Essay on Crucible: Salem Witch Trials and Red Scare

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Arjun Chowdhury
5-4-12
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English 10 B History has been known to repeat itself throughout the period of mankind. Many prime examples of this have been created throughout the course of history, such as examples in literature. Raw examples of history repeating itself are in Arthur Miller's "The Crucible". Miller did not get his inspiration just from his own mind but from a period of time, were people were extremely judgmental and prosecuted people for false accusations, but this seems to happen over and over in history. For example, the event of the Red Scare which is also known as the McCarthyism. The Red Scare had less harsh consequences, but the same rippling events throughout time. In 1953, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, created hysteria in all parts of the nation. The play describes the Salem Witchcraft trials of 1692 and the irony of a terrible period of American history. Arthur Miller intended to break the fear of the Cold War and respond to Senator McCarthy and Communism. The play was a metaphor for the Red Scare, which was taken place of the time periods of 1947-1956. This is also called McCarthyism. The author compares the unjustness of the Salem Witchcraft trials and the McCarthy trials, were in both, people were accused and sentenced to unjust deaths. The Crucible and McCarthyism is known that both people were guilty of believe of a practice that in many ways were extremely questionable and frowned upon by most during the time. In The Crucible, people who believed or practice witchcraft were executed with no chance of prison time, in McCarthyism ones who believed or participated in Communism were found guilty of belief and possibly sent to prison. Another association between McCarthyism and the play is that after Miller wrote The Crucible, he was called to answer some questions about the names of the people who had been seen in the meetings of Communist Party, however, he refused to do it. This event is very similar to the fourth scene of the play when Proctor was asked who the devil was when he saw him. he did not mention any names of his friends, yet he reveals his sins.
In 1956, Arthur Miller was denied to have a passport to Brussels, and was called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. The Committee wanted to defend and make the constitution better. The Congress asks Arthur Miller for the names of the people that he had been with in the Communist meetings, but he refused to say. They wanted those names to put them on the blacklist. The blacklist was employed in the period of “Red Scare”. The people who were in the
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