In the article “Why I Wrote The Crucible”, Arthur Miller explores the relationship he observed between Joseph McCarthy's hunt for “Reds” and the Salem witch trials. Miller explains how the similarities led him to write The Crucible. The article makes the reader question if there are still witch hunts today. The play was written right after World War II, which ended in 1945, and was written when the United States was becoming concerned of the Soviet Union gaining so much power. According to a number
In the late 1940's there was a rivalry between the U.S. and Soviet Russia also known as the cold war. As the war intensified the U.S. began to analyze and determine whether citizens were loyal to their country. This was called the Red Scare. The U.S. were scared of communist because of their alliance to the red soviet flag. Communism is an economic system in which everyone is equal and the government owns everything. Of course people disagree. Joseph McCarthy a former American politician who served
Are witches real or was it all hysteria? Hysteria can spread like wildfires and grow out of proportion. That is true for the instances of The Salem Witch Trials in 1692 and McCarthyism in the 1950’s. The Salem Witch Trials took place during the year 1692. The young girls of Salem were seen in the woods dancing around a fire with Tituba, Rev. Parris’s slave that practiced witchcraft as her religion. The next morning Parris’s daughter Betty was found in a coma like state, inert in her bed. Parris
McCarthyism vs. The Crucible In the 1950’s, a senator named Joseph McCarthy was running wild through America trying to dig up underground Communist sympathizers. He believed that there were over 200 of them working inside of the United States government. His fear caused people to panic and they began to accuse each other. Those who were accused were blacklisted and had a very difficult time finding jobs. Among the guilty, was the author of The Crucible, Arthur Miller. He saw the mania of the country