The Crucible - Was The Mass Hysteria Necessary? Essay

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible focuses on the Salem Witch Trials along with the pointing of fingers that went along with it. Miller wrote this to reflect upon what was occurring during the Red Scare in the 1940’s and 1950’s. The Crucible is written in an ironic and cynical tone mocking the Red Scare.

Many of the characters in Arthur Miller's The Crucible have specific human flaws that cause the tragedy of the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem villagers exhibit failings, including greed, vengeance, and fear, which eventually lead to the downfall of their town. Many villagers, especially Abigail Williams, take advantage of the opportunity to seek vengeance on others through the trials. Greed for power and land often holds precedence when the hysteria takes over. Fear of being arrested or put to death is the key motivation in turning others in as witches. From these three human flaws, the town of Salem falls into chaos with many innocent people paying the price.

Arthur Miller writes about the tragic results of human failings in his play, The Crucible. He presents characters from the past and infuses them with renewed vitality and color. Miller demonstrates the horrifying results of succumbing to personal motives and flaws as he writes the painful story of the Salem witch trials. Not only do the trials stem from human failings but also from neglect of moral and religious considerations of that time. Characters begin to overlook Puritan values of thrift and hope for salvation. Focusing on the flawed characters, they begin to exhibit land lust, envy of the miserable and self-preservation.

“The arrogant are wise in their own eyes, but the wise will recognize their lies” (Anonymous). This quote accurately describes how the events in the Salem Witch Trials unfolded. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, places the reader into the city of Salem, Massachusetts. Arthur Miller tells a fictional story based on real events of how people who were wise in their own eyes used others to better themselves in a community based on honesty. Three characters from the story stand apart in their arrogance. Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and Reverend Parris were conceited and cared only about their personal gains. These characters used their power to blame, but not to be blamed or accused of alleged witchcraft which resulted in the deaths of several townspeople. Arthur Miller used these characters to illustrate how simple lies and rumors can spread and become an unstoppable force. With these simple but powerful accusations, well respected citizens soon became the targets of these characters manipulation.

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 Crucible was a visual presentation for us to understand how a type of government can paranoid someone and encourage other people who cause the tension. The Crucible helped us understand that life is like a domino, if one person is infected by a problem, the rest will have to deal with that problem, and as this domino effect goes on, the future follows it as well. History goes back a long way. When we look back at history, we should learn from those mistakes. When Miller was in high school, he was very inspired in the Salem Witch Trial's and decided to go to Salem and explore more about it. He had the idea to make a play about Salem, but change the age of John Proctor's accuser, Abigail, from 11 to 17, to make it more realistic about the

What do you think of when you think of mass hysteria? *hook* In the Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, is both an allegory and tragedy where the Puritan society of Salem is attacked with the agitation of witchcraft. It all started with five young girls of the Salem society caught dancing naked around a bonfire. This practice is viewed upon by the Puritans as the task of the devil. In the beginning of the play, there was controversy about ownership of land between some of the villagers. Later in the story, people feared for their own safety and begin pointing fingers and accusing their neighbors of witchcraft in order to escape being hanged. This caused the society to get more and more separated as time went on. This emphasizes the idea of how fear and suspicion can destroy a society due to accusations, roundups, and forced confessions. Miller captures the evil of paranoia and fear in his play through emotions by letting them shine through his characters to make the audience feel the tension, the angst and the desperation throughout the play.

Mass hysteria is a phenomenon that transmits collective allusions of threats through a population in society as a result of rumors and fear. The Crucible by Arthur Miller accurately portrays mass hysteria that took place during the Salem witch trials of 1692. People were accused based on revenge or other malicious motives and to make the situation worse, nothing about the trials was logical. After a few people were accused, fear set into the town and everyone was viewed as a witch until proven innocent. Mass hysteria not only happened during the Salem witch trials, but right after the Twin Towers fell on September 11, 2001 as well. Mass hysteria ties into both the accusations made in The Crucible and the islamophobia that set in after 9/11.

The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is a tragic story of injustice suffered by an innocent community who are subjected to the hypocritical, prideful judges of their trial. These Judges use their power to eliminate evidence of their mistakes and return their community to puritanical ways. The leaders of Salem are not concerned with seeking the truth and justice, but with maintaining their authority and reputations; this objective leads them to consistently rejecting truth, against all logic and evidence of their senses.

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.

The Crucible The Crucible is not only a historically accurate narrative about the events that took place during the witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts, but it is also a depiction of the nature of human beings. As humans, we tend to find power to be desireable, and Abigail and her gang of girls discovered what it was like to have a taste of it. This story is timeless because it shows the true morals we as humans have. It makes us question if we as society fall behind those who have high authority simply because of the power they possess or because of the fear of what may come if we do not. This novel is truly a representative of the nature of mankind.

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.

What is Mass Hysteria? Mass Hysteria is a condition affecting a group of persons, characterized by excitement, or anxiety irrational behavior or beliefs, or inexplicable symptoms of illness. In the crucible, Abigail Williams uses Mass Hysteria to exploit the people around her by accusing people that she does not like by using witchcraft.To start off, Abigail uses Mass Hysteria because she does not like Elizabeth. Abigail causes Mass Hysteria by accusing Elizabeth of being a witch because she does not like her. Abigail is in love with proctor who is Elizabeth’s husband. Secretly, Abigail and Proctor had an affair. “She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, shriveling woman, and you bend to her! Let her turn you like a Proctor, shaking her: Do you look for whippin? (Act 1 202-205). Abigail pretends to be upset at Goody Proctor for ruining her reputation but she is really jealous of Elizabeth and John’s marriage. Abigail uses petty name calling to bring doubt in John’s mind about Elizabeth. “It is her dearest hope, I know it. There be a thousand names, why does she call mine? There be a certain danger in calling such a name_ I am no goody good that sleeps in ditches, nor osburn, drunk and half wilted. She’d dare not call out such a farmers wife but there be monstrous profit in it. She thinks to take my plan, John (Act 2 162-168). A quote from Elizabeth as she points out that Abigail’s behavior, and her accusation of Elizabeth is because of the jealousy and possible benefit she might gain if Elizabeth dies.Next, Proctor says “you will not judge me mor, Elizabeth. I have a good reason to think before I charge fraud on Abigail, and I will think on it. Let you look to your own improvement before you go to judge your husband any more. I have forgot Abigail, and Elizabeth says “And I” (Act 2 85). Proctor desires forgiveness from his wife, but whether he’s earned it or not, she struggles to let go of her hurt. She can’t be honest about her feelings of betrayal, and her husband is callous to think that she should just get over it. “ You’ll tear it free, when you come to know that I will be your only wife, or no wife at all she has an arrow in you yet, John Proctor, and you

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.

In the “The Crucible” I think there was a supernatural force but there was also mass hysteria. The story is based on what the people wanted to believe. 1 doctor who believed the cause of an illness was due to witchcraft. The thought of this is what drove the townspeople mad. Many women were hanged and accused of being witches for no solid reason. The salem witch trials was an infamous time where a simple thing such as reading a book could be a sign of witchcraft. For example on page 53 Mr. Correy claims to have seen his wife reading a book in the middle of the night. He found this to be suspicious but with the whole town knowing the court issued a warrant for her to be taken away. He tries his best to fight for her innocence court but fails. I don’t think of this as witchcraft because she is only reading and she was doing no harm to anyone. This goes to show that any little accusation can lead to a big problem. In the beginning of the story Betty and Abigail were seen dancing in the woods, the next day Betty is unable to wake up. Once the town heard about this many of course assumed witchcraft. I believe this was witchcraft because once they were seen Betty is unable to wake up which is strange if she had no signs of illness or anything. Abigail and the girls are gatherd around betty when she starts to whimper. She wakes up and Abigail is telling her she has told her papa everything that has happened. On page 12 Betty tells abigail, “ You drank blood… you drank a charm to