Mass Hysteria Have you given into any thought on why individuals act out the way they do to their actions? Gary Small, a professor in psychiatry at UCLA, says, “Mass Hysteria can strike anywhere, anytime.”(psychologytoday.com) Around the middle ages, a nun that lived in France started to meow like a cat and pretty soon the rest of the convent started to follow; the group would endure together for many hours at specific points during the day creating mass hysteria. During the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthy Era, most townspeople were very vulnerable to witchcraft or being accused of witchery because of their religious lifestyle. So vulnerability made accusing easy for most. Influenced by the non-fictional events of the Salem Witch Trials and the accusations during the McCarthy Era, Miller wrote The Crucible which portrays how mob hysteria shows how time has changed significantly throughout history by how gullible most people were, how most were innocent, and how most people were afraid of change in women’s vulnerability. …show more content…
In The Crucible, the characters were very gullible and thought everything they heard was true, which made accusing one another very easy. In the book, Abigail had an affair with John Proctor and would do anything to have him all to herself, therefore, she accused Proctors’ wife of witchcraft and everyone seemed to believe her. From my perspective, she is a wretch. For example, Abigail states “She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her! Let her turn you like a-”(151) which is a great example on how Abigail was vindictive and would stretch the truth and everyone would believe everything she says; everyone in that time was very gullible even though they knew deep down that Elizabeth Proctor was innocent. Abigail planned on ruining Elizabeth’s
Throughout the book Abigail is a vengeful,lying,scheming girl but in Act I the reader first gets a glimpse of Abigail's dark and evil qualities when she tried to kill Elizabeth so she can take her place to rekindle her “You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill
In The Crucible written by Arthur Miller we are introduced to one of the main characters Abigail Williams. Abigail is your typical mean girl, she won't stop she gets her way, she will take down anyone who stands in her way and does not care if she hurts them in the process. Throughout the book we see Abigail accuse and lie to many people which causes drama and suffering in Salem. She seemed not to care about anyones feelings except John Proctor. Abigail was having affair with John when she was working for him until Elizabeth, Johns wife, found out and fired her.
In the play, the initial accusations of witchcraft are fueled by a general sense of anxiety and suspicion, as well as by the desire of some characters to gain power and control. Similarly, during the McCarthy era, fear of communism and the threat of nuclear war created a climate in which people were quick to make accusations and to point fingers at one another, often based on little or no evidence. In the play the accusation began after a girl named Betty fell sick and people thought it was witchcraft. This led to them questioning the girls, and the first girl named Abigail started accusing people which led the others to start naming people as well. This caused the first wave of panic and hysteria among the townsfolk, and because of this people thought what they were doing was fair and not cruel.
Many viewed her as an angel and truthful but in reality she was not good and had nothing but bizarre ways of getting back at people and bad intentions, she would lie to save herself and wrongly accuse others of doing things to keep her name clean. Meanwhile everyone besides the few who knew her, got the wrong impression and were fooled by her lying front she put up. Abigail was all about making others happy on the outside and a good christian girl to the point she over exaggerated it and her lying got her nowhere. In act 2.2 the text explains, “You mad, you murderous bitch” (Miller 152). By proctor saying this you see that he knows her intentions and even though he made a mistake he is coming to terms with it, she is doing the complete opposite and being selfish.
What do fatal outbreaks of laughing fits, men fearing the sudden loss of their genitals, and the Salem Witch Trials have in common? Mass Hysteria. Arthur Miller wrote the Crucible based on the historical event, the Salem Witch trials. It follows the protagonist, John Proctor, as he navigates Salem overrun by hysterical Puritans dealing with the accusations of witchcraft on its residents. Mass hysteria can lead people to act irrationally.
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.
Throughout the entire play of the Crucible, Abigail Williams portrayed the characteristic of a selfish teenager whose actions were only to help herself. She accused many innocent people of committing the crime of witchcraft, which nineteen were later hung. Her entire motive was to get revenge on Elizabeth Proctor so she could have Elizabeth’s husband, John Proctor, all to herself. “She blacken my name in the village! She is telling lies about me!
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.
One example of this is the hysteria of McCarthyism in the 1950s. Many people are filled with fear of the Communists and accuse many innocent people. The accused must then say who else they know are involved, and this allows the hysteria to spread and leads to chaos. Another example of this in everyday life is terrorism. Many people in today’s society allow the extreme fear of a terrorist attack to control their actions and perceptions.
Abigail defies all judgements against innocence as she is the driven evil force in The Crucible. Arthur Miller shows Abigail Williams to instinctively defend herself, as it is the humane reaction when accused of wrongdoing. It is common to tell a lie but, the intention of sabotage is a different story. Abigail had many tricks up her sleeve to manipulate the court. Her purpose to convince the town of her innocence was one of many.
Joseph Romano English CP II H Block Ms. Homem 5/16/23 Salem Witchcraft Hysteria In Salem during the years 1692-1693 a mass hysteria movement called witchcraft began to become popular, witchcraft affected more than 200 individuals and got 20 executed through various methods. It now has been 331 years after those times and historical depictions have been made, for example, Arthur Miller's play The Crucible. In The Crucible the villagers had lost their way of life, the focus to them was the church as it controlled their whole life. Witchcraft had plagued the church and seemingly could not be stopped, who has the ability to end this hysteria?
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.
Abigail said “She hates me, uncle, she must, for I would not be her slave. It’s a lying, cold, sniveling woman, and I will not work for such a woman!”(Said by Abigail, From The Crucible, act1, page12) Because, the standard to judge one person whether good or bad, is whether he gives a hand to others or hit a person when he is down. Abigail did a lot of things that gave enormous hurt to them such as breaking a family in the village and let one becomes a scapegoat. She is a cowardly girl that afraid to shoulder the responsibility.
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.