'Arthur Miller’s The Crucible In connection to McCarthyism Essay\r'

'â€Å"Those who can non remember the past ar condemned to take up it.”\r\n report is a â€Å"chronological record of essences.” These pillowcases, whether positive or tragic, often repeat themselves. The McCarthy Hearings that took holding in the 1950’s atomic number 18 a good example of this. The accusations of fabianism light-emitting diode to a nation-wide hysteria and veneration of who was release to be named next. When this was over, the hope would be that nothing human beingage it would constantly happen again and nothing similar it had ever happened in the first place. However, we throw off not lonesome(prenominal) reiterate it on various occasions, besides through Arthur miller’s The Crucible, we also put one across the par allel of the event with the Salem catch hunts that took place years before the hearings. The connection between The Crucible and the McCarthy Hearings is not an set-apart one, but can also be make with o ther historical and current events that are contingency today.\r\nArthur Miller wrote The Crucible in response to The McCarthy Hearings. These twain events can be attached in many an(prenominal) ways; for example, great deal in each situation used hysteria for their own good. â€Å"Joseph McCarthy was a flagrant self-promoter” and extremely provide-hungry. (Schrecker 242) He believed that by accusing tribe in high positions of having ties with communism that he would big(a) a more respected figure. McCarthy’s accusations were establish upon little to no evidence and of the tens of thousands accuse, only a handful was shapeually persecuted. (Fried) â€Å"Through come out the early 1950’s, McCarthy keep to make accusations of communist infiltration of the U. S. government, though he failed to provide evidence… These charges received extensive media attention, reservation McCarthy the most famous political figure in the nation after President Harry Truman. He was also one of the most criticized.” (Appleton History) McCarthy’s claims were heavy(p) him his desired attention and praise.\r\nHe was already at a respected level in the government, nevertheless he desired more. In October 1953, McCarthy began investigating communist infiltration the United States Military. (Fried) When Army Chief of rung Omar Bradley was accused, McCarthy’s popularity went down. Omar Bradley was a highly respected man and a true patriot. This can be connected to The Crucible because of what the main character, Abigail, does to get what she wants. Originally, all Abigail wants is a man, John Proctor. She accuses John Proctor’s wife of magnetizecraft in order to capture him all to herself. As Abigail realizes the empowerment she has gained, she begins blaming other innocent batch of hexcraft. Eventually she becomes mad with power and blames Judge Hawthorne’s wife. â€Å"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” McCarthy and Abigail both gained power through their accusations, and their desire for more power led to their demise.\r\nAnother similarity between McCarthyism and The Crucible is that in both situations, people blamed others to save themselves. During the McCarthy Hearings, the only way to lower the charges against you was to expose another person working for the communists. Because of this, people were incorrectly accused and punished. In the Salem slime eels trials, people were also released if they revealed individual who has â€Å"made a compact with Lucifer.”\r\nAn additional similarity between McCarthyism and The Crucible was that there were explainable events that sparked the hysteria. In the McCarthy hearings, McCarthy’s false accusations sparked it. The hysteria could induct been prevented just now if people were not so easily fright by the accusations and they took the time to examine their validity. In The Crucible, the event that sparked the hysteria was when the girls were dancing in the woods. This event could put on been easily explained without tying it to witchcraft and many lives could bring in been saved.\r\nMcCarthyism and The Crucible also have many differences. For example, the witchcraft in The Crucible was unbelievable and the testimonies were from children. If people in the village used reason, they could have determined the accusations were false. Joseph McCarthy was a respected frequent and had ties to the government. This made his claims rattling win over and often more believable than the allegations made by children.\r\nAnother difference was that the McCarthy hearings were on much large surmount than the Salem Witch hunts. In the McCarthy hearings just about 10,000 people were affected, many of whom lost their jobs and their lives ruined. (Schrecker) The Salem Witch Trials were on a much smaller scale; only about 140 were affected. (Boyer)\r\nA thirdly difference was t hat anyone who was accused of being a witch and did not confess or expose someone else was hung. Although more people were affected, no one was ever killed during the McCarthy Hearings.\r\nHysteria is defined as â€Å"behavior exhibiting spendthrift or uncontrollable emotion, such as fear or threat.” The McCarthy Hearings and the Salem Witch Trials were both hysterias. â€Å"McCarthy did not create the communist problem, but he victimised it shamelessly for political ends, accusing the Democrats in general with baseless, sweeping, shotgun allegations. He was a master of the sound bite, and played the press ilk a inhabit”. (Pinto) This was a time when people were afraid of war and the spread of communism.\r\nBecause of this, they were easy victims to be caught up in the hysteria. McCarthy accused people to have ties with communism establish on little evidence and thousands of people were wrongly accused. â€Å"Joe McCarthy was nosier, more impulsive, and more skil lful in gaining forwarding than the rest of the anticommunist network.” (Schrecker 242) McCarthy was good at spreading his meat and got people scared of what could happen.\r\nThe Salem Witch Hunts were also based on hysteria rather than facts or evidence. Puritans believe in The Supremacy of Divine leave behind in which God is absolute. (Reuben) When the girls were seen dancing in the woods, it caused panic in the town that â€Å"the devil is loose in Salem.” No actual evidence of anyone practicing witchcraft was presented, but accusations were made and the hysteria began.\r\nMcCarthyism and The Salem Witch Trials are not the only examples of hysteria that occurred in history. new(prenominal) events have had similar effects throughout history, make impacts to society and to individuals. One example is the Nipponese internment Camps of the 1940’s and 50’s that changed the lives of about 120,000 Nipponese Americans. (Sakurai 16) â€Å"Frightened chi ldren clutched their parents’ hands. The adults were scared, too, but they tried hard not to show their fear. Armed soldiers herded the families onto the trains and buses that would carry them far away(p) from their comfortable homes. The United States government was sending japanese Americans to bleak prison camps. How could such a sore thing come to pass?” (Sakurai 3) December 7th, 1941 Japan bombed the military base at Pearl curb. This began the dissimilitude against Japanese Americans.\r\nUntil the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, the United States had been really firm about staying out of World War II; however, this unprovoked act forced a declaration of war on Japan. This caused fear and anger against the Japanese Americans. â€Å"Japanese Americans had make nothing wrong, but they shared a frequent ancestry with the enemy pilots who bombed Pearl Harbor.” (Sakurai 8) In The pearl of 1942, Japanese Americans were put in permanent motility centers, i solating them from the rest of the world. This racist hysteria discriminated people not for their actions, but because of their looks and ancestry. This compares to the McCarthy Era and to the Salem witch trials because in each circumstance people were accused of being part of something to â€Å"be feared”. The accusations did not have any basis in this situation, except the somatogenetic features of the accused.\r\nâ€Å"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” The likeliness of hysteria, such as the McCarthy Hearings or the Salem witch trials, developing today is not only very probable, it is evident. Although there is very little chance that anyone is passage to be convicted of being a witch like in Salem, people are still very scared of today’s â€Å"witches”. Since 9/11, our â€Å"witches” are those people who look different. They come from any place in the Middle East. It does not matter which of those countries they are from, or even if they were born here in the United States. Just the color of their skin, their dress, their religious beliefs, or their accents make them suspicious of being a terrorist. They have been searched, harassed, fired from jobs, physically harmed, and discriminated against. Our lives were drastically changed by what happened on September 11th, but our reaction has not changed much since the witch trials of Salem or the McCarthy Hearings.\r\nWe truly have not learned from the lessons of the past and it is impossible to assign if we ever will. Whether it is the fear of witchcraft, communism, war, diseases, or terrorism, it is easy to see that people are persuaded very quickly. There is no need for fact or proof, just a convincible McCarthy or Abigail to make the accusations and start the hysteria. possibly that is why â€Å"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”\r\nWorks Cited\r\nAppleton History. 21 Apr. 2003. 12 Dec. 2003 .\r\nBelfrag e, Cedric. The American inquisition: A Profile of the ‘McCarthy Era’. New York: nose drops’s Mouth P, 1989. 183-275.\r\nBoyer, Paul, and Steven Nissenbaum. The 1692 Salem Witch Trials: . 1997. 10 Dec. 2003 .\r\nFried, Albert. Learning Curve. The National Archives. 8 Dec. 2003\r\n.\r\nPinto, Jason. The Crucible Project. 2003. 6 Dec. 2003 .\r\nReuben, Paul P. â€Å"Chapter 1: Puritanism & Colonial percentage point: to 1700.” PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A seek and Reference Guide. URL: http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap1/chap1.html\r\nSakurai, Gail. Japanese American Internment Camps. New York: Childrens P, 2002. 1-48.\r\nSchrecker, Ellen. Impact Of McCarthyism. 1995. 10 Dec. 2003 .\r\nSchrecker, Ellen. Many Are The Crimes: McCarthyism In America. Boston: Little, Brown, And Company, 1998. 1-550.\r\n'