America’s Crucible: Witches and Communists on TrialArthur Miller was widely successful in connecting the past Salem Witch Trials with the era of McCarthyism he lived in. The witch trials and McCarthyism were both times in America’s past that irrational fear led to paranoia and mass hysteria. Both of these events were practices of accusing someone of either being a witch or of having communist ties, with no substantially justified evidence. Arthur Miller demonstrates this success with his play, The Crucible. Miller drew up the character John Proctor based on his own self, that included him adding in his affair with Marilyn Monroe through the character Abigail. He used this aspect of his story to make sure it was obvious to the readers that
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But there were also a few important female characters didn’t necessarily represent specific people, but larger ideas of the McCarthy Era instead. Elizabeth Proctor is included in the story to represent unfair accusations. Abigail was jealous of Elizabeth so she declared that Elizabeth was a witch and that she had stabbed a poppet in its side in an act of voodoo that implanted a needle in Abigail’s stomach. Goody Proctor knew nothing of this until it was found in her home as a gift given by Mary Warren. But since it was found, and Elizabeth had been accused, it did not matter that Mary was the one who made it. Goody Proctor was still taken to jail because the “bewitched” and stabbed Abigail was certain it was of Elizabeth’s doing, yet from the readers perspective you can clearly tell it was an act of jealousy. Another woman, Martha Corey, can be assumed to resemble banned books and media. Her husband Giles had been talking about her love of books and of her reading what he called, “strange books”. There were really no grounds on jailing Martha Corey besides the suspicion that these books were influencing her to utilize witchcraft. The Courts did not like the idea of any strange readings that were not of the Bible so they brought in Martha. Another important female character, Tituba, is very vital to this story. Tituba was the character equivalent to Edward Dmytryk. Both Tituba and Dmytryk were accused persons, who at first denied the accusations honestly. But then
But there were also a few important female characters didn’t necessarily represent specific people, but larger ideas of the McCarthy Era instead. Elizabeth Proctor is included in the story to represent unfair accusations. Abigail was jealous of Elizabeth so she declared that Elizabeth was a witch and that she had stabbed a poppet in its side in an act of voodoo that implanted a needle in Abigail’s stomach. Goody Proctor knew nothing of this until it was found in her home as a gift given by Mary Warren. But since it was found, and Elizabeth had been accused, it did not matter that Mary was the one who made it. Goody Proctor was still taken to jail because the “bewitched” and stabbed Abigail was certain it was of Elizabeth’s doing, yet from the readers perspective you can clearly tell it was an act of jealousy. Another woman, Martha Corey, can be assumed to resemble banned books and media. Her husband Giles had been talking about her love of books and of her reading what he called, “strange books”. There were really no grounds on jailing Martha Corey besides the suspicion that these books were influencing her to utilize witchcraft. The Courts did not like the idea of any strange readings that were not of the Bible so they brought in Martha. Another important female character, Tituba, is very vital to this story. Tituba was the character equivalent to Edward Dmytryk. Both Tituba and Dmytryk were accused persons, who at first denied the accusations honestly. But then