finding people guilty without evidence,

The McCarthy era was the period in American history where the fear of communism spread across America. Threats spread noting that people in industries (entertainment specifically) would be accused of being communists and that would cost them their jobs and have them blacklisted. Arthur Miller writes The Crucible as an allegory, comparing the Salem witchcraft trials to McCarthyism. The Salem witchcraft trials took place when women were accused of practicing witchcraft and black magic, while McCarthyism was accusing people of being communists. The Salem Witchcraft trials and McCarthyism are both similar in the aspect that they have moral characters and power hungry people who unscrupulously accuse people for something they did not do.

The horrors of history are passed on from generation to generation in hopes that they will never occur again. People look back on these times and are appalled at how horrendous the times were; yet, in the 1950s, history repeated itself. During this time, Joseph McCarthy, a United States senator from Wisconsin, began accusing people of being communists or communist sympathizers, which is parallel to the Salem witch trials in the late 1690s when innocent people were accused of practicing witchcraft. One of the people McCarthy accused was author and playwright Arthur Miller. To express his outrage at McCarthy’s actions, miller wrote The Crucible, intentionally drawing similarities between the McCarthy hearings and the Salem witch trials.

Communism. Witchcraft. These two highly controversial topics are either feared or adored by people. There are numerous similarities and differences between both, yet one thing is prominent: they both incite hysteria. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegorical play mirroring 1950’s America during the Red Scare. “McCarthyism” is the act of accusing someone of an act of treason without substantial evidence. It relies on the uncertainty and the fear of the unknown among people, which in turn, incites hysteria. Joseph McCarthy accused many people of being communists without much evidence or reason. The accusations in The Crucible also are proposed without evidence and cause much hysteria among the town. Since The Crucible was written as an

During the 1950s there was a rise in the fear of communism called “The Red Scare”. Senator Joseph McCarthy was one of the many people who contributed to people’s fear by making a list of people who he said were communists even though there was no proof in most cases. In an article by Alan Brinkley called “The 1950s Part One: McCarthy and The Red Scare”, it informs, “McCarthy was only one of many who helped create the great fear. The Red Scare was visible in almost every area of American life” (Brinkley). This quote tell us that in the 1950s even though Senator Joseph McCarthy was a huge contributor to The Red Scare. His list of suspected communists made rumors spread and the people on the list get questioned and even go to jail when in some cases they were innocent. It also says in the article by USHistory.org called “McCarthyism: Witch Hunting and Blacklisting in America”, that, “In the 1950s anyone who was considered a communist could be questioned and thrown in jail” (USHistory.org). Which means that his allegations could have easily put people in prison.

As written in the Bible, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you Matthew,”( 7: 1-2). The mentioned verse is contradictory to the way the people of Salem desire a society under a Theocracy. By judging and condemning others of witchcraft, they themselves will be condemned. In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, the reader experiences firsthand the panic and hypocrisy the witch trials created. Likewise, the Communism trials under McCarthyism created a sense of unrest and unease among Americans. The Crucible and the McCarthy Era are exceedingly similar in the fact that they both created mass hysteria and resulted in neighbor turning on

Authors used their literary work to get a point across to the public in the story The Crucible; Arthur Miller used events and characters to show the similarities to McCarthyism which was prevalent in the 1950s. McCarthyism was associated with the period in the United Sates also known as the Second Red Scare. McCarthyism is very similar in the way that Joe McCarthy accused Americans of being communist and in The Crucible people were being accused of being witches. It is known that Arthur Miller wrote this story as a reaction to a tragic time in our history.

The 1950s was a chaotic time for the United States. China had just fallen to communist forces, Russia was in an arms race, and national security was at an all-time high. Accusations were flying against anyone thought to be a security risk, and throughout it all, Joseph McCarthy trumped the blame card more than anyone else. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller alludes to this period of time by using Abigail Williams to represent Joseph McCarthy and by using the General Court of Salem to represent the Division of Security.

McCarthyism had involved many people in, most of them are innocent. Back then, when McCarthyism was still exist. The Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was established, their main object was to investigate the subversive activities of un-americans. “ The following week, nineteen so-called “unfriendly”witness were called to testify. Only ten actually testified, and these became known as the “Hollywood Ten”. All had been member of the Command Party and had worked on films with progressive message “. (Un-american Activities Committee 2). The HUAC began investigated the Hollywood Motion Picture Industry. Based on the informations and what they heard from other people. They called for 19 people to testify, but only 10 were actually testified. Those ten people were innocent, though they were involved because of false informations and rumors. In Crucible, Abigail and other girls in the wood were crying out loud in the Court, they were called to testify for related