Set in the 17th century The Crucible told the story of a town that ensued a hunt for witches, caused by the accusations of Salem 's young girls and their ring leader Abigail Williams. Because I lie and sign myself to lies! [Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism]. So some people will do anything, by any means, to be reputable, this allows their word to be trusted and true. succeed. And it is my face, and yours, Danforth! Allegories In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, In Arthur Miller 's play The Crucible, false accusations and fear are used to imprison and kill many people accused of being witches. Much of the undoing of McCarthyism came at the hands of the Supreme Court. 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. In addition to these, Miller depicts himself in his play as well. The first time he did not confess and names. In this way, The Crucible stands as an allegory for McCarthy 's communist hunt, during which many people were also killed and imprisoned due to accusations of communism. Arthur Miller was soon later accused by the McCarthy led HUAC. In addition, reputation is another aspect that troubles human nature. In Arthur Millers The Crucible, John Proctor dealt with the corruption of power in his town when Abigail Williams and many other girls accused those, who were innocent, of witchcraft. In the early 1950s, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy from Wisconsin began leading the crusade to find any and all communists in America. Miller, within The Crucible, uses symbolism creates an effective allegory that shows the connection that it has to McCarthyism. He mainly criticizes the government. The period during the Cold War had a deeper meaning than just the rivalry between the two superpowers, the Soviet Union and America. In 1692, a fear of witchcraft led to the accusation of over 200 townspeople. As mentioned in the Background page of the test, since, Judge Danforths aforementioned quote on page 1324 shows his concern for himself and his reputation rather than the lives of the multitude of innocent Salem civilians whose lives depend on his verdict. Many people were executed by decision of the court because it believed in absurd false allegations. The state believed McCarthy and the people got treated badly because they were wrongly accused of. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegory for the Red Scare in the McCarthy Era because, The Crucible and McCarthyism A Major Role in the Crucible John Proctor, John Proctors Pride in the Play the Crucible, The Crucible as an Allegory to McCarthyism, The Crucible as an Allegory of the Witch Trial, Differences between the Crucible Movie and the Play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller: how Abigail Williams Abused her Power, One of the Main Characters in the Play The Crucible. In Arthur Miller's classic play, The Crucible, the character Abigail Williams fills the role of the villain. The general outline of the play corresponds to the events of the Witch Trails of Salem in 1692., It was a time of military and political tension between the United States capitalists and the Soviet communists. Events like the people who were hanged, and people were accused of being witches were similar to blacklisted, The Crucible Analysis Paper An error occurred trying to load this video. People from all walks of life were accused of communist leanings: government workers, teachers, actors, and writers. Of those 200, 20 hanged. An allegory is a story with an obvious meaning but if you look deeper into it, there is another meaning. In the 1940s to the 1950s, America was extremely concerned about the rise of Communism throughout Europe and China. Miller emphasizes these ideas to put a spotlight of their importance and effect on society. I think that imagery can be a huge factor in the way things may be viewed, and in the way feelings may be expressed. Many people lost their jobs, were taken in by law enforcement, and their lives were turned upside down. Arthur Miller experienced many hardships through the 1950s where he was accused by the HUAC and McCarthy to be a communist sympathizer. Hysteria, paranoia, and delusion was what drove the Salem Witch trials in 1692. Encountering Conflict. This connects to the 1950s, when to be accused of a communist Or a communist sympathizer all you needed to do is not report a communist. Miller felt a state of depression as he wrote in the New Yorker, The Crucible was an act of desperation. In. In his exemplary dramatization The Crucible, Arthur Miller accounts the repulsiveness of the Salem witch preliminaries, a humiliating scene of pilgrim Americas set of experiences. In the play, Abigail, the main culprit of accusations benefits from hysteria in a situation where naming those guilty will save themselves, I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! Miller's use of the Salem witch trials to highlight the panic of the Red Scare is an allegory. 73) This quote elaborates on why the accusers were not suspected, Reverend Parris has a reputation of being a holy man of the church which makes him improbable to witchcraft and Abigail who has kept her reputation clean amidst of all the misdeeds she has done. The Salem Witch Trials was a witch hunt in Salem, they hung anybody who they thought were witches. The symbolism used While being arrested the Proctor's house was searched and asked if she'd had any poppet she had one from earlier, that day that her servant Mary Warren had given to her earlier they found a needle stuck in the stomach earlier that day Abigail had pulled a needle out of her stomach claiming it was Elizabeths spirit Had stabbed her, She was alone when she was supposedly stabbed this proves How bad the credibility of the evidence was. In this case, the obvious meaning is the Salem witch-hunt and the hidden meaning is McCarthyism. The similarities were greed and self-preservation. Inspired by reading a detailed account of the events written by Charles W. Upham in 1867, Arthur Miller saw parallels between the hysteria around the Salem witch trials and other public panics in history. WebThe Crucible is an allegory. Allegory: a story that is used to represent specific ideas or principles. So john proctor the hero of Arthur Millers story is the equivalent of a suspected communist and at the time was a cold war. Abigail Williams was John Proctor's niece and worked as a servant in John and Elizabeth Proctor's home. By comparing McCarthyism to the Salem Witch Trials, Miller is able to communicate that people should not conform to societal trends because these trends may be misleading and cause innocent people to get hurt. Many people were targets of McCarthy's "witch hunt," as it was called, especially those involved with film in Hollywood, music in general, other members of the other arts including writers, etc., as well as government workers, union organizers, and even teachers. In 1956, when Miller applied for a new passport, he was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee to testify about his activities related to communism. Prior to the early action in the play the only besmirching of Abigails name are the rumours of her secret relationship with John Proctor and this sparks conflict between her and Goody Proctor. Both the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. had developed nuclear weapons that could devastate each other, not to mention the world as a whole. This social injustice is also portrayed in The Crucible as its characters face the Salem Witch Trials. By orders from McCarthy himself, committees of the Congress commenced highly controversial investigations against communists in the U.S similar to the alleged Salem witches situation. 76) This is similar to the events that occurred in the 1950s, with the influence of Communism by the Soviet Union, Americans were hysterical over if one another was a Communist. The Crucible is, on the surface, a retelling of the Salem witch trials. Miller's version of the Salem witch trials is not a strictly accurate accounting of the historical record. The play's author, Arthur Miller, was himself a victim of As a member, you'll also get unlimited access to over 84,000 WebThe Crucible is an allegory for McCarthyism. The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller in 1953, is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch They are both human tragedies that are driven by human fear., In the play The Crucible, Arthur Miller creates a tragic story of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692 which parallel McCarthyism during the 1950s. The hysterical rantings and ravings of McCarthy and his supporters, lost support when people got tired of the national upheaval, the black listing and investigations. In 1951, as playwright Arthur Miller watched these communist "witch hunts" play out in the government and even among his friends in the entertainment industry, he felt compelled to write a play that captured the hysteria of the moment. More and more young women began to accuse townspeople of having dealings with the Devil and practicing witchcraft. Eugene O'Neill Biography, Plays & Influence | Who was Eugene O'Neill? WebThe Crucible is an historical allegory for the McCarthy period; it can be examined more fruitfully as a play about the human condition. In an allegory the character, events, and instances(Definition of Allegory R104). Arthur Miller is a commonly-known playwright, most famous for his 1953 play, The Crucible. In the play John Proctor questions why the accusers were not suspected, Why do you never wonder if Parris be innocent, or Abigail? Why did Arthur Miller write The Crucible? First, an allegory is a narrative that works as an long metaphor. Amelia Emery has taught high school English Language Arts for 9 years and University level writing courses for 3 years. Our writers will help you fix any mistakes and get an A+! In addition. The crucible was a tragedy because almost the whole town was accused of being a witch or having dolls in their homes which made then think they were doing something with the dolls to harm someone else. Miller wrote his drama during the brief reign of the American senator Joseph McCarthy whose bitter criticized anti- communism sparkled the need for the United States to be a dramatic anti- communist society during the early tense years of the cold war. In McCarthyism, it was the same thing, except for with communism. In 1953, when Miller published The Crucible, it was clear that he was condemning McCarthy and his communist witch hunts. The McCarthy Hearings that took place in the 1950's are a good example of this. McCarthy and his committee saw communist plots where there were none. One particular element from the historical account caught Miller's attention and led to the conflict between the central characters in the play. 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