Hysteria In The Crucible Analysis

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

“Whatever hysteria exists is inflamed by mystery, suspicion and secrecy. Hard and exact facts will cool it.” -Elia Kazan. Elia Kazan, a famous actor and director in the 1950’s, was accused of being a communist during The Red Scare.

There have been many times in history where fear has been a catalyst of hysteria.One example of that is the Red Scare in the mid 1900’s with McCarthyism.This used the fear of communism to create hysteria in the U.S.Arthur Miller saw this and made a connection between the Red Scare and the Salem Witch Trials in his play The Crucible.Fear,hysteria,and revenge are important elements within “The Crucible” because they affect the way people think and act which develops the conflict.

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,

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.

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.

John Mellencamp once said, “When you live in hysteria, people start thinking emotionally.” Arthur Miller's drama The Crucible expresses many themes including the dangers of pride and envy. However, out of many themes conveyed in The Crucible the most applicable, that relates to Puritan America and the McCarthy Era, is the role that mass hysteria plays in tearing down a community. In The Crucible, hysterical fear becomes a senseless means of declaring the bitterness and anger subdued by Puritan society.

The emotional mass hysteria that drives the plot of Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, is a wildfire ignited by several sparks in Act 1. As witchcraft first appears, Hale proceeds to ask Abigail and Tituba questions and Abigail quickly turns the blame on someone else. During the questioning of Abigail, Hale asks her a question and Abigail’s response shocks everyone:

“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

While reading the Crucible people may believe that witch trials are a thing of the past, but the truth is that witch hysteria is a conflict people even face today. Witch hysteria was first felt in 1692 when a group of young girls said they were possessed. This started to spread and everyone would accuse others of being witches. Lot of people were tried, and if they denied being a witch they would be hung. 20 people were put to death as a result of the trials. Looking at the Salem trials, as well as more recent events we can tell that human nature wants an explanation for the unexplainable.

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.

Hysteria means “exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement among a group.” During the Witch-Craft trials of Salem; hysteria tore apart communities. Many people were executed during this time. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller shows how hysteria tears apart a community.

In the 18th century, Salem had witness one of the most appalling, unforgivable and unjust executions that would leave a forever lasting stain on the human history. The crucible, by Arthur Miller depicts how hysteria, political injustice and prejudice began the historical ‘witch hunt’ which resulted 19 innocents killed. Two centuries later hysteria, political injustice and prejudice have again affected the lives of three innocent teenagers, Damien Echols (18), Jessie Misskelly (17), and Jason Baldwin (16), who were wrongly accused, convicted and sentenced for the homicide of three 8-year-old boy; this case was dubbed the West Memphis Three (WM3). Within both historical events hysteria, political injustice/bias and prejudice has distorted