There is Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself
Fear is defined as a strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the characters experience constant and irrational accusations of witchcraft in their Puritan society. Through The Crucible, Miller creates an allegory, comparing the Salem witch trials to the Red Scare, emphasizing the downfalls of mass hysteria. During the Red Scare, the fear of communism in America swayed people to support Joseph McCarthy in the hunt for communists spies. As seen historically in the Salem witch trials and the Red Scare, the most powerful entity in society is not an individual, but rather an abstract concept that rules and disrupts society: fear. In The Crucible, the townspeople's …show more content…
Individuals indicted of being members of the communist party had the opportunity to lessen their sentence by contributing the name of another “communist” they knew. In a particular case, “David and Ruth Greenglass testified that the Rosenbergs had recruited them as accomplices… to transmit secrets of the atomic bomb to Russia during the Second World War”. The Rosenbergs, the brother and sister in law of David Greenglass, denied all charges but were still sent to the electrical chair. This situation illustrates the family values of the Greenglasses contradicted by their fear of enduring the entire punishment for being communist. It also underscores the illogical and unjust ruling of the court to execute an innocent couple due to the wild yet frightening accusation. Additionally, during the Red Scare, government workers were particularly under scrutinization due to the fear that of a communist in the U.S. government. The paranoia of this possibility resulted in thousands of investigations, dismissals, and resignations. None of the attempts at revealing government official communists “turn[ed] up a genuine spy or saboteur- the dismissals were for being a ‘security risk’”. Hysteria and paranoia result in senseless and unethical actions around a fear factor such as
Fear is defined as a strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the characters experience constant and irrational accusations of witchcraft in their Puritan society. Through The Crucible, Miller creates an allegory, comparing the Salem witch trials to the Red Scare, emphasizing the downfalls of mass hysteria. During the Red Scare, the fear of communism in America swayed people to support Joseph McCarthy in the hunt for communists spies. As seen historically in the Salem witch trials and the Red Scare, the most powerful entity in society is not an individual, but rather an abstract concept that rules and disrupts society: fear. In The Crucible, the townspeople's …show more content…
Individuals indicted of being members of the communist party had the opportunity to lessen their sentence by contributing the name of another “communist” they knew. In a particular case, “David and Ruth Greenglass testified that the Rosenbergs had recruited them as accomplices… to transmit secrets of the atomic bomb to Russia during the Second World War”. The Rosenbergs, the brother and sister in law of David Greenglass, denied all charges but were still sent to the electrical chair. This situation illustrates the family values of the Greenglasses contradicted by their fear of enduring the entire punishment for being communist. It also underscores the illogical and unjust ruling of the court to execute an innocent couple due to the wild yet frightening accusation. Additionally, during the Red Scare, government workers were particularly under scrutinization due to the fear that of a communist in the U.S. government. The paranoia of this possibility resulted in thousands of investigations, dismissals, and resignations. None of the attempts at revealing government official communists “turn[ed] up a genuine spy or saboteur- the dismissals were for being a ‘security risk’”. Hysteria and paranoia result in senseless and unethical actions around a fear factor such as