Examples 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.

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,

There is no such thing as an honest person. Everybody has lied at least once in their lifetime. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, several girls in a highly religious and Puritan Salem, Massachusetts get caught dancing in the woods. In order to avoid punishment, these girls lie and accuse others of witchcraft. Eventually, it is revealed that the people in the town accused each other of witchcraft for ulterior motives. Regardless of their motives, these accusations created mass hysteria in Salem. The three people that were responsible for creating mass hysteria in Salem, Massachusetts were Parris, Abigail, and Hale.

Stopping Hysteria Mass hysteria has pledged the planet since the beginning of time. Mass hysteria takes place when a group of a society fears another group with or without reason. For example, the events surrounding the mass hysteria of Y2K or the japanese camps of america during wwII. In both instances, people's fear caused them to do things without real cause. This type of behavior can also be seen in Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible; however, in the play, two characters could have stopped the hysteria, John Proctor and Abigail Williams.

“ An old dream with shiny new veneer. Its fascinating, you know, how an obsolete madness is sometimes adopted and stylized in the attempt to ghoulishly preserve it. These are the days of second - hand fantasias and antiquated hysteria.(www.GoodReads.com) This quote demonstrates that people will revive a destructive idea while painting it a different color in hopes others will follow. According Dictionary.com Mob Hysteria is defined as “ affects a group of people by behavior, or their own beliefs.” Mob Hysteria has presented itself in many forms through history. Researchers have attempted to understand the reason why individuals act out due to the actions, thoughts, and influences of others. Mob Hysteria demolishes an individual’s morals,

In sociology or psychology, mass hysteria is defined as a phenomenon that transmits collective illusions of threats, whether real or imaginary, through a population in society as a result of rumors and fear. During the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts, this definition directly correlates with the behavior of the people of Salem. They also say that you can trace the cause of mass hysteria back to one person or a group of people. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible a group of girls are plagued with sickness and are acting strange, but many people of the town think there may be a supernatural cause to it all. Being a Puritan town, they are very religious people and they constantly think the devil is out to get them. so they saw this as a work

Hysteria was a main theme in The Crucible. Hysteria, meaning an exaggeration of emotion, was happening amongst the townspeople, afraid to be claimed as a witch or because of jealousy townspeople began to accuse people they've known for years as a witch. Once this happens the town of Salem falls into a hysteria, community wide fear over rules the judgment of right and wrong and puts everyone in a position of "survival of the fittest," if you couldn't lie for yourself and broke under the pressure of accusation, you would die if you didn’t confess to being a witch, ruin your "good" name, and/or end up in jail. Reputation, how people perceive you, is also a recurring theme in The Crucible. In the time period the Witch Trials took place, if

To accuse one person of the horrible witch trails in The Crucible would be difficult as there is no argument on whether or not the whole town played one role or another in the accusations and or hangings of those innocent people. Mass hysteria radiated throughout the town. Without the influence of a certain few, the events, the story which serves as a model towards hysterias of all types, would have turned out much differently. Those certain characters that had that influence over these dark events were Betty Parris, the young reverend’s daughter, Reverend Parris who was supposed to serve as a model figure towards the town, as one of God’s chosen, and Abigail Williams the one who brought true Hell fire to Salem, Massachusetts. Betty Parris, Revend Parris’ only child, is suppose to serve as a model child for all those

Often in literature an author presents us with behavior that seems somewhat odd or different in the Crucible, by Arthur Miller, several girls get caught dancing in the woods and this sparks a controversy so large, that eventually more than 80 people lose their lives by various means. Hysteria sometimes plays a role in how people behave and in what they believe, in the play the girls pretend to be “witched” because Reverend Parris, while walking in the woods, comes across them while they dancing around a cauldron. Some of the girls have taken off their garments and this horrifies the Reverend. The girls disperse, and two cannot wake up the next day. The girls behave in this manner for several reasons; they do not wish to be punished, they seek revenge, and they gain a sense of power and like it. This occurs in life today. One may go to any sporting event and see chaos ensue in the stands or on the field. This can be seen by our

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, hysteria plays an important role of tearing apart the town of Salem, Massachusetts. The semi-fictional story takes place in the 1690’s during the Salem Witch Trials and gives readers an idea of what it was like to be a Salem citizen during that time, which was very chaotic and hectic for everyone. In the play, a lot of the characters are to blame for causing the mass hysteria, but three stand out the most. Abigail Williams, Governor Danforth and Mary Warren are the characters to blame for starting the madness in the small town.

Mass hysteria plays an important part in The Crucible. To state exactly what mass hysteria is, it is a group of people becoming scared or nervous about something other people may be scared or nervous about as well. Many people also may say that this is often considered “herd mentality”. The reason mass hysteria plays such a great role in the play is that it is responsible for many deaths. Without mass hysteria, The Crucible would not be the exciting and interesting play that it is. Specifically, in the play, the whole town of Salem is in a frenzy when everyone thinks that a witch is among them leading back to the earlier point, mass hysteria.

To start off with, hysteria in The Crucible leads to accused people placing the accusation on to someone else to get themselves out of trouble. Parris and Hale are questioning Tituba and Abigail about witchcraft and what they had done to the other girls. Tituba admits to working for the devil, and she gives Hale a name of another witch. Hale says Tituba must give more information if she wants to be blessed by God. Now Abigail, wanting to stay out of the spotlight, rises and cries out, “ I want to open myself! 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

Falsely accused and natural rights disregarded, men and women sat in prison cells pondering why. Why were they incarcerated? There is no other possible explanation other than these men and women were on the wrong place at the wrong time: Salem, Massachusetts during the 1690s. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, 1692 was a time of paranoia and distorted allegations regarding witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. Many women and a few men were believed to be an accomplice to the devil. Even the most well known Christian members of the community were put on trial for witchcraft with the ultimate price of death. One of Miller’s purposes for writing The Crucible was to open the public’s eye to the dangers of letting hysteria chase reason out of a community. However this downfall in human nature occurs in other instances. The Japanese Internment Camps were camps that were established to send Japanese-Americans, supposed spies, to be contained post Pearl Harbor in 1945. It is prevalent in both Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and the Japanese Internment Camps show parallels of when hysteria swells in a community it disregards logic.