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.

Hysteria is an uncontrollable outburst of fear among a society. Throughout the story “The Crucible, hysteria spread by fear of others throughout the community in many ways. Abigail was one of the main characters in the story that showed great hysteria fearing others that mentioned her name. At the beginning of the story Abigail and some girls were found dancing in the woods. Fearing that she would be accused for witchcraft Abigail responded “Uncle, the rumor of witchcraft is all about; I think you’d best go down and deny it yourself. The parlor’s packed with people, sir. I’ll sit with her” (Miller, 10). This is showing how Abigail was worried about her reputation in the community and how she wanted her uncle to go to the parlor to deny it to the people. This is also showing how over one night an uprising of fear spread throughout the town, fearing

In the story/play mass hysteria plays an important role in Salem in the late 1600s. For instance Abigail Williams one of the girls in the crucible that uses mass hysteria to exploit the people of Salem around her. Mass hysteria means a group of people who over exaggerate something and becomes a fear. According to a quote from Abigail Williams says ”She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold sniveling woman! And you bend to her! Let her turn you like a-” which means she only accuses people because she wants

During both the devastating Holocaust in the Germany and the tragic Salem Witch Trials in the small town of Salem, innocent people were brutally killed, causing hysteria among the people. Both groups of people endured hardships because of the hysteria that occurred among them. This hysteria caused people to react in ways that they would not usually act. Both of these events are very historical and help The United States of America be a unified and prosperous country that it has grown to become today. Hysteria is defined as an uncontrollable outburst of emotion or fear, often characterized by irrationality, laughter, weeping

Mass hysteria can strike anywhere, anytime. Mass hysteria is an illusion or condition that affects a group of people, and is caused by anxiety, fear or stress. It can sometimes put people at risk because in most cases, it makes people sick. Mass hysteria has a negative impact on people like it did on the people of Salem who were killed and locked away. The Crucible was one of many examples of how fear can cause mass hysteria and unfortunately there are many more. Fear causes mass hysteria and has many cases that can prove that this is true.

In this world there have been causes of mass hysteria even back in the old days. In 1939 Mysterious girls were having cases of strange twitching making parents of the students curious. A big cause of hysteria was found in a case of a girl suffering in lack of attention. She was having sorts of insecurity and paranoia. For common people, twitching is a sign of nerve problem. But one case in Louisiana in 1939 involved numerous students suffering from twitching and all inflicted students were female. It began when one female student show sign of twitching in her right. It happened during an annual homecoming ball. Unfortunately, the twitching did not end up on that particular day, in fact, the twitching became worse as weeks went by. Following the incident, some of her fellow

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.

Sometimes people in fear can turn on others, even if they were close before. Abigail, Reverend Parris’ niece, is already quite manipulative in general. However, once the drama in Salem fires up, she becomes even more devious in order to keep herself safe. After Abigail and the other girls get caught trying to perform witchcraft with the help of Tituba in the woods, Abigail threatens the girls to not tell anyone what they were really doing. She tells them, “ ‘Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you… I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down’ ” (Miller 1244). Here, Abigail shows how effortlessly she can turn on her closest friends and even her own cousin, Betty, whenever things go wrong. At first, she wanted the girls to join her in the woods to help perform the spell that is supposed to kill Elizabeth Proctor, John

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 has been seen throughout history, but what dictates the outcome is how the community reacts. Hysteria can be defined as uncontrollable emotion among a group of people. It has been depicted throughout human history, which can be seen during the the Cold War, 9/11, and terrorist threats. The Crucible evidently shows how hysteria leads to the disunification of a community through the human obsession of reputation, the Puritan lack of respect for privacy, and human anger.

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.

On September 11th, 2001 tragedy struck, when two planes flew into the World Trade Center, a plane crashed into the Pentagon, and a plane that crashed down in Pennsylvania. These horrific acts of terrorism changed America into what it is today. It changed the way people thought about others and how equal the American people really are. The United States was in a panic and was ready to accuse others immediately. The Crucible showed us that a shocking, confusing event can make people almost go insane with fear. Many are willing to risk others lives to get their points across. This is when hysteria hit the town of Salem and later the United States. Hysteria is an exaggerated, uncontrollable emotion that usually specializes in a group of people. Like Salem people were accused and unjustifiably punished. The attack on the world trade center affected how many live their lives today both mentally and physically. Opinions like,“9/11 lead to mass hysteria because it was a horrible, sudden tragedy that many people did not see coming”(Maravilla,Perez,Avina, Pg 1). The long term effects of this incident were unnerving. The leaders of this society had to change how they protected this country and had to alter their immediate opinions of a certain people, in fact most people had to as well. The cause of the hysteria was just after the events occurred when the air became thick with worry and uneasiness. This tragic historical event caused several hundreds to live in fear for what “might be

Mass hysteria is a phenomenon that transmits collective allusions of threats through a population in society as a result of rumors and fear. The Crucible by Arthur Miller accurately portrays mass hysteria that took place during the Salem witch trials of 1692. People were accused based on revenge or other malicious motives and to make the situation worse, nothing about the trials was logical. After a few people were accused, fear set into the town and everyone was viewed as a witch until proven innocent. Mass hysteria not only happened during the Salem witch trials, but right after the Twin Towers fell on September 11, 2001 as well. Mass hysteria ties into both the accusations made in The Crucible and the islamophobia that set in after 9/11.

What is mass hysteria? The word mass is describing a group as a whole meaning there is more than one person involved. In most instances one person influences another like a domino effect. Humans cannot help when they catch a cold from someone else but it is also common nature to be easily persuaded by others. Hysteria is the sense of madness. It can be a case of psychological illness or a fad that many people panic about at the same time. Mass hysteria can be described as the appearance of something, in a group of people that may be involved in a cluster of things; relating to physical symptoms referring to an organic illness but resulting from a mental case (“A case of Mass hysteria”). Furthermore, a contagious mental disorder is defined as the organized occurrence of a group of physical symptoms and similar beliefs amongst a number of individuals without a recognizable reason(“A case of Mass hysteria”). This outbreak of temporary madness can happen anywhere but is seen in early colonial America illness among young girls in Salem, MA are attributed to witches curses(“A case of Mass hysteria”).

Jumping to conclusions, bad assumptions, and false information can cause much hysteria within a society. This can be surely bad if you are dealing with people who are hypochondriacs. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller displays how hysteria is used to cover the truth, but can cause suffering for many of those who are innocent. The play strongly illustrates the hysteria that brushed through Salem because of the fear that Satan had haunted the town. When you have an entire society in an uproar it is usually because of false information being spread and people who are just reacting without thinking about what could possibly be happening. There are some people