The Salem Witch Trials v. The Red Scare - Dawn of Hysteria
In the 1690s, mass hysteria overcame Salem, Massachusetts. After exhibiting strange behaviors, people were being accused of witchcraft. Since witchcraft was deemed as a capital crime in 1641 (law2,umkc), the punishment for it was either imprisonment, or hanging. A similar event happened after the end of World War II. In 1947, the Cold War had begun. (Wolfe). Due to a lingering fear of the Soviets and Communism, people were accused and tried for being Communist. The first reason why these two events are similar is because since children were seen as pure in the time of the witch trials, the young girls abused their power to accuse other people of witchcraft. McCarthy abused his power …show more content…
(gcimini). This was shown in The Crucible when Proctor, a clearly innocent man, was hanged. John Proctor was clearly a good man, and everyone knew he was. People respected him. (Miller 19). For example, he helped by fixing the church roof. When he was hanged, people started to realize how corrupt the Witch Trials were, so the Puritans and the courts lost supporters. During the Red Scare, McCarthy started accusing allies. He stated that he was investigating, “communist infiltration in the military.” (Latham) As a result, people started to believe his accusations were false. President Dwight David Eisenhower said that his movement needed to be put to an end. Drew Pearson and others began posting articles about McCarthy and his unpleasantness in finding communists. (Latham) The accusations of respected and innocent people caused the downfall of both the Salem Witch Trials and …show more content…
The hysteria during the Salem Witch trials was very evident. 19 people were hanged for being accused of practicing with the Devil. Many people lost their lives due to religious reasons. There was also examples of hysteria like this during the Red Scare. In an article called, “Are You Now Or Were You Ever?”, which was written by Arthur Miller, he mentioned the story of a man named William Remington. He was killed in prison by an inmate who thought he could shorten his sentence by killing a communist. (Miller). Also, many talented people such as Charlie Chaplin, Donald Ogden Stewart, or Carl Foreman were forced to leave to country when they were accused of Communism. (Miller). Arthur Miller said in his article, “So in one sense, The Crucible was an attempt to make life real again.” He was deliberately recreating the public hysteria that factored into these
In the 1690s, mass hysteria overcame Salem, Massachusetts. After exhibiting strange behaviors, people were being accused of witchcraft. Since witchcraft was deemed as a capital crime in 1641 (law2,umkc), the punishment for it was either imprisonment, or hanging. A similar event happened after the end of World War II. In 1947, the Cold War had begun. (Wolfe). Due to a lingering fear of the Soviets and Communism, people were accused and tried for being Communist. The first reason why these two events are similar is because since children were seen as pure in the time of the witch trials, the young girls abused their power to accuse other people of witchcraft. McCarthy abused his power …show more content…
(gcimini). This was shown in The Crucible when Proctor, a clearly innocent man, was hanged. John Proctor was clearly a good man, and everyone knew he was. People respected him. (Miller 19). For example, he helped by fixing the church roof. When he was hanged, people started to realize how corrupt the Witch Trials were, so the Puritans and the courts lost supporters. During the Red Scare, McCarthy started accusing allies. He stated that he was investigating, “communist infiltration in the military.” (Latham) As a result, people started to believe his accusations were false. President Dwight David Eisenhower said that his movement needed to be put to an end. Drew Pearson and others began posting articles about McCarthy and his unpleasantness in finding communists. (Latham) The accusations of respected and innocent people caused the downfall of both the Salem Witch Trials and …show more content…
The hysteria during the Salem Witch trials was very evident. 19 people were hanged for being accused of practicing with the Devil. Many people lost their lives due to religious reasons. There was also examples of hysteria like this during the Red Scare. In an article called, “Are You Now Or Were You Ever?”, which was written by Arthur Miller, he mentioned the story of a man named William Remington. He was killed in prison by an inmate who thought he could shorten his sentence by killing a communist. (Miller). Also, many talented people such as Charlie Chaplin, Donald Ogden Stewart, or Carl Foreman were forced to leave to country when they were accused of Communism. (Miller). Arthur Miller said in his article, “So in one sense, The Crucible was an attempt to make life real again.” He was deliberately recreating the public hysteria that factored into these