In the 1950's, however, people were terrified of the red Communists coming to take over their beloved country. Senator McCarthy was the one taking out other people in the govornment that he suspected to be a communist via inprisonment. The witch trials and McCarthyism started differently as well, for one started with a group of young girls' voodoo practice and the other started when senator McCarthy was trying to win an election and took advantage of the peoples feelings toward the "Red scare." A lot of the evil things McCarthyism did were private and behind closed govornment doors. During the Salem Witch Trials the accused people were forced to make a public confession and be killed in front of their family and friends.
She was arrested and tried for practicing witchcraft because of her American Indian decent. Seen as “Devil worshipers” American Indians were perceived as being familiar with occult practices (536). This stereotype left Tituba with no control of her situation and fearful for her life. Tituba’s ethnic background left her victim to stereotypes that previous to her confession, would have most likely only sealed her dooming fate. Luckily, Tituba was able to use her knowledge of African, American Indian and English folklore to her advantage, diverting the attention away from her socially and geographically.
The absence of a fair and honest trial for the prosecuted in the small Protestant town is thought to be approached in a different manner today. And although in some situations this may be true, the past still dwells. The initial start of the hysteria originated in Salem Village in 1692. The instigators, Abigail Williams and her cousin Betty Parris were constantly faced with boredom, along with other young people of the Puritan communities because of the adult’s beliefs that the young adults should be doing things of a higher maturity level and not spending their time with play, engaged in magic and voodoo led by their servant, Tituba. started having fits described as “beyond the power of Epileptic Fits or natural disease to effect.”1 During one of the girl’s outbreaks, they would yell strange sayings and throw things around the room.
We see a variety of responses but it is the inability of the majority to understand the roots of the plague that prevents them from undergoing personal transformation. The religious dogma that is directed towards them leaves them ignorant and inflexible their own ideas about God and their place within society for themselves. This causes many to direct their devastation and fear to misunderstood characters that disagree with societal conventions. The crazed mob that accuses the Gowdies of witchcraft exemplifies the notion that faith blinds people to reality in ‘Year of Wonder’. Faith in God is easily converted into superstition amongst the ignorance of the uneducated.
Besides, all kind of illegal or immoral activities would remain and root deeply in the society if most of citizens are ignorance. In the play, ignorance is apparently portrayed and paralleled to the compact majority. The compact majority can be compared to un-educated people who are generally seen in many developing countries. Compared the Bath to technology development or social development, the city cannot accomplish this development surely since the compact majority is ignorance. Ibsen, faithfully, wrote the play as a way to criticize Europe society at the times when people were not interested in any technologies and truths.
The Good and the Bad “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” as said by John Lord Acton, meaning that no matter how much power is given to a person it will eventually corrupt and destroy anybody and anything. In the play “The Crucible” there is characters that cause corruption in the little town they live in. They cause such corruption by accusing some people of the town of being a witch. In the Puritanical belief they would consider that there is corruption in the town because of the so called accused “witches” not the ones that are accusing the innocent. In this play there are characters that are, in the puritanical belief, good and bad; no in between.
Williams has read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and where Julius Lester does not understand the novel, Williams does. He begins bye recapping the book’s long, history of censorship. “The earliest censors… believed the novel would corrupt the young” (Williams 98). In the story, Huck would spit and do rude things that were believed to be unsuitable for young readers at the time. These opinions have, however, changed.
“How does Arthur Miller suggest that the tragedy of The Crucible is caused by people making problems of human nature for the work of the devil?” The Crucible is a heart-wrenching play based around trust, love and the choice to lie for a good or worse cause. We witness innocent individuals being locked up and hung for the accusations they are witches. In 1962, when this play was set the people of Salem blamed the work of human nature for the work of the devil because they knew no better. Human Knowledge was far from where it is today, and due to the lack of knowledge during this era, people were forced to believe in the work of the devil, purely because they knew no better. As humans weather we like it or not, we always need something to believe in.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller, written in response to the 1950’s anti-communist actions, is a play that recollects these famous trials. The play, set during the time of the famous witch trials, depicts the lives of the citizens. Throughout the course of the play many of the ideals of Puritanism are broken. These ideals that are violated are lying and adultery, coveting of neighbor’s goods, and envy. The citizens of Salem fail to live up to the Puritan ideals.
An easy accusation of one’s name could tarnish their reputation and ruin their career. This happens to many citizens in Salem when they are charged with the involvement of witchcraft and do not wish to confess to such an outrageous allegation in honor of their good name. The Crucible is a perfect depiction in how intolerance and paranoia of the supernatural can tear a community apart. The devil and sorcery is used as a scapegoat to cover up ones personal mistakes and bad coincidences. If there is something wrong with the plants or the animals keep dying, it must be the work of black magic.