McCarthyism in The Crucible
In The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, the madness of the Salem witch trials is explored in great detail. There is more to the play than the witch trials, though. The Crucible was composed during a time when a similar hysteria was sweeping through America. A virtually unkown senator by the name of Joseph McCarthy was propelled into infamy when while at a speaking engagement at thee Republican Women's Club of Wheeling, West Virginia he charged 205 persons in the U.S. State Department of being members of the Communist Party (Martine 8). Fear caused the American people to succumb to the preposterous charges brought forth by McCarthy displaying resemblance's to that of the Salem community in 1692 (Carey 51). In Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, there is evidence of parallels between the Salem of 1692 and America of the 1950's, the American Government of the 1950's and its misuse of power, and the high court depicted in the play, using its power to impose a misguided ju! The Crucible takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in the spring of 1692 in a village shrouded with chaos. The people of Salem were in uncertain times. Just a year earlier a witch in the nearby town of Beverly w
McCarthy did not have enough evidence to convince an investigating committee, led by Senator Millard E. Tydings. His evidence merely depended on others naming people that were communists just as the evidence of the Salem trials was merely the girls naming names. The accusations and investigations spread quickly and affected thousands of people. Librarians, college professors, entertainers, journalists, clergy, and others came under suspicion. McCarthy did not have any evidence though and he eventually lost his support from the people. A few people spent time in jail and thousands were denied jobs, memberships, and other normalities because they had been accused of being communist. America, entering into the cold war, felt that the threat of Communism was real and with World War II just ended and the fear of another possible war, Americans of the fifties did not want people whose "political ideology" was so rash, violent, and disagreeable with their way of living (Carey 51). Martine called them for what the were, and that was simply "witches" (9). When Joseph McCarthy announced the contents of his blacklist in 1950 people started accusing others of being communist just like in Salem 1692. This did not stop McCarthy though. In 1953, McCarthy led 157 more investigations especially into the Voice of America and even the Army Signal Corps in New Jersey. These further investigations go on to parallel that of the judges of the Salem trials and their efforts to find anyone guilty that they possibly could. People such as former U.S. Department of State official, Alger Hiss was accused of being a communist spy. The accusations by McCarthy were so powerful that President Truman himself decided to put in loyalty boards to keep communist out of America (Miller 1). Arthur Miller himself was also put on trial by the House Committee so that he might testify on Un-American activities. Miller refused to name any names and was found in contempt of Congress. Miller imitates Proctor in this way of refusing to give in even though there would be consequences. John Procor is "the Devil's man!" (Miller 110).
Some common words found in the essay are:
Salem Massachusetts, Millard Tydings, John Proctor, Joseph McCarthy, Union Germans, Salem Puritan, Reverend Parris, Salem Danforth, Arthur Miller, People Salem, witch trials, salem witch trials, arthur miller, salem witch, john proctor, joseph mccarthy, carey 51, accused communist, world war ii, accused witch, mccarthy evidence, martine 8,
Approximate Word count = 2064
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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