Similarities Between The Crucible And The Salem Witch Trials

The Salem witch trials was a trial based on the principles theocratic government and accusation of Witchcraft. The Salem witch trials had led to the execution of fifteen people, and the imprisonment of five others, all who died within jail. It had all started from the spread of mass hysteria. Shortly afterwards, people began to realize the huge folly of this type of theocratic style of government, and by 1697 the general of Massachusetts Court had even called for a day of fasting in respect for the wrongful execution of all these people. By 1711 the government had even passed legislation to remove any ‘ill-will” towards those convicted and forced to falsely confess to being witches only to be later executed. In addition, if any of the executed people had family, their families were paid a substantial financial compensation.
A fairly recent example of a similar type of mass-hysteria was the Red Scare. Basically, the Red Scare was the widespread fear that spies working for the U.S.S.R, which was Communist, were living in Capitalist America. The only difference between the Salem Witch Trials and The Red Scare was that there really were spies from the Soviet Union inside America. However a clear similarity was not just the widespread fear, but also the widespread “alienation” of people. For example, most of the people accused of being Communist spies or revolutionaries were really just innocent people, and most had been fired, ostracized by their friends, and even by their families. Finally, there has been serious backlash from the huge disruption of the lives of accused people, and thus it is often compared to the Salem Witch Trials, which occurred around 250 years prior to the Red