Mass Hysteria and Analysis of Arthur Miller´s The Crucible

The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, was a historical play written about the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1692-93. The Salem witch trials created mass hysteria throughout the entire village of Salem, which was also mainly inhabited by Puritans. Puritans had a set ideal of firm beliefs that managed how they lived. Essentially, they were living as an elect, which meant they (referring to the Puritans) had a place in heaven for the righteous acts they have done in the physical world. Meaning, any sinful acts could potentially hinder the chances of entering heaven as an elect. The Crucible, questioned everything the Puritans abided by. It questioned the basic morals of a pure lifestyle, adultery and

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a historical play set in 1962 in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. As you may know, you've all placed your trust in the words and actions of someone close to you. And what do they do? They betray you! It's rarely justified, and can happen to the best of us. Based on authentic records of witchcraft trials in the seventeenth-century this play explains how a small group of girls manage to create a massive panic in their town by spreading accusations of witchcraft. These rumors in turn are the causes that many citizens are hung for. This essay will show how the lies and betrayal of a few individuals eventually leads to the downfall of Salem and its society.

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.

“The little crazy children are jangling the keys to the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law now.” In Arthur Miller’s dramatic tragedy, “The Crucible”, he examines how mass hysteria has effected people throughout the ages, with the idea that one accusation can change a life instantly. Mass hysteria led to the tragic events of The Crucible because the power and leadership that comes with making accusations can have a dramatic impact on a community. The story also illustrates how people would rather kill others than get killed themselves.

Fear, panic, and obsession can drive a person to commit terrible acts. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, many people are accused of witchcraft by a group of girls claiming to be afflicted by the “witches” in their town of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Because there was no way to prove that someone was really a witch, those who did not confess were sentenced to hang for their crimes, which ranged from conjuring up the dead to sending their spirit out on others. Terror soon spread throughout the village and people began to point fingers at each other. Although many townspeople contributed in getting the situation out of hand, one person was responsible for starting the whole ordeal: seventeen-year-old Abigail Williams, ringleader of the troubled girls. Her reason for crying witchcraft and spreading panic was due to her obsession with a man named John Proctor.

I believe the overall theme of the play The Crucible centers around hysteria. Arthur Miller mentions in his essay “Why I Wrote the Crucible” the presence of fear and desperation in the wartime days that “formed The Crucible’s skeleton”. Arthur goes to hint at the similarity of “liberals who, despite their discomfort with the inquisitors’ violations of civil rights, were fearful, and with good reason, of being identified as covert Communists if they should protest too strongly…” to the villagers in the town of Salem within The Crucible, and how they were afraid of being accused of witchcraft by the courts. Arthur Miller is attempting to convey the message that people act recklessly when overwhelmed with confusion and fear-led excitement.

In The Crucible, there was a lot of senseless behavior. The purpose of The Crucible is to educate the reader on the insanity that can form in a group of people who think they are judging fairly upon a group of people. Judge Hawthorne believes what he is told by certain people is the truth even if little evidence is to be shown. The young girls with Abigail convince Hawthorne of others being witches so that Abigail can get what she wants, John Proctor, also so that Abigail does not blackmail the girls. The Crucible by Authur Miller investigates the effects of hysteria, superstitions and repression on the Salem Community in the late 1600’s.

In the Crucible I believe it was a mass hysteria because the girls Abby and Betty were accused of doing witchcraft in the woods with other girls and their slave Tituba. After Betty’s dad caught them at the forest. He says on page 10 in the book, “I saw Tituba waving her arms over the fire when I came on you”. He saw everything that happened in the woods that day. After that day Betty would not wake, or she would have her eyes open but would not talk or walk. A lot of people believe that it’s witchcraft, Mrs. Putnam believes that Tituba murdered her seven born babies and that Tituba can also speak to the dead. Mrs. Putnam is a very strong believer of witchcraft. Her daughter Ruth Putnam is also very sick she has the same symptoms as Betty. Mrs. Putnam thinks Ruth was very close to speaking to her dead sisters. Abby blames Tituba for making the girls drink chicken blood, Tituba confesses it. She also accused Tituba of making her laugh at prayers. Tituba accuses Abby for making her conjure and charm.

Mass Hysteria is strong reactions by groups of people based on misunderstood facts, suggestions, imagined stimuli, or blindly following a false authority. The impacts of mass hysteria on a society can be damaging and deadly, not only physically, but emotionally too. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is about the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. During the Salem Witch Trials, several girls in Salem, Massachusetts accused multiple people in and around the town of being witches. Being Puritan and wanting to please God, the community immediately started trials for the accused people. As a result of the trials, twenty people lost their lives. Mass Hysteria leads to rash conclusions based on few reliable facts; The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the 2014 Ebola outbreak, and allegations that vaccinations can cause permanent challenges, such as autism, are all examples of mass hysteria.

John Proctor is concerned about his reputation in the town of him being a very manly/brave man. When Elizabeth was accused my Abigail, John stood up for her and fought to keep her, even when they took her to jail. John walked through the doors of the court trying to free her. He was very concerned about his reputation in the town, and he confessed to having an affair with Abigail Williams. He was trying to free his wife and take down the lying girls in the process. This was a very brave act, Proctor held tightly to his reputation in the town, telling that information took all of it away from him. He confessed this knowing that it would convict him, he just wanted to free his wife and shine light on the girls to the court.

People have used multiple ways to manipulate people to carry out crimes, spread rumors, and to get themselves into a high position like a king or president of a certain groups. Famous people in history like Senator Joseph R. McCarthy who used mass hysteria to control the people to supposedly get rid of communist and Abigale who accused people of witches. Mass hysteria is an easy way to get people involved in something that does not apply to them, just so that one person can obtain power, for instance Abigale in the story “The Crucible.” Why do people exploit mass hysteria, is it the only way to get what you want in life, or is there another way? Mass hysteria has impacted the people by manipulating them, for that person to obtain power in the past, as well as its portrayed in a story to the people.

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.

While portraying his groundbreaking role as Qui Gon Jinn in the 2002 hit movie Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Liam Neeson is quoted as saying, “Your focus determines your reality.” In the context of Salem, Massachusetts, this means that if one focuses on witches and witchcraft, their reality will then become witches and witchcraft. This is exactly what happened during the Salem Witch Trials during the late 1690’s, as immortalized in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. The small Puritan colony became so engrossed with fear of the Christian Devil™ that they began to suspect their own neighbors, and a select few individuals began using that fear for their own personal benefit, accusing their neighbors for the sake of righting wrongs