Mass Hysteria In The Crucible
Fear feeds fear. The play The Crucible and the opinion editorial “Nature Isn’t on a Rampage. That Would Be Us” both address the topic of collective hysteria. Both of these texts exemplify how fear in individuals can breed mass hysteria in the collective, and when the collective falls into mass hysteria, people are blinded from the truth.
In The Crucible, accusations of witchcraft based on circumstantial evidence against people the accusers have known for years indicate that the witchcraft hysteria of Salem started from the underlying fears of individuals, which later thrown the entire community into chaos. When Mrs. Putnam argues with Rebecca about the cause of her many miscarriages, she points to the supernatural and asks Tituba, “Did you ever see Sarah Good with him? Or Osburn?” after Tituba confesses to practicing witchcraft (Miller, 46).
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Putnam has already attributed the fear and resentment she felt from her miscarriages to witchcraft, and following Tituba’s confessions, she immediately blames her midwives, Good and Osburn. Clearly, Tituba’s confessions that stemmed from fear of being punished, convinced Mrs. Putnam that Good and Osburn caused her miscarriages. Since the fear in Tituba fueled the fear in Mrs. Putnam, the audience can see that the fear in the two women drove them to blame even people they knew for long periods of time. Furthermore, when Francis defends his wife who has been arrested for witchcraft, Hale tells Francis, “There is a misty plot afoot… we should be criminal to cling to old respects and ancient friendships. I have seen too many frightful proofs in court” (Miller, 71). By stating that friendships and long-term relationships should be disregarded, Hale is an epitome of a character affected by the witch hunt hysteria. He does not particularly fear being accused and does not seek to accuse others, but the mass hysteria in Salem and the “frightful proofs” produced by it has
Effects Of Hysteria In The Crucible
1022 Words | 5 PagesWhen a community gets so caught up and engulfed in the hysteria surrounding them they will be ravaged and ripped apart. In the Crucible Arthur Miller shows the effects of terror on the town of Salem Massachusetts by showing the role that hysteria has in deconstructing a person's common sense and ability to recognize what is true and what is a lie. The town of Salem is entirely consumed by the effects of hysteria surrounding witchcraft. Hysteria put a fog over their eyes and had the townspeople and the court believing that their neighbors, the people they have known their whole lives, were capable of witchcraft.
Examples Of Mass Hysteria In The Crucible
342 Words | 2 PagesIn the play The Crucible, Arthur Miller utilizes the motif of mass hysteria. In the play townspeople panic about the accusation of people they know of being witches. In today's world we are surrounded by technology which allows news to travel fast. Recently, when a deadly disease called Ebola was found people began to panic and they were scared of being infected. The accusation of witches in the town and the Ebola found caused the same reaction in people.
Examples Of Hysteria In The Crucible
396 Words | 2 PagesIn Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, hysteria is being spread throughout the puritan community of Salem. Abigail is the main reason for all of this, with her lies and her persuading her friends to follow along with the lies and blaming others. The historical setting, characters, and events have shown us hysteria throughout the play and how the people of Salem handle the feeling of being in constant fear. As we read the play it is easy to see that hysteria causes people to jump to conclusions.
Examples Of Mass Hysteria In The Crucible
432 Words | 2 Pages“Going to the darkest place you can to make yourself really upset and adding that with the physicality and running around, you can work yourself into hysteria .” American actress Alexandra Daddario said this while her life seemed unorthodox. Mass Hysteria is a phenomenon that transmits collective illusions of threats, whether real or imaginary, through a population in society as a result of rumors and fear. In Arthur Miller's drama, The Crucible, Mass Hysteria is tremendously recognized. The play takes place in the late 1600’s in the small village of Salem, Massachusetts where over 100 people are accused of performing witchcraft.
Examples Of Hysteria In The Crucible
1721 Words | 7 PagesThe Crucible by Arthur Miller relates to many hysterias that happen in reality. This book gives us the attention to this repetitive problem, and to prevent it in the future we can be more aware of what’s happening, and how to handle it. Likewise, The Red Scare was caused by the people themselves, there were many concerns in Eastern Europe and China about the issue of communism. The general idea of this novel is that there are continuous cases of hysteria that have happened in the past which is why Arthur Miller decided to make this novel and based off of his own experiences, he decided to bring consciousness on this matter; he wants people to understand the concept of hysteria. Although Fear was influenced into their minds, one element that
Mass Hysterias In The Crucible By Arthur Miller
648 Words | 3 PagesBeing discriminated by the public, the girls were thought to be witches at first and the accusation of witchcraft spread throughout the village of Salem. In the beginning of Act I, Reverend Parris accused the girls of witchcraft with only a mere vision and said to Abigail, "I saw Tituba waving her arms over the fire when I came to you" (Miller 11). This quote shows that Just like what the article had said, Abigail “can produce a convincing performance and induce the same kind of hysteria in children” (Porter, The Long Shadow of the Law: The Crucible). The quote in fact shows that even though Abigail caused the Salem Witch Trials, it was so severe that it caused the townspeople of Salem to be concerned about witchcraft including children. This shows that villagers in The Crucible uses discrimination by accusing innocent people of crimes or witchcraft that Abigail and the other girls and other villagers did not commit.
Mob Hysteria In The Crucible
864 Words | 4 PagesIn the book, the reader sees how individuals accused their loves ones of “compacting with the devil”. For instance, Martha Corey was accused of witchery from her own husband. With this accusation, there was no evidence to be seen, other than what her husband, Giles Corey, suggested; therefore, these accusations were only based on here-say. Martha Corey states, “I am innocent to a witch. I know not what a witch is” (83).
The Flame Of Hysteria In The Crucible
581 Words | 3 PagesIn the dramatic play, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, townspeople experience the drastic effects of the endemic belief of witches. Many use the accusation of witches for their own prosperity. Miller uses Tituba as the initiator of the trials, Abigail as the opportunist, and Mary Warren as a possible threat to the situation in order to demonstrate how false fear can kindle the inferno of hysteria. Tituba ignites the flame of hysteria by accusing others of working with witchcraft.
Analysis Of A Modest Inquiry Into The Nature Of Witchcraft By John Hale
128 Words | 1 PagesIn his book, “A Modest Inquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft (1702),” clergyman John Hale comes forth to confront the recent events going on at the time. Initially, Hale alludes to the questionable actions and activities of the townspeople being accused of witchcrafts, and being imprisoned as punishment. In addition, he discloses how everyone suspicious will be accused, not even young children are safe from the hands of this fate. Hale’s purpose of publishing this book was to describe the incident of the Witch Trials, and to reveal his experience of the trials, since his own wife was accused. By employing a didactic tone, Hale relays the actions of the past that targeted the Puritans and those wrongly accused of witchcrafts, so this occurrence
Role Of Hysteria In The Crucible
788 Words | 4 PagesBrook Mills Mrs. Brown English 10 11/03/15 Many individuals of Salem have to deal with everyday hysteria with many people accused of being a witch and being executed. Other than Abigail, three characters who are to blame for the hysteria in The Crucible are Judge Danforth, John Proctor, and Mary Warren. A character that contributed to the hysteria in The Crucible was Judge Danforth. He contributed to the hysteria because he sent men and women to be executed for no reason.
The Crucible: Theme Of Hysteria In Everyday Life And Society
481 Words | 2 PagesOne example of this is the hysteria of McCarthyism in the 1950s. Many people are filled with fear of the Communists and accuse many innocent people. The accused must then say who else they know are involved, and this allows the hysteria to spread and leads to chaos. Another example of this in everyday life is terrorism. Many people in today’s society allow the extreme fear of a terrorist attack to control their actions and perceptions.
Mass Hysteria In The Crucible By Arthur Miller
311 Words | 2 PagesArthur Miller's The Crucible presents the mass hysteria known as the Salem Witch Trials, which can be related to the events following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, a once faultless naval base in the United States. Just as in The Crucible Abigail caused the unjust imprisonment of nearly all of the members of the Salem community, Franklin D. Roosevelt also caused a mass hysteria when he used fear to encourage the United States to action following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. This marked the beginning of Japanese internment where all Japanese people, including Japanese-Americans, were taken from their homes and relocated to isolated internment camps. Abigail's accusations on the people of Salem and Pres. Roosevelt's
What Is The Cause Of Hysteria In The Crucible
1451 Words | 6 PagesFear that spread among a group of people in Salem during the Salem Witch Trials, that event in history is a prime example of Mass Hysteria. In Salem the reason why so many women were killed was because of Mass Hysteria. It caused many people, in Salem during this event to think fast, rash and jump to conclusions. “The Crucible”, a short play dedicated to these events in Salem shows us how hysteria was such a leading cause of why the Witch Trials had even occurred. Reverend Hale, Abigail Williams and Judge Danforth.
Who Is To Blame For The Hysteria In The Crucible
1608 Words | 7 PagesHysteria can be defined as the exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people. This definition proves true and exists throughout the course of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. In The Crucible, a group of girls go dancing in a forest around a cauldron, some even naked, and along with a black slave named Tituba. Reverend Parris, the local minister, then catches the girls in the act. As a result, Betty, one of the girls and Parris’s daughter, goes into what it seems like a coma.
Examples Of Mass Hysteria In The Crucible
852 Words | 4 PagesThe Crucible written by Arthur Miller. The Crucible is a story based off of a lot of main characters and scenes. The story itself is based off the salem witch trials hence the story is in the town of salem. The three categories of this story was mass hysteria where people believe things and all join in. Group think is how people together make decisions based on ideas in the group.
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