Examples Of Hysteria In The Crucible

Arthur Miller's The Crucible highlights a human frailty, arrogance, responsible for the witch hysteria in the 1690s. Each character portrays arrogance which make him abuse power. The play explores the human nature of being arrogant and the fear of tarnishing one's reputation, by acting unmorally. Through Hale's, Parris's, and Danforth's actions, Miller indicates that arrogance is the frailty most responsible for the witch hysteria.

First, at the beginning of the play, in the first act, we learn that Abigail has seduced a married man named John Proctor. In their conversations, we can tell that John now wants no part of this new relationship. In addition, in the first act, Abigail is able to manipulate her uncle Parris into believing that it wasn’t her performing witchcraft, but instead someone possessing her. She states that Tituba overtakes her body and makes her do corrupt things. Moreover, she is able to manipulate the entire town into believing her story as well.

She even threatened the other girls to not tell the truth because she knows it would make the town see her as she really was: a manipulative liar. The significance of this quote is that Abigail follows her initial instinct to clear her name without giving a thought about who might get hurt in the process. This lets readers acknowledge that Abigail is committed to do anything to be considered as a good person. Another occurrence that presents Abigail's motives is the bird scene after John’s confession to the

Abigail displays many times in the story that she is an evil, coniving, and a corrupt person. Abigail states, “I have been near to murdered every day because I done my duty pointing out the Devil’s people --- and this is my reward? To be mistrusted, denied, questioned like a ---” (Miller 115). Abigail was in a precarious situation in the beginning of the play when herself and a group of girls were thought to be practicing witchcraft, so she developed lies about many other people in the village to save herself and the other girls that took part. She did not care if her lies caused innocent people to be murdered, as long as she kept her significant amount of power, and kept her high position in the village and the court.

Abigail seems like an innocent girl to everybody however it is later found out that she is one of the people who puts herself before others and makes things worse to get herself out of trouble. In act one Reverend Hale was questioning Tituba, a slave from Barbados. Tituba was explaining what the dancing and the disturbance in the woods and Abigail says she “wasn’t conjuring spirits”(Miller ??)

Stopping Panic One of America’s greatest plays is “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller. The Crucible is based off of the true events of the Salem Witch Trials, which caused mass hysteria all throughout Salem; However, it was a satire that explained the hysteria during Arthur Miller’s time known as the “Red Scare”. During this satire, he uses characters that had real-life counterparts to explain how mass hysteria, which is exaggerated and uncontrollable emotions of fear, to show how people of his day were doing the same things and how they needed to stop it before it got worse. In the play, two characters who could have stopped the hysteria that plagued Salem were Abigail Williams and Reverend Hale. One character that could have stopped the hysteria was Abigail Williams.

During the late 17th century a total of 200 people were accused of participating in witchcraft, while 19 people lost their lives to the mass hysteria. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a group of girls start a huge uproar in Salem, Massachusetts when they start screeching about Salemites being associated with the Devil. Throughout the play write, it shows the consequences of mass hysteria and how it puts people's lives in danger. Abigail Williams causes a wave of mass hysteria and because of her trickery, innocent people have died by her and the other girl’s actions, for this Abigail is the most unforgivable character in The Crucible.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller and Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne are two stories that are based on mass hysteria and public shaming. Both stories and their topics are what helped to shape America’s early identity. In The Crucible, the townsfolk accept and become active in the hysterical climate not only out of genuine religious piety but also because it gives them a chance to express repressed sentiments and to act on long-held grudges”. This shows that there is mass hysteria in the story based on the quotation and its explain why people have mass hysteria or why they do it. A group of teenage girls is discovered dancing naked in the woods by the town minister.

The Crucible History is bound to repeat itself. Events in history can always be parallel to modern examples. This is a frequent occurrence and it is natural progression of history. Of course these parallels aren’t flawless. As such making a social commentary alluding to one event through the perspective of another may require some invention of facts.

Hysteria in Salem The Crucible is a play written by American author, Arthur Miller, in 1953. It is a somewhat fictional play about the Salem Witch Trials. Miller wrote it as an allegory to the Red Scare, the promotion of fear of a potential rise of communism. Miller himself was blacklisted for refusing to testify in front of the HUAC, a committee that was created to investigate any person who might be a communist.

Mass hysteria has plagued society for centuries, whether through religious, cultural or medical reasoning. Even society today goes through phases of fear of the unknown. Throughout history, mass hysteria has taken root at specific points in civilization and is usually caused by a tragedy or some form of cultural acceptance. Usually this fear is mandated by the leader of a particular group, and the majority of the group volunteers to isolate the minorities of the group. This is used in order to make themselves believe that they have solved the issue, while in reality all they’ve done is found a scapegoat.

Abigail is extremely concerned with her well-being and reputation. In Act One, Reverend Parris confronts Abigail about dancing in the forest, and, instead of confessing, she begins denouncing others. This illustrates how she is willing to allow others to be harmed because of her extreme fear. One example of this is when Abigail states, “Not I sir—Tituba and Ruth” (Miller 15). The character of the residents of Salem is not exceptional.

Fear that spread among a group of people in Salem during the Salem Witch Trials, that event in history is a prime example of Mass Hysteria. In Salem the reason why so many women were killed was because of Mass Hysteria. It caused many people, in Salem during this event to think fast, rash and jump to conclusions. “The Crucible”, a short play dedicated to these events in Salem shows us how hysteria was such a leading cause of why the Witch Trials had even occurred. Reverend Hale, Abigail Williams and Judge Danforth.

In the Crucible, fear, hysteria, and revenge are the most important elements where fear spreads around the whole village. Hysteria involving witchcraft would end up with many innocent people killed. With many false accusations of a long held grudge with another villager would kill others they would have problems with. Revenge would later involve the slaughter of another bad blood of another villager. “God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat.

Arthur Miller’s inspiration for his play The Crucible resulted from his observation of the repetition of “witch trials" throughout history. All of these witch-hunts, especially the one that occurred in Salem, were bred from the political and social repression present in the communities. This communal repression influenced a hypocritical mindset, which then prompted some individuals to manipulate others’ fear in order to gain a breath of personal freedom. Through comparing the Red Scare to the trials of Salem and analyzing the repetitive nature of these horrific acts, Miller emphasizes the idea that it is human nature for people to turn to the manipulation of fear in order to liberate themselves from their present reality.