Two of the major events, the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism. In these two events there are many similarities like the anger and fear that went on.
Anger was a major contributing factor of both The Crucible and McCarthyism. There was a lot of anger among the people of this time. During the Salem Witch Trials, Abby hates Elizabeth Proctor and the wife of the man that she loves, which then results in Abby accusing Elizabeth of practicing witchcraft and communicating with the devil. In McCarthyism, anger is shown when Joseph McCarthy accuses people of being communists. Anyone who expressed their freedom of speech was labeled a communist just because people accused them of being one. There was so much anger in this time that people let it consume them and take over.
The second way the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism are similar is that they both were fueled by fear. The Salem Witch Trials were fueled by fear because no one wanted to be punished or killed. When Abby started accusing people of being witches or communicating with the devil, everyone started getting scared that she would accuse them. A lot of people were afraid to do activities and things that they might normally do all the time because they were afraid of being accused. McCarthyism was fueled by the fear of nuclear war. Communists snuck into America from the Soviet Union to spy on the U.S. america and the Soviet Union were on the verge of a nuclear war, so McCarthy instilled fear in everyone because no one had any idea who was a communist. He made everyone afraid to trust people, and they were afraid that they would be accused themselves.
The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism were very complex events in our time. The fear, anger and differences were very important in both events. Arthur Miller wrote the play, The Crucible, so that people could learn from them. As a result of these events, Arthur Miller's, The Crucible, became a very important play on the American stage.