Examples Of Superstition In The Crucible

Superstitio is made up of the prefix super, meaning above, and the verb stare, which means to stand or be firm; literally translated, supersitio means a belief in something that is above what is clear or concrete. The english word that we derive from superstitio, superstition, can usually be defined as “irrational faith in supernatural powers”, but according to Dale B. Martin,

In Massachusetts Bay Colony, many of the Puritans were superstitious; this is evident in the fact that they believed the victims’ ability to see the devil or familiars of the devil. Superstition was common because the Puritans feared the devil and his way of luring more victims to be on his side.

In The Crucible, Arthur Miller wrote about the puritans and their superstitions. The puritans were scared of everything. They believed that the devil lived in the forest, so they were forbidden to go there. They believed that if something could not be explained then the devil caused it. The Crucible had many superstitions take place but I'm identifying the use of charms, the number of seven, and a rabbit's foot.

Arthur Miller, author of The Crucible, writes “For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I have quailed, and as you quail now when you know in all your black hearts that this be fraud” (I. 1153- 1156). Miller illustrates that there is a difference between men belonging to ignorance from having no options and men not taking opportunities to gain knowledge. The town of Salem is caught committing sins in everyone’s daily life. This town is running on fear and quick decisions because the citizens do not understand the inevitable power of God. These people have claimed witchcraft by the devil has taken these people and it is their job to prevent this on anyone else. The town quickly accuses anyone that shows a questionable action of

In Arthur Millers book The Crucible it talks about the Salem witch trial. The Salem witch trials. Many innocent people died during the trial. The Puritans were not the smartest people ever the believed the devil lived in the woods. They also believed everything that they where told or heard. There where many superstitious believes through the time which still are believed by some people. Some of the people of Salem had different believes in things then others. Through out the book you see three types of superstitions. The story includes a rabbit ,salt and charm's all different types of superstitions.

In the story ¨The Crucible¨ there are many examples of fear leading to superstition then leading to loss of logic. Some examples of superstition in the story are people getting accused of witchcraft for reading, being in possession of poppets (dolls), or just not confessing. People in the story are wrongfully accused and killed because people had lost their logic from being so afraid of witchcraft. They looked for any possible way to accuse anybody, and would believe anyone who would blame somebody. Even if the accusation doesn´t make sense, there was so much fear and hysteria leading people to believe anything. The first example in the story about superstition is when Giles Corey is having a conversation

Superstitions lead to various impacts because a superstition is a belief that is not backed up by any facts, often straying from rational though. Miller expresses this idea throughout The Crucible as a rumor of witchcraft invades the small Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts. In the Puritan religion the Devil plays a very important role. The Puritans believed that every bad deed was motivated by the devil, some of these included writing love poems, listening to religious music, and watching or performing in plays because they all brought focus away from God. Because of this, it was not hard to see why the Puritans were so fast to believe in superstitions. Many characters were affected by the strict Puritan religion in this way. In his play The Crucible, Arthur Miller shows how superstition can lead to the destruction of a community through the characters Ann Putnam, Reverend Hale, and Abigail Williams.

Growing up in an Asian family, there are certain things that I couldn’t do. I could not brush my hair in the car nor stick chopsticks straight up in the rice because these things were believed to bring bad luck. Despite the fact that I think they are ridiculous, but I still believe in them anyway. In “ The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, the author explains how superstition has taken over one’s logic by showing us how people lost their senses, and how innocent people were being accused for unreasonable reasons, and lastly without any evidence, many were sent to jail.

“Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.” ― Bertrand Russell. What is mob mentality, and why does it play such an important role in The Crucible? The dictionary definition of mob mentality (also known as herd mentality) provided by the Oxford English Dictionary is “The tendency for people's behavior or beliefs to conform to those of the group to which they belong.” Mob mentality is shown very clearly through The Crucible, some of the most significant points in the story revolve around the actions made through mob mentality. Mob mentality is not something new to the crucible and has been seen in many other historical events such as the French Revolution, and can cause thing such as crowd wisdom, bandwagoning, and superstition.

Mary’s inability to faint on command for the members of the court was because she tries to make a point that witch accusers are not in fact what they seem. She tells the judge that “HATHORNE: And yet, when people accused of witchery confronted you in court, you would faint, saying their spirits came out of their bodies and choked you, (Miller 106).” “MARY: That were pretense, sir.” (Miller 106) based off this she tries to persuade the judge that the girls got carried away and just don’t want to get into trouble from the dramatic scene where they were dancing in the woods and doing other demonic things. The judges get into the mix of this and claim to have seen her faint before, “PARRIS: Why not? Now there are no spirits attacking you, for

I think in the crucible they did interact with supernatural forces. For example on page 12 betty had fainted and she woke up saying Abigail drank blood, but of course Abigail denies all accusations and tells her to shut up, but betty said she drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor's wife. Another example is that on the same page Abigail replies with a threat. Before the threat she remembered them of when they danced and tituba conjured Ruth Putnam's dead sisters. In the beginning Abigail and all the older girls, including betty were running to the forest and when they got in deep enough they stopped. There they ended up with Tituba while she was stirring at big steaming pot, and in the pot there was varieties of animals, including frogs, and

Persecution may happen centuries apart, yet history always repeats itself as seen with The Crucible being an allegory for McCarthyism. Society blames this on superstition. The Crucible is a play portraying witch hunts that occurred in Salem under a theocratic government. In America, over 250 years later, McCarthyism reemerged despite what we should have learned from our mistakes. A pattern that is imprinted on the history of not only our country but of the world, persecution can be uglier than we have the ability to stand, yet it repeats many times throughout our history.

In the book “the crucible” in a town called Salem in Massachusetts a minister and father reverend Paris discovers that his daughter Betty, niece Abigail, his servant tituba, and a whole lot of other girls dancing in the woods. Betty ends up fainting from fright after being discovered by her father and won't come to wake. Rumors quickly spread that it might be witchcraft they had done which also wouldn't be good for Paris's reputation because he's worked hard to get a lot of respect from the town people. But their are others who think Betty and the rest of the kids who are ill just have an illness. I think both of these suggestions are good but supernatural forces is what i think it is. Some examples from the text give me the reason why i think it's supernatural.

Superstition and the Supernatural Superstition and the supernatural have been around since people first inhabited the earth. However, as society has progressed, these beliefs have been seen as naïve and foolish. Nevertheless, superstition was a major part in Roman life and thus William Shakespeare uses superstition and the supernatural in his play Julius Caesar. Superstition and the supernatural held great importance in the time of Caesar and often influenced the decisions people made. Superstition is defined as a belief or way of behaving that is based on fear of the unknown and faith in magic or luck.

What is superstition? According to The Little Oxford Dictionary, superstition is "belief in the existence or power of the supernatural; irrational fear of the unknown; a religion or practice based on such tendencies; widely held but wrong idea." Let us examine that definition in depth. First, there is "belief in the existence or power of the supernatural". This means that there is believed to be some force that can influence the events on the Earth. Second, there is "irrational fear of the unknown." This has been endemic to the human race since the early days when a cave man did not know if that cave was safe to enter or if he would be attacked by a bear. Third, "a religion or practice based on such tendencies." This is the belief