“Men rise from one ambition to another--first they seek to secure themselves from attack, and then they attack others” (Machiavelli). Throughout time, men have used positions of power to gain personal success, as well as to bring downfall to their rivals. In Ancient Rome, those who opposed the Republic of Rome were exiled or killed. Pontius Pilot crucified Jesus Christ because of his preaching against popular belief. In WWII, Germany blamed all of its problems on Jews, which resulted in the killing of about seven million. In times of insecurity, people tend to point fingers. The Salem Witch Trials of 1692, as well as the McCarthy Trials of 1952, show that governments are always looking for excuses. Because history is bound to repeat itself, characters from Arthur Miller’s The Crucible draw parallels to characters in the McCarthy Trials.

Few characters are shown to have ethics and morals in The Crucible, and those that do pay a heavy price. People such as John Proctor, Giles Corey, and Rebecca Nurse are all prominent members of society, respected and looked up to by the town. When Proctor is accused of witchcraft by Mary Warren he said,

The most evident of character homogeny involves Joseph McCarthy. This man used his position of power to manipulate hysteria. Senator McCarthy used this position to create the Alien Registration Act the House of Un-American Activities. “The Alien Registration Act made it illegal for anyone in the United States to advocate, abet, or teach the desirability of overthrowing the government”(Fried,1). Because of these two policies, Joseph McCarthy was able to use interrogation methods that were previously considered illegal. At first McCarthy targeted mainly Democrats associated with the New Deal Policies. Harry Truman and other members of this Democratic administration were accused of being soft on communism. In McCarthy’s Campaign, Truman was made out to be a dangerous liberal, which helped the Republican candidate, Dwight Eisenhower with the 1952 presidential election. Because of what happened to McCarthy’s opponents in the 1950 elections, many politicians kept their opinions about him silent. As the Boston Post pointed out, “Attacking him..is regarded as a certain method of committing suicide” (Fried 1). One exception was William Benton, the owner of Encyclopaedia Britannica, and also a senator of Connecticut. McCarthy immediately began to query Benton. Claiming that while he was Assistant Secretary of State, he had protected known communists and he had purchased “lewd art works” (Fried 1). Benton was defeated in the 1952 elections (Fried 1).

Miller uses the character of Abigail Williams to also reveal Joseph McCarthy. Being the leader of the af

Some topics in this essay:
Reverend Paris, Joseph McCarthy, Mary Warren, Nurse Rosenberg, John Proctor, Marry Warren’s, McCarthy Trials, Assistant Secretary, Elizabeth McCarthy’s, Rebecca Nurse, joseph mccarthy, fried 1, john proctor, mccarthy trials, witch trials, history bound, bound repeat, alien registration act, proctor giles, rebecca nurse, condemn elizabeth, people john proctor, history bound repeat, john proctor giles,