The Devil's Book and The Black List - Research Paper Example

?Erica Bussanich Ms. Lupica English 10 May 21, The Devil’s Book and The Black List “I believe that this reader will discover here the essential nature of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history.”(Miller) That quote is part of the foreword of what is, probably, Arthur Miller’s most famous play, The Crucible. It is a dramatization of events during the 1692 witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. However, his words could just as easily be describing events going on around him in at the current times in the 1950s; when Joseph McCarthy, a politician and anti-communist fanatic, caused public panic and paranoia while actively attempting to ferret out potential communists hiding in America.(Simkin) It is the intention of this paper to reveal and clarify how Arthur Miller’s The Crucible shows similarities between the Salem witch trials of 1692 and the “McCarthyism” scandal of the 1950s. A time when communism became the devil and a community of people used “evil” as evidence to take out their personal hatreds on those they had always wished ill. In 1692 several children’s unexplainable illness left the local physician baffled. He could not explain why these children convulsed, screamed words of nonsense, and contorted their bodies into painful positions. He determined that the cause must be “supernatural” in nature.(Blumberg) Today we would sit in shock if a physician abandoned scientific solutions and turned to a paranormal one. However, the people of this era were, as we term it presently, pre-Enlightened. The people of the seventeenth century had not yet reached the scientific revolution.(Norton) These were people living in a world they did not understand and experiencing events that they, often, could not explain. Also, the fervor to hunt witches was not new. The witch hunts had spread through Europe like wild fire from the 1300s to the 1600s. Across the continent tens of thousands of “witches,” mostly women, were accused, tortured, and executed.(Blumberg) In total nineteen accused witches were executed during the Salem trials, including famous names like Bridget Bishop and John Proctor. However, what we know of these events is limited, taken, primarily, from the court records that survived from that time. In truth, most of our modern understanding of the Salem witch trials is what, “…we associate with Arthur Miller’s work than the actual archival evidence.” ("Dramatizing History in Arthur Miller's The Crucible") Arthur Miller did take a certain amount of dramatic license in order to make the history flow as an artistic work. The author, himself, stated, “This play is not history in the sense in which the word is used by academic historians.(Miller) Simply meaning the impact is unaltered even if, some of, the details have been. This being said, today, we may have some logical explanations to the events in Salem. Some scholars believe that the sickness suffered by the Salem children may have been caused by ergot poisoning from the rye bread that they consumed; it is also often found in the plant from which LSD is derived.(Linder) Modern historians believe that the cause of the hysteria was social and political rivalry. Refugees from New York, Nova Scotia, and Quebec had flooded into this part of the state and the strain on resources had triggered biases and hatred that taxed the community.(Blumberg) But Arthur Miller, however, saw darker potential deception and intention in the actions of the girls in The Crucible. From the first scene in the play we know that Abigail Williams had wanted to cause harm to John Proctor’s wife when she danced wildly and ritually in the woods, openly threatened the other young girls if they should speak out against her, and then to avoid punishment themselves they were willing to scar the community by naming others as witches. (Edgecombe) It is in this open deception in Miller’s play that allows the reader to watch the tragic events unfold already knowing that neither sickness nor the devil was to blame. Joseph McCarthy saw, what he called, “loyalty risks” all around him.(Simkin) In a time when people were building bomb shelters in their backyards to defend against foreign attacks it was, likely, not hard to fuel the fires of a modern day witch hunt. The House of Un-American Activities Committee was formed and McCarthy’s list of names was implemented as a guide to finding the communist enemy hiding among them.(Galvin) Suddenly people found themselves in the courtroom with their lives under scrutiny. The trials were publicized and, therefore, just the implication carried with it enough weight to destroy careers even if the accusations were completely unsubstantiated.(“American Masters”) One of the strongest similarities between the trials in The Crucible and the hearings in the 1950s is the nature of the questioning. Once a person was accused, the only way to avoid more severe condemnation was to admit guilt. Once one had confessed, whether or not it was true, the guilty were expected to name others.(Lorcher) Do they give names of those, like them, they know to be innocent? Several of the accused at the Salem witch trials allowed themselves to be convicted and thusly executed because they would be sinners and liars if they confessed. Making it clear that being condemned by God would be far worse than being condemned by men. Arthur Miller, himself, faced this very dilemma. He was accused of being involved in the communist conspiracy in America. In court, he was, ultimately, convicted of contempt, when he refused to give any other names.(Galvin) Miller, and many others, were effectively, “Blacklisted,” meaning that these individuals were now branded communists and could no longer find work within their respective, professional fields. It is here that we come to understand the true origin and true purpose of The Crucible. Arthur Miller wrote the play as a direct response to what was happening during the trials of the House of Un-American Activities Committee. “Political policy is equated with moral right…”(Miller qtd. in Galvin) He knew that there was a horrific injustice going on and framed his disdain in the form of a play about people who lived and died two and a half centuries before. So why would the playwright have felt the need to make his point in the plot parallels in a play? Well the answer to these questions is, in fact, another profound similarity in the two events. If one spoke out against McCarthy and his supporters, this may have draw their negative attention. In The Crucible the situation was very much the same. People were reluctant to speak out against the accusers out of fear that the next finger pointed would be directly at them. The Blacklisting of “McCarthyism” became less about communism and more about silencing anyone with any opposing political views. Some historians believe that “McCarthyism” was mainly an attack against the Democratic party.(Simkin) In a like fashion, within The Crucible, many characters began to see that these people were no longer rooting out witches but ridding themselves of those in the community they disagree with, disapproved of, or, simply, did not like.(Linder) In the end, the similarities between the Crucible and the decade of “McCarthyism” mirror one another nearly identically in some ways, more than can be covered in any single essay. Today we would like to believe that such paranoia and hysteria could never breed another witch hunt. Whether or not that is true is yet to be seen. One researcher made a, long true, statement, on which it is worthwhile to rely, “…each generation must learn the lessons of history or risk repeating its mistakes.(Linder) This was the lesson that The Crucible was intended to teach and “McCarthyism” is the outcome when such lessons are not learned. Works Cited . "Arthur Miller-McCarthyism." American Masters. Educational Broadcasting Corporation/PBS, August 23, 2006. Web. 20 May 2012. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/arthur-miller/mccarthyism/484/ Blumberg, Jess. "A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials:One Town's Strange Journey from Paranoia to Pardon." Smithsonian.com. 24 Oct 2007: n. page. Web. 20 May. 2012. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/brief-salem.html Edgecombe, James, ed. "The Crucible." Scribd. Scribd, Inc, 2012. Web. 20 May 2012. http://www.scribd.com/doc/21067412/The-Crucible-Text "EDSITEment!:The Best of the Humanities on the Web." Dramatizing History in Arthur Miller's The Crucible. The National Endowment for the Humanities, n.d. Web. 20 May 2012. . Galvin, Rachel. "Arthur Miller Biography." The National Endowment for the Humanities. NEH, 2001.Web. 20 May 2012. Linder, Douglas O."The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: A Commentary." Famous American Trials:Salem Witchcraft Trials 1692. N.p., September 2009. Web. 20 May 2012. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SAL_ACCT.HTM Lorcher, Trent. "Symbolism in the Crucible-Similarities Between McCarthyism and The Crucible.” Bright Hub Education. Bright Hub, Inc., December, 21 2011. Web. 20 May 2012. http://www.brighthubeducation.com/homework-help-literature/52748-mccarthyism-and-the-crucible/ Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York: Penguin Group Inc, 1982. Print. Norton, Mary Beth. In the Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Trial 1692. New York: Alfred A. Knopf: Random House, Inc., 2002. Print. . Simkin, John. "Joseph McCarthy." Spartacus Educational. Spartacus Educational Publishers, Ltd., n.d. Web. 20 May 2012. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmccarthy.htm Read More