Preview

Mass Hysteria In The Crucible Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
664 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Mass Hysteria In The Crucible Essay
The Crucible was a brilliant representation of mass hysteria. The examples are very limited when it comes to panic on as great a scale of which the Salem Witch Trials created. The reasons for there are not a large amount of examples is because the timing must be perfect to achieve the range of hysteria as seen in The Crucible.The hysteria was only entrenched so deeply in Salem for the following reasons: people urged the panic on for selfish reasons leading to panic, religion and state not being separated as it should turning the panic into mass hysteria, and lastly the mass hysteria led to many well respected and loved people dying to sate the hysterics of the people. The first reason why the panic was able to get off the ground was because …show more content…
The destructive end in The Crucible just so happened to be hanging. The hanging itself is not the cause of the hysteria but the execution of good people. The people who were hanged were good people that refused to tarnish their names. John Proctor could have been given freedom but he argued “they think to go like saints. I like not to spoil their names”.(Miller Act IV) The mass hysteria only ended because these good people held onto their righteousness and made the village question what they were being told. The effects of the mass hysteria was truly an awful thing with decent people being killed to end it. All of these components and the unfortunate things they bred added up to one of the most hysterical events to be told through a play. The Crucible was the perfect melting pot to create mass hysteria and the awful things that come along with it. The play also showed us the people behind the panic that either helped to stop it or urged it on. It is also a warning to never let people manipulate others to create panic, state and religion be one to move that panic on to mass hysteria, or to let good, decent people die so that the mass hysteria can be

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The CrucibleIn The Crucible by Arthur Miller, there is lots of scenes where mass hysteria is used by…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Do you know about The Salem Witch Trials? If not, keep reading. The Salem Witch Trials were a series of accusations of witchcraft towards older women. This took place between 1692 and 1693. As a result, many innocent people were executed. The Crucible written by Arthur Miller is an example of what partially happen in the Salem Witch Tails using real names and real events in his play. The Crucible is mainly about the innocent people who lost their life’s from an injustice way and conflicts between peddling guilty or not guilty for serving to the devil. The reason Miller wrote the Crucible in the first place was to compare it to the accusations to the United States Administration, accusing anyone who supported Communism with or without evidence.…

    • 358 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Crucible In Relation To The Red Scare. During the 1940’s and 1950’s there was mass hysteria that broke out in the United States. The “Red Scare” was a large scale panic across the United States Of America. This was during the cold war, at this time the U.S. was worried about communists and espionage due to that we had caught Russian spies across the U.S.…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Human nature is a word describing our reactions to events, our own inner struggles, and our interaction with others, a tendency that every human has in common. (Human Nature in The Crucible) In, The Crucible, several of the characters are constantly feuding, not only among themselves but with the entire community as well. Many citizens spread ridiculous lies and rumors accusing innocent people of being “under the influence” of the devil. The people of Salem fall victim to an eruption of delirium, caused by natural human tendencies. Arthur Miller illustrates blame, majority versus minority, ideology as being natural human tendencies and driving forces to the mass hysteria in the town of Salem.…

    • 1139 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The witchcraft trials in Salem in 1692 were a result of many different elements that were going on within the town. Jealousy was the cornerstone of the mass hysteria that soon became known as the Salem witch trials. In his play, The Crucible, Miller demonstrates how the fear of people in authority can destroy a community by bringing it to mass hysteria through the characters of Parris, Putnam, and Proctor.…

    • 772 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, various people had been accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. This leads to a hysteria of fear of the devil and witches. Hysteria is often an outcome of jealousy, revenge, and greed. The characters in the play all contributes to the paranoia occurring in the town.…

    • 206 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the Crucible, Arthur Miller writes of the hysteria during Salem Witch Trials, hoping that the world will never do anything stupid again because of hysteria. During the Salem Witch Trials there were many people that chose to act as individuals, rather than a community. Judge Danforth, Reverend Parris , and Abigail Williams had the power to stop, and even prevent the trials, but chose not to because they did not care for anyone except themselves. Judge Danforth could have stopped the trials when he found out that he was wrong about the whole thing. Also, Parris is the reason the trails took place, and Abigail Williams fed the flame of hysteria throughout the trails. These three individual contribute to callous attitudes that exist in Salem, and cause the ultimate deaths of the innocent.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Hysteria In The Crucible

    • 2228 Words
    • 9 Pages

    A group of people called the Puritans came to the United States and settled in Salem, Massachusetts. The Puritan people had escaped England because they were being persecuted for wanted to believe in their own religion; in other words, they came here for religious freedom. Salem, Massachusetts was a harbor town, near the ocean. This place was a theocracy; a system of government that is ruled by a priest in the name of God. The Puritans believed that their religion was the right one to follow and that everyone had to follow it. They did not believe in literature and would say that their religion forbade such enjoyment. The only time they would actually hang out and have a sort of reunion was when a new farmhouse was built. Other than this,…

    • 2228 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “There are wheels within wheels in this village, and fires within fires,” (Miller 152). Here, Mrs. Putnam argues with Rebecca Nurse over the cause of the death of her miscarriages. Instead of looking for a logical answer, like Rebecca, Mrs. Putnam believes that the cause was supernatural. Abigail preys on many villagers on the belief of supernatural events and incites them into hysteria. Her exaggerated acts not only scare the villagers but also distract them from reason and logic causing mass hysteria. Mary Warren falls prey to hysteria and figuratively throws John Proctor under the bus instead of speaking the truth. Abigail with the other girls accused of witchcraft perform fake hallucinations and mind control to scare and bewilder others into believing witchcraft is truly being committed. The strange and sudden events of so many women being accused of witchcraft caused Salem as a whole to become enveloped in hysteria. In The Crucible, by…

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mass hysteria can exist when a number of people behave in an uncontrollable, unmanageable way because of fear and/or anger. Arthur Miller easily shows this in the play The Crucible which takes place in the late 1600’s in Salem, Massachusetts when more than one-hundred people were getting accused of being witches. United State Senator Joseph McCarthy had done something similar to this when he had accused many people of being “Reds” or communists during the Red Scare going throughout the United States.Human nature prompts mass hysteria \because people with good reputations start it and it’s more likely for people to believe them and also mass hysteria occurs when people want to get back at someone for something they want. Media might bring people…

    • 357 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The victims in The Crucible were all innocent. This was a terrible thing because tons of people were being punished and hanged for no good reason. Innocent people were being castigated by the rest of the town because of one assumption. Many children became orphans because their parents were in jail or hanged Their livestock was roaming around the town because no one was around to take care of them (Miller). People with AIDS tend to get sick, then feel better, and repeat several times a day. The victims of AIDS were not innocent, they are going to live with it their entire lives. The people's reactions toward AIDS victims today is totally different from 30 years ago. In the past, if someone was gay others would assume he or she had AIDS. Now, people understand what AIDS is for the most part and can tell that there is no chance to contract the disease from just physical touch. Both victims are different because in The Crucible, the people are falsely accused of being a witch, and the victims of AIDS live with the disease and people around them subconsciously fearing they will contract it…

    • 1123 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Crucible Themes Essay

    • 655 Words
    • 3 Pages

    If you don't believe in witch hunts, that's fine. But the idea of them is very real. The Crucible is a story that takes place in Salem, Massachusetts. This small community is full of superstition and the towns people let their beliefs destroy friendships, and lives. Arthur Miller uses many repeating themes in the play The Crucible. There are many good, and bad themes that come up throughout the play. Some of the common themes of this story are lust, fear, and courage.…

    • 655 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    apparent when she said, "Oh, I marvel how such a strong man may let such a…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Hysteria In The Crucible

    • 1655 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Over time the definition of hysteria has been altered. Long ago it was believed to be a medical condition thought only to affect women. Symptoms of the illness included partial paralysis, hallucinations and nervousness. In the late 1800’s and through today, it is looked at as a psychological disorder (“Hysteria”). Merriam-Webster defines it as a state in which emotions (such as fear) are so strong that can cause someone to behave in an uncontrolled way(Webster). Hysteria can influence the way people act and think. Throughout time hysteria has developed in numerous situations. In some cases the effects are so substantial that they have become significant aspects in history. For example, the Salem Witch Trials, as told in Arthur Miller’s The…

    • 1655 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Crucible Hysteria

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Epidemic hysteria happens when uncontrolled emotion is set into the minds of a group of people over an issue that is happening in the mind but not in reality. When hysteria sets into a group, those who have become "infected" find that their lives are thrown into chaos and ruin. Epidemic hysteria was found evident in the lives of the characters in The Crucible. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is a play that retells the events of the Salem Witch Trials. By looking at those "infected" by hysteria in The Crucible and the facts drawn from other outbreaks in a journal by Leslie B. Boss, it can be seen how the concepts of hysteria apply to the characters of this play, including how the "infected" received hysteria, what caused it, factors…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays