Effects Of Hysteria In The Crucible

“Even in an enlightened democracy, the media have to check themselves to make sure they are not contributing to an unnecessary mass hysteria” (Brainyquote). Even the most sophisticated governments can lead the public into a state of hysteria. Often times when people become hysterical, others take that opportunity to obtain power for their personal benefit. In history and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, public hysteria was exploited in order to obtain and manipulate power for personal gain.

Pointing fingers at someone can do a lot of damage to someone's reputation. Sometimes we point fingers at innocent people in fear the unknown or what may hurt us.. Fearing something or fearing the unknown can cause an uprising or reaction throughout a society or community. Throughout the story “The Crucible” and during the time of McCarthyism many people feared of what may happen to them, as known hysteria. Hysteria is an outburst of fear that spreads through society leaving consequences for blameless people, although with hysteria no one would know what to fear or believe in the society.

In today's society there are many cases of mass hysteria just like long ago. In the book John Proctor says a quote that hits big time for mass hysteria, he says “God is dead” while laughing insanely, and if that does not cause mass hysteria then nothing does.

Hysteria is an exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people. This can lead to lie being spread that people will believe due to hysteria. In the Crucible by Arthur Miller, Arthur use the red scare of post war america as his inspiration for his novel. During the red scare people were accusing any person of being a communist and people believed because due to hysteria. Arthur miller uses hysteria to show that it leads to Damaged reputations,lies ,and hurting people's lives.

1. Throughout The Crucible, the theme of mass hysteria is presented. For example, after Tituba “confessed” to have been working under pressure, Abigail screams “I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him, I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!” (54) The reason why Abigail suddenly “confesses” starts with Tituba. Tituba was under extreme pressure when Reverend Hale and many others were screaming at her; therefore she decided to just give them what they want – a confession – so they would stop. Seeing this, Abigail joins in that she will not be interrogated later, thus adding to the overall hysteria and madness of a witch hunt. In addition, the theme of vengeance is also displayed when John Proctor blatantly states “I'll tell you what's walking Salem - vengeance is walking Salem… now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom,

Hysteria in society can spread rapidly leading to panic, chaos, and disaster, and in The Crucible this is exactly the message trying to be sent to the readers. The Crucible is aiming to tell audiences about the dangers of mass hysteria and what damage can be done. In the beginning we find out that at least three girls, Abigail, Betty, and Tituba, are involved with a forest dancing and calling upon the Devil, after more girls are accused and word is spread thru the town and mass hysteria begins.

NFL Players are protesting the injustices for people of color still face in America today. Taking a knee is not anti-American or anti-military. The players are not attempting to disrespect the country, national anthem, flag, and military by taking a knee. The players are directly protesting injustice against people of color, police brutality, and the criminal justice system. The national anthem is just the wheel for the protest. In the same way, hysteria is involved in the act by Arthur Miller epithet “The Crucible”. Hysteria is a exaggerated and uncontrollable emotion ,excitement and especially among certain group of people. The role of hysteria has been involved and impacted events, certain character and major factor in the many accusations of witchcraft that occurred throughout the play.

During the late 1940’s and the early 1950’s, America acted out of fear instead of their head. Author Miller motivated to write The Crucible due to his being alive during the late 1950’s when McCarthyism was prevalent in the U.S. He was trying to make the comparison of the two-time periods. Author Miller wrote The Crucible to point out the hysteria caused by the Red Scare by drawing comparisons with fear fueling hysteria, the ignoring of evidence, and types of people who were falsely accused.

In Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, hysteria is being spread throughout the Puritan community of Salem. Abigail is the main reason for all of this, with her lies and her persuading her friends to follow along with the lies and blaming others. The historical setting, characters, and events have shown us hysteria throughout the play and how the people of Salem handle the feeling of being in constant fear. As we read the play it is easy to see that hysteria causes people to jump to conclusions.

Within Arthur Miller’s award-winning play, The Crucible, there is a constant trend that flows through time. As the tale persists, Salem, Massachusetts gets wound up in the witch hunt of 1692, creating an infectious hysteria on all the villagers. City-wide fear overtakes individual thought and reasoning as well as it can today in America’s “trivial” matters.

The root cause of the hysteria that overcame Salem in “The Crucible” was the town’s fear of the devil/evil. Hysteria consumed the community of Salem and it came to the point where it surmounted the voices of the few rational people in the town. The fear of evil is present throughout the entire play. It is first seen at the very beginning when Betty Parris and Ruth Putnam will not wake up. Reverend Parris is sitting next to the bed his daughter is lying in, when his niece Abigail arrives back from the doctor’s house and gives the news, “Uncle, the rumor of witchcraft is all about; I think you’d best go down and deny it yourself.” When the town heard of the girl’s condition they immediately thought it must have been the work of the devil. The

“The Crucible” displays hysteria in many ways throughout the play, but the main act of hysteria was that it wrecked the people of Salem. Hysteria is an exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion, which is mainly demonstrated by divisions of society. Hysteria takes a main part of the play because it caused the people of Salem to do such unreasonable acts. One hysterical act in “The Crucible” was during the Salem Witch Trials, one hundred fifth people were accused for practicing

People have used multiple ways to manipulate people to carry out crimes, spread rumors, and to get themselves into a high position like a king or president of a certain groups. Famous people in history like Senator Joseph R. McCarthy who used mass hysteria to control the people to supposedly get rid of communist and Abigale who accused people of witches. Mass hysteria is an easy way to get people involved in something that does not apply to them, just so that one person can obtain power, for instance Abigale in the story “The Crucible.” Why do people exploit mass hysteria, is it the only way to get what you want in life, or is there another way? Mass hysteria has impacted the people by manipulating them, for that person to obtain power in the past, as well as its portrayed in a story to the people.

Arthur Miller is considered one of the best playwrights of the 20th century. The most known pieces are All My Sons, A View from the Bridge, The Crucible and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Death of a Salesman. Arthur Miller was born in Harlem, New York on October 17, 1915, he was the son of polish immigrants. Miller graduated from high school in New York in 1933, he had worked at variety of including hosting a radio program. Miller wrote plays for the Federal Theatre in 1939. In The Federal Theatre it provided work for the unemployed writers, actors, directors, and designers. Millers career did not start off great it was a little rough. Miller worked in a small building that he built in Roxbury, Connecticut. Miller wrote the first act of Death

During the twentieth-century Arthur Miller was a very well known screenwriter, playwright and essayist. Some of his more prominent plays are, All My Sons, Death of a Salesperson, The Crucible, and A View from the Bridge. Arthur Miller was born on October 17th, 1915, in Harlem, New York City, New York. During his childhood, his father owned a coat manufacturing business and his mother was a teacher and an avid reader. In 1929 his family lost almost everything in the wall street crash. After the crash, they moved to Flatbush, Brooklyn. From there he moved off to college at the University of Michigan, where he studied theater and wrote his first play No Villain.