The Fear Of Fear In Arthur Miller's The Crucible

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 is a common human emotion, but the way some people react is different than others. Although, it is harder on some humans unlike other people. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said,” Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.” I think that means that fear harms more people than anything else does in the whole world. Also that people can scare themselves way easier than normal and it’s not healthy.

Once the people of Salem fully realize their fear, Miller shows how they try to justify this fear, but that they are in fact becoming more and more hysterical. They now try to find a justification for thoughts and their fear of evil. They need some solid proof to back up these accusations that they make, and they need to clear their own names as well. So, they arbitrarily start claiming that “[they] saw…with the Devil”, and that “[they] saw…with the Devil” (45). These unjustified explanations for their fears just shows how truly corrupted their minds become. They start naming their own friends, neighbors, and even their own family in order to clear themselves and more importantly to try to prove that this witchery is really upon them, and to prove that they are not just crazy. What it really does is show how hysteria is setting in, and how they have actually accepted these lies as the truth. While questioning each other on the matter, their breakdown can really be seen through their quick, almost sputtering manner of speaking:

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.

A society that praises moral righteousness and piety is destroyed by a series of witch trials that are ironically immoral and unfair. The Salem Witch Trials are fueled by personal motives and feuds that emerge because of the restrictions in Puritan society. The society nurtures a culture of fear and distrust that stems from dread of the devil and strict adherence to the Bible. Salem is the perfect environment for fear and vengeance to spread through witchcraft accusations, because people have no other means to gain power or get revenge on enemies. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrays how the Puritan society in Salem influences the witch trials and increases their impact, because of the religion-based justice system, women and

Everybody has a different perspective on fear and everybody is affected differently. The Mental Health Foundation stated that, “Fear can last for a short time and then pass but it can also last much longer and stay with us. In some cases it can take over our lives, affecting appetite, sleep, and concentration for long periods of time. Fear stops us from travelling, going to work or school, or even leaving the house.” This quote shows that fear does not affect people as much as it does to others. Although, fear can affect people for a long time which can cause them to stay isolated from others. There are many types of fears and some examples of fears include: the fear of the number 13, the fear of spiders, the fear of heights, and many others. There are hundreds of fears and many people have these fears and everybody is affected differently.

In the late 20th century the hysteria of communism was plaguing the United States. This madness developed into something on a much larger scale, this being called the Red Scare. The red scare was hysteria over the perceived threat of communism enveloping in the US. This era caused a fluster among citizens as they felt that their own could be conspirators of communism. In Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, the events that occur in Salem over witchcraft mirror the Red Scare. The imposed threat caused people to accuse others without evidence of unprincipled acts that could affect everyone. In The Crucible, fear surrounds each character into making preposterous accusations against people in the town and causes the vulnerable to unhinge.

Fear is definitely not always a harmful emotion. Fear influences people to take extreme measures and act irrationally emotion. While fear is one of the main emotions people face, fear is not a always harmful emotion. In the Crucible, Arthur Miller shows us how fear and suspicion can destroy a community. As the play develops, Miller shows us how fear and suspicion increase and destroy the community. Throughout the play it becomes apparent that the community gets more and more divided as time goes on. In the beginning there were arguments about ownership of land between some of the villagers. As the story progresses people fear for their own safety and begin accusing their neighbours of witchcraft in order to escape being hanged. Salem became overrun by the hysteria of witchcraft. Mere suspicion itself was accepted as evidence. As a Satan-fearing community, they could not think of denying the evidence, because to deny the existence of evil was to deny the existence of goodness; which was God. In the 17th century a group of Puritans migrated from England to America - the land of dreams - to escape persecution for their religious beliefs. As Arthur Miller tells us in the introduction to Act 1 'no one can really know what their lives were like.' We would never be able to imagine a life with 'no novelists' and 'their creed forbade anything resembling a theatre or vain entertainment.' 'They didn't celebrate Christmas, and a holiday from work meant only that they must concentrate

“Ultimately, no good can come from this type of decision-making. Fear prompts retreat. It is the antipode to progress. Just when we need new ideas most, everyone is seized up in fear, trying to prevent losing what we have left” (Berns). Fear can be defined as a biochemical, emotional, and physical response to something negative or thrill situation. Most individuals have a negative reaction to fear causing them to obtain the physical response of “fight or flight” in face of fear or avoiding anything that causes fear altogether. The characters in The Crucible all reacted to the witch trials differently and that most likely was because of how afraid they were of the accusations. If someone was more fearful of the possibility that some people were witches then they were more likely to want them in jail or hung opposed to if they were not that fearful. The research question that is being explored in this essay is “What role does fear play in individuals’ decision making in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible?” In other words, fear can affect how one reacts to certain situations and it can cause them to make different decisions than they normally would.

Written by Oxford English Dictionary, fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm, and is an emotion that is programmed into all animals and people as an instinctual response to potential danger. Fear isn’t always adaptive though. For example, a small amount of fear before an important speech serves a purpose. It encourages you to focus on your topic and avoid embarrassing yourself. This is a type

Abigail Williams was partly driven by her fixation to be with John Proctor. Elizabeth Proctor rightly suspected that John Proctor, her husband, had a one-time affair with Abigail, the niece of Reverend Parris, who was hired by the family as a servant. Consequently, Elizabeth fired Abigail after John confessed his actions to his wife, leaving Abigail fueled with scorn towards Elizabeth. Because of Elizabeth’s actions, Abigail was fueled by her hatred for Elizabeth, so she was willing to take extreme measures to fulfill her self-interests. The extreme lengths Abigail took raise the question of their benefits and her morality. Furthermore, John Proctor did not feel any fondness for Abigail and knew that his actions were shameful. As a result, John told her their affair meant nothing to him, but Abigail insisted they were passionately connected. With no remorse, Abigail framed an entire proceeding and,

In The Crucible, the townspeople are afraid of witches and will punish anyone that is potentially one, even if they are innocent. “I have seen too many frightful proofs in court—the Devil is alive in Salem, and we dare not quail to follow wherever the accusing finger points!”(Hale). The people of Salem will take every chance they get to eliminate a potential witch, and all they

In “The Crucible”, the author, Arthur Miller, conveys what he believes Senator Joe McCarthy is doing during the Red Scare. The Salem Witch Trials were true events, while this play uses these trials and adds a fictional twist to show a point. Witchcraft was punishable by death during this time. Once names started flying in town it was like a chain reaction, people were accusing others of witchcraft because they were not fond of them or they had something they wanted. Some definitions state mass hysteria as contagious, the characters in this play deemed it true. In this play, innocent people were hung because some of the girls in town cried witch.

Fear and vengeance can devastate a community. The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller, who faced a similar experience that happened in Salem. Salem is a small religious community where everyone knew each other. In 1692 young girls started to accuse people of witchcraft. A similar event happened with McCarthyism and is happening today. Fear is caused by threats and anxiety. Both of these combined created a deadly force. John had fear and Abigail caused fear. Fear causes hysteria and then it causes vengeance. Once you are afraid, it is easier to make people act uncontrollably. Abigail created the hysteria, while John tried to stop it. Miller used the Crucible and two characters of Abigail Williams and John Proctor. Fear and vengeance causes the events in the Crucible to happen, and it affects Abigail and John to an outcome that did not favor them. Fear and vengeance can ruin people's lives.

Throughout history, many horrific incidents based on an act of violence or disagreement have resulted in panic and mass hysteria. These historical events include but are not limited to, The Holocaust, mass shootings, and 9/11. Many of these tragic events have led to people being immensely afraid. These events often create fear for those who participate in everyday activities. A healthy community consists of a support system, peace, trust, and adhering to societal laws. Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, illustrates parallels between the Salem 17th century witch trials and the Communist Red Scare in the 1950’s to exemplify how destructive irrational fear and mass hysteria can become. When a community is overcome with fear it creates an insalubrious system of mistrust, corruption, hypocrisy, and the defiance of laws. Conflict relating to witchcraft in The Crucible, led to tension and struggle for the people of Salem. In his allegory, Arthur Miller illustrates the devastating impact of irrational fear on a community through the actions of the characters of Abigail Williams, Judge Danforth and Judge Hathorne.