What Is Mass Hysteria In The Crucible

Fear has become part of humanity as humans evolve over time. Since the beginning of time humans have always been feared of the unknown. This fear of the unknown has given humans a drive to progress to be better. In the past there have been societies that take wrongful advantage of this fear by creating mass hysteria by religious, political, and social activities such as the Puritans in Salem. The famous play The Crucible by Arthur Miller demonstrates this mass hysteria which has led people of Salem in wrongful accusations and death of twenty individual citizens of Salem for witchcraft.

Elizabeth thinks then realizes what she has just done and has been caught in a lie and John tells the court she was only trying to save his name. Elizabeth’s test would’ve been doing the right thing. Although John is her husband, she should’ve told the truth for not just their sake but everyone else’s. If Elizabeth told the truth she would’ve put an end to all the false accusations being made against John, Abigail, and many others. As time goes on and both Elizabeth and Proctor are in jail, in their last conversation Elizabeth was with a child, and she told John she could not judge him and that she realized he was a good husband.

​Fear drives action. The main reason people continue to progress and change are due to the fear of the unknown. Humans have and will continue to fear the unknown since the beginning of the world. In the town of Salem circa 1692, fear ran a rampage and cased dozens of innocent people to be accused of witchcraft and hanged. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, this mass hysteria led to the death of many innocent citizens.

Elizabeth has never told a lie beforehand which tells she really does care for Proctor and doesn’t want anything bad to happen to him even after everything he's done. She doesn't realize Proctor has already confessed so she thinks she saving him from utter humiliation and embarrassment and she hopes to keep him out of trouble but her lie does just the opposite. This causes Proctor to be doubted so he is thrown in jail where he is sent to wait for his

Elizabeth Proctor according to testimonies has never told a lie in her life. At a previous time, Abigail Williams worked for the Proctor household but was thrown out after Elizabeth discovered an affair between her husband and Abigail. In the court’s efforts to discover the truth of John Proctor’s confession, Elizabeth is brought, unbeknown as to why, before Judge Danforth. Elizabeth’s personal morals urge her to tell the truth, but her love for her husband tempts Elizabeth to lie. Consequently in Act Three because she is hesitant to answer, Elizabeth is confronted with the direct question from Judge Danforth, “…To your own knowledge, has John Proctor ever committed the crime of lechery?...”

Elizabeth tries to protect her husband reputation and name by lying, made the whole situation even worst, by putting her husband in jail. The state where John Proctor is in have to two choices whether he stay in jail and be hang or to lie and clear his name. There are two choice that the people of Salem have to do, do not say anything and will be killed or lie/confess, to order to honor their as an induvial, and most of them have to do this to keep their name and pure. In Act II Abigail threaten her friends, to not say about that dancing at the forest, Abigail drink blood, and the fact Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam.

He hopes to save Elizabeth by confessing his lechery and to expose Abigail. He thinks Danforth and Hathorne will believe him because he has a high reputation in the community. They do not believe him because his wife did not validate his words. 6. How is Elizabeth’s testimony used against Proctor?

This affair was never fully proven, but Proctor did say, “Abby, I may think of you from time to time but I will cut off my hand before I’ll reach for you again” (Miller 1140). Abigail was madly in love with Proctor and wanted Elizabeth out of the picture so she could have Proctor all to her self. Abigail was very jealous of Elizabeth. She thought that if Elizabeth would die, she would get Proctor all to her self. She accused Elizabeth of being a “cold, sniveling woman”(Miller 1140).

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.

Either way he was in trouble already. If Elizabeth had told the truth he would be hung either way for the affair. Danforth say to Elizabeth, “Look at me! To your own knowledge, has John Proctor ever committed the crime of lechery?,” (p.521). Elizabeth choose to lie to save John’s reputacion.

“And yet you've not confessed till now. That speak, goodness in you.” (59) replies Elizabeth. Elizabeth had sacrificed her innocence in an attempt to save John. She was willing to sacrifice something of hers to benefit others, proving her good

Also, in attempt to tell the truth about Abigail, John Proctor admits to cheating on his wife with Abigail, but Elizabeth lets her fear assist her in lying. John Proctor tells everyone in the court, previous to Elizabeth arriving, “she [has] never lied” (III.891.). With everyone now knowing that she does not lie, it makes her trustworthy and believable. Deputy Danforth then brings Elizabeth in to confirm what

Elizabeth is truthful, meanwhile Abigail lies by making accusations of people both trying to keep good integrity. First, Elizabeth stays truthful when talking about Proctor possibly

Likewise, when Elizabeth is brought before Danforth to verify Proctor’s confession, she lies to protect her husband, whom she refers to as a “goodly man,” from suspicion (Miller, 113). The affair may have caused Elizabeth to doubt Proctor but both parties still care deeply for each other and try to protect each other from harm. Even in his last moments, Proctor’s last words- “Show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it!”- were directed toward Elizabeth and were full of love and care (Miller, 144). Proctor may have sinned but his regret over his affair with Abigail and the trouble he had brought upon his wife justifies his

She knows about the affair between John and Abigail, but decides to stay with Proctor anyway. When arrested, Elizabeth has an internal conflict of deciding to tell the court the truth about John and Abigail’s affair, or to lie and say that John is innocent. Elizabeth does not know that John had already confessed having the affair and that everyone in town knows about it. She decides to lie in court, and tell them that he is innocent. This made everything go downhill for Elizabeth because at this point, his wife has lied without even knowing that it would lead to her husband’s death.