Throughout history millions of people have been scorned, accused, arrested, tortured, put to trial, and persecuted as witches. One would think that by the time the United States was colonized, these injustices on humanity would have come to an end, but that was not so. In 1692 a major tragedy occurred in America, the Salem witch trials. It all began, when a group of girls accused others, generally older women, of consorting with the devil (Nelson 42). The witchcraft hysteria in Salem, Massachusetts resulted from the strict Puritan code which aroused the girls’ interest in superstition and magic and caused str

Joe McCarthy was born in Wisconsin and attended law school there. After a brief period of an unsuccessful law career, McCarthy entered the world of politics. As he moved up the ranks, a local observer called him “tricky, very tricky” (Parrish 194). In 1942, a few months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, McCarthy joined the Marine Corps, where he injured his leg. After the war, McCarthy went back to politics and won a Senate seat in 1946. By the beginning of the fourth year, McCarthy had nothing to show for his three years in Washington. “In one poll, in fact, Washington reporters had voted him the remarkable distinction of being the worst Senator” (195). When searching for an issue which could make a name, a friend of his suggested the issue of Communism.

Puritans beliefs were rooted in contrasts. They believed that if there was something good there must be something bad to contradict it. For instance, since there was a God, there must be a Devil (43). Since there is good, there must be evil, and since there are saints, chosen to do God’s work on earth, there must be witches, who are instruments of the Devil.

Even their relaxation was associated with the meeting house. On the Sabbath, there was a long service in the morning and another in the afternoon. Village residents who came from outlying farms were not able to get home before the services, and it gradually became a regular practice for the time before the services to be spent in visiting and conversation (28). This was the time when gossip and news were spread from one to another. The Puritans lived with the fear of their neighbors and their gossip. The Crucible describes the witch hunts through the story of John Proctor, a man who became victim to the cruel justice system of Salem.

John Proctor was a farmer in his middle thirties. He did not have to be a partisan of any faction in the town, but there was evidence in the books that he could not tolerate hypocrites. This is perhaps the one thing that Proctor was afraid of becoming. He was a kind man who could not refuse support to partisans without drawing their deepest anger. “In his presence, a fool felt his foolishness instantly; consequently, a Proctor is always marked for slander and defamation” (Miller 20). Although he may come across as a steady mannered individual, Proctor is not an untroubled man. His was a sinner against his wife, a sinner against his community, a sinner against his own morals, and a sinner against his Puritanical society. He was so troubled by this sin of adultery, that he came to regard himself as a kind of a fraud, although he does not show it on the surface for even a second(Nelson 42).

Abigail Williams is Proctor’s partner in sin; she is one of the local girls who were afflicted by the devil. She is inherently evil and to cover up her own misgivings, she ends up accusing many people of her community of witchcraft. She still loves John at the beginning of the novel, but quickly turns on him and his family with the accusations of

Some topics in this essay:
John Proctor, Giles Corey, Salem Massachusetts, Salem Village, America Salem, Williams Proctor’s, Joe McCarthy, Unlike Salem, Communists February, Judge Danforth, salem witch, witch trials, salem witch trials, witch hunts, john proctor, mccarthy era, mass hysteria, puritans believed, elizabeth proctor, local girls, salem massachusetts,