Examples Of Hysteria In The Crucible

One of the strongest, most intuitive, and most influential feelings that most individuals encounter throughout their lives is fear. Many people let their fear take control of them, leading them to act dishonestly or irrationally. In Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, Salem, Massachusetts, is a feeding ground for hysteria and fear. Throughout the entire play, several characters could have done more to put an end to the hysteria in Salem. For example, Abigail Williams should have been honest from the start; Mary Warren, who participated in the false accusations, chose to faithfully continue her lies rather than being fearless and seizing the opportunity to put an end to all of the lies; and Reverend Hale, who is knowledgeable about witchcraft

In 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.

Keylian Ortiz-Tirado Mrs. Gardner English II Hnrs 24 February 2023 Mass Hysteria in The Crucible What is mass hysteria? Mass hysteria is defined as “an outbreak of unusual and uncharacteristic behaviors, thoughts and feelings, or health symptoms shared among a group of people” (Raypole). In the play there are multiple ways that mass hysteria is shown throughout the different acts. The events in The Crucible by Arthur Miller were deeply rooted in mass hysteria such as when Abigail was in the courtroom, when Betty woke up and started shouting names, and when there were poppets found in Proctor’s house.

“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.

Catie Hassett Mrs. Hodges H American Literature 25 October, 2017 Hysteria in Salem From the Merriam-Webster dictionary, hysteria can be defined as behavior exhibiting overwhelming or unmanageable fear or emotional excess. In The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, hysteria serves as a major theme that controls many of the characters, both in their mental beliefs and physical actions. The tightly-knit Puritan society that makes up Salem, in the 1690s where the play takes place, did not accept a single idea of witchcraft and wizardry in any way, shape, or form, due to their strict religious beliefs and principles. The rumors of witchcraft alone makes the people of Salem act by hysterical fear which leads to multiple innocent deaths and

The term mass hysteria is frequently misused, but when it describes an incident or event that was amplified by rumors, government/ authority actions, media, and or cultural beliefs then it is in proper context. An example of mass hysteria would be the poisoning scare that occurred in Milan, Italy, in 1630, that caused a city of people to believe that their water supply was poisoned by the devil. People were frightened, accusing others and even themselves to be working for the devil, which led to numerous executions. In this example, a rumor arose from an article written by Charles Mackay, that evoked mass hysteria within the people of Milan. Rumors and media had been just two factors that contributed to the collective delusions in Milan and also happen to be the same factors that enforced the Salem witch trials along with

In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the play conveys the hysteria that took place in Salem in 1692. Although the play is fiction, Miller based the plot of his play on historical events and his characters show how paranoia and fear can escalate. There are many references to chronicle how the setting, Salem, is like a crucible. A crucible as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary is a pot in which metals or other substances are heated to a very high temperature or melted, a difficult test or challenge and a place or as a situation that forces people to change or make difficult decisions. Appears akin to an authentically decent illustration for the bellicose hysteria that the little village of Salem contained amid the witch trials.

What Truly Caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria. On the Merriam Webster Dictionary website hysteria is defined as “a situation in which many people behave or react in an extreme or uncontrolled way because of fear,anger,etc. ”This is the exact same thing that happened in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible which is based off of the Salem Witch Trial hysteria. What truly caused the hysteria within the play and in the actual Salem Witch Trial can be multiple things

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.

Fear pushes people to do bad things, to better themselves, and to keep them safe. But sometimes this makes it worse for people around. Throughout history, there were many driving forces on what people had feared. This was through mass hysteria. In the story, “The Crucible,” by Arthur Miller, he was able to show this fear and hysteria being his driving force.

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.

Fear, Death, Hysteria, Life; all of these words describe the award-winning play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller. The play is an elegant story of controversy, death, and human emotion following the events of the Salem Witch trials. An aspect of the play is the appearance of characters willing to Live or die for their own selfless or selfish reasons. Some characters will live and die for the sake of their peers and their morals, while others will live and die for the sake of their reputation and getting what they want.

In The Crucible there were many forms of hysteria within the people of Salem. In the overture of The Crucible Arthur Miller states, “The witch hunt was a perverse manifestation of the panic which set in among

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).

The cumulative hysteria found in The Crucible leads to the loss of morality in the decision making of its characters. In the play there is a group of girls who have allegedly been victimized by witches, “folks are brought before them and if [the girls] scream and howl and fall to the floor-