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.
“I saw Goody Sibber with the devil” (Miller 1.1068). Random people are being falsely accused in Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible. It all starts when a group of young girls dance in the forest one night and one of the girls suddenly falls sick, the next thing you know is the whole town crying witchcraft. As a consequence, the young girls start to accuse casual people to save their selves and put the town’s dwellers life at stake. The main person behind the accusations is Abigail Williams, the head minister of the town’s niece, she watches cold heartedly innocent people being hung for her false indictment.
Another reason their relationship is dangerous is that if John Procter were to prosecute against Abigail Williams saying that she is in fact a witch, Abigail Williams could very easily tell the entire town that she and Procter have been having an affair to get revenge on him. It wouldn’t really affect her too much, but on the contrary, it would ruin his reputation in the town and his relationship with his wife. Later in Act I, Abigail is being “interrogated” by Reverend Hale and she claims “I never sold myself! I’m a good girl! I’m a proper girl!” (Miller 40) in this statement, Abigail is defending herself that she never sold herself to the devil.
By comparing the periods of the Salem Witch trials in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and the era of McCarthyism in the film Good Night and Good Luck, I can say that these two periods were essentially the same, only the name of the threat was different. Also I can draw some parallels between the relationship between the Estonians and the Russians during nowadays. First similarity is the spreading of paranoia and terror among the society. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, people were afraid, that their fellow members of the society were witches. Terror and panic rose in the Salem community as the paranoia and terror about the communists did in the era of McCarthyism during the late 1940s to the late 1950s.
Parris caught the girls dancing in the forest. He suspected them of doing witchcraft. He was worried that his reputation would be ruined. 2. Why do the Putnams come to the Parris house?
Even after she cured Lucas of the curse the witches put on him, people were still skeptical saying “Hechicera, Bruja” (pg 104). After the incident when Tenorio brought an angry mob claiming that Ultima was a witch that laid a curse on his daughters, the kids at school prosecuted Antonio saying “At least we don’t have a witch around our house!” (pg 145) The men trying to capture Ultima tested and failed to prove
Miller presents this when Abigail is asked about the devil and she responds by saying, “I never called him! Tituba, Tituba…” By Abigail saying this she has brought Tituba into this conversation and now she has become to focus of attention. People are forced by Abigail to question Tituba about what has happened in the woods as they are fooled to believe she has all
She not only acted as a tyrant but she pulled other people into her mess. Abigail Williams is the main reason behind the Salem witch hunt. She is the one who broke the rules of the church and brought all the girls and Tituba into the woods. Once the “Blame Game” started, she could have ended the hysteria. Instead, she continued her false accusations.
When told that his daughter, Betty, was ill because of "unnatural causes," Paris quickly interjected, "No, no. There be no unnatural causes here." The Reverend denied this all even with seeing the girls dancing in the woods. With Reverend being in denial, he was unable to consider all causes of the problem. He was so quick to blow off the idea that witchcraft caused her sickness because he was too worried his reputation would get shot with that possibility.
In “The Crucible”, the girls accused people of being witches just to make themselves look better to others to gain respect. “We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law!” (Miller 196). The direct quote from “The Crucible” means children who are overtaken by social fears have the power to control the life or death of a single individual, by accusing them of witchcraft. Many women were killed in the town of Salem during the trials and the ones who weren't killed had their reputations forever lowered. Everyone who was charged by McCarthy had his or her own reputation diminished also.