The Crucible Vs Mccarthyism Essay

Our history seems to have a strange way of repeating itself. Arthur Miller, the author of The Crucible wrote about the Salem witch trials that took place in 1692. This was a time of mass hysteria caused by religious views, but it also was connected to some of the exact things that make humans imperfect: greed, lust, wrath, and even pride. Later on, that same hysteria reappeared during the McCarthyism era, for very similar reasons. So the question is, how much were these two time periods alike? The Crucible and McCarthyism are so similar, you would think witchery were involved. In both of these time periods, there was always someone who seemed to have a way with pointing fingers and naming names. In an excerpt from Hearings Before the House …show more content…
But rarely is there one who is just non-compliant and doesn’t say a word. But in The Crucible and the McCarthyism era, there was at least one. ¨Mr Seeger: I am not going to to answer any questions as to my association, my philosophical or religious beliefs or my political beliefs, or how I voted in any election, or any of these private affairs.” (Document E, 12-14.) For this, Mr.Seeger was blacklisted until the late 1960s. In The Crucible, a conversation between a man and his wife revealed the fate of he who didn’t speak. ¨Elizabeth: Giles is dead. He looks at her incredulously. Proctor: When were he hanged? Elizabeth, quietly factually: He were not hanged. He would not answer aye or nay to his indictment; for if he denied the charge they hang him surely, and auction out his property. So he stand mute, and died Christian under the law. And so his sons will have his farm. It is the law, for he could not be condemned a wizard without he answer the indictment, aye or nay.” (Document F, 4-11.) Later on, it is stated he was killed by stones being laid upon his chest until he died. In these situations, both men held there head high, yet they paid the