The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism The Salem Witch Trials of the 1690s had many potent similarities to the McCarthyism of the 1950s. The Salem Witch Trials, which began after young girls spread accusations of witchcraft, caused panic, confusion, and disorder within the town of Salem, Massachusetts. The period of McCarthyism, known as the “Red Scare,” began after Senator Joseph McCarthy accused many Americans of communist involvement, causing disarray, chaos, and mass hysteria across the United States. Despite the significant time gap, the two events share stark similarities in their origins, propagation, and conclusions. Both events emanated from false accusations, gained momentum from the influence of public leaders, and ceased after the accusations proved to be inaccurate.
Is Abigail Williams a Victim or Villain? We have been studying the text The Crucible by Author Miller and I am going to study in detail weather Abigail Williams is a victim, or truly the villain. Abby is the villain and some may put it down to some of the "reddish work" she has seen but is it? In Act One Abigail is willing to lie to everyone to save her own, Abby is certain "[they] danced" and nothing else, even though we know that is not all they did. Abby threatens the girls, forcing them to tell the story according to the way which incriminates her the least.
(Sowers, Campbell, and Key) He exaggerated and exploited the evidence and ruined many reputations. The phrase "witch-hunts" derived from the hearings due to the similarity to the Salem witch trials. The Salem witch trial is analogous to the McCarthy trials of 1950; in both situations wide spread hysteria occurs, deriving from existing fears of the people of that era. The Salem witch hunt trials parallel the McCarthy era in three crucial aspects: unwarranted accusations, hostile interrogations of many innocent people, and they demonstrated how hard times lead to society's need to find a scapegoat. The unwarranted accusations that Joseph McCarthy and the citizens of Salem made are what fueled the widespread hysteria in both situations.
The Salem Witch Trials occurred in 1692, but as history tends to repeat itself, the similar destructive event of McCarthyism took place in the 1950’s. Both the Salem Witch Trials and the Second Red Scare shared a lot of the same attributes. They both had strings of accusations based on suspicion alone, both spread fear and hatred where there was no need for it, and both events spiraled out of control as a chain reaction of accusations occurred. The two events also used Man’s innate sense of greed and fear to overtake sense and help someone to rise to power. The Salem Witch Trials were a result of mass hysteria fueled by the accusations of Abigail Williams and her friends.
Salem Witch Trials Research Paper “The Salem witchcraft trials were a mass hysteria, a sort of shared delusion (The Lesson of Salem).” The events leading up to the witch trials was the dancing in the woods, to diagnosing Betty of practicing witchcraft, to people believing everyone were witches in the Village of Salem Massachusetts, and then the witch hunt. People in Salem believed practicing witchcraft was the devils practice. This affected Puritanism in the new nation. In Salem, people jumped to the conclusion of witch craft and in the end of 1692, “150 people got accused and 19 people got hung (The Lesson of Salem).” The Salem witchcraft trials had many historical factors that effected Puritanism in the new nation. “The Salem witchcraft trials were in the winter of 1691 to 1692(The Lesson of Salem).” The daughter, Betty Parris, and the niece of Samuel Parris, a minister in Salem Village, Massachusetts began to dabble in magic.
“(1.3.47-49) These three lines are extremely crucial to the play because it gives Macbeth his beginning thoughts toward receiving the throne. Shakespeare made the witches deceive Macbeth and Banquo who begin to believe they are invincible and have much to look forward to. This proves misogyny in Shakespeare because it ultimately put the witches to blame for all the horrible events in the play. Shakespeare also portrays his misogyny through Macbeth as he belittles the witches by saying, “How now, you secret, black and midnight hags.” (4.1.47) In Shakespeare’s era, chivalry and respect toward women was big. By having a character in his play say this to three so called women, seems
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.
Sheila birling In An Inspector Calls J.B.Priestley present Sheila Birling's change during the play in order to reflect some of his own ideas. Sheila is one of the few characters in the play who changes the most in terms of views on social responsibility. Priestley purposefully chose to present Sheila in this way to show the audience that her change should influence them to change their views too. Priestley was writing this play after a great time in change of the class system, after the Second World War. Priestley had witnessed the horrific events of both wars and realized the people in upper classes were still snobby and pessimistic when it came to changing their views in the class system.
It is such an important factor in this play because as mentioned earlier it is what introduces the main point. After Goody Proctor got arrested Proctor was determined to prove her innocence and Abigail’s false allegations. He presents himself at court to talk to the “Excellency” about Abigail and the girls’ false visions. He has Mary Warren testify which catches Abigail off guard and she has to pretend that she is once again being attacked. Proctor angered by this calls her a whore and says “I have known her, sir.
Macbeth's flaw is clearly his ambition because he says so himself almost immediately after hearing the witches' prophecy. As he is travelling down the path of his downfall, his disturbances are clearer because his ambition gets in the way. The act that Macbeth committed was called regicide in Shakespearean times and was seen as an act against God natural order. Shakespeare revolves the play around regicide because the king at that time James I was a victim of this and he also was very interested in witchcraft which is why Shakespeare used the three witches in this play. Some might say that Macbeth is certainly a play 'fit for a king'.