Similarities Between The Crucible And Mccarthyism
The McCarthyism period took place during the 1950’s when The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller. McCarthyism significantly impacted Arthur Miller’s thoughts when he wrote the play. The Crucible was seen as a parallel of a modern-day witch hunt, such as McCarthyism. McCarthyism is the practice of publicizing accusations of political disloyalty or subversions without any evidence. Joseph R McCarthy made false accusations about certain people in the government being communists. Both McCarthyism and The Crucible are connected because paranoia is evident and innocent people are accused. It is clear that Arthur Miller was influenced by Mccarthyism while writing The Crucible because both include accusations of wrongdoing against innocent people
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During McCarthyism, Senator Joe Mccarthy accused people randomly and with dishonesty. One article stated that “Many Americans also believed the Communism was a real threat to the USA. In 1950, Senator Joe claimed to have a list of many known communists working for the US government; but he also accused scientists, diplomats, actors, film producers and writers of being sympathisers. People were anxious and frightened by the growing threat and were inclined to believe McCarthy’s extravagant claims. The ‘witch hunt’ built to fever pitch” (CITEEE). McCarthy would aimlessly pick people out of a crowd and say they were communists. This is similar to a scene in The Crucible when Rebecca Nurse- a well known and respected person in their society- gets accused of witchcraft. (FIND A QUOTE). Once one of the most morally driven people got accused, it was surprising because they could finally see how ridiculous some of their accusations were. Mass hysteria is shown in both the play and McCarthyism when similar situations of falsely accusing innocent people and paranoia are shown. Prominent figures are accused which causes questioning of the claims of wrongdoing.
Mccarthyism was established by Joseph McCarthy and could be seen as a direct parallel to the play, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller. Both McCarthyism and the The Crucible are connected because paranoia is evident and innocent people are accused. Consequently, the tension and fear caused by the paranoia of the time of McCarthyism period had many similar attributes that show the influence it had on Arthur Miller’s
During McCarthyism, Senator Joe Mccarthy accused people randomly and with dishonesty. One article stated that “Many Americans also believed the Communism was a real threat to the USA. In 1950, Senator Joe claimed to have a list of many known communists working for the US government; but he also accused scientists, diplomats, actors, film producers and writers of being sympathisers. People were anxious and frightened by the growing threat and were inclined to believe McCarthy’s extravagant claims. The ‘witch hunt’ built to fever pitch” (CITEEE). McCarthy would aimlessly pick people out of a crowd and say they were communists. This is similar to a scene in The Crucible when Rebecca Nurse- a well known and respected person in their society- gets accused of witchcraft. (FIND A QUOTE). Once one of the most morally driven people got accused, it was surprising because they could finally see how ridiculous some of their accusations were. Mass hysteria is shown in both the play and McCarthyism when similar situations of falsely accusing innocent people and paranoia are shown. Prominent figures are accused which causes questioning of the claims of wrongdoing.
Mccarthyism was established by Joseph McCarthy and could be seen as a direct parallel to the play, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller. Both McCarthyism and the The Crucible are connected because paranoia is evident and innocent people are accused. Consequently, the tension and fear caused by the paranoia of the time of McCarthyism period had many similar attributes that show the influence it had on Arthur Miller’s