Planning Organised Hysteria

The Crucible – Act Three

Grade:  12
Week 4
4 – 8 September 2017

 

Aim:

The Crucible
Act Three

 

Objectives:

McCarthynism relating to Mass Hysteria

 

Duration:
Three Days

 

Learning Outcomes:

Scholarship As A Conversation
Mass Hysteria has been grasped almost every era - from people throwing stones at Jesus, to pointing fingers at so-called witches in Salem in the 1600s to todays need for ethnic cleansing.  This outcome shows that there is no one answer to the problem, that it is ongoing and will require new interpretations  before it is ever settled - if ever.
Being familiar with the text (The Crucible) and the context in which it arose (McCarthynism) the learners should be comfortable enough to enter the realm  of conversation and share their ideas and their interpretations.

1Contribute to the conversation on an appropriate level - by way of discussion and debate.
2   Consider the contributions of others to help formulate an opinion.
3   Understand how perspectives on the topic can change over time - does not remain stagnant
4 Realise there is no one scholar who dominates the conversation, that those who are interested can also give their own interpretation on the topic.

Assessment Content (Activities):

Background:

Drawing on research on the witch trials he had conducted while an undergraduate, Miller composed The Crucible in the early 1950s.

Miller wrote the play during the term of Senator Joseph McCarthy whose anti-Communism leanings propelled the United States into a dramatic anti-Communist fervor during the first tense years of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Led by McCarthy, special congressional committees conducted highly controversial investigations intended to root out Communist sympathisers in the United States. As with the alleged witches of Salem, suspected Communists were encouraged to confess and to identify other Red sympathizers as means of escaping punishment. The policy resulted in a whirlwind of accusations. As people began to realise that they might be condemned as Communists regardless of their innocence.  Thousands of actors were affected like Charlie Chaplin who was not allowed to enter America because he was regards as a Communist sympathiser and had to reside in Switzerland. 

 

Today, similar tactics are used.  Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) was barred from entering the USA in 2004 for two years thereafter because he was seen as sympathetic towards ‘terrorists’.

 

 

 

Learners should have completed their first reading on Act Three and be ready for discussion.

In class, the learners should use their phones, or other mobile devices, to read about McCarthynism and what it is all about. 

1  They will then be placed in groups of 4 - 6 .  

    They have to relay their findings.  In addition the learners must touch on how people today      are victimised because of fear and intolerance.  Learners must come up with ways in which this can be combatted in our neighbourhoods.  They can create posters in their groups and it will form part of their presentation where they will summarise their findings and highlight how ordinary people can make positive changes in their community.

 

2  As a class, we will then highlight the contrasts and comparisons between the play and the actual events in the 1950’s that led to the vengeful seeking of guilt, realising the discrepancies, depending who voice was contributing to the conversation.

3  Finally a worksheet will be handed to the learners to complete in class.  The worksheet will require them to summarise what they have learnt and show how the argument has changed over time.  When they have completed the task, the learners will mark each other’s answers while the memo is on the board.

 

4 To touch on the lighter side of this task, learners will be allowed to create a skit of 2 minutes based on their interpretation of the play, The Crucible, or an imagined work, relating it to modern day politics based on McCarthynism, exemplifying what mass hysteria entails.

 (Each activity is linked by number to its learning outcome)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

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