When History and Literature Collide

1. Introduction to The Crucible by Arthur Miller When History and Literature Collide

2. The Red Scare & McCarthyism • Throughout the 1940s and 1950s America was overwhelmed with concerns about the threat of communism growing in Eastern Europe & China.

3. The Crucible= lethal brew of illicit sexuality, fear of the supernatural, and political manipulation (a combo not unfamiliar these days).

4. Inspiration behind The Crucible: • Senator Joseph McCarthy capitalized on these concerns & made a public accusation that more than two hundred “card-carrying” communists had infiltrated the United States government.

5. McCarthyism= • The paranoid hunt for communist infiltrators. • difficult on writers & entertainers • They were labeled communist sympathizers • As a result, they were unable to continue working. • Some had their passports taken away • others were jailed for refusing to give the names of other communists. • The trials were well publicized and could often destroy a career with a single unsubstantiated accusation.

6. Victim of McCarthyism • Arthur Miller himself was a victim of McCarthyism • convicted in 1957 of contempt for refusing to identify writers with ‘supposed’ communist allegiances. • Conviction overturned a year later

7. Results of McCarthyism • Though eventually his accusations were proven to be untrue, his campaigning ushered in one of the most repressive times in 20th-century American politics.

8. What were the Salem Witch Trials?

9. Setting: Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 Who: Eight Puritan girls

10. What happened? • Eight young girls began to take ill, but theirs was a strange sickness: the girls suffered from delirium, violent convulsions, incomprehensible speech, trance-like states, and odd skin sensations. • The worried villagers searched desperately for an explanation.

11. And the finger pointing commenced… • Their conclusion: the girls were under a spell, bewitched — and, worse yet, by members of their own pious community. • More than 150 “witches” were taken into custody • By late September of 1692, 20 men and women had been put to death, and five more accused had died in jail.

12. WHY? • People started accusing their neighbors of being witches so they could steal their farmland. • Ideal way to get revenge on anyone you disliked • People accused others of being witches if they wanted to steal their husbands or wives or possessions.

13. Results? • Those accused of being witches were most often found guilty. • Some were sentenced to be tied to a rock & dunked in a pond • if they sank, they were declared innocent. • If they somehow survived the dunking, they were obviously witches, and they were executed. • Most of those found guilty of witchcraft were hung. • One man was pressed to death with rocks because he refused to plead guilty or innocent, insuring that his sons still inherited his lands.

14. Recent findings have led to alternative explanation •  New York’s Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute noticed a link between the strange symptoms reported by Salem’s accusers, chiefly eight young women, and the hallucinogenic effects of drugs like LSD.

15. Ergot continued… • Eventually, the fungus invades the developing kernels of grain; within them are potent chemicals: ergot alkaloids, including lysergic acid (from which LSD is made). • Toxicologists now know that eating ergot-contaminated food can lead to a convulsive disorder characterized by violent muscle spasms, vomiting, delusions, hallucinations, crawling sensations on the skin, etc.— all of which are present in the records of the Salem witchcraft trials.

16. Plausible theory? • At that time, rye was the staple grain of Salem. The rye crop consumed in the winter of 1691-1692 — when the first unusual symptoms began to be reported — could easily have been contaminated by large quantities of ergot.

17. Ergot Theory Conclusion… • The summer of 1692, however, was dry, which could explain the abrupt end of the “bewitchments.”

18. Salem Witch Trials vs. The Crucible • The Salem witchcraft trials in 1692 and the Red Scare of 1950 to1954 remain two of the most controversial events in American history. Many have drawn parallels between them, most famously Arthur Miller in his classic play, The Crucible. • Accused witches were executed at the hanging tree (right)

19. Both trials were motivated by fear that turned into hysteria The Salem Witch Hunt The Red Scare • began when two young girls became sick with an undiagnosed illness. The doctor thought they were bewitched. • began in the years following World War II, when the Soviet Union rose up as a threat to U.S. security. Americans feared Communist expansionism.

20. Unsubstantiated rumors fueled both trials. Salem Witch Hunt The Red Scare • Young girls made the first accusations. Eventually 180 people were accused and jailed, many of them on evidence provided by "specters" or ghosts. • Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed there were 205 Communists in the State Department in a famous speech given in 1950. Congressional investigations failed to confirm his charges.

21. The Practice of Spectral Evidence Salem Witch Hunt The Red Scare • Puritan Society: “Are you now, or have you ever written your name in the devil’s book?” • Joseph McCarthy: “"Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist party?"

22. Consequences: Salem Witch Trials The Red Scare • Twenty men and women were executed as a result of the Salem witchcraft trials. • Took its toll in lives ruined. • Accusations caused many to lose their jobs; some committed suicide.

23. The premise behind The Crucible • Miller compared the Communist hearings to the witch hunts of Salem, where gossip, rumors, and fear were evidence enough to convict people.

24. What does “crucible” mean? • a vessel of a very refractory material (as porcelain) used for melting and calcining a substance that requires a high degree of heat • a severe test • a place or situation in which concentrated forces interact to cause or influence change or development

25. How do you think both of these “witch hunts” were stopped eventually?

26. Food for Thought… • Mass hysteria in upstate New York • https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi3vuO134nNAhXJaT4KHWTPCYgQtwIIQDAF&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DT9RPs_ysYgE&usg=AFQjCNEWAlF76Z-MkJtD7Wpj6xXFpdXtzA&sig2=-gqADAGL6PcfWgvSvVqtEw • The Trial That Unleashed Hysteria Over Child Abuse • http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/us/the-trial-that-unleashed-hysteria-over-child-abuse.html?_r=0

27. Intro Group Activity Each group will be assigned one of the following historical injustices to research and collect information to present to the class. Materials needed: one laptop to create a PPT or Prezi to present your information.1. Japanese internment camps during World War II2. The plight of Arab Americans after September 11 3. The Holocaust 4. The Cultural Revolution in China5. Stalin's regime in Russia6. Pinochet's regime in Chile

28. Each group must include answers to the following regarding their event: • Who? • What? • When? • Where? • Why? • How?

29. PPT or Prezi Criteria Cont. • One visual (relevant to historical event) per slide. • Title slide • Works Cited slide (document all cited information and pictures) • MINIMUM of 8 slides • Each group member will be responsible for presenting at least one slide

30. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and Rhetoric • Rhetorical Framework Prezi: • https://prezi.com/vbwgqxluublk/present/?auth_key=bln3crg&follow=7xizfkmhzdoc&kw=present-vbwgqxluublk&rc=ref-49596949 • https://prezi.com/ozyqynggqjp3/ap-language-rhetorical-triangle/ • “Sinners” Prezi • https://prezi.com/vbwgqxluublk/present/?auth_key=bln3crg&follow=7xizfkmhzdoc&kw=present-vbwgqxluublk&rc=ref-49596949 • Take notes on Prezi to prepare for reading “Sinners” text and answering questions.

31. Assigning roles for play: • Act I - 13 characters (Tituba, Parris, Abigail, Susanna, Mrs. Putnam, Putnam, Mercy, Mary Warren, Proctor, Giles Corey, Rebecca, Hale and Betty) Act II - 9 characters (Elizabeth, Proctor, Mary Warren, Hale, Giles, Francis, Cheever, Herrick, and Francis Nurse)Act III - 14 characters (Hathorne, Martha Corey, Giles, Danforth, Herrick, Parris, Proctor, Mary Warren, Hale, Cheever, Putnam, Abigail, Mercy Lewis, and Susanna Walcott)Act IV - 11 characters (Herrick, Sarah Good, Tituba, Hopkins, Danforth, Hathorne, Cheever, Parris, Hale, Elizabeth, and Rebecca) • ***Names in green indicate a larger role in the play