The Causes Of Madness In Arthur Miller's The Crucible

How does fear and hysteria play a significant role in creating and driving the conflict and the chaotic events that take place in Arthur Miller’s ‘ The Crucible’?

The Crucible, a historical play based on events of the Salem witchcraft trials, takes place in a small Puritan village in the colony of Massachusetts in 1692. The witchcraft trials, as Miller explains in a prose prologue to the play, grew out of the particular moral system of the Puritans, which promoted interference in others' affairs as well as a repressive code of conduct that frowned on any diversion from norms of behavior.

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.

In the late 1980’s, Ray Buckley along with his mother, sister, and teachers of the McMartin preschool faced 321 charges of child abuse additionally there were allegations of the group performing satanic rituals and traveling in secret underground tunnels. Many children from the preschool were accusing several people of performing bizarre acts much like the witch hunts that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts, such hysteria brought fear amongst many. The Crucible a play composed by American author, Arthur Miller wrote this play about the town Salem that fell into mass hysteria after a group of girls Abigail Williams, Betty Parris, Ruth Putnam, Tituba and Mary Warren accused townspeople of witchcraft. Many may argue that the root and cause of the witch hunts were caused by the girls in the forest looking for revenge or trying to benefit from the accusations however the cause was fear amongst the characters this is demonstrated by Elizabeth Proctor, Mary Warren, and Abigail Williams.

Recent studies suggest that women who live under constrained social customs are more likely to commit crimes, often times violent ones. In ¨The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, many people struggle with their actions because the rules of their strict Puritan Society make it impossible to handle their feelings and sins. One such character Abigail Williams struggled with handling an affair she had with a married man, which ultimately led her to commit horrible atrocities. Arthur Miller wrote this play to highlight the false accusations that occurred, partially against him, during the McCarthy Trials of the 1950s during the age of anticommunism in the United States. In ¨The Crucible¨ many people were convicted of witchcraft and hanged. One main character the played a role in these convictions while trying to get what she wanted even if it meant manipulating the court. Abigail should be responsible for the deaths of the people who were wrongly convicted or hanged in the play because Abigail was manipulative and dangerous, Abigail manipulates Danforth and the courts, and Abigail is violent.

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.

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.

Abigail Williams is most responsible for the Salem witch trials. Abigail started all the lies by saying “Now look you. We danced. And Tituba conjured ruth putnam's dead sister. And that is all” (I.363-366). Abigail is telling all the girls the story that they have to follow. She is basically threatening them so they won't tell the truth about what really happened. She is convincing the other girls to lie. This is when Abigail became the ringleader of the lies. This brings her powers, which she starts to use for revenge. Continuing on, Abigail won't let go of her feelings for John and resents Elizabeth. She is still convinced John loves her when she says “it's she put me out, you cannot pretend it were you. I saw your face when she put me out, and you loved me then and you love me now” (I.425-429). Abigail is convinced that John still loves her and Elizabeth is coming between them. This makes her grow more angry with Elizabeth and more desperate for John. She uses this growing power and hate for revenge. Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft shortly after this encounter. To add on, Abigail leads all the

One reason why Abigail is responsible for the death of innocent Salemites is because she makes up lies and stories about the people involved in the witchcraft. “Sometimes I wake and find myself standing in the open doorway and not a stich on my body. I always hear her laughing in my sleep. I hear her singing her Barbados songs and tempting me with-” (Miller, 156). In this quote Abigail is talking about Tituba, the slave of Mr. and Mrs. Proctor, to Mr. Danforth. She made up a story about Tituba putting her under a spell and doing things to her at night. Abigail is also the first person to accuse someone of

Apart from being obsessive Abigail is also shown as a dishonest person. When reverend Hale comes to the town of salem to visit Betty and see if the devil had been affecting her. When Hale gets to the house he starts to accuse Abigail of using witchcraft while they were out in the woods. “She made me do it! She made Betty do it!” (44). After Abigail sees that Hale is accusing her of working with the devil, she gets the idea of blaming Tituba for the events of the woods. TItuba claims that Abigail had drank the chicken blood so blaming Tituba seemed better than getting in trouble for doing it in the first

In the actual history of the Salem witch trials over 150 people were accused of bewitchment. Though most were hung they were all innocent. The Crucible was not only allegory to Arthur Miller's anti-communist ideals but a great text about some of the actual accounts in history during the actual Salem witch trials. In the play Arthur Miller used fear, hysteria, and revenge as important elements to keep the story going also to keep the readers wanting to read more and find out what will happen next

In 1692 in the tight-knit town of Salem, Massachusetts, honor and morality were important aspects of the lives of the religious townspeople. As depicted in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, the dishonorable acts of one young girl lead to a series of events that test the moral fiber of the community and leave the town of Salem in despair as hysteria threatens to overwhelm its people. Once accused of practicing witchcraft, a person has the option of lying to save his/her life and living with the stigma of being a witch, or telling the truth and being condemned to death. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller emphasizes the necessity of personal sacrifice in order to restore social order in theocratic Salem.

Lust, mendacity, and jealousy are three things that can change how a person feels and acts. Sometimes we can't help it and it causes lots of problems. These problems then accumulate and cause something we did not intend to happen and this is something that happen in the town of salem. Abigail had these 3 characteristics which made her do things and blame witchcraft on many people causing several deaths.

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.

One of the characters who was responsible for the madness in Salem is Abigail Williams. In the play Abigail hides the fact that she danced in the woods with the other girls (Miller143). She then proceeds to threaten the other girls so they don't say anything (Miller144). Because she refused to tell the truth she accused Tituba. She also accused Goody Good and Sarah Osburn which starts a chain reaction. When Mary Warren tried to expose Abigail and the rest of the girls, Abigail then