The authors, Caroline B. Cooney, Harper Lee and William Shakespeare write of violence in their novels and play. In Enter Three Witches, the author writes that people who dislike others and are angry eventually meet a violent end. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee writes that people who are racist are also dishonest and will also eventually meet a violent end. Shakespeare also argues that people who do not except others will meet tragedy. Cooney uses MacBeth to prove her thesis; whereas, Lee uses the character Bob Ewell to prove her thesis, and Shakespeare uses Tybalt to prove his argument.
Tituba's confession ignited a series of witchcraft manhunts leading to women and men being hanged, one man crushed to death by heavy rocks, and 150 more men were held in prison awaiting trail . Ergo, the key concepts included within this essay will be, who were the accusers, what do their fears tell us about the beliefs and society, why did the trials come to an end, and what does the outcome of the trials tell us about the leaders of English society in North America. The story of the Salem Witch-Hunt begins within the household of Reverend Samuel Parris when his daughter became sick, and her cousin fell ill also. The doctor was quick to jump in and diagnose both girls, Betty Parris and Anne(Abigail) Williams, as being “bewitched”. The two girls exhibited fits such as screaming, throwing things around, and contorting themselves in awkward positions (Blumberg,2007).
McCarthyism in the 1950’s was the practice of broadcasting allegations of political treachery or rebellion with inadequate regard to evidence. The events that took place in the 1950’s concerning McCarthyism are what inspired Miller to write his play on the Salem witch trials of 1692. The fear of repeating the horrors of the past pushed him to try and open the eyes of those who seemed to be following a dangerous path. The Crucible and McCarthyism both contain instances of false accusation, wrongly gained power, and mass hysteria. Similarly to the Salem witch trials, McCarthyism started in a time of great fear, but instead of fearing witches that made pacts with the Devil, the people of the 1950’s feared communism.
When repressed people are given the opportunity to express their deepest, most sinister desires, fear takes hold and unrest unravels. In 1692, Salem Massachusetts found itself in the grips of a similar panic when the lives of twenty people were mercilessly taken, in what remains today, a question to most scholars. Arthur Miller further develops this cycle in his modern drama, “The Crucible,” where individuals are murdered due to an inexplicable fear. Although not entirely accurate in terms of historical fact, the characters exhibit personal contempt for others through their own self-seeking and destructive hidden agendas that support the theory of widespread frenzy. Because Arthur Miller wants to depict the dangers of the development and progression of hysteria, “The Crucible” illustrates this through the antagonist Reverend Paris, a closed-minded Puritan society, and the persecuted group of young women on trial.
The Crucible Essay Question 7 Discuss the importance of the themes order and disorder, guilt and innocence, and good and evil. Set in Salem in North America, in 1962 Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a chilling play that draws parallels to the historical witch-hunts of 1962. Inspired by the McCarthy era Miller is deeply reflective in his ideas about good and evil, and the hysteria that one individual causes in a town that is gripped by superstition, paranoia and malice. The Crucible is a thought provoking omnipresent modern literary masterpiece that raises many imperative issues regarding the role of the individual in society. Miller has portrayed the community of Salem as a town tainted by enigmatic irony as a result of the role reversal of good and evil, due to greed and autocratic power, aggravated by sexual repression, themes that are still prevalent in society today.
Occurring in late sixteen hundreds, the Salem witch trials was a manhunt derived from greed and vengeance. During the 1940s and the 1950, a wave of paranoia and anti-communist sentiments consumed the nation. Headed my Senator Joseph McCarthy, the House of Un-American Committee arrested and questioned citizens about their past or resent connections to the communist party. In play The Crucible, the Salem witch trials serve as the foundation for Arthur Miller’s allegorical tale about the era of McCarthyism. At a first glance, many assume a direct connection does not exist between the play and the dark event in history, but analyzed closely, the Crucible parallels the events of the Red Scare.
They made life miserable for those accused and did not stop, even when they had had their “fun”. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, draws obvious parallels between the 1950’s Red Scare and the witch-hunts that took place in Salem of 1692. Miller connects the hysteria brought about through accusations thrown around by both Senator McCarthy and Abigail Williams by emphasizing how much power their groups hold over everyone. During the times of the Salem Witch Trials and the Red Scare, fear ruled those unfortunate enough to be involved in nearly any conflict. Be it fear of witchcraft or communism,the fact is that it swept throughout the early and post-industrial United States.
This play is based on the salem witch trials in 1950's. John McCarthy conducted witch trials. He done this by accusing American leaders of being communists or communist sympathizers, the people he accused faced loss of employment, destruction of their careers and even imprisonment. McCarthy was very evil. When Miller wrote this play he used it to show the corruption of the witch trials and used the play to represent people in 1950's America, a distinctive allegory.
At the time she killed her children, she believed she was possessed and that the sign of Satan was marked on her scalp. She told the police that her children “weren’t developing correctly” and that drowning them was the only way to save them. It is possible the ideas of the minister pushed her to believe she a bad mother and to spare her kids from going to hell, she took it upon herself to take their
Up to now in this story it seems like half of the town has been accused of witchcraft, but it gets worse. Martha Corey was accused because she thought the town and everyone in the church was insane blaming all the innocent people for things that were out of their control. She also thought the girls they were listening to were fools and she thought they were even bigger fools for listening to children. She told the court that she was innocent; she didn’t know what a witch was. They simply told her that how could she not know if she was one if she didn’t know what a witch is.