the Crucible Themes In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, the two main themes are, hysteria causes people to make harmful decisions and peer pressure is more influential than the pressure to do the right thing. These themes are intertwined and build off each other throughout the play due to the character's actions during the witch trials in Salem 1692. The first theme statement in The Crucible is hysteria causes people to make harmful decisions. This theme is used many times throughout the play. For example, when Abigail is in court, and being asked questions about witchery. Abigail claims she was being witched by Mary Warren. On pages 119-123 Abigail started to freak out in the courtroom that there was a yellow bird on the beam behind the …show more content…
Hysteria throughout the people in the town causes them to make bad decisions. All towns’ people are acting like this because they feel peer pressured to make these decisions to save themselves. Abigail relates to both themes because she not only is a victim of hysteria, but she also causes hysteria. Abigail also makes wrong decisions while she is being peer pressured. Not only does she stab herself in the belly because of fear, she does it because she feels pressured to be the victim and not take responsibility for her past actions. Mary Warren falls under both themes as well because she is very affected by hysteria in court. She also falls into peer pressure when she blames John Proctor for being a witch. The court setting also relates to both themes, peer pressure, and hysteria. Court causes people to blame others, lie, and come up with delusional complaints. We know the author is talking about hysteria because he portrays the characters as fearing the big idea of witchery. We also know the author is talking about peer pressure because people are lying when tension arises. That is how the two themes in the book intertwine to portray the characters'
When 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.
What causes hysteria in a society and how do people react in these situations? In the Crucible by Arthur Miller the town leads straight to mass hysteria because of the Salem witch trials. Arthur Miller's purpose in the crucible was to present to the reader the hysteria that can come from people who think they are doing the “right” thing. When the town erupts with the thought of witchery everything goes crazy. People accuse people left and right.
The Crucible Essay The overall theme of the play, The Crucible, is about lying and deceiving people of the court and the people of Salem, while the main message of the Crucible is about how making accusations and rumors up can sometimes go way farther than they are meant to go. The Crucible play centers around accusations that are made about people throughout the town of Salem, without any real evidence these accusations are believed by the courts and people. Some of the quotes from this piece would go perfectly for this. For example Arthur Miller’s quote “Until an hour before the Devil fell, God thought him beautiful in Heaven” works out well because the people are great people until they get wrongfully accused so much they just fall apart.
Abigail pretended to be possessed and soon Ann Putnam senior caught on and thought this might be an opportunity to stop people from gaining their land to have voting rights to vote against Her husband so she went along as she was possessed also. Reverend Parris figured out that Abigail was soon lying, but he thought of it as a great opportunity to earn more money from the people for him to stay and “clean” the people that were accused of doing witchcraft. This scene went on for a while and everyone believed it until they stop believing in the
In 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.
Hysteria is a Disease Arthur Miller's The Crucible is a play that explores the theme of hysteria and its effects on human behavior and how it fuels the story. Hysteria, by definition, is an overwhelming fear or emotional reaction that leads to irrational or extreme behavior. In the play, the town of Salem is engulfed in mass hysteria, which leads to a series of accusations of witchcraft and the tragic consequences that follow. In this essay, I will explore the theme of hysteria in The Crucible by examining its definition and examples in the play, its influence on the characters and their actions, and the consequences that arise as a result. Through the use of quotes and analysis, this essay will demonstrate how hysteria is the driving force
The Crucible manifests the Purtianś ideology of witchery during the 1690s. Salem has several social factors throughout the town and essentially, the beliefs of witchcraft in Salem uprises chaos. When reading a play such as The Crucible, it becomes apparent that the conduct of Salem town during the witch trials are fearful, selfish, and prideful when it is viewed through the Psychological Lens. Throughout each act, these components are motivating factors behind actions during The Crucible.
John Proctor was told by Abigail that they never got involved in witchcraft and that everything they have been doing is all for show. John sends Mary Warren to give a deposition. When Mary tells the court that Abby has been lying along with the other girls in Salem, Abby thinks quickly about how to protect herself. Abby proclaims that a giant yellow bird has appeared on the rafters of the church and is threatening harm to her and the girls. Danforth chooses to believe Abby and the girls.
Have you ever been accused of something you certainly did not indulge in? In the play The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, the townspeople of Salem were subject to accusations of partaking in witchcraft, leading to the rise of mass hysteria. Mass hysteria is arguably the most dominant theme of the play, as the people of Salem are engulfed by worries related to witchcraft and accusations of people worshiping the devil. Mass hysteria is a condition that affects a group of people identified by anxiety, excitement, unreasonable actions or beliefs, or unexplainable symptoms of sickness. Arthur Miller explores mass hysteria through the lens of Salem and his characters by portraying vindictive and manipulative behavior within characters such as Abigail, Judge Danforth, and Reverend Hale.
To begin, a major theme of The Crucible by Arthur Miller is Hysteria. This theme is developed throughout the play by demonstrating the community being scared of witchcraft and going on a craze with accusing people of witchcraft. In the play, Abigail Williams is caught dancing in the woods and blames Tituba. The play states, “I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil!
In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible fear and hysteria are the foundation of the book and interesting and conflicting events that take place in the community of Salem. It is the answer to results in the process of the community. It is fear and hysteria that urge the Salem Witch. Arthur Miller creates a great example of how people can easily turn against each other in times of a violent and bad situation, including the waste and the power of the lives of others in reality and in doing so.
Arthur Miller builds on this theme throughout his play, The Crucible, using irony, conflict, and characterization. Miller uses the literary device of irony in order to advance the theme that hysteria makes people act irrationally. For example, Abigail Williams, a child in the play says, “She made me do it!
The Crucible Essay The theme of hysteria is evident throughout Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and in everyday life and society. Driven by self-preservation, hysteria influences many characters’ actions and leads to the devastating witch trials in Salem. For instance, many characters in The Crucible are driven to execute drastic actions to sustain their reputation and protect themselves.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a dramatic play that expresses a very important message and that is how far people would go to save themselves from the hands of death. There are many characters in the Crucible who are guilty of taking innocent lives, but there are three major characters who, without a doubt, are the most at blame. The play takes place in the city of Salem, a city filled with people that would do anything to keep their reputation clean. Throughout the play, Miller is introducing multiple characters that experience changes in their decisions and negatively influence more people eventually leading up to the witch trials. The main point that the story revolves around is that people would rather lie and blame someone else instead of confessing and accepting the punishment.
Abigail had to deal with suffering at a young age, when her parents were brutally murdered in front of her by Native Americans. The death of parents is stressful, more so when you are such a tender age. What happened to Abigail was so stressful that she had a mental breakdown. Abigail developed a sociopathic disorder, from not being able to handle the amount of suffer and stress she had. This suffering caused Abigail to make horrible decisions, she had a relationship with a married man and accused people of being witches.