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.
Hysteria in Salem In 1692, in Salem Massachusetts, the superstition of witches existed in a society of strong Christian beliefs. Anybody who acted out of the ordinary was accused of being a witch and the accused would actually be forgiven if they blamed their accusations on another individual. In this play, a group of young girls is accused of being witches. These girls then blame other people in order to get out of trouble and even pretend to be "bewitched" in front of the court during a trial. This leads into the deaths of the innocent people who are accused and automatically found guilty.
Josh Kirkpatrick The Puritan Way: Oppressive Laws Followed to the Tee. Why? Hester Prynne is the epitome of what citizens of The Scarlet Letter’s Puritan society wanted to avoid by following laws, even if they are oppressive and restricting of free will. Rather than being sentenced to death she was sentenced to a dead life; she lost everything except for her personal values and Pearl (which was a curse in itself). Puritan society came down hard on lawbreakers and held to strict traditions set on the interpretations of the bible by the Magistrates.
The Communist Hunt and the Salem Witch Trials are alike in that they were both started out of fear and prejudice. Our own societies could even be related to this play. Many have said we could connect these issues with today's fear of terrorism, where many people are blamed of something because of their racial heritage. All things considered, dystopian and utopian concepts are relative to your particular views. In my mind, accusing people of witchcraft because you don't like them would cause the community to become very unfavourable and I'd possibly even go as far as to consider it a dystopian
The perhaps most critical theme in ‘The Crucible’ is the role that hysteria can play in tearing apart a community. Hysteria replaces logic and enables people to believe that their neighbors, whom they have always considered upstanding people, are committing absurd and unbelievable crimes—communing with the devil, killing babies, and so on. In ‘The Crucible’, the townsfolk accept and become active in the hysterical climate not only out of genuine religious faithfulness but also because it gives them a chance to express repressed sentiments and to act on long-held grudges. The most obvious case is Abigail, who uses the situation to accuse Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft and have her sent to jail. But others thrive on the hysteria as well: Reverend Parris strengthens his position within the village, albeit temporarily, by making scapegoats of people like Proctor who question his authority.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's “Young Goodman Brown” The story of Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne is an allegory focused on the concept of the inherent evil nature of mankind and the the loss of a person's faith. The character of Goodman Brown represents mankind confronted with temptation, as is illustrated when Brown enters the forest of sin and tries to leave several times but is constantly held back by the devil. Brown encounters his own evil among the evil of others. Throughout the story, it becomes more apparent that the focus is not on Goodman Brown, but on society as a whole. Brown discovers that the whole town is going to the witch meeting, a final indication that everybody is dealing with evil.
Because of their sins, the townsfolk have guilt and blame others to free themselves of it. People call out names for the witch-hunt on behalf of God; but in reality, they blame others to avoid dealing with their guilt. These accusations make the townspeople turn on their neighbors and friends, ultimately adding to the intensity of the witch trials. In contrast to the townsfolk, Giles deals with his guilt. He asks Reverend Hale to resolve his curiosity about what his wife Martha might be reading behind his back, but instead rouses the town’s suspicion of Martha being a witch.
A Jacobean audience would not approve of Lady Macbeth as she becomes a threat to the patriarchal society by emasculating the men of the play. Lady Macbeth is first introduced in Act One, scene five where she is reading a letter she has received from Macbeth. She calls for the dark spirits to visit her and take control. She could be doing his for two reasons, because she herself is evil and seeks the help of her natural allies, or because she sees her human weaknesses and needs to be strengthened from outside. In this scene, she claims ‘unsex me here’.
Arthur Miller shows how being put on the spot can scare people and make them accuse others. Abigail was put on the spot and she didn’t want people to think she was acting like a witch, even though she was, so she put the blame on Tituba. In Act III, Mary Warren was going to help Elizabeth Proctor get out of trouble with the court. Elizabeth was accused by Abigail in Act II because Abigail wanted to be with John Proctor who is Elizabeth’s husband. Mary Warren was forced by John Proctor to speak the church about confessing/lying so Elizabeth could be back home with John.
Belonging is the human need for wellbeing, acceptance and social security. One belongs to a group, a family, a unit, and one can also be isolated from groups and rejected from communities. The Crucible explores the destruction of a community by mass hysteria which was caused by members of the community accusing one another of practicing witchcraft and devil worship. As Salem was a Puritan society, to act against God is frowned upon and cannot go unpunished. I wrote this play because it relates to the McCarthyism period which was happening during that time as others are constantly accused of being communist without actual official evidence.