Mass Hysteria In Arthur Miller's The Crucible

This is later confirmed when she threatens to “come to [them] in the black of some terrible night and … bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder” (Pg.175) Mary Warren and Betty Parris if they dare to tell the truth. This shows her determination at killing Elizabeth Proctor and securing her own reputation. Unlike many naive villains in other literatures, Abigail sets out a meticulous scheme to frame Elizabeth. First, she witnesses Mary Warren leaving a needle in a doll. Then she “[sticks] two inches [of a needle] in the flesh of her belly”(pg. 203) to frame Elizabeth of performing witchcraft. So mendacious is Abigail that she is willing to injure herself to accomplish her plan. Under her beautiful appearance also lays a manipulative heart. She is capable of manipulating not only the girls into doing things her way, but also the members of the court to her advantage. When questioned by Danforth whether the spirits she has seen are illusion, Abigail steps it up a notch by making the members of the court feel sorry for her and madly refutes, “I have been near to murdered every day because I done my duty pointing out the Devil’s people—and this is my reward? To be mistrusted, denied, questioned like a—” (Pg.210) This, following by Elizabeth's failure to tell the truth and the girl’s verisimilar acting toward the “yellow bird”, further demonstrates her manipulative power which brings the court in her favor. Altogether, many

Abigail shows her need for power when she threatens the girls to not tell anyone what their plan was when they were dancing in the forest. When Abigail is talking to the girls about what had happened that night, Betty, Abigail’s cousin, shouts out that Abigail wants to kill Elizabeth Proctor to get back together with John Proctor. Then Abigail “smashes [Betty] across the face; shut it!...Now look…all of [the girls]. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s dead sisters. And…[if] either of [the girls] breathe[s] a word…[Abigail] will come to you in the black of some terrible night and [she] will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder [the girls]” (Miller 18-19). Abigail shows her power best when threatening others to get what she wants. Abigail’s power causes the girls to follow what she says because if they tell someone that Abigail wants Elizabeth Proctor dead, they will be killed or seriously punished. This shows that Abigail is a bitter young woman who uses power to get what she wants. When Tituba was accused of being a witch by Abigail, she starts accusing other people of being witches. Then

With the help of her vast pool of friends, Abigail could accomplish anything she puts her mind to – and she did. In every town, there always is a villain, a person with a pretty face but an evil mind – that person was Abigail. Most of the time Abigail’s evil reputation is ignored and classified as a legend. Her status started out as an accuser – accusing others of witchcraft, and other preposterous crimes to outcast herself from being the culprit. Tituba was her very first victim; she lies and accuses Tituba for mentoring the girls in witchcraft and cursing Betty Paris into a sleep like state.

The hysteria behind the Salem Witch Trials seems to have come from nothing. There are multiple theories that go from a mental mass hysteria to a physical prejudice. Going through the timeline of the trials, theories become stronger and weaker and in the end, the answer is a matter of whichever theory you believe has the strongest evidence, an opinion. Albeit, the easiest way to explain the hysteria could be the easiest one to explain, which was that it was all subconsciously coincidental mental mass hysteria.

In both Salem during the 1690s and in the entirety of the United States in the 1930s, mass hysteria took over for short times due to word of mouth. In Salem, Massachusetts, twenty people were convicted and hanged for the crime of witchcraft in the time between February 1692 and May 1693. It began mainly with a pair of young girls, nine year old Betty Parris and her eleven year old cousin, Abigail Williams, who began displaying fits of what was deemed devil work by doctors who could not diagnose it as a known illness (and if you know about colonial medicinal practises, you wouldn’t be surprised). The hysteria during the night of Halloween of 1938; while the threat of Hitler’s invasion of Europe were constantly broadcasted via radio throughout an already paranoid United States; was in the form of a radio dramatization of H.G.Wells’ novel, War of the Worlds. In both instances, the use of a common paranoia - in

Mass Hysteria Throughout The Crucible Mass hysteria is when a group of people panic over a false fear or threat. Arthur Miller uses and develops the theme of Mass Hysteria in hiis play The Crucible to show readers the major effects that it had on people throughout history. Mass Hysteria plays a major role in The Crucible as the people of Salem here of the accusations of witchcraft they go wild out of fear and anxiety and begin accusing people over something that wasn’t even real. One example of Mass Hysteria in The Crucible, is when Abigail accuses Tituba of witchcraft. This is an example of mass hysteria because Abigail was beginning the witch hunt in Salem.

She can now not only protect herself, but she can also take down any member of the community by her words. Early on the play, Abigail assures her power of the girls; “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.” (Act I). Immediately, Abigail gains power over the young girls by using their fear to her own advantage and manipulative threats. According to the information in the play, Abigail was never a killer or an abusive girl, yet in the midst of the paranoia she assumes power as she seeks protection and self

She tells the girls, "I saw Indians smash my dear parents' head on the pillow next to mine (Act I, page 19).” From this small detail, it is revealed where Abigail’s ruthlessness comes from. Because was exposed to such cruelty at a young age, it is reasonable to conclude that Abigail might be vicious herself one day. Anger is a second emotion and there is always an underlying emotion present when people are angry. For Abigail, she must have been traumatized, scared, and upset after witnessing the brutal murder of her parents.

In the play The Crucible a group of females in Salem accused many of Salem's residents of witchcraft, which soon led to mass hysteria. A similar occurrence happened in 1999 when people thought batch of Coca Cola was contaminated and there was a widespread of panic throughout several countries. This panic lasted for months regardless of not having any proof of the coke actually causing people to get sick. Countries starting banning the drink and the company lost millions of dollars.

Hysteria an uncontrollable outburst of emotion or fear “An old dream with a shiny new veneer. It's fascinating, you know, how an obsolete madness is sometimes adopted and stylized in an attempt to ghoulishly preserve it. These are the days of second-hand fantasies and antiquated hysteria” (Thomas Ligotti, The Nightmare Factory). Mass hysteria, through superstitions and false accusations, creates uncontrollable fear and animosity in a close community. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, discusses the events that transpire in Salem, Massachusetts during the chaotic times. Mass hysteria plays an important role in the play The Crucible because the nature of hysteria causes chaos and mask the truth.

Abigail is an orphan raised by her uncle Samuel Parris and lived with her cousin Betty Parris. When she was only eleven years old she saw her parents die in front of her. “I saw Indians smash my dear parents’ head on the pillow next to mine.” This brutal attack obviously left mental issues with Abigail. Also, Abigail was not the most popular girl in her town, she had a lot of social issues that made her feel alone. Abigail and John had an affair and Elizabeth, Johns wife, found out and started telling the town that Abigail was sleazy and this lowered her social status even more. Abigail manipulates the town of Salem because she was a host of the witchcraft but when the girls were caught she blamed it on others. She threatened the girls not to say a word about dancing in the woods naked because she did not want to get

Dajah R - The Crucible “I speak my own sins; I cannot judge another. I have no tongue for it.” Every human being will sin, but it is not our place to judge or criticize. Many morals and sinful actions were displayed during, the scene that later on meant something. In the play, “The Crucible”, written by Author Miller the thematic significances of the title of the play reveal Mass Hysteria, Guilt with No Evidence, and Dangers of Empowerment.

The Crucible was a play written by Arthur Miller about the Salem witch trials. Everyone was filled with mass hysteria. Fear spread all over Salem. They all thought that Witches were everywhere. The some women supposedly agreed with Satan and this hysteria filled everyone with fear.If women go sick or acted weird they Puritans would put them on a stake or hang them. This mass hysteria even lead to the churches and influences the start of witch hunting. A lot of innocent women were killed because of this mass

In the 1900s, there was a time period where communism in the United States was treated as an act of treason and terrorism. People were thought to be guilty even if they were only associated with communism. This was era was called the anticommunism time period in the 1950s. Arthur Miller represented his and many people’s own similar experience where they faced unfair treatment during the anticommunism time period through a book he wrote called the “Crucible.”

“When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow.” These words from Anais Nin perfectly illustrate the setbacks that occur when a society is full of lemmings who blindly follow any forms of false authority. When the world conforms to corruption, there will never be communal growth. Mass hysteria is defined as strong reactions by groups of people based on: misunderstood facts, suggestions, imagined stimuli, and blindly followed false authority. The novel, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, is based on the events of the Salem Witch Trials between 1692 and 1693 in colonial Salem, Massachusetts, which resulted in many innocent citizens losing their lives due to false accusations of witchcraft. The psychological behavior of mass hysteria was evident during the trials, and Salem was in an uproar, meaning no one was safe. Likewise, many historical events also exhibit the societal impacts of this behavior. Examples include the Holocaust, the systematic murder of millions of Jews in Germany; and the mass suicide in Jonestown, where Jim Jones persuaded the members of his church to kill themselves due to an imaginary conspiracy. As proved by historical events and The Crucible by Arthur Miller, mass hysteria is an unintentional behavior that can lead to eye-opening, unplanned, and unwanted circumstances.