Mass Hysteria In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

Mass hysteria cases have been reported many times throughout history and have continued to occur even in the modern world. In “Mass Hysteria in Upstate New York” by Ruth Graham, the author states that many cases of Tourette’s-like symptoms that had occurred in LeRoy Junior-Senior High School was not as a result of the “derailment that dumped cyanide… in LeRoy in 1970” (1). Instead, Graham specifically accuses mass hysteria for the origination of the symptoms similar to those of Tourette’s. The incident at LeRoy Junior-Senior High School provided many parallels to mass hysteria. The author claims that the victims of mass hysteria “are overwhelmingly female” (2).

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.

Mass hysteria has occurred everywhere in the world, but one question is asked; Who starts it? In 1692, Salem, Massachusetts a hysteria about witchcraft in the town breaks out and many innocent people will lose their lives. Abigail Williams is a servant in the town and in my opinion should be held responsible for the witchcraft hysteria and here’s why.

Through the conflation of the Salem witch trials and the McCarthy trials, Arthur Miller dramatically represents the human experience of mass hysteria throughout the play ‘The Crucible’. The mass hysteria in the Crucible is closely related to the human emotion of fear, it refers to the way in which a large group of people recognise a major threat to themselves and society throughout the fear and baseless rumours that are created. These emotions arise throughout the accusation of witchcraft in Salem, these false accusations lead to a series of convictions and trials, which eventually result in the many deaths of innocent people. In the dystopian novel ‘The Hunger Games’ by James Newton Howard, The theme of Survival versus Humanity is clearly

Mob Hysteria Mob Hysteria, according to the site titled, The Free Dictionary, is defined as “A condition in which a large group of people exhibit similar physical or emotional symptoms, such as anxiety or extreme excitement” (www.thefreedictionary.com). For example, the Holocaust was all about getting rid of the Jews; most people did not understand why they were doing this, but went along with what was occurring because that’s what Hitler told them to do and believed was the correct solution to pursue. The Salem Witch Trials is also linked to Mob Hysteria, which began in 1699, when a couple of girls began to act strangely and many claimed they impacted with the devil. The McCarthy Era, created by Joseph McCarthy, was when Senator McCarthy

The Crucible The term hysteria is defined as: exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion. In Author Miller’s, The Crucible, hysteria is exactly what happens. The Crucible takes place in Salam Massachusetts, in 1692. The plot is centered on the events of the Salam witch trials. The movie opens up with the young girls of Salam dancing around a fire.

Fear is perhaps the strongest force within humans- something that is an undeniable influence on our decision making process, whether those decisions may be major or minor. Fear comes into play both consciously and subconsciously; both practically and non practically; it is not always 100% apparent but it is the drive behind so much more of our thought process than we actually realize. This is not only human nature but the nature of animals, too. It is a force we cannot escape, whether is comes in reflexes or is something we avidly dwell on, so we’ve instead explored and embraced the wonders of this thing called fear.

The witchcraft of Salem, Massachusetts was an example of mass hysteria, it resulted in the hangings and deaths of many people from being charged with relations with the devil. The people who convicted the innocent were actually the ones who themselves had relations with the devil. The reasons the convictions happened were because of the young girls who got caught dancing around a fire in the moonlight and doing other practices, they didn’t want to get accused of the witchcraft so they ended up blaming other people who they were jealous of. Innocent people were accused and convicted on witchcraft making it the most unjustifiable testimonies in Salem.

People assume that because someone is Islam or Muslim that they must be a terrorist, and they become weary of them to protect themselves. These situations demonstrate how permitting self-preservation to lead to hysteria causes destruction and hurt throughout the community. If not fixed, these situations will lead the destruction of the world. The theme of hysteria and self-preservation is evident throughout The Crucible and in real life.

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.

Everybody in the town feared her, they were all paranoid about being hanged or having to confess to witchcraft. That is why all the girls follow behind her, because if they do what Abigail wants them to, their sense of paranoia is lessened. Another time when fear took over a person in The Crucible, is when John is threatening Mary. “She’ll kill me for sayin’ that”(Miller 38)! This is a quote from Mary that exposes the threats that Abigail is using to make the girls hysterical.

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.

Hysteria can be defined as the exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people. This definition proves true and exists throughout the course of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. In The Crucible, a group of girls go dancing in a forest around a cauldron, some even naked, and along with a black slave named Tituba. Reverend Parris, the local minister, then catches the girls in the act. As a result, Betty, one of the girls and Parris’s daughter, goes into what it seems like a coma.

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.

Mass hysteria is present here because Thomas’s actions are creating more problems in