Salem Witch Trials
Post on 23-Feb-2016
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Salem Witch Trials
Salem Witch Trials 1692
-Battle between Lucifer and God– witchcraft and deals with the Devil were real to them
-200 people were accused of witchcraft, 150 arrested, 19 hanged
-Motivations: stealing land, revenge, etc
Arthur Miller (1915-2005)
-Great American dramatist
-Communism: a political philosophy and social movement that aims to create a society without classes or oppression.
-Anti-communism spread after WWII, during the Cold War.
-Fear of communism infiltrating the American government
-USSR had repressive power in other countries at the time
Communism
The Second Red Scare
-Increased fear of communist spies
-Fear of atomic bombs
-Fear of communists in America, especially with control over the media and/or government
-Believed that American society would be destroyed by un-American thought
-Blacklisted (put on a list that denied employment) many writers and entertainment professionals due to political associations, real or suspected
-Arthur Miller was blacklisted
McCarthyism
Senator Joseph McCarthy: claimed in 1950 that there were communists and Soviet spies in govt.
Fueled fear and paranoia of communism
McCarthyism- refers to reckless and unsubstantiated (without evidence) accusations
House Un-American Activities Committee and The Hollywood 10
-hearings concerning supposed communists
-The “Hollywood Ten”= artists held in contempt of Congress for not answering the committee’s questions
-In his testimony, Miller refused to name anyone, saying “I could not use the name of another person and bring trouble on him.”
-The HUAC hearings are often compared to the witch hunt in The Crucible.
The Crucible (1953)
Setting: Small town– Salem, Massachusetts– in spring 1692
Allegory- an extended metaphor in which a person, abstract idea, or event stands for itself and for something else.
-play is based on historical accounts of the witch trials, though some details have been changed
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