Examples Of Hysteria In The Crucible

Hysteria occurs in our everyday lives no matter how small or large, true or untrue, the event may be. The inspiration for The Crucible came from another example of mass hysteria, and from that aspects the play can be compared to more recent events in American history. Much like the events that occurred during The Crucible, the aftermath of the Boston bombing also led to outstanding false accusations, and irreparable damage.
To begin, mass hysteria is described as a psychological phenomenon in which individuals in a group setting collectively “freak out” in result of a stressful event (Nicholas). Arthur Miller is not shy by any means when presenting this idea in The Crucible. To give some insight, it seems Miller was inspired to write this play

The whole situation started when Abigail tried using witchcraft to kill her lover John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth. Once the accusations begin, Abigail uses this to her advantage and accuses both Elizabeth and the Proctor’s servant of using witchcraft to harm her. Elizabeth realizes the motivations behind her accusations stating, “She’d dare not call out such a farmer’s wife but there be monstrous profit in it. She thinks to take my place, John.” (Act 2). Abigail has shown to be a very manipulative character throughout the entire play and basically runs the entire show, as all the girls mimic what she does, and almost everyone believes her lies. Once people start suspecting Abigail of witchcraft, she immediately says that Tituba “made her do it”. She denies this at first but ultimately ends up confessing stating “No, no, don’t hang Tituba! I tell him I don’t desire to work for him (the devil), sir.” (Act 1). Instead of being punished for this, she is praised, and names other people to shift the focus off of herself. Abigail begins to name others as well, seeing this as an opportunity to not only save herself, but also for the attention and praise that will come with