... 's America fueled the hysteria and paranoia of the Cold War. Senator Joseph McCarthy, head of the House of Un-American Activities Committee, amplified the chaos and accused many Americans for being enemy spies. Innocent Americans were prosecuted for being communist spies in a modern day "witch-hunt." Herb block, a political cartoonist, satirized Senator McCarthy's actions. As a victim of McCarthy's accusations, author, Arthur Miller, wrote The Crucible to put the trials in a different ... sir, but then the whole world cried spirits, spirits, and I--I promise you, Mr. Danforth, I only tho...

• Word Count: 945
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... not make any sales while he was in Yonkers, and while coming home, he saw himself driving 60 miles per hour, forgetting the last five minutes, and veering off onto the shoulder. The reader is not the only person that can see that Willy loses his concentration. Biff suggests that it might be Willy's eyes. But Happy states ... ask Howard, his boss, for a New York job so that he does not have to drive all over in his tired age. Near the beginning of act two, Willy is in extremely high spirits. Biff and Happy went to go for a loan so that they could start their own business, Willy is going t...

• Word Count: 1159
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... to fly". This image becomes symbolic of the spirits being "sent out" to seek and torment good Christian souls. The image of the bird in court, which the girls claim to see in the rafters, also becomes an image of evil. The repetition of this flying image serves as a constant reminder to the audience of how much madness arose due to the girl's false visions. Silent action opens the second act. Proctor is shown as ... his gun - a preminition of death. The Salem meeting/ court house - a solemn opprseeive room with "snugged" benches - represents entrapment, sunlight pours in but the windown...

• Word Count: 1063
• Approx Pages: 4

... own self interest. He fears any defense against the charges of witchcraft as an attack upon the court and a personal attack on him. As a pastor, his primary concern is personal reputation, for when he does not preach on damnation he strives for money such as the deed to the preacher's house and expensive candlesticks. "The man's ordained, therefore the light of God is within him." This quote from ... Hale, is a form of irony because the audience, and the people convicted of witchcraft know that Reverend Parris is a deceitful person. But, since he is a priest, people don't convict ... to ...

• Word Count: 582
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... hunts". If you opposed the Salem Witch trials you were accused of being a witch. If you opposed the McCarthy investigations you were accused of being a communist. The play takes place in Salem, Massachusetts. Abigail and some of the young girls are dancing in the woods. They conjure up spirits while dancing naked and they are discovered by Reverend Parris. This leads the people of the town to believe the girls are witches. ... Reverend Parris calls in Reverend Hale as an expert witness. He at first believes they are witches. To save themselves the girls accuse other women of the town of ...

• Word Count: 1157
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... some of the truth in his life: "I know it when they walk in. They seem to laugh at me."(Miller; The Death of a Salesman; pg. 23) By trying to see the reality in life, for once, he depresses himself so awfully, that he has a rendezvous in his head with his women that he sees on the side. He only uses this women to lift his spirits and ... to evade the truths that nearly scare him into his own ... to past, had always been very fortunate. The audience had been left to wonder what the point was that turned the Loman's into a house full of tension. Since this point is now unveiled, and ther...

• Word Count: 987
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... by Hale, and her gentle, just nature creates a sense of sympathy for the audience to feel. Interestingly, Rebecca Nurse, is the only character to suggest that the people of Salem 'go to G-d for the cause of' Betty's unresponsiveness rather than jumping straight to the subject of witchcraft. She points out that 'there is prodigious danger in the seeking of loose spirits', stating a witch hunt could 'set [them] all to ... great power in her home. She has a wise influence on John, controlling the majority of his actions due to his intense care of her opinion, and is also abl...

• Word Count: 1154
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... history is demonstrated in his sensitive and passionate writing in Death of a Salesman (Griffin 41). The Crucible (1952) was originally intended to be called Those Familiar Spirits, referring to a spirit that a witch presumably sends out to torment her victims. However, the well area at the bottom of a blast furnace is known as the crucible, it is whe the molten steels collects being entirely broken down due to immense ... Miller's c cept of the tragic hero. Both of them struggling to maintain the image they have of themselves. Miller maintains that this is the prime criterion of traged...

• Word Count: 11015
• Approx Pages: 44
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School