It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay during 1692 and 1693. Although both authors rely on fear and persuasion, Edwards depends more on imagery and figurative language while Miller utilizes allegory and dramatic techniques. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" combines vivid imagery of Hell with observations of the world and citations of the scripture. Edwards hoped that the imagery and message of his sermon would awaken his audience to the horrific reality that awaited them should they continue without Christ. “If it were not for God's restraints, there are, in the souls of wicked men, hellish principles reigning which, presently, would kindle and flame out into hellfire (Edwards 1).” "The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present.
Nineteen innocent people are hanged on the signature of Deputy Governor Danforth, who has the authority to try, convict, and execute anyone he deems appropriate. However, we as readers sense little to no real malice in Danworth. Rather, ignorance and fear plague him. The mass hysteria brought about by the witchcraft scare in The Crucible leads to the upheaval in people’s differentiation between right and wrong, fogging their sense of true justice. When Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in the early 1950’s, the United States was experiencing a modern “witch hunt” of its own.
Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” depicts the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692, in these trials women were accused of being witches; they were sentenced to death, tortured, and their reputation would be forever tarnished. During this revival of religion era faith was central to the government of Salem. Miller makes references to how the events leading up to the trails were unjust, bias and resulted in harsh punishment. The McCarthy hearings were trials in which Senator Joe McCarthy accused government employees of being Communists. (Sowers, Campbell, and Key) He exaggerated and exploited the evidence and ruined many reputations.
SALEM WITCH HUNTS VS MCCARTHYISM The Salem Witch Hunts that occurred in 1692 had many similarities to the Red Scare known as McCarthyism that occurred in 1950’s. The Salem Witch trials began after one girl Abigail Williams along with her friends spread rumors of witchcraft. This caused panic and major disorder in the town of Salem. The Red Scare began after Senator Joseph McCarthy began accusing Americans of being communist, this caused chaos and hysteria across the United States. While these two events were decades apart they had many similarities.
The Civil Rights Movements and The Salem witchcraft trials Since the witch trials times in Salem and before, fear and persecution have acted on people’s life. It doesn’t matter if the person was one of the involved or not, it affected indirectectly everyone around. Arthur Miller in the Crucible showed a perfect fear and persecution scenery using the Salem witchcraft trials as and example. Arthur Miller used the Crucible to represent the Mc Cartheism, when the communists were been “persecuted” and everyone was pointing fingers to the enemies. As in Salem, it started with a small portion of people trying to accuse people for personal reasons and ended with a big mass of ruined lives without any evidence.
The most infamous trials were conducted by the Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1692 in Salem Town. One contemporary writer summarized the results of the trials: The Salem witch trials were a series of
The unstable conditions of Salem were also a cause of the Salem Witch Trials (Interpretation G). During the years leading up to the witch-trials Salem was in a time of a time of political, religious and social unrest. The charter that granted them their colony was lost and a new leader appointed by the crown was sent to rule all of Massachusetts. Also, the citizens of Salem had a genuine fear of God’s power and the destruction he could bring to the colony if they discovered to be in cahoots with the Devil. This made the prosecution and search for witches a very serious and high priority matter.
Another guilt which he felt about his family was the fact that because of the convenience of plastics and throw away containers, they had no time really spent together as a family. Even the family dinner was forgone in place of fast-food and take-out. This was also disturbing and worrisome to Beavan since it went against everything his grandparents tried to teach him. Beavan grew up not but a 5 minute walk away from his grandparents and spent a great deal of time with them. Both having been born and lived though the Great Depression, they had a “Waste not, want not.” attitude that they tired to instil in Beavan.
This study will examine the most stark contrast between the characters of Oedipus in Sophocles' Oedipus the King and Macbeth in Shakespeare's play of the same name. That contrast is based on the conscious involvement of Macbeth in his own evildoing and doom, and the lack of awareness accompanying Oedipus own evildoing. That is, Macbeth set out deliberately and determinedly to murder for personal ambition and gain, while Oedipus slew his father without knowing who he was, and wed his mother without knowing who she was, thus bringing destruction upon not only his own head but the entire city over which he ruled. It might be argued that Oedipus consciously slew the old man he met on the road, did not have to kill him over a minor traffic dispute, and therefore can be said to have directly participated in the destruction which ultimately resulted from that act. However, again, the difference is that Oedipus acted impulsively in a state of rage, whereas Macbeth committed acts of violence and murder as a result of careful scheming which he determined would result in his own personal gain.
It burns through the entire novel as his guilt grows over the seven years of hiding his secret. It is the burden he must live with as he lives in the shadow of his actions. At the end when he reveals it to the community many see it and some don’t. The letter isn’t the only supernatural element in the novel; Pearl is referred to in the story as “the devil child by Mistress Hibbens, a witch. In the governor hall, the narrator describes Pearl as, "There was a fire in her and throughout her; she seemed the unpremeditated offshoot of a passionate moment" (69) One of the main influences of the romanticism