Why Is The Crucible Still Relevant Today
The Crucible is a book written by Arthur Miller in the 1950’s. The book describes events of paranoia in the form of witchcraft, and trial. This book was written during the McCarthy Era, which, as defined by http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mccarthyism?s=t, was the government, amongst others, making unsupported claims of people being communist. The Crucible was based on the witch trials of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, in which central european countries would trial, torture, and kill tens of thousands of men and women across the continent. The Crucible was based on the central european witch hunts, but does not have much in common with the actual trials other than them being involved with witches. The Crucible characters made
accusations of witches mainly because they wanted the land of the person they accused, whereas , according to http://www.gendercide.org/case_witchhunts.html, the actual witch trials were largely gender based, as women were the victims of almost three fourths of the thousands of hangings. The Crucible did have women hung, but not to the scale of the actual events. The actual witch trials took place in Europe, while those in the book took place in Salem, Massachusetts. Arthur Miller does correctly portray the paranoia of the witch hunts with those that took place in Europe. In his book, Arthur Miller sets across a wide spread panic across two counties. In the actual events, mass hysteria was set across Europe as no one wanted to be hung. Some of the moral reasons for the hangings were in common, as one of the reasons for the actual witch hunts was the clash between the Catholics and the Protestants. In The Crucible, the church was heavily involved in the decision of accusations and the trials. McCarthyism, as defined above, was the active hunting of communist in the United States during the 50’s and 60’s. Joseph McCarthy, the person whose name McCarthyism was coined from, was a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin. He, like the people that participated in the actual witch hunts of the 16th and 17th centuries, attacked his enemies with accusations of communism and homosexuality. While this was not as serious as the actual witch hunts, which ended in death, the accusations of communism often lead people wrongly to jail, just as people had been led wrongly to being hung. Joseph McCarthy deferred from the people the witch hunters in that he was unbiased in his selection of who to accuse. McCarthy accused both men and women, while the witch hunters mainly attacked women. Joseph McCarthy did, however, attack many people in Hollywood, which the original witch hunters did not. In fact, not a single person from Hollywood was even accused in the original witch hunts, which is not very surprising, as Hollywood did not even exist. McCarthy also did not accuse any 16th or 17th century Central European people of communism, which again, is not that surprising. The McCarthy witch hunt ties in closely with that of the actual witch hunt, but differ from each due to their respective time periods. The Crucible, McCarthyism, and the witch hunts have many similarities and differences. The Crucible is directly connected to McCarthyism, as that was Arthur Miller’s intent. This McCarthyism also connected to the witch hunts of Central Europe, as both of them were blind accusations against an opposing party. While the actual witch hunts were mainly just to kill women, some ulterior motives behind them may have been the same as those in The Crucible, which in each of their cases was to gain an upper hand on the opposing church groups. McCarthyism was a different kind of witch hunt that involved hunting down “communist”, which turned out to be anyone Joseph McCarthy did not like. The Crucible, based on McCarthyism, has strong ties with the actual witch hunts, while keeping their real meanings separate.
accusations of witches mainly because they wanted the land of the person they accused, whereas , according to http://www.gendercide.org/case_witchhunts.html, the actual witch trials were largely gender based, as women were the victims of almost three fourths of the thousands of hangings. The Crucible did have women hung, but not to the scale of the actual events. The actual witch trials took place in Europe, while those in the book took place in Salem, Massachusetts. Arthur Miller does correctly portray the paranoia of the witch hunts with those that took place in Europe. In his book, Arthur Miller sets across a wide spread panic across two counties. In the actual events, mass hysteria was set across Europe as no one wanted to be hung. Some of the moral reasons for the hangings were in common, as one of the reasons for the actual witch hunts was the clash between the Catholics and the Protestants. In The Crucible, the church was heavily involved in the decision of accusations and the trials. McCarthyism, as defined above, was the active hunting of communist in the United States during the 50’s and 60’s. Joseph McCarthy, the person whose name McCarthyism was coined from, was a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin. He, like the people that participated in the actual witch hunts of the 16th and 17th centuries, attacked his enemies with accusations of communism and homosexuality. While this was not as serious as the actual witch hunts, which ended in death, the accusations of communism often lead people wrongly to jail, just as people had been led wrongly to being hung. Joseph McCarthy deferred from the people the witch hunters in that he was unbiased in his selection of who to accuse. McCarthy accused both men and women, while the witch hunters mainly attacked women. Joseph McCarthy did, however, attack many people in Hollywood, which the original witch hunters did not. In fact, not a single person from Hollywood was even accused in the original witch hunts, which is not very surprising, as Hollywood did not even exist. McCarthy also did not accuse any 16th or 17th century Central European people of communism, which again, is not that surprising. The McCarthy witch hunt ties in closely with that of the actual witch hunt, but differ from each due to their respective time periods. The Crucible, McCarthyism, and the witch hunts have many similarities and differences. The Crucible is directly connected to McCarthyism, as that was Arthur Miller’s intent. This McCarthyism also connected to the witch hunts of Central Europe, as both of them were blind accusations against an opposing party. While the actual witch hunts were mainly just to kill women, some ulterior motives behind them may have been the same as those in The Crucible, which in each of their cases was to gain an upper hand on the opposing church groups. McCarthyism was a different kind of witch hunt that involved hunting down “communist”, which turned out to be anyone Joseph McCarthy did not like. The Crucible, based on McCarthyism, has strong ties with the actual witch hunts, while keeping their real meanings separate.