Friday, October 26, 2012

How does Miller compare the Salem Witch Trials to the House of Unamerican Activities hearings (HUAC) in The Crucible?

There are different variations of this question that are
already answered out there in the group for this work.  However, I will focus on the
hearings, themselves.  Miller wants to present the fraudulent nature of both hearings. 
The hearings in Salem are supposed to be governed by impartiality and the idea of being
innocent until proven guilty.  Yet, in the HUAC setting and Salem, this is inverted.  In
both courts, insinuation, innuendo, and rumor help to determine guilt.  This prevents
individuals from receiving a fair trial and helps to ensure that confessions are forced
from those accused.  The fact that so many in both the HUAC and Salem setting
capitulated into making forced confessions was evidence used by those in the position of
power that the hearings work, thereby increasing even more insistence of the trials'
presence.  This consolidation of power for those in the position of authority was one of
the results of both setting.  Miller hopes to bring out the idea that justice is
challenging, not able to be simple or reductive.  Both hearings were not concerned with
the complex nature of justice, but rather in the end product that bolstered the
credibility of those in the position of power.

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