"Fear - the ultimate enemy of freedom" argues Clay Routledge from the article "Why Are Millennials Wary of Freedom." There is no denying that fear is an unsought-for feeling. Fear can sometimes lead people to have anxiety, stress, or depression. With fear restricting every action that a person makes, it is true that freedom is limited. However, this is not always the case under a few circumstances. Fear is not always a harmful emotion because it prevents danger, increases mental and physical strength, and makes us more intelligent. Fear may occasionally harm us, but it also keeps us away from vulnerability. Of course when challenged by fear, most people will feel threatened. When threatened, Carolyn Rodriguez from her article, "Outsmart Your Brain: Use the Science of Fear to Tackle Your Biggest Challenge," acknowledges that "during a threat, a part of our brain called the amygdala, a tear-drop shape of cells located deep within our brain, can set off a chain reaction that prepares us to respond." Those chemical reactions that happen in our brain, helps us flee from danger. Without fear, people would not …show more content…
In an article titled, "6 Ways Fear Makes Us Stronger," the author, Carey Rossi, argues that, "the key to using fear to help you succeed is to harness all the positive characteristics it can uncover." Using fear to motivate oneself is a great way to become stronger because when a person knows that potential danger will not cause harm, it leads us to take more risks, therefore benefitting and reaping the rewards. In "The Crucible," Arthur Miller portrays Abigail to be a strong and powerful character because she overcame her fear. She was afraid that she would be punished for her witchcraft so she started to blame other people and continued until she realized that she had an immense amount of power over Salem. Abigail became stronger because she could control anyone she wanted, all as a result of
As represented in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, fear played an important role and is exploited by the characters in the play. The Crucible beings with a group of girls accusing people of witchcraft for their selfish benefit.Fear is an emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to inflict pain , or a threat. Fear is an emotion that is capable of overtaking and controlling one’s state of mind and well being. However , fear can be used as a motivation factor. Fear influenced these people to take extreme measures and act irrationally. Additionally, fear is a master of suffering capable of haunting those who patronize it Moreover, in The Crucible this erratic emotion causes people to fear being labeled
Fear can overcome people, make them go crazy, and hurt themselves. People fear more after something begins or has happened than before it starts. Every since 9/11 people fear terrorism more than any other point. “Children are especially vulnerable to feelings of loss or safety, fear, or apprehension or following a significant adverse event.” To me this quote means that children scare way more easy than older children, but elderly people scare easy as well. In The Crucible the first scary thing to me would be when Parris can’t get Mary to wake up and Abigail won’t tell him what happened In the forest. Parris believes that it is witchcraft because he claims that he saw them dancing around naked, but Abigail says that didn’t happen.
In our world fear roams everywhere. In our streets, businesses, schools, and homes. Fear has caused wars, and treaties. Fear can cause people to start something amazing or horrific. People can change because of fear of a thing.
Fear is one of the most basic and vital aspects of human behavior. To our ancestors, it was often the only thing that kept them alive, but today, with less and less things in the natural world people have to be afraid of, it usually just keeps them from working towards their goals. Fear can prevent one from pursuing their dream in that it forces us to be afraid of the future and can act as a catalyst for people giving up.
At times, fear motivates people to behave unscrupulously. Personal fears instigate some characters in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible to cry witch. Reverend Parris fears losing his job, Abigail fears prosecution and losing John Proctor, and Tituba fears physical retribution. Fear induces people to defend their personal whims and use their power to harm others.
Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain or a threat. Our own emotions, especially fear, make us do the things we never saw ourselves doing. In the play “The Crucible” many of the characters actions are driven by fear. President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. This emotion doesn’t have to control our actions.
Fear: a simple word with an abundance of meanings. To one, fear can be losing a loved one and to another it can be being alone for their entire life. Ghandi once claimed that the enemy of every soul is not hate, but fear itself. This enemy, however, can be derived from hate, for everything you loathe is the reason for your distress. Taking the Salem Witch Trial as an example, fear portrayed an enormous role in the lives of many. During the time period of 1692 to 1693, fear controlled an entire village by manipulation and hatred. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible perfectly captures how fear is exploited by characters in the play because these characters used their hatred towards others to build up horror in the sacred town of Salem. Although this classic novel was written over fifty years ago, Miller touched on timeless societal fears that still apply to the existing world today. As seen through Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, fear can prompt people to denounce their beliefs in order to save their own lives, prevent their reputation from being tarnished, and it can make one take extreme measures in order to protect the ones they love.
The most common use of fear in The Crucible is to manipulate the weaker minded people into serving someone else’s best interests. Abigail, who is clearly a master of this craft, uses this tactic to intimidate Betty and the other girls into joining her web of lies when she threatens, “I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it. I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!” (Miller 135). Evidence of fear as a motivational tool does not come any clearer than this. Abigail uses her power over the other girls to force them into compliance with her wrongdoings. This direct threat lines up perfectly with Robert Wilson’s guideline to using fear as a motivator which states, “To use fear successfully as a motivator, a solution must be offered with it” (Wilson). By giving the girls a choice between compliance and punishment, Abigail makes their decision all the more simple. With
Theodore Roosevelt once said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” What is fear? Fear can be a noun or a verb. In the noun form, it is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. In the verb form, it is to be afraid of someone or something that is dangerous, painful, or threatening. If one person looks into fear, then that person becomes feared. But imagine a whole society or community looking into fear. The fear not only gets larger as it spreads, but it also gets more fearful than it already is. The power of fear can be displayed in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and in Ronald Oakley’s “The Great Fear”. As fear moves on from one mind to the next, it leaves the
Fear drives the actions of the people in Salem including, Betty Parris, Mary Warren, and Abigail Williams. Each character's actions are influenced by their fear of getting in trouble. This fear of getting in trouble causes people to create false stories trying to save themselves. That is why fear is the most destructive force in The Crucible written by Arthur Miller.
Its very sad to say that Fear is one of the most effect thing in a person mind set. In a world full of humans maybe about 8.5 of humans out of 10 people are terrified. It may not seem
Fear can be an influence on someone's descent into a bad situation. In the play The Crucible the Puritan town of Salem is under suspicion of witchcraft. When a group of girls is discovered dancing in the forest, their leader (Abigail) tries to cover it up by accusing people in the town of witchcraft. All the accusations of witchcraft result in many different events, including the arrival of Judge Danforth and Reverend Hale. If anyone were to be under suspicion they would be tried for a confession that they dealt with witchcraft, and if they didn’t confess they would be hanged. The characters in the play are conflicted with different types of fear that change their personality and causes them to act differently. Fear influences people to take extreme measures and act irrationally.
Can fear escalate to disaster? The Crucible written by Arthur Miller was originally written to protest the Red Scare. A time where communists spies became a national fear in the US and even ruined hundreds of lives due to suspicion. Though The Crucible takes place even before the United States was established, the Salem Witch Trials and the Red Scare had both been motivated by one thing in common which is fear taken too far. One of the main characters within the play is Abigail Williams who is a teenage girl around the age of “seventeen… A strikingly beautiful girl, an orphan, with an endless capacity for dissembling” (Miller Act one lines 29-30). Her power is abused which is known to the reader and becomes a weapon for her true intent that drives the plot. Abigail’s most important value is her obsession to be together with Proctor and even confesses to him “John- I am waiting for you every night” (Miller Act one line 415). Despite her undying affection, Proctor is a married to Elizabeth and Abigail’s feelings becomes one sided. Due to this, her motivations through the play is influenced by the abuse of her position in the role of playing God. She uses this power to mainly as vengeance to rid of Proctor’s wife, “she (to Proctor now) testify it were the wife’s familiar spirit” (Miller Act Three, lines 807-808). The obvious reason reveals key factors such as witches becoming a sensitive topic and the fact that the court evidence relies on her witnessing spirits. Her crying out the devil on Elizabeth will automatically send her to jail and leave Proctor alone for herself. Abigail’s motivation is hidden away from the court just like her trying to hide the fact that she has had an affair with John Proctor, “Mr. Danforth, he is lying!” (Miller Act three, line 837). She denies Proctor’s accusation because her name because her name within the town will no longer be a person blessed by God. She will reveal her true self who is skillfully manipulative that especially evident when she comments openly to Proctor about Elizabeth that “she is a cold, sniveling woman” and that Proctor “[he bends] to her!” (Miller Act Two lines 461-482). Of course, Abigail doesn’t recognize this nature of herself and doesn’t change the
thousands of floors of office space or four large aircrafts, but rather was the creation
Fear to me is a fascinating emotion. People take it as a negative, but to me it's there for basic survival. Fear can also make people bond. After 9/11, the whole country was in fear. Yet, for the first time I can remember, the whole country was a united one.