Mob Mentality In The Town Of Salem

He exclaims to his niece, “I cannot blink what I saw, Abigail, for my enemies will not blink it” (1104). Abigail wants to confess what happened in the woods to the authorities from keeping her friend from getting accused of being a witch, but Parris wants to keep her from doing this because he knows that their reputation will be ruined from this. Overall, it is clear that Reverend Parris is overly concerned by what his peers think of him. Tituba comes off as a lying character who will cover up the truth to protect herself and others.

Salem had a hard time when Parris was elected to be the Reverend, apparently they had a different candidate in mind. A character in the story that was fine in the beginning but later began doubting the way people thought about him after the incident, is Rev. Parris. After walking into the woods and witnessing the group of young women dancing and some nude, while trying to conjure spirits. He later confesses to the court what he sees in the forest.

In the novels, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and The Crucible, by Arthur Miller are similar in the fact that they are both small towns from Massachusetts. Their society is both the same in reaction to when a person commits a sin. All of the community members support the idea of how they punish the “criminals”. Such as in the adultery that was committed in both stories by characters, the people’s way in punishing these crimes was persecution.

The Crucible is filled with many evil people who do many horrid things to forefeel their own goals but, the man that controlled Abigail to do as he pleased from behind things to complete their corrupt Mr. Parris, whose arrogance of worth over the town and his pride that could rival any other man’s clouded his judgment till the bitter end. Even from the start of the story you get strong sense of his most prolific Sins such as pride, arrogance, and his blatant mendacity when anyone suspected him or his family of any wrong doings or lies. It all started when the Noble Mr. Parris wondered upon the local girls of the village dancing in the woods but couldn’t confront them because when they heard his approach they ran vanishing into the woods. Parris

In The Crucible, Reverend Parris confronts his niece after the girls are caught dancing in the midnight woods, insisting that he saw them running naked through the trees (Miller 10). As the events escalate and the court becomes involved, John Proctor, a man affected by the grave accusations of the girls, reveals that they were dancing naked in the forest, and Parris blatantly lies in response, asserting to Danforth that “I can only say, sir, that I never found any of them naked” (Miller 97). Parris dreads that the truth of his niece’s participation in the dancing and nudity could permanently damage his hard-earned image as minister. Constantly fearing that he is criticized and persecuted in all aspects of life, Reverend Parris lies in order to preserve his high position in Salem’s society. In order to maintain status, people who want to stay in power will often take any measures they deem necessary.

As I was reading “The Crucible” it gave the impression that there are a few antagonists that appeared throughout the story, but one antagonist stuck around throughout the whole play. I believe that the antagonist is the perception of the character 's reputation. It seems that the concept of reputation affected John Proctor, the protagonist in the text, and Reverend Parris. Back in the 1600’s in Salem, people seemed to only care about their religion, Puritanism.

Every person has that one person that they believe is completely evil. Now imagine a town full of that person with a couple of good role models thrown in there. That is exactly how Salem, the town in The Crucible, is. The whole witch trials started with people getting revenge on the people they believe wronged them. For some reason, the public just goes along with it and believes their lies.

To begin, it is a popular belief that Tituba, a slave in the story, was justified in her confession to witchcraft in order to save her own life. After the girls of Salem peg Tituba as the culprit for corrupting their souls and torturing them, she is interrogated and accused by characters such as the esteemed Reverend Hale and town’s Reverend, Mr. Parris. Finally, Parris exclaims, “ You will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to your death, Tituba!” (1.941-942). Tituba instantly confesses, and saves herself from a terrible death.

Abigail blamed Tituba for witchcraft because Abigail did not want the blame and Tituba was an easy scapegoat since she is black. Abigail yelled at Paris, “She made me do it! She made Betty do it!”(1.905). This is just one of the victims of Abigail scapegoating. The main purpose, scapegoating, occurred more than vengeance did.

We often seen someone is only care about himself, they don’t care about others even their family and they always have excuse of it. Reverend Parris is a kind of this person. “The Crucible” is about the Salem witch trials. Starting with several young girls claim to be afflicted by witchcraft and then accuse people in the town of witchcraft. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller shapes Parris’s character as a very selfish person, and everything he did was to keep his good reputation in the village and to get rid of anyone against him, which drives him mad.

Parris is a very self-centered man and is very embedded in his place in the community. He is a preacher for the church of Salem and his niece and daughter have been “bewitched” or so he thinks. Parris believes what he does is just and that no one should oppose him. This is also why he refuses to let news about his niece and daughter get out, he doesn’t want people to overthrow his position. Parris is a static character due to his nature of unchanging personality wise throughout the crucible, he is always self-centered.

Thus this shows us how mob mentality is evident in the crucible and encompasses characters to turn from the truth and ends in the demise of the Salem Community. It is clear that mob mentality in “The Crucible” resulted in the

He understood that the spectacle would raise suspicion of witchcraft among the people of Salem, and he would be implicated. He eventually took advantage of the situation to protect his position and punish a faction in the community that he suspected actively opposed him. Parris seemed glad when the girls started mentioning people they saw with the devil because it distanced his family from the situation. The focus was redirected at those who were mentioned by the girls. Parris can be blamed for setting a tone for his daughter and the people that will make them hysterical; As well as trying to point the finger at other people, to make sure no one blames him for what is going on.

In 1692, in Salem Massachusetts, many people in a small village were being accused of witchcraft and were either executed or put in prison if they said they were not under the control of the devil. A teenage girl, Abigail Williams, wanted to kill the wife of the man she loved. Abigail and many other teenage girls were caught acting strange and dancing in the woods one night. When caught, they were accused of witchcraft. The result of this accusation was to blame other people in the village.

Tituba, Reverend Parris's African American slave from Barbados, plays a major role in The Crucible, being one of the primary catalysts of the Salem Witch Trials. Tituba was the first person accused of witchery during the Salem Witch Trials by Abigail Williams, and the first person to, consequently, admit to witchcraft. Tituba, growing up in Barbados, never saw dancing and singing as a wild and satanic, as dancing was tied to her African roots. As she is transitioned to America, however, she had to conform to the Puritan lifestyle, in which one could not sing or dance. One night, at the girls of Salem, Massachusetts's requests, she decided to perform a ritual that would allow them a boyfriends, however, it quickly escalated into the event that would spill blood, reveal deep secrets of the time, and destroy the trust within the community in Salem.