Examples Of Hysteria In The Crucible

“Whatever hysteria exists is inflamed by mystery, suspicion, and secrecy. Hard and exact facts will cool it” (Elia Kazan). The Crucible by Arthur Miller is about the story of the Salem witch trials and how people react to the situation during the 1690’s. Miller’s message concerning individual conscience in an atmosphere of fear and mass hysteria in The Crucible is that people can turn on others and suspect each other or tell lies or false accusations in order to save themselves or loved ones.

Their actions of illness actually help cause even more hysteria throughout the town because the villagers believe that the girls are being plagued by a witch. Fear is seen once again in Act I when Tituba admits to witchcraft and tells Reverend Hale whom she saw with the devil. During this scene, Tituba is afraid of being hurt so she continually denies it, until finally, she realizes that nobody wants to hear denials, so she gives them what they want: a confession. After Tituba gives names Abigail sees she must do the same *insert quotes* Betty then gives them names because she believes she saw witches because authority figures like her father and Hale believe her, which becomes a vicious cycle of hysteria. The girls’ “confessions” also end up throwing the witch trials into full action. In The Crucible, many are surrounded so much by hysterical fear that their perception of reality are altered. A prime example of this is Mary Warren. *insert quote* Mary was never lying when she said she saw spirits during the trials. As she explains, she was

Have you ever experienced hysteria? In “The Crucible” there are many made up situations where someone is accused of witchcraft and having interactions with the devil. Arthur Miller's book “The Crucible” is about a community in the city of Salem that has many problems with mass hysteria and witchcraft. A character named Reverend Hale has been back and forth on either side, but overall he is against the witch trials. Many topics may run through the readers mind such as, How is Hale against Abby?

Mass Hysteria in The Crucible Many characters in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible contribute to the mass hysteria in the story. Mass hysteria isn’t an uncommon phenomenon; it happens all of the time, and one of the best known examples of mass hysteria is the Salem Witch Trials. Mass hysteria happens when a group of people fear something whether it’s real or a rumor. An example of mass hysteria in today’s society is the Charlie Charlie Challenge, this challenge caused many people to panic because they thought by doing the challenge, they were inviting a demon into their house.

Fear and self-preservation are strong motives, and these motives provide the origin of the witch trial in this play. When Reverend Parris discovers his daughter, Betty, and niece Abigail, along with the slave, Tituba, and Mercy Lewis involved in a forbidden activity, dancing in the woods, the girls are

“The Crucible” displays hysteria in many ways throughout the play, but the main act of hysteria was that it wrecked the people of Salem. Hysteria is an exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion, which is mainly demonstrated by divisions of society. Hysteria takes a main part of the play because it caused the people of Salem to do such unreasonable acts. One hysterical act in “The Crucible” was during the Salem Witch Trials, one hundred fifth people were accused for practicing

In the array of human emotions, hysteria emerges as a compelling force, often surrounded by mystery and misconception. Yet, within the domain of theater, there exists a mirror reflecting the stark reality of hysteria, its origins, and its consequences. Written amidst the Cold War era, full of distrust and paranoia, Arthur Miller’s play mirrors his society to an earlier period: Salem, Massachusetts in 1692—a town made famous for its rampant, murderous witch trials. Based on fear of alternate, non-Puritan ideologies, these witch trials represent the culmination of destructive hysteria perpetrated by society. Salem’s calamity reflects the “witch hunt” persecution of suspected communists as a result of McCarthyism.

John Mellencamp once said, “When you live in hysteria, people start thinking emotionally.” Arthur Miller's drama The Crucible expresses many themes including the dangers of pride and envy. However, out of many themes conveyed in The Crucible the most applicable, that relates to Puritan America and the McCarthy Era, is the role that mass hysteria plays in tearing down a community. In The Crucible, hysterical fear becomes a senseless means of declaring the bitterness and anger subdued by Puritan society.

When analyzing someone 's behavior and thoughts a countless number of elements can be accounted for. Hysteria is a major leader in past and present day society when it comes to how people act and think in different situations. The Crucible provides great examples with how hysteria can affect a group of people. Back in Salem, Massachusetts 1692, hysterics swept the town, creating storms of emotion. Everyone is wondering, what to do? What to think? In The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses the effects of mass hysteria to reveal his purpose of using it in his writing, how society at that time reacts to hysterics, and the consequences of these incoherences, which still appear in present-day.

Hysteria can be defined as exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people. In Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, this feeling disperses throughout Salem, Massachusetts, a Puritan town with a theocratic government in 1692 and 1693. In this play, Betty, the daughter of Reverend Parris, the minister of Salem’s church, is under an unconscious and unresponsive state. Her condition follows her father catching her dancing in a forest with her cousin, Abigail Williams, and other girls who live in the town. Many come to believe that the source of Betty 's condition is from witchcraft, an unlawful act in Salem. The discovery of the situation in the Parris household triggers people to accuse one another of

People are taken from their homes, tried for a crime they did not commit, and some even convicted upon false accusations as a result of fear and hysteria running rampant throughout society. The citizens of Salem, Massachusetts experienced this phenomenon in 1692 when the witch trials arose. Arthur Miller portrays this occurrence in his play The Crucible in which he accurately displays the effects that hysteria and fear have on Salem and subsequently how it affects the citizens who are accused without substantial evidence. Miller also represents how unjust the court system was in Salem in his playwright, the accused were guilty until proven innocent similarly to a modern day witch hunt during the Cold War. This modern day witch hunt of the

1. Throughout The Crucible, the theme of mass hysteria is presented. For example, after Tituba “confessed” to have been working under pressure, Abigail screams “I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him, I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!” (54) The reason why Abigail suddenly “confesses” starts with Tituba. Tituba was under extreme pressure when Reverend Hale and many others were screaming at her; therefore she decided to just give them what they want – a confession – so they would stop. Seeing this, Abigail joins in that she will not be interrogated later, thus adding to the overall hysteria and madness of a witch hunt. In addition, the theme of vengeance is also displayed when John Proctor blatantly states “I'll tell you what's walking Salem - vengeance is walking Salem… now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom,

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.

In today's society there are many cases of mass hysteria just like long ago. In the book John Proctor says a quote that hits big time for mass hysteria, he says “God is dead” while laughing insanely, and if that does not cause mass hysteria then nothing does.

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.