McCarthyism and The Crucible contain many similarities and differences in their persecution and accusation of people who are identified as criminals of their societies.

... McCarthyism and The Crucible contain many similarities and differences in their persecution and accusation of people who are identified as criminals of their societies. Both events in history contain extremely similar circumstances, including the accusation of one person leading to a mass hysteria enveloping a society to be overly suspicious of their fellow people. The two events also contain many differences, including time, society structure, and the magnitude of the event. McCarthyism is named for Joseph McCarthy, a Wisconsin senator in the 1950s that started a hysterical movement to expose the communists in the United States. Now, it is seen that McCarthy focused on Democrats in general with baseless and sweeping allegations of communist involvement, giving way for the Republicans to take over Congress and the Presidency. In comparison, Abigail Williams, a common girl in Salem Village in the 1600s, started a hysterical movement to expose the witches in Salem village.

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