Leiffer 1 Jake Leiffer Mrs. Faulkner English 11 Honors October 3, 2014 Hysteria In Salem In Salem things are getting crazy. Hysteria is going around like a disease, but not from witchcraft. In The Crucible several accusations have taken place taking the lives of many due to hysteria. Hysteria is being spread through three different things. Political, social, and personal forces are playing a role in the Hysteria in Salem. First off, political influences are causing hysteria. The judicial system in Salem is corrupt. Thomas Putnam for example, tries to take advantage of an opportunity he has to take someones land. If he gets off with the case and the defendant is hung he receives his wish. In act 3 Giles calls out Putnam to the judge. He says, “I have evidence for the court! ..Thomas Putnam is reaching out for land!” (84) Putnam is of the lower class which makes this case even more believable. The hysteria here is Putnam uses his social situation to take advantage of the judicial branch or Salem. Another example of political hysteria is made by Judge Danforth. Danforth is the top dog in the court room. His opinion triumphs all in the case. Danforth seems to believe that the girls are victims and did not commit witchcraft. Danforth gets put in a situation where he decides to choose his reputation over the lives of many. …show more content…
Abigail Williams, a girl who was accused of witchcraft uses her situation to get payback on John Proctor, a married man she had an affair with. Abigail is obsessed with Proctor to the point she will do anything to be with him. This is seen in Act 1 when Abigail says “I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a point reckoning that will shudder you.” (20) Abigail will do anything to get to John Proctor which would even include murder. To get John back Abigail went as far as stabbing herself and accusing his wife of voodoo. This is a huge example of
Hysteria is defined as an uncontrollable outburst of emotion or fear, often characterized by irrationality, laughter, weeping, usually among a group of people. The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller is a prime example of hysteria, portrayed in the town of Salem through a series of witchcraft trials. The witchcraft trial caused disorder within the town of Salem and resulted in many unreasonable deaths. Throughout the course of the trial, many characters play a role in expanding chaos in Salem such as Abigail Williams and Reverend Parris. Specific characters that considerably aggravated this dilemma could have theoretically also ended the hysteria in Salem such as Reverend Hale, Abigail Williams, and Betty Parris.
Today I witnessed a weird court session in which Giles had accused Putnam of attempting to get more land and that he had proof of it but when asked by Danforth to present his proof he could not. After this happened Mary Warren and the other girls entered the room and claimed to only be pretending to be afflicted by witchcraft. I think that they are all trying to undermine the court. Danforth too thought that Proctor was trying to undermine and questions him but Proctor remained strong and said that all he wants to do is free his wife.
The Salem Witch Trials was a truly grim period in American history. People were put on trial with little to no evidence for their arrest, so many had to make sacrifices in order to save themselves or loved ones. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, character John Proctor made the decision to expose his own infidelity to save his wife, and later sacrificed his own life by maintaining his values. From the beginning of the novel John Proctor’s view on the Salem Witch Trial is evident, he wishes to maintain the truth in Salem.
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.
People who they thought were good (ie. Abigail Williams, Rev. Parris, etc.) were showing that they are not. The majority of the townspeople openly support the Salem witch trials hold personal integrity and truth at a low level. The Putnams uses abuse and manipulation of the truth for financial and personal gain of land whereas characters such as Giles Corey, Rebecca Nurse, and eventually later, John Proctor all die in their own way as part of an act of resistance against the lies of the Salem witch trials. “you know in all of your black hearts that this be fraud.
In the play “The Crucible” the play takes place in 1692 in a town of Salem Massachusetts. The Crucible is about the Salem witch trials. The Main Characters are John Proctor his wife Elizebeth Proctor, the minister Reverend Parris and Abigail. It begins with the minister Reverend Parris catching a group of girls including his niece Abigail Williams dancing in the woods practicing witchcraft. In this play we find out that Abigail had an affair with Elizabeth's husband John Proctor but we wonder who's most at fault.
A dark history of time is the Salem Witch Trials which has been told and reacted to many times. One of the most popular forms is a play written, and produced, by Arthur Miller. The play “ The Crucible” brings to life the past of the Salem Witch Trials. Although the play and real life have many similarities there are also many differences that Arthur Miller decided to make.
The Crucible Essay The theme of hysteria is evident throughout Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and in everyday life and society. Driven by self-preservation, hysteria influences many characters’ actions and leads to the devastating witch trials in Salem. For instance, many characters in The Crucible are driven to execute drastic actions to sustain their reputation and protect themselves.
Abigail Williams: The First True Witch of Salem, Massachusetts “Controlled hysteria is what’s required. To exist constantly in a state of controlled hysteria. It’s agony. But everyone has agony. The difference is that I try to take my agony home and teach it to sing” (Arthur Miller, AZ Quotes).
A “Good Drama” is a play in which the audience can relate personally. A good drama should have meaning to the audience of different types of generations. Arthur Miller’s, “The Crucible” successfully relates to the audience and left us with messages that is still known to today. The Crucible is considered to be a good drama because Arthur Miller created this scripture that addressed the idea of conformity in the American culture, but it also showed the amount of power that individuals can hold because they define the means by which we all live. People make devisions on issues like what is considered to be right and what is considered to be wrong.
If The Witch Don’t Fit, You Must Acquit In “The Crucible” 1953 written by Arthur Miller, wrote that hysteria in any place can ruin lives. The year is 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. In Salem at the time it was a modest town brimming with Puritans. In the town of Salem, little secrets, jealousy and massive hysteria spread around the town.
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.
(I.465-472). Seeing Abigail cry, it suggests that Abigail’s affair with John Proctor has influenced her behavior in jealousy and lust as she strives for nothing more than her love for John Proctor. By only being heartbroken, Abigail is not to be fully blamed for the hysteria within the town as her actions are only based on desperate attempts to win John Proctor over, and no intentional harm whatsoever. However, on the other hand, Abigail cannot be excused with outside forces making her the way she is due to the fact that she has clearly had a choice in most of her decisions and actions throughout the witchcraft crisis. When Mary Warren, another girl involved in the forest incident, enters the court, she explains to Danforth, the judge, that the girls are lying and are only pretending to see spirits.
In Witches: The Absolutely True Tale Of Disaster In Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer people in the town of Salem were Condemned for being witches. By the end of it all more than 200 people were accused and 20 were executed. Horridly they accused people from all ages, everyone from teenager to ancient was accused. But why? The Salem Witch Trials were caused by hysteria, popularity, and revenge.
Some of the citizens signed a petition stating they never saw any signs that the arrested women had dealings with the devil, and Judge Danforth wasn’t happy. “... Mr. Cheever have warrants drawn for all of these arrests for examination” (Miller 1253). With this petition going around is showing that the court may be wrong, and it is showing weakness from the court. Judge Danforth will do anything to protect him and make sure no one questions the court.