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