The Supernatural Force And Mass Hysteria In The Crucible

Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible contains several themes, but none are as prominent as mass hysteria, which appears in the characters Abigail, Tituba, and Mary Warren, but in different ways. Tituba and Mary Warren both succumb to the mass hysteria flourishing throughout Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony, and Abigail Williams is the propagator of the frenzy enveloping the small town.

Mob hysteria can strike at any given time. It has played a role in U.S. history from being as detrimental as lynching to as ridiculous as the fear of the 2012 apocalypse. The Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy Era are another two examples in history that demonstrate just how influential the mob hysteria phenomenon can be. The accusations during the McCarthy Era and the events of The Salem Witch Trials made an impact on The Crucible by Arthur Miller, which portrays how mob hysteria can spread a sense of paranoia, demolish reputations, produce unfair trials, and create a bandwagon to stay out of trouble.

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.

In “The Crucible”, there are words that have different meanings based on their context such as hysteria, evil and hope, which applies to the content of the play. Hysteria destroys the people of Salem, evil is within the Devil, and hope is when the characters confess.

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.

Human nature is a word describing our reactions to events, our own inner struggles, and our interaction with others, a tendency that every human has in common. (Human Nature in The Crucible) In, The Crucible, several of the characters are constantly feuding, not only among themselves but with the entire community as well. Many citizens spread ridiculous lies and rumors accusing innocent people of being “under the influence” of the devil. The people of Salem fall victim to an eruption of delirium, caused by natural human tendencies. Arthur Miller illustrates blame, majority versus minority, ideology as being natural human tendencies and driving forces to the mass hysteria in the town of Salem.

In ‘The Crucible’, a number of finger pointing and accusations cause some difficulty within the town. The assumption of witchcraft and the increased tensions among the

Hysteria was a main theme in The Crucible. Hysteria, meaning an exaggeration of emotion, was happening amongst the townspeople, afraid to be claimed as a witch or because of jealousy townspeople began to accuse people they've known for years as a witch. Once this happens the town of Salem falls into a hysteria, community wide fear over rules the judgment of right and wrong and puts everyone in a position of "survival of the fittest," if you couldn't lie for yourself and broke under the pressure of accusation, you would die if you didn’t confess to being a witch, ruin your "good" name, and/or end up in jail. Reputation, how people perceive you, is also a recurring theme in The Crucible. In the time period the Witch Trials took place, if

Fear is an emotion we all have in our daily lives. If fear is brought to a community, it will lead to mass hysteria, making their emotions uncontrollable, leading to an outbreak. In Arthur Miller's “The Crucible,” the depiction of the Salem witch trials offers a compelling parallel to the hysteria and paranoia fueled by the Communist Red Scare of the 1950s. During the Red Scare, many people were very frightened of communism because they did not want to live the life they wanted and instead they were just being controlled all by one person. This led to mass hysteria by targeting those who were said to be communists and those who also claimed to not be communists.

Mob Hysteria can be a possible cause from losing your moral rights; however, there are positive sides to this phenomenon. According to the Collins Dictionary, “mob hysteria is the heightened and extreme emotions that can be experienced by people in a large crowd”

To accuse one person of the horrible witch trails in The Crucible would be difficult as there is no argument on whether or not the whole town played one role or another in the accusations and or hangings of those innocent people. Mass hysteria radiated throughout the town. Without the influence of a certain few, the events, the story which serves as a model towards hysterias of all types, would have turned out much differently. Those certain characters that had that influence over these dark events were Betty Parris, the young reverend’s daughter, Reverend Parris who was supposed to serve as a model figure towards the town, as one of God’s chosen, and Abigail Williams the one who brought true Hell fire to Salem, Massachusetts. Betty Parris, Revend Parris’ only child, is suppose to serve as a model child for all those

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 total hysteria in Salem, Massachusetts that quickly spread out of control in a rush of lies, witch accusations and death is known as The Salem Witch Trials. People in the 1600’s strongly believed in the existence of witchcraft, so much so that it led to mass hangings. The events are famous because of books and plays, like The Crucible, that are written about them. These books have led to more and more people becoming interested in the Trials More research is being done on why they happened and what kept them going. There have been many theories as to what actually afflicted the girls. People know from studying the history that religious turmoil and greed helped fuel the flame. The answer to what started the spark was actually a type of

In “The Crucible”, there was a supernatural influence. Three reasons on why the girls obviously did witchcraft is that on page 12, Betty wakes up and starts to yell what she and Abigail did the night the witchcraft happened.. Also, on pages 22-24, Abigail is trying to put the blame on Tituba but Tituba hears her and starts to deny it. Also, Abigail threatens the group of girls that were involved in the witchcraft. Also, Sarah Good confesses to being involved with the Devil and Mary shares that Sarah’s spirit was trying to strangle people in the courtroom. Lastly, Abigail confesses to the fact that witchcraft is the reason why Betty is sick.

Remember those Disney movies where the witch had a huge wart on her face? Well that idea came from the Salem Witch Trials. To prove that a person was a witch, people would check for big freckles or moles on their body. This was supposedly a place where evil spirits could stay. During the spring of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, a group of girls were caught dancing in the woods, which was considered illegal in the Puritan times. When confronted about it, Abigail and Betty start to scream out the names of the witches in the village that made them commit the crime. This started up the accusations of the Salem Witch Trials. In the Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams is to blame for the mass hysteria in Salem because she wants to be with John Proctor, she tries to kill Elizabeth, and she tries to save her name.