The Salem Witch Trials: An Example Of Mass Hysteria

Not many people know much about what actually happened in the Salem Witch Trials. Maybe someone would think that it was just about witchcraft and crazy people being hanged, but it is a lot more than that. The Salem Witch Trials only occurred between 1692 and 1693, but a lot of damage had been done. The idea of the Salem Witch Trials came from Europe during the “witchcraft craze” from the 1300s-1600s. In Europe, many of the accused witches were executed by hanging.

Hysteria is an overwhelming feeling that corrupts the human mind because a person’s actions begin to affect other people’s decisions. It prevents people from being able to make their own decisions because their minds are being manipulated to follow other people’s actions in order to fit in. These characteristics of hysteria can be used as an advantage because it can be used to take advantage of people who are feeling hysteric or for example, afraid. People can use other’s fears and manipulate what they are afraid of to convince them to act a certain way that would benefit the manipulator. Therefore, hysteria is abused by people because it can be used to control an audience into believing anything a person wants.

The Crucible Character Types Antagonist: Abigail Williams stirs up the entire town of Salem against many people, including Elizabeth and John Proctor, because of her selfish ambition to be John’s next wife, as well as her treacherous lust for the power that she gains by accusing innocent people of witchcraft. She even threatens the girls that if they tell the truth (that shes lying ) then she’d – ‘..come to them in the black of some terrible night and shudder them’. She is threatening and clearly evil and the villain.

In The Crucible by Aurthur Miller mass occured when it was believed that witchcraft was being used and the townspeople panicked. A curent event that caused mass hysteria was the bomb threat in December 2015 to the LAUSD districts. In THe Crucible , Betty would not wake up after playing in the woods with many women. Reverend Parris,Betty's father, claims that the women who were out in the woods were doing witchcraft for he saw a pot with animals in it and tahat Betty was chanting.

As their puzzled father ,Samuel Parris, observed the two mysterious little girls creep under chairs and spin around on the ground he pondered where this weird behavior was coming from. In Salem there were two little girls who were envious of the rich, so they made it clear that they could make people tremble in fear if they did not like you or wanted what you had. Everyone in Salem was terrified because there were so many people being accused of witchcraft. 22 people were hanged because the two little girls were pretending to be afflicted. The Salem witch trial Hysteria of 1692 was caused by two poor, young girls who claimed to be afflicted because of jealousy.

Mass Hysteria In the Salem Witch Trials Abigail is the one who starts the whole witch thing, when her and all the girl from the village were in the woods doing a ritual about who they wanted to marry. The girls didn't notice that someone had followed them into the woods and they were caught and a young child fell to her knees and into a comma. The townspeople thought it was to be witchcraft. Abigail didn't want the towns people to know so Abigail threatened the girls and told them if they were to talk she would kill them.

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, villagers of Salem demonstrate greed through the service their self interests, whether it be preservation of reputation, or land possession, despite conducting unjust acts. Arthur Miller, in turn, uses the setting of the play, Abigail’s willingness to perjure in preservation of her desires, and imagery to highlight the importance of the greed as a social issue upon the play as a whole. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible sets in a Puritanistic community, where qualities of purity, dedication to God, and honesty, construct the core ideals of society; thus, provides the grounds to highlight the negative significance of greed as a social issue. The Crucible sets in Puritan Salem, where a theocratic governing body, who

A group of girls were dancing in the woods with a black slave named Tituba. When the girls got caught dancing in the woods, they started blaming other people in the village of being involved with witchcraft. Soon enough, the whole village believed the devil exists and lives within the fear of each person. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible explores through the individuals vengeance, reputation, fear, and seeking for power with the drama of suspense and impact.

The Salem Witch trials took place in Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693 where people were killed if they were thought to be witches. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller writes about the witch trials and what happened during that time. The Crucible has many themes throughout the play. One prominent theme is the theme of mass hysteria. Mass hysteria is shown in many cases throughout the play such as the scenes when the people of the village of Salem are accused, in the court room while the people state their case, and when the townsfolk are about to be hung after failing to call out other witches.

Hysteria has been seen throughout history, but what dictates the outcome is how the community reacts. Hysteria can be defined as uncontrollable emotion among a group of people. Hysteria has been depicted throughout human history, and can be seen during the Cold War, 9/11, and terrorist threats. The Crucible evidently shows how hysteria leads to the disunification of a community through the human obsession of reputation, the Puritan lack of respect for privacy, and human fear.

Hysteria is an exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people. In Arthur Miller's, The Crucible, hysteria plays an important role of tearing apart the community of Salem by creating an environment where people act on their grudges. As a result of these grudges the whole community is turning on each other and blaming people they have known for years on the one thing they believe is true. Members of the community deal with this hysteria in different ways, and some more harsh than others.