Mental Illness In The Crucible
Ruby Blickle
Mr. Glorfield
English 11
15 December 2022
Witchcraft or Illness?
Whenever there is an unanswered question, many people will jump to extreme conclusions. This was shown in The Crucible, which is set during the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials were a time of chaos, murder, and confusion. Many people were falsely accused of witchcraft, and there was no actual evidence of witchcraft. However, there is a lot of evidence pointing at many different probable causes. These causes give more of an explanation to how those accused were not actually witches. Therefore, the Salem Witch trials were not cause by actual witchery, but were caused by mental illness, epilepsy, and fungus.
To start, there has been a lot of research
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During this time, many Native American wars and raids were happening constantly. All That’s Interesting shows “Some of the ‘afflicted girls’ who accused women of ‘bewitching’ them had actually witnessed some earlier raids prior to making their claims.” (ATI, 9). This explains how PTSD could have come from the girls witnessing this. There is also evidence that some of them had witnessed a recent raid before the start of the witch trials. This would have put extra anxiety and fear on the other untreated mental illnesses they were already experiencing. Therefore, the PTSD that these girls had was ignored and made them lash out in this …show more content…
There has been a lot of research on this topic, and it does an excellent job of explaining what could have happened. Dr Linnda Caporael notes, “Ergotism forms in rye after a severe winter and a damp spring—conditions that Caporael and other historians claim were present in 1691 and therefore affected the rye harvested for consumption in 1692.” (Lohnes, 3). In further information, it shows that the rye that was infected was used to make bread. This bread was then given out to the town and could have affected many people. There is not a lot of information on how many people were infected, but there were symptoms reported that
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679 Words | 3 PagesThe Salem Witch Trials of 1692 in Massachusetts are historically known as the tragic event where many people were accused of witchcraft and 19 of those innocent individuals were found guilty and then executed. These individuals were accused by a group of young girls that claimed that they were ‘bewitched"or possessed by the devil. These girls were experiencing symptoms such as hallucinations, convulsions, etc. Doctors then could not diagnose this, so they turned to blame it on witchcraft. In 1976, Linnda Caporael, who is a historian, developed a theory that ergot poisoning was the cause of the Salem Witch Trials.
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1616 Words | 7 PagesJonathan Coy Mr.Glorfield English 11A 16 December 2022 America and The Crucible Americans have been called many things entitled: self-righteous, easily offended, and much more. They have also been called many good things, like innovative courageous and ready to try new things. Back in the early days of America, Salem was a town much like you’re average American town. It was in Salem that the fear of witchcraft breaks out. Due to fear and unrest, many people unjustly got hanged and prosecuted for witchcraft.
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162 Words | 1 PagesThere are plenty of effects of anxiety that people may feel. As shown, the most commonly effects are depression, anger and being an introvert. In the play, Parris reacted angrily due to the fact that he was scared of having witchcraft around since it will cause his people to drive him out of town. Throughout the play many people reacted to witchcraft with agression which caused a mass hysteria, and countless executions and hangings. Even though in the end of the story abigail, who is responsible for the deaths of innocent people accused of witchcraft left town John proctor still ended up dying from her evil act.
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598 Words | 3 PagesImagine being a wealthy 45-year-old woman in 1692 being accused of being a witch. The Salem Witch trials were caused by jealousy, fear, and lying. People believed that the devil was real and that one of his tricks was to enter a normal person 's body and turn that person into a witch. This caused many deaths and became a serious problem in 1692. First of all, jealousy was one of the causes of the Salem witch trials.
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