Impact of Salem Witch Trials on The Crucible - Research Paper Example

How McCarthyism and the historical Salem Witch Trials influenced the writing of The Crucible Introduction The Crucible is a1953 play by Arthur Miller about Salem witch trials that happened between 1692 and 1693. It shows the interrelationship between fear and intolerance in Salem and how it tears the community apart. In the play, the characters are bigoted of people who fail to conform to particular standards, for instance, if someone is not very religious, they are accused of doing witchcraft. Arthur Millers inspiration for writing The Crucible came from the events that surrounded the McCarthy trials and their similarity to the historical Salem Witch Trials. This article describes the influence of McCarthyism and the historical Salem Witch Trials influenced the writing in the writing of The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Biography Information about Arthur Miller Arthur Miller was born on 17th October 1915 in New York City. He attended Abraham Lincoln High School before joining the University of Michigan. He graduated in 1938 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. Miller’s first Broadway play was The Man Who Had All The Luck in 1944. He later wrote All My Sons, which opened on Broadway in 1947 and received warm reception immediately conferring fame on Miller. He later produced Death of a Salesman in 1949 and won a Pulitzer Prize and Drama Critics’ Circle Award. In 1953, he wrote The Crucible, which became his most widely produced work. By 1956, he had become a fearless defender of the freedom of expression. He was summoned to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee to explain the information that related to Communism. However, he did not name others as communists or sympathizers of communist. He also produced other plays that include A view from the Bridge in 1955, The Price in 1968, After the Fall in 1964, and Broken Glass 1994. Other plays include The American Clock in 1980, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan in 1991, The Last Yankee in 1991, and Resurrection Blues in 2002 (Viswamohan 64). Salem Witch Trials Most of the people in Salem were Puritans and had a very strict lifestyle. Every person was supposed to attend church and failure would lead to a charge of breaking the law. Men and women sat on different sides and it was considered a sin for them to sit together. People in Salem believed that if anyone disobeyed their beliefs or laws, he or she was evil. They also thought that a person who was sick was possessed by the devil or was a witch. Every sin was seen as from the Devil, evil spirit, or witchcraft. Tituba was a slave kidnapped from her home and taken to Salem. She cared for the Parris children and would tell them stories she had learned in the Caribbean about magic and spirits. Many people would also come to listen to her tales. In 1692, three girls who were usual listeners of Tituba’s stories started showing signs of odd behavior, like strange dreams, shaking and mumbling. The residents began to suspect that the girls were possessed by an evil spirit, and they believed someone must have been practicing witchcraft on them. The leaders of the Puritan community demanded that the girls name the witches who had possessed them. The girls knew that if they did not blame others, they could be accused of practicing witchcraft. They chose to blame Tituba. Tituba denied being a witch and ever practiced witchcraft. However, her employer, Parris told her that she would gain freedom if she confessed. Hoping to gain freedom, she confessed being a witch during her trial and claimed that there were other witches in the community. However, she was not granted freedom but the Puritans sent her to prison. In a special court convened under chief justice William Stoughton, the first person to be tried was Bridge Bishop of Salem, who was accused of practicing witchcraft by more individuals than other defendants. She was known because of her dubious character, manner of dressing that did not conform to Puritan standards, and being married three times. She pleaded innocence but was found guilty and was executed by hanging. George Burroughs was also tried of practicing witchcraft. He was a Puritan minister from 1680 to 1683. While at Salem, he had borrowed money from the Putnam family but was unable to repay leading to a conflict between them, and he left Salem. He repaid his debt after twelve years, but he was charged and brought back to Salem from Wells. Several members of Salem testified against him and called him a virtual priest of the Devil. He was found guilty and was executed. Giles Corey was accused of witchcraft but pleaded not guilty. He refused to be tried by the court because it had already determined his guilt before trial. However, he was sentenced to death and was executed through crushing. He was an easy target because of his relationship with the rest of the community and his record with the law. Martha Cory was a newly accepted member of the village church. She was falsely accused of practicing witchcraft because she had an illegitimate son. She also faced the trial because she criticized the trials and judges who were involved in the trials. She pleaded innocent but was sentenced to death. Sarah Good was also falsely accused of witchcraft. It was mainly because her father’s estate had been involved in a dispute leaving her poor. She had married William Good after her first husband died. She did not confess of practicing witchcraft but accused Sarah Osborne. She was put to death by hanging. She only had one child called Dorcas, who was also accused of witchcraft. Rebecca Nurse was accused of witchcraft by several of the girls ‘afflicted’ by witchcraft. Many people testified she was innocent, but she was tried for witchcraft. The magistrates ruled that she was not guilty but were told to review their decision. She was set free by the Governor Phips, but he was asked to reconsider his decision. She was excommunicated from the church and executed. Other people named by the girls included Elizabeth Parris, Abigail Williams, Ant Putnam, Mary Walcott, Mercy Lewis, Sarah Churchill, and Susannah Sheldon. Other people also arrested include Martha Corey, Sarah Cloyce, Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor, Abigail Hobbs, William Hobbs, Sarah Churchill, Ann Foster and Reverend George Burroughs. This part basically exposes the extent to which betrayal came up in the era. People were really terrorized because of the ideology they aligned themselves with. The theme of political disruption and execution comes up. According to Arthur Miller, these people who were exposed by the girl are basically the one that were critical to the ideology of communism. In this case, they believed that America would only progress if people are empowered to make wealth at personal level-not at community based riches that benefit each and every person regardless of the effort they make. Most of the people were sentenced because of the behavior of witnesses, for instance, fits and hallucinations. Ghosts were only visible to those making the accusations, which was difficult to verify leading to magistrates basing their case on any evidence. Twenty people were executed by Order of the Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1692. A lot of innocent people lost their lives during this period. McCarthyism, its Impact, and Resemblance to Salem Witch Trials McCarthyism was named after Senator Joseph McCarthy and was a period of was a period of strong anti-communism in the United States between 1946 and 1956. The United States government harassed the Communist party and people along suspected communism spying (Schrecker 1043). It was a period of false, hysterical accusations and discriminations against suspected communists. It ended around 1956 after most of the hearings were done in public and showed the bullying behavior of McCarthy. There are similarities between McCarthyism and the way the Salem Witch trials were done. Both events were cruel and merciless despite the difference of over 200 years between them. McCarthy considered that everything that was anti-American to be communist. In a similar way, the Puritans in Salem considered that anything that could not be explained to be evil. They also considered that every member of the society conforms to the Puritan ways. In Salem, people were put on trial and killed if they did something that could not be explained. Despite John Proctor producing evidence that the trials were fraudulent, he was accused of trying to overthrow the court and associating with evil. His evidence was discredited, and he was sentenced. People in both McCarthyism and Salem Witch trials were accused of actions that they had not done. In Salem, when a person confessed to being a witch to save his or her life, their reputation was destroyed, and people would view them differently. Similarly, in McCarthyism, even if a person were not convicted, their reputation would suffer and had a hard time to rebuild their image. In Salem, Miller refused to cooperate by failing to yield to questioning. In McCarthyism, people who were falsely accused of being Communists, and those who refused to incriminate others saw their career suffer and could hardly get jobs years many years later. In both the Salem witch trials and McCarthyism, there was high demand to reveal the secrets of others. People started to take advantage of the situation and began to use the chance to settle personal grudges. In Salem, Giles Corey confronted Putnam by saying that Putnam would gain from the losses of others. People highly suspected each other and said it was witchcraft. In McCarthyism, people in high positions of power stood to gain from the losses of others. It showed that people would make accusations to achieve what they wanted. There is also a similarity in the language used in both Salem witch trials and McCarthyism. In both, it was believed they sought to cure a disease. In Salem, the disease was witchcraft that threatened the purity of people living there. The disease had to be wiped out to cleanse people and people would be purified by confessing their sins. However, admitting being a witch posed a risk of being executed. In McCarthyism, when a person confessed to being a communist, they would undergo a lengthy trial and could not be viewed as before. The similarity arises as a result of the witchcraft being practiced by some people is subjected to similar trial as the one for those committing the atrocity of criticizing the communist ideology. According to Arthur Miller, the two were placed in the same category and as such, they faced similar trial. Writing the Crucible and Why Miller used the Salem Witch Trials Arthur Miller wrote the play, The Crucible, to parody the era of McCarthyism in which witch hunting of communists was prevalent. During the era, there was a widespread campaign that was staged to crumble the philosophical ideas behind communism. In this case, the opponent of communism used all manner of strategies to convince the government to discard the communist ideology. In the 1950s, McCarthyism meant brave, patriotic stand against communism and was highly supported by the American people and media. He wrote the play to inform the American people of the misinformation and propaganda by the government. Traditionally, it was quite difficult for individuals, especially authors, to be critical to the government. There was a general feeling that the government of the day compromised different authors and other individuals whose opinion mattered. As such, there were very few authors who were able to stand firm and resist the government pressure by writing an honest opinion of the general public concerning the communist ideology. They faced the same tragedy and sentences under the McCarthy committee like the characters in The Crucible. The Salem trials were a metaphor to draw attention towards the actions of the McCarthyism propaganda (Macksoud, Smith, & Lohrke 7). Miller, being of a Jewish ancestry and Polish descent, he felt the heat when the government started a national crackdown of individuals suspected of supporting Communism. The government would accuse and blacklist anyone without evidence. It was like Salem trials where a person would be accused of witchcraft even if there were no evidence. In this case, many of them retreated and dropped the creative writing for they feared execution and incarceration without just trial. The few who failed to corroborate with the government sought refuge in other nations as the pressure from the government become quite unbearable. Among those who choose to silent, according to the The Crucible decided to completely retreat for he feared to be labeled a rebel or blacklisted among those who purportedly made the security compromised. It was an era that was characterized by person being presumed guilty even before a proper trial was carried out, and only confessions of guilt were acceptable. By this, individuals were forced to confess committing various crimes against the government of the day. All what they required was numerous people to give an account against the accused. In this case, the McCarthy panel only required to pressurize and coach witnesses against the opponents of the communist ideology. People who appeared before McCarthy committee were willing to accuse others of supporting communism to maintain their careers and reputations. Miller also feared of being accused of being a communist because he protested strongly for the freedom of expression. Plays by Miller and others were being boycotted and banned. He also wrote the play because many careers were being ruined by unfounded attacks. It showed a similar relation to how people in Salem were accused of witchcraft and convicted based on unfounded and unverified information. He saw as a parallel to the attack of the time because many people were unfairly accused of supporting communism. Accordingly, the author was prompted to write about the atrocities faced innocent citizens and those who agitated for better governance, human rights and economic reformation among others. Another school of thought have it that many people dropped the creative writing due to undue pressure that the government exerted on the opponents of communist culture. As such, some of them became corroborators thereby popularizing the ideology. It should be remembered that the general mood of the public was that the ideology was not making economic progress in the country. As such, the government used money to “buy” the writers. These writers were given the content that they wrote in support of the government and the unpopular ideology. In this case, The Crucible is instrumental in reflecting these issues that threatened to destroy the American history. He also faced the same fate that befell others when he was summoned to appear before the McCarthy committee. He was condemned by the United States Congress for not naming individuals he had attended meetings with. Normally, it was expected that every person who faced the “justice panel” would be expected to show cooperation as huge rewards would come the way of the witness. In this case, the “justice panel’’ had a bad day as the Crucible writer stayed true to his allegiance to the people of America. In this case, it was unbelievable when Arthur Miller refused to show any cooperation. He did not reveal the identity of his associate in the front that was critical to the ideology that was being popularized by the government of the day. Conclusion The Crucible is a play by Arthur Miller written in 1953. It is set in a small village called Salem in Massachusetts. It shows how fear created an environment of intolerance among the community members. People were accused of witchcraft because they did not follow the accepted standards of the Puritans. Trials were held where people were accused of practicing witchcraft but did not face a free and fair trial. The accused were taken as guilty instead of innocent before trial. Miller wrote the play during the era of McCarthyism when people were accused of supporting communism in America. Miller was not lucky because he was also accused of Communism and was required to name individuals he had met. However, he did not name anyone. Careers of innocent citizens were destroyed while reputations were ruined. Some people were forced to name others to save their reputations and careers while admitting wrongs they had never done. However, in both Salem and McCarthyism, confessing the wrongs only meant more horrifying experiences. In McCarthyism, individuals who confessed would endure long trials while in Salem, those who confessed would be shunned and their reputations permanently destroyed. Work Cited Macksoud, Meredith C., Craig R. Smith, and Jackie Lohrke, eds. Arthur Kennedy, Man of Characters: A Stage and Cinema Biography. McFarland, 2002. Schrecker, Ellen. "McCarthyism: Political Repression And The Fear of Communism." Social Research 71.4 (2004): 1041-1086. Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 June 2015. Viswamohan, Aysha. "Arthur Miller And The New York State Of Being." Studies In Theatre & Performance 34.1 (2014): 62-74. Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 June 2015. Read More