Most of the American public did not know what communism or Marxism really was as an ideology, they simply knew that it was 'bad' and it was 'un-American,' although logically it could be argued that nothing is more un-American than prosecuting a person for holding certain political beliefs.
The tragedies of Miller's "The Crucible" and the McCarthy hearings are that good men and women, as well as fearful and ignorant people were silenced by the witch hunts. People who defended the accused were called witches themselves. This can be seen when Proctor and Mary Warren are both, at different times and for different reasons called witches. When they defy Abigail's desires, their nonconformity makes them vulnerable to being accused. Witchcraft and communism are shadowy forces in the public imagination because neither is fully understood.
Both witch hunts begin with dramatic events -- the 'fits' of the Salem girls; the take-over of Eastern Europe -- but the critical difference, many critics of Miller pointed out, is that unlike witchcraft, communism was a real historical force. Although McCarthyism destroyed many careers and many lives in America, communism resulted in the loss of millions of lives in Stalinist Russia and Eastern Europe. The Warsaw Pact nations suffered curtailment of their freedoms, when under the control of the U.S.S.R. The communists themselves had 'witch hunts' of people who were supposedly counterrevolutionary...
Crucible and Guilty by Suspicion McCarthyism: The American Witch-Hunts The fear of communism ran rampant amongst the United States during the late 1940s to 1950s; throughout the nation, the fear of communist spies infiltrating the country caused the Second Red Scare, which was spearheaded by Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy. This phenomenon became so well-publicized that its story has been immortalized in film and literature. Such is the case in Arthur Miller's 1952
Crucible is a play by Arthur Miller with layers of meaning and subtext. Miller's mission was to draw a direct analogy between the social and political themes of the 20th century with those of pre-Revolutionary America. Setting the play in Puritan New England, in the town of Salem, allows the playwright to explore the thematic connections between the witch trials and McCarthyism. Doing so seems seamless, as the audience perceives
Hale begins the play as the most idealistic character, but ends the play telling Proctor to lie under oath and confess to being a witch, after Proctor is accused by Abigail. Hale comes to see the judicial system as bankrupt. This shows how a corrupt system can corrupt even decent people. The system also uses Hale's idealism for its own ends, as pro-democracy, pro-American people were used in subservience
President Eisenhower and his diplomats also chose to stop talking about the defeat of communism and instead focus on peaceful measures aimed at ending the "Cold War." And as the years passed, any attack on liberal thought which echoed "McCarthyism" automatically implied a paranoid and dysfunctional view of reality and placed the attacker in jeopardy. Congressionally, most of the members, both conservative and liberal, Republican and Democrat, considered the
Fear, ignorance, personal grievances, and an inflexible political and judicial process result in the death of John Proctor, an innocent man, who dies because he refuses to admit to witchcraft and harm other people. Individuals who named names were cleared by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) while those who did not name names were often blacklisted and lost their livelihoods. Those who refused to turn others in were the
Thus, when the Court supplies judgment, power and justice are supposedly met. Mary Warren echoes this thought: … like one awakened to a marvelous secret insight: & #8230; it's hard as rock, the judges said. (Act II: 118-28) Secular laws, of course, are made by men of power. Usually, these laws are enacted under the perception of the public good, or at least what those in power perceive as a way
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