The Crucible is more than a dramatic drama ; it has an underlying. yet obvious message. When The Crucible was written many people refused to believe for themselves refering the tests of prospected Communist. and Arthur Miller was the first. In The Crucible. Arthur Miller. uses the Salem enchantress tests of 1692 to exhibit the unsafe McCarthyism. the bystander consequence. and mass craze. In the 1950 Senator Joseph McCarthy said “The State Department is infested with Communists.
I have here in my manus a list of 205…a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who however are still working and determining policy in the State Department. ” ( Griffith. Robert ( 1970 ) . The Politics of Fear: Joseph R. McCarthy and the Senate. University of Massachusetts Press. pp. 49. ) This address caused a mass adult male Hunt to unveil. prosecute and penalize all people thought to be working for the Soviet Union. The tests were really one sided. as were the Salem enchantress tests.
The people questioned were lead to a dead terminal. Confess and give name. a individual is free. but if denied a charge or refused to reply the House commission on Un-american activities question the convicted would confront gaol clip. or even decease. These commissions of the 1950’s are shockingly similar to the Salem enchantress tests about 250 old ages prior. The most celebrated people accused of espionage during this clip period were the Hollywood Ten. This was a group of dramatists that were accused of espionage and subsequently imprisoned for disdain because they kept silent during oppugning.
Arthur Miller was one of the Hollywood 10. He wrote The Crucible to warm people. utilizing a historic event. of the current outlook of the American people. One of the subjects presented is the bystander consequence. The bystander consequence is when one sees immoral actions taking topographic point. but fells mediocre and takes no action. The dark side of the bystander consequence shows itself really strong in both The Crucible every bit good as the McCarthy hearings. One of the strongest illustrations of this phenomenon is found in act three during the tests. But you must understand. sir. that a individual is either counted with this tribunal or against it. there is no route in between. ” ( Act III ; P. 73 ) This line given by Danforth demonstrates the overall attitude of the tribunal. One is either against it or opposes it. but the when the overall population is following the tribunal it becomes really difficult and detering to demo any resistance to the authorization. “They’ve come to subvert the tribunal. sir! ” ( Act III ; P. 82 ) . This statement by Parris show that any resistance to the tribunal was greatly frowned upon as Proctor was accused many times of seeking to subvert the tribunal.
Since a villager was non allowed to oppugn the actions of the tribunal in any manner the opted to stand by the side and let the slaying of tonss of guiltless people. The bystander consequence was really prevailing in the McCarthy epoch every bit good. As in The Crucible community members accused their ain neighbours so that they could avoid prosecution. Alternatively of seeking to halt the imprisonment of guiltless human beings the American people did what they could make to salvage themselves and so stood by the side to watch their ain friend’s lives be ruined. Second. in composing The Crucible Miller exemplifies the unsafe of mass craze.
Mass craze is when a big sum of people portion the same fright and began taking drastic actions as a whole. Mass craze is caused by a group of people. or one individual panicking doing an even larger group of people to panic normally for no ground. An illustration of this is from more current times. In January of this twelvemonth 12 misss became sick with touretes at the same for no evident ground. After these 12 misss showed symptoms more began holding the same the same symptoms. After an probe no medical cause was found but the unusual desiese called mass craze.
In The Crucible act 1 Hale is seeking to acquire names of other people involved in witchery when he says “ [ Tituba ] the Devil is out and feeding on her [ Abigail ] like a animal upon the flesh of a pure lamb. ” After the misss are ill from seeking to raise liquors Hale and the other villagers set about to set enchantress trade to a halt. While making this the full town enters a hysteric province and no 1 can be trusted. These actions are really relatable to the McCarthyism of 1950 because McCarty’s address sent the American people into a wild coiling broad in which they suspected everyone was a Communist.
Arthur Miller was suspected of being a Communist in the McCarthy tests of 1950. The tests started by the mass craze of the possibility of Soviet undercover agents lying deep within our country’s woodwork and this fire was fueled by the people that did nil to halt these offenses against humanity. the prosecution of 100s of guiltless psyches. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible to demo what these same exact actions and deficiency of actions did to people in 1692 with the ultimate end to halt these prosecutions driven dark desires and concealed dockets.
