Examples Of Mass Hysteria In The Crucible

Mass hysteria is a phenomenon that has repeated itself throughout history and is characterized by fear, paranoia and irrational behavior or beliefs by a group of people. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses the mass hysteria and irrational overreaction during the Salem Witch trials as an allegory to address the hysteria over the perceived threat posed by Communists in the U.S. known as the Red Scare. All three events vary in the intensity of hysteria as well as the size of the hysterical population, although similarities such as the use of scapegoats, accusations based on insubstantial evidence, and irrational accusations and exaggerated emotional reactions found in both The Crucible and The Red Scare can also be applied to the current hysteria

The Parting of Proctor Pokemon Go, Ebola, and the “end of the world” are all examples of mass hysteria. Mass hysteria is a term used to describe a time when various groups of people suffer from a common hysteria. Another example of mass hysteria is the Salem witch trials. During the late 1600’s the town of Salem would change forever. The Massachusetts town is going through witch trials from roughly four months.

Hysteria makes people go as mad as a boss who just lost his business. Many people suffer Hysteria even today. The crucible is about the Salem Witch trials which was when innocent people were wrongly accused of being witches. The author of this, Arthur Miller, was in the same situation, he was wrongly accused of being a communist on the blacklist. During the Salem Witch Trials over 200 people were accused, 20 of them who were killed.

Arthur Miller wrote the novel The Crucible as a way to reflect the state of hysteria the United States was in at the time. The novel was written during the time of the Red Scare, when people believed that there were communists inside the United States’ government. The fear of communism grew when Joseph McCarthy accused 205 people of being communist within the government, this is why many people refer to this hysteria as McCarthyism. In the novel, parallels are drawn between Joseph McCarthy’s accusations and the acts of a group of girls in a small puritan town called Salem. The girls throw false accusations of witchcraft towards people causing a mass hysteria within their town.

In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, he shows us four ingredients that create a mass hysteria. Those include fear, personal motives, unfair treatment of the accused, and accusers. These can all be related back to The Crucible, in the way in which each character experienced

Mass hysteria is a condition affecting a group of persons, characterized by excitement or anxiety, irrational behavior or beliefs, or inexplicable symptoms of illness. Since the beginning of time everyone has dealt with mass hysteria. One mass hysteria that connects to this story is the hysteria about the Ebola virus infecting everyone. The Ebola virus by definition is a usually fatal disease, a type of hemorrhagic fever, caused by the Ebola virus and marked by high fever, severe gastrointestinal distress, and bleeding. We all know how rare the chances are of actually getting infected yet no one cares.

The definition of “crucible” - in context to the theme of the play - reads, “a situation of severe trial, or in which different elements interact, leading to the creation of something new.” In The Crucible, many people are tested in scenarios they would never have imagined would happen to them. Many different groups and families are drawn together, whether it’s to fight for one another, or against. As well as coming together, or being torn apart in a time of hysteria, every character’s morals are put to a severe test when truths and lies seep to the surface of their daily lives. There are many different variations of ways the great Crucible is able to live up to it’s proud and famous title.

Brook Mills Mrs. Brown English 10 11/03/15 Many individuals of Salem have to deal with everyday hysteria with many people accused of being a witch and being executed. Other than Abigail, three characters who are to blame for the hysteria in The Crucible are Judge Danforth, John Proctor, and Mary Warren. A character that contributed to the hysteria in The Crucible was Judge Danforth. He contributed to the hysteria because he sent men and women to be executed for no reason.

Hysteria is an exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people. In Arthur Miller's, The Crucible, hysteria plays an important role of tearing apart the community of Salem by creating an environment where people act on their grudges. As a result of these grudges the whole community is turning on each other and blaming people they have known for years on the one thing they believe is true. Members of the community deal with this hysteria in different ways, and some more harsh than others.

Mass hysteria was present in both The Crucible and McCarthyism. Mass hysteria is when people went crazy because people were accused of being communists and or witches. Mass hysteria was however started by specific people in both scenarios. In Mccarthyism Joseph Mccarthy a United States Senator and in The Crucible Abigail Williams who was accused of having an affair with John Proctor her employer were the specific ones who accused people of being communists and witches. Even though the Salem witch trials happened in the late 1690s and McCarthyism in the 1950s they paralleled each other.

The Spread of Hysteria in Salem In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, multiple factors fueled the hysteria leading up to the Salem witch trials, such as Abigail’s deceiving plots, Reverend Hale not establishing the truth, and citizens’ mindless accusations. Abigail is the most guilty of causing outbreaks of panic starting with dancing in the woods with other girls, then moving to framing Mary Warren with a doll, and fake acting out seeing otherworldly entities. One example of Abigail’s manipulation is when she stabbed herself with a needle to frame Mary Warren: “Stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draw a needle out” (176). Abigail also has a habit of accusing falsely and gets to girls to gang up during hearings, but everyone believes

Arthur Miller's The Crucible presents the mass hysteria known as the Salem Witch Trials, which can be related to the events following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, a once faultless naval base in the United States. Just as in The Crucible Abigail caused the unjust imprisonment of nearly all of the members of the Salem community, Franklin D. Roosevelt also caused a mass hysteria when he used fear to encourage the United States to action following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. This marked the beginning of Japanese internment where all Japanese people, including Japanese-Americans, were taken from their homes and relocated to isolated internment camps. Abigail's accusations on the people of Salem and Pres. Roosevelt's

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a historic play but more importantly is a social and psychological drama that takes place in a small puritan town in Salem Massachusetts. Many different themes find their way through this play but the most important theme is the danger of Hysteria, reputation, and Intolerance can destroy a town no matter the strength of the people in the town. As this play was written during the red scare during the cold war this play shows many aspects as McCarthyism which had similar event that the Salem witch trials had but with the red scare. Hysteria was a major factor in the many accusations of witchcraft that occurred throu out the play “The crucible”, the first example is when the young girls of the community of Salem,

The Crucible shows mass hysteria through how the townspeople panicked over witchcraft. A current mass hysteria was the bomb threats to school districts in Los Angeles and New York. Mass hysteria comes from people's fear that their safety is being invaded. In The Crucible fear was brought upon the townspeople over witchcraft. Witchcraft brought fear of the thought that the devil was upon them.

The Crucible written by Arthur Miller. The Crucible is a story based off of a lot of main characters and scenes. The story itself is based off the salem witch trials hence the story is in the town of salem. The three categories of this story was mass hysteria where people believe things and all join in. Group think is how people together make decisions based on ideas in the group.