Next, you could identify specific stylistic choices, such as word choice, formal/informal language, etc. The idea is to logically transition from analyzing one rhetorical strategy to another. Stay on topic with the strategies that the author uses often and actually has a purpose for using. 3. With each point you make, have a strong topic sentence declaring the overall purpose of the rhetorical strategies you are about to discuss.
In order for suggestion to cause hysteria, it needs to be viewed as valid. Often this is a fear or worry held in common by members of the society. In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, this fear is witchcraft. The Salem witch trials occurred because the whole community feared witchcraft. Had the adults of Salem not believed the girls who were accusing social outcasts of witchcraft, no mass hysteria would have occurred.
However, the most important factor for the intense persecution of witches at this time was the socio-economic situation across Europe in the form of plague, widespread poverty and the growing suspicion of women. Furthermore it was apparent that in the places of more extreme amounts of witch persecutions, there was a weak central government, harsh legal system and therefore radical amounts of witch hunts. Moreover, the high amounts of religious change, as a result of the reformation and counter-reformation, at these times caused conflict and disruption which added to the growing socio-economic stress and fuelled the amount of witch hunts. It is accurate to say that in the years 1580 to 1650 the role of influential people and the impact that their literature had, was an important cause of intensifying the persecution of witches. The concentration of Scottish witch hunts were attributed to the determination of King James I and his endorsement of the use of torture to increase confessions.
What can the reader infer about the speaker or the speaker’s attitude from the word choice, and how does it connect to tone? When analyzing syntax, consider such questions as: Are the sentences simple and direct, or complex and convoluted? How do dependent clauses relate to main clauses? Does the author use repetition or parallel structure for emphasis? Does the author write periodic or cumulative sentences?
Jessie struggles with the reality that the human race is expendable, there is civil unrest in England, and she is faced with considerable conflict within herself as well as her family and surrounding society. If a terrorist is planning to wipe out an entire species, targeting the females is a good place to start. This is exactly what happens in The Testament of Jessie Lamb. Jessie’s world has changed dramatically due to bio-terrorists having unleashed a virus. A strange airborne contaminant has emerged that infects both males and females.
This upset the Catholics greatly and led to the massive tension between the two groups. There is a mystery of who planned the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. Most people believe that this event was premeditated by Catherine de' Medici, the widow of Henry II and mother of the three successive kings, Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III. She had a great deal of influence on her sons and influenced them to go against the Huguenots. There have been many situations in the past that persuaded people to think that Catherine was the instigator of the massacre.
The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter share many themes that are still present in today’s society, such as the use of public humiliation as a punishment. Because of their sins, both John Proctor and Hester Prynne were alienated and punished by their peers and town leaders. The public humiliation that they faced helped shape the characters in the eyes of the reader and affected the way that they behaved and acted. The most obvious theme contained in both texts is sin. In The Scarlet Letter, the sin that has been committed is adultery where Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale conceive an illegitimate child, a daughter named Pearl.
The Salem Witch Trials + Arthur Miller= A Good Movie Arthur Miller's The Crucible delivers a powerful message to its modern American viewers about one of the more controversial chapters of our country's history. As a dramatization of the Salem Witch Trials, the movie brought the historical context of the time period to the big screen. The trials, which began in 1692 and resulted in the deaths of nineteen people, demonstrated the dangers of allowing the blurring together of church and state so closely that a legal trial was used to determine the fate of those who "were working with the devil" (Divine, Breen, Fredrickson, Williams, Gross, Brands, 83). The story is set in seventeenth century Massachusetts, where Puritanism had become the social norm. One of the key themes is that under time of stress and adversity, neighbors, friends, and even family members have a tendency to turn on each other when they allow fear to govern their actions.
Germany lead historically with the highest death toll in Europe. Witch-hunts were the brutal ramification of economic crisis, widespread social disenfranchisement, religious instability and polarization due to the emergence of Protestantism. The atmosphere of intolerance and decades of war, of debilitating natural disasters, famine, and the Bubonic plague, was the breeding ground for fear, jealousey, gossip, slander, hearsay, and suspicion. Most often it was sparked by a conflict between women, neighbors, family members, a need to find a scapegoat, a greed to possess what another had gained. Sadly so, the persecution of women, men, and children on the basis of accusations of sorcery is still in practice globally, and growing at an alarming rate in developing countries, as neocolonialism creates a climate of unrest, dependency, poverty, unsurmontable debt, and frustration in the face of consumerism, socio-economic and political flucuations.
Hysteria leads the people of Salem to believe that those who were friends are executing witchery and associating themselves with the devil. The continuous accusations of witchery present the people of Salem with a chance to redeem long-term grudges. The abundant case of Abigail Williams uses the current situation to indict charges on Elizabeth Proctor, having her sent to jail. Not to be entirely blamed, Reverend Parries also pronounces his placement in society by accusing the people who question his authority. Hysteria can prosper from those who feed off of it.