The significance of Salem is that the tension can be sourced from within every character as they are engulfed in hidden and. This quote shows that the accusations made by Joseph McCarthy lacked evidence and were entirely false. An allegory is a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically being either moral.
In the play, Abigail and several other young women accuse innocent citizens of Salem for the action of witchcraft. During the trials, many individuals were unfairly persecuted; such as John Proctor.
This event in history may be associated with the Red Scare, in which individuals were tried for their questionable influences of communism in the United States. When Miller. This term has become a byname for the defamation of character or reputation by means of widely publicized indiscriminate allegations, especially on the basis of unsubstantiated charges Achter.
An allegory is a story with two levels of meaning- literal and symbolic. In an allegory the characters, events, and instances relate to real people, events, and instances.
It relies on the uncertainty and the fear of the unknown among people, which in turn, incites hysteria. Joseph McCarthy accused many people of being communists without much evidence or reason. The accusations in The Crucible also are proposed without evidence and cause. Several young girls claim to be afflicted by witchcraft.
Lastly, the final effect of the Salem Witch Trials was that it affected many individuals personally. Then, John Procter was convicted of witchcraft and hung.
Meanwhile, Abigail was driven out of town and thought to have become a prostitute in Boston. Throughout the entire book of The Crucible, female citizens are being accused of witchcraft and one of the most prominent rhetorical devices used is bandwagon.
In The Crucible, when Rev. In the s the House Committee on Un-American Activities blacklisted and threatened those accused of Communism to confess in the same way that the government of Salem threatened those accused of witchcraft. During both the Witch Trials and the McCarthy Trials the Government not only forced a confession, but imprisoned or killed those who refused to speak.
There is a very obvious example in The Crucible when after confessing John Proctor says to Danforth, "Why must it be written? Why must I say it? Both events involve a mass hysteria that leads many innocent people being accused of something they did not take part in.
For example, the witch trials accused blameless women of practicing dark magic while McCarthyism accused hundreds of following communism. Both also have a person or group that leads the act. This shows how mindless humans can actually be. People were so full of fear that they would do anything to eliminate their anxiety. The McCarthy hearings of the s reenacted the hysteria of the Salem witch trials of by spreading mass fear of prosecution, creating false accusations, and blacklisting people.
The Salem witch trials were considered to be America 's most notorious episode of witchcraft hysteria. Many innocent people were killed as a result of false accusations, and many other women were put through trials to determine if they were witches.
The play accurately describes the mass hysteria of both events. Prior to this Abbygail pretends to be bewitched by Mary, and all the other girls follow Abigail in fear.
When people are under pressure, like how Abigail threatens the girls, people are in. Back in England made witch craft a capital crime, so in when Abigail Williams claimed that she had seen women in her village working alongside the devil you can only imagine the hysteria and problems that came along with the false accusations and the beliefs of the puritan lifestyle.
So this brings us to the point of how lifestyle and the social norms form witch hunts. It seems to be human nature to fear what we do not know and with fear comes hysteria which leads to mob mentality that causes mass amounts of people to put blame on those who they have known for a long time.
Open Document. Essay Sample Check Writing Quality. The Crucible, a play by the famous playwright Arthur Miller, retells the story of the witch trials occurring in Salem during the seventeen century. Between lies, deceiving and treachery, Salem was the place of a relatively massive genocide solely based upon unproved facts and accusations. However, the real message being the story is something else altogether as The Crucible is an allegory denouncing McCarthyism. The aim of this task is also to visualize the reasons for these differences if the changes occur.
The Crucible was written in by Arthur Miller. Miller was portraying, through the reenactment of the Salem witch trials, an anti-communist movement we can refer to as McCarthyism. The play is therefore an allegory of McCarthyism. It illustrates the impact of the hysteria witchcraft has aroused in the town of Salem, thus demonstrating the effect of the Red scare on the American society.
The aim of the play would have been completely obsolete since it was written for a specific time period. McCarthyism lasted Also the tone of the story varies depending on which character is talking, therefore having an effect on our vision of each character. Miller gave a harsher tone to the judges, thus painting them as villains. Abigail was portrayed with a rather malevolent tone which thus classified her as the main felon of the story. Proctor and the other victims had a more innocent tone and are therefore seen as victims.
Therefore, changing the time, place, audience or language of the play modifies it considerably and consequently alters the context, the meaning and the aim of the story. Get Access.
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