Arthur Miller Shows How Fear and Suspicion Can Destroy a Community in The Crucible

Theme- Fear and Suspicion can destroy society How many societies have been torn apart and destroyed due to the fear of something unknown or “unnatural”? Three of different occasions come to mind when thinking about the idea of a society being destroyed or even just rocked by fear and suspicion. The first of which is depicted in The Crucible written about the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692. The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller in the early 1950’s which was when another of the three occasions was taking place. The United States was in the midst of the Cold War with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The paranoia and suspicion of Communist spies in the United States was great. The United States had trials much like those in the Salem Witchcraft Trials to find those people who were not what they said they were. The other occasion that comes to mind is the Holocaust in the late 1930’s thru about 1945. During the time of the Holocaust Nazis, led by Adolf Hitler, took over European countries and imprisoned all Jews and other minorities they found that Hitler believed were the reason they lost World War I and he feared them and the possibility that they may try and take him out of power. Many different societies have been taken down by fear and suspicion. The fear of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 torn apart the small Puritan community. In this time period the community had a theocracy which is a government combined with religious beliefs. The trials started due to the unexplainable ailments on Elizabeth Parris and her cousin Abigail Williams. They found no medical explanation for the ailments so the doctors assumed bewitchment. Soon enough other girls started having the same symptoms and accused women of the community of witchcraft, and so began the Salem Witchcraft Trials. In the eight months that the witchcraft trials happened twenty-seven people were convicted, more than 100 were imprisoned, one was pressed to death, and 19 were hanged