They deemed The Crucible was an allegory to McCarthyism. The book follows the events that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts. It portrays from the view point of the girl who started the witch hunt to townsfolk being victimized by the horrible acts of fearful people. The person most responsible for the epidemic of fear is Abigail Williams, a manipulative teenager trying to connect with her lover. Abigail Williams
Arielle Mattes Russell Spinney Word History 12/11/12 Word count: 2,407 Ergotism and the Salem Witch Trials Everyone knows about the infamous witch trials that occurred in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts in the late 1600’s. The legacy of these trials has been seen in countless areas of the media. Hundreds of movies, books and plays have featured women flying through the air, summoning devils, and casting spells and curses on innocent people. Some of the origins of such stories have come from these events that took place in this Puritan settlement in 1692. The village was torn apart after the doctor (unable to explain the strange behavior of three young girls) suggested that the cause of their madness was the work of the devil, and accusations of witchcraft began to fly.
When comparing the "Red Scare" in America in the 1950s to the Salem Witch trials in America at the end of the 1600s, some similarities are obvious. Both events created hysteria by stirring up people's irrational fears. The "Red Scare" refers to the fear of communism in the 1950s. This was actually the second "Red Scare." The first took place earlier and referred to the fear that a Bolshevik revolution would take place in America.
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. Because of terror, people behaved irrationally and foolishly, which led to imprisonment of many innocent people. Both, the Witch Trials and the Red Terror spread thanks to the snowball effect. McCarthyism and the general terror of the soviets came from the affairs of Igor Gouzenko and Elizabeth Bentley, which raised the public’s conscience about the threat and the general terror spread across the US. In the Crucible, the paranoia and fear about the witches spread after the unexplainable illnesses of number of local
The course of enacting revenge is symbolically signified through the fervour of allegations of witchcraft, which destroys all judgment and creates a sense of belonging with the members of the community that have been involved in monstrous actions, such as killing babies and communicating with the devil. Miller, having been blamed of being a communist along with many of his friends, is critical of this hysteria. Despite some of his characters’ legitimate fear of witchcraft, the fervour surrounding their accusations leads to innocent people being accused of wrongdoing to satisfy vengeful grudges and create a sense of belonging. Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft in order to seek revenge, as Elizabeth acknowledges when she says, Abigail ‘thinks to kill me, then to take my place’. This shows Abigails desire to belong not only to proctor but also within the community, by taking Elizabeth’s position.
Witch Hunting 10.May.2014 Psychoanalysis and Art/Society Witchcraft in Central Europe Between the years of 1470-1750, a panic emerged form European societies regarding the alleged witches amongst their midst. Consequentially, large scale witch hunts, especially in Central Europe gained prominence and resulted in the trial, torture and execution of tens of thousands of victims. While there were, unarguably, male victims accused of witch craft, the vast majority of victims where female. Since then, scholars have linked these horrific events with the gender correlated persecution of women. Ties between femininity and witches have also been viewed from psychoanalytic perspectives to provide commentary on the attitudes toward women that
Cotton Mather tried to prove to humanity that "demons were alive", which played on the fears of individuals who believed that demons were active among them on Earth. Men and women in Salem believed that all the misfortunes were attributed to the work of the devil; when things like infant death, crop failures or friction among the congregation occurred, the supernatural was blamed. Because of the unusual size of the outbreak of witchcraft accusations, various aspects of the historical context of this episode have been considered as specific contributing
Yarely Covarrubias Pd. 3 What Caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692? The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 are a turning point in history, and is an event that continues to mystify our nation, as well as others. Between the months of june and September of 1692, 19 women and men were accused of witchcraft and hanged because of it. Local magistrates took the initiative when young girls claimed that women in the village were inflicting pain on them, which resulted in all the hangings and overall hype of the Salem Witch Trials.
“How does The Crucible show us the power of fear in human society?” In the text The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses the events of the Salem Witch Trials to portray the power of fear in human society. Fear is an instinct humans need to survive, which strongly affects how people act and often results in horrible consequences. Throughout the play the theme of fear affects the outcomes and characters of Abigail Williams, Mary Warren, Reverend Parris, Reverend Hale and John Proctor. The character of seventeen year old Abigail Williams uses intimidation to show the power of fear in human society. Abigail first demonstrates her fondness of terrorising those around her in her threat to the girls of the town: “Let either of you breather a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you...I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!” This threat foreshadows Abigail’s accusations of witchcraft against others.
Otgo Baterdene English 11 Mr. Harper Research Paper – First Draft Mass Hysteria in Salem Village In the history there are many societal problems that cannot be solved or avoided. One of these problems was mass hysteria during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693 and were brought on by group hysteria, jealousy, and property disputes. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft or the Devil's magic and 20 of them were hanged. The Salem witch trials were caused by mass hysteria rather than simple belief in witches and the devil; once the people got caught up in the hysteria no