Theme Of Hysteria In The Crucible

Pointing fingers at someone can do a lot of damage to someone's reputation. Sometimes we point fingers at innocent people in fear the unknown or what may hurt us.. Fearing something or fearing the unknown can cause an uprising or reaction throughout a society or community. Throughout the story “The Crucible” and during the time of McCarthyism many people feared of what may happen to them, as known hysteria. Hysteria is an outburst of fear that spreads through society leaving consequences for blameless people, although with hysteria no one would know what to fear or believe in the society.

“Whatever hysteria exists is inflamed by mystery, suspicion and secrecy. Hard and exact facts will cool it.” -Elia Kazan. Elia Kazan, a famous actor and director in the 1950’s, was accused of being a communist during The Red Scare.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an interpretation of the Salem witch trials of 1692 in Puritan Massachusetts in which religion, justice, individuality and dignity play a vital role. These factors define the characteristics of many of the most significant characters in the play. Some of them being John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, Reverend Hale, Danforth and many others. The Salem witch trials were a result of the lack of expression of individuality and the fact that no individual could expect justice from the majority culture as a result of the deterioration of human dignity in the Puritan society of Salem.

Hysteria is an exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people. This can lead to lie being spread that people will believe due to hysteria. In the Crucible by Arthur Miller, Arthur use the red scare of post war america as his inspiration for his novel. During the red scare people were accusing any person of being a communist and people believed because due to hysteria. Arthur miller uses hysteria to show that it leads to Damaged reputations,lies ,and hurting people's lives.

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.

One innocent man being crushed to death, 141 people being arrested, and 19 being hanged were some of the many gruesome events that took place during the infamous Salem Witch Trials of 1692. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, some few unnatural events cause mass hysteria to sweep through a small town, placing dozens of innocent people in jail. When rumors sweep through Salem of an unconscious girl who will not wake up, people automatically point to witchcraft. Accusation after accusation, fear of being accused themselves causes people to suspect the worst about the people they associate with. In result, many people turn against themselves and others around them in fear of losing the normal life they have accustomed to. The three characters in the play that acted out of fear and caused an unnecessary hysteria against innocent people are Mary Warren, Judge Danforth, and Abigail Williams.

            By methods of denying hypocrites, redeeming his relationship with his wife, and surrendering his life to save others, Proctor has indeed proven himself to be an admirable character.  Despite the dirty deeds of his teenage mistress Abigail, Proctor was able to successfully overcome his biggest fears and stressors in order to put an end to the Salem Witch trials.  If Proctor’s legacy is remembered and followed, then similar experiences in history to come will surely have a much better than if people are to follow the simple minded lead of the citizens of Salem,

Within “The Crucible”, Arthur Miller presents the effects of hysteria by using the witch trials of Salem to show friends and family turning against each other because of mass hysteria and fear. One of the major themes of “The Crucible” is hysteria and fear. From the quote, we can gather that a Devil is in Salem, yet Revernd Hale speaks of a much more dangerous thing called hysteria. He speaks of frightening proofs in the court, pointing to the bandwagon of the courtroom where

Mass hysteria has afflicted a multitude of groups and has compelled them to do very exorbitant things. Some such groups are: the citizens of Salem in 1692-1693 who held the Salem Witch Trials where 20 people were executed, the townspeople of Halifax who claimed to be assailed by a man with a knife, which led many people to wound themselves for attention, and the 90+ students of an all-girls school in Tanzania who laughed uncontrollably for up to fifteen days. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller effectively uses the Salem Witch Trials to show: what can cause mass hysteria, what mass hysteria can lead to, and how mass hysteria can be manipulated for someone’s gain.

The root cause of the hysteria that overcame Salem in “The Crucible” was the town’s fear of the devil/evil. Hysteria consumed the community of Salem and it came to the point where it surmounted the voices of the few rational people in the town. The fear of evil is present throughout the entire play. It is first seen at the very beginning when Betty Parris and Ruth Putnam will not wake up. Reverend Parris is sitting next to the bed his daughter is lying in, when his niece Abigail arrives back from the doctor’s house and gives the news, “Uncle, the rumor of witchcraft is all about; I think you’d best go down and deny it yourself.” When the town heard of the girl’s condition they immediately thought it must have been the work of the devil. The

“It is a providence the thing is out now! It is a providence” (Miller 19). At the beginning of Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, Thomas Putnam, a greedy farmer incites the outset of mass hysteria in Salem, Massachusetts by convincing the villagers that witchcraft is being practiced by those in their midst. Mass hysteria is defined in Witchcraft and Mass Hysteria in Terms of Current Psychological Theories as “a phenomenon that transmits collective illusions of threats, whether real or imaginary, through a population in society as a result of rumors and fear” (Wolf 23-28). As written by Gary Small M.D. in “Mass Hysteria Can Strike Anywhere, Anytime”, “Most often, the outbreaks afflict children and teenagers, girls more than boys, and fainting

Strange and peculiar happenings occur in The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller. In this story of hypocrisy, guilt, and revenge, innocent people are accused of the bizarre crime of witchcraft. In Salem, Massachusetts, hysteria sets in among every person over fear of being accused of these shocking accusations. Each and every person experiences a severe test or trial in order to live to see another day. In addition to this, these people witnessed their own friends be sentenced to death over a crime in which many were found guilty. The morals of Elizabeth Proctor, Reverend Hale, and John Proctor are tested in the crucible of the Salem witchcraft trials.

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.

Mass hysteria is caused by fear in a large number of the population. This fear leads to actions that they would not normally do. In the case of Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” those actions have deadly consequences. Many people died and many children became orphaned in this play and in the real Salem Witch Trials; however, in the play two characters could have stopped theses events, Reverend Parris and Abigail Williams.

In The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses the characterization of Abigail Williams, Thomas Putnam, and Governor Danforth, to show how people protect themselves during times of hysteria, which helps to continue the chaos that broke throughout Salem. Miller shows the importance of maintaining values and principles in order help end the chaos. Miller connects The Crucible with the events of the witch hunts from the 1690s where citizens were accused of using witchcraft, and the McCarthy trials of the 1950s. It leads to the significance of hysteria of manipulation, power, and personal gains in which leads to a downfall in the society in Salem.