Compare And Contrast The Salem Witch Trials And Mccarthyism

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"From one of the first emotions know to man is fear", which can be a weakness or a weapon. Many of us are scared of the unknown. This is expressed by H.P Lovecraft quotes, "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." In reference of man every day people and many historical events. Such as The Salem witch trials in 1962 where people feared witchcraft overruled their village, but they were just scared of the unknown. Fear is also seen in McCarthyism in the 1950 's, when everyone was afraid of communism since they never experienced it for themselves, and once again feared the unknown. There are many comparisons of The Salem witch trials and McCarthyism such as, time periods, …show more content…
There are many comparisons of The Salem witch trials and McCarthyism such as, time periods, Public figures, defendants, and outcomes. One public figure was Giles Corey who was a successful farmer during the time period when the Witch trials were going on. Giles was married to Martha Corey who accused of witchcraft, later on Giles was also accused. This lead to him going to court, where he spoke up against Parris. He had proof of someone hearing Parris that he is blaming people of witchcraft to later on buy their land. The court believed Giles, but asked for the name of the person who heard Parris. He denied giving the names being scared of that person going to jail. Giles is convicted of Contempt of Court and was sentenced to jail and then death. Giles was the only person who was pressed to death during the witch trials. Another public figure was Arthur Miller who was a successful play writter during the time of the communist Hunt. Miller was against McCarthy the Anti communist party. This got him to be accused of anti Americans actions. He was taken to court, Where he was accused of being a Communist. There he stood up for himself, he denied naming other people who were believed to be communists. He was charged with contempt of court. At this point of history torture or death was no longer accepted in society. But this led Miller to get blacklisted. This was a really hard time for him, because he was threatened to lose his job and his life would have basically been

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