Thursday, October 9, 2008

Another Crucible


During the 1950's era of McCarthyism, it was very difficult for any members of society to stand up against gross injustices without being persecuted. However, playwright Arthur Miller was one person who felt truly opposed to the young Senator, and his beliefs led him to compose one of the most subtle, yet cunningly derogatory oppositions to Senator McCarthy. He simply wrote a play. A harmless, innocent play about the Salem with trials of the 15th Century, rich with history and drama. However, upon seeing this play, most anyone in America was able to agree that it seemed oddly familiar.
Arthur Miller wrote the Cruicle with one objective in mind; create an alegory of McCarthyism using another real life event in order to demonsrate that this sort of riddiculous mentality could be observed at any point in time. The play tells the sort of foolish, Purtian girls who accuse people of witchery for their own personal gain. The accused are deprived of their constutional rights, and sentanced to death with no proof and not even the knowledge of who accused them and why. It was unfair and biased system, that placed all the power in the hands of a select and reliable few, not unlike what was seen in McCarthy hearings.
A few years later Arthur Miller was placed on trial and, suprise, suprise, he had no idea what exactly he was being tried for, only that it was a baseless accuastion from someone with far too much power then they could handle.

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