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.
If we were all responsible for everything that happened to everybody we’d had anything to do with, it would be very awkward” this further emphasises Birlings ignorance and cowardice attitude towards responsibility within society. He doesnt want to expect that he has anything to do with the death of a lower class citizen as he doesn't think they have the same rights and feelings. “i can't” implies he isn't willing to try and understand, he is so narrow minded and stuck in his way that he won't even attempt to understand what he has done is in fact at all wrong. Mr Birling doesn't think about what his actions are doing to others and what they are affecting. This is equally due to his age and the society he is surrounded by.
He then embraced the Christian belief that witches had made a pact with the devil, and always worked in groups. Eventually healing was also thought to be achieved via a pact with the devil (Until King James was around, there were “bad” witches, known as black witches and “good” witches, known as white witches). This assassination attempt came after the king was visiting Denmark (where the Christian belief on witches was well established) and on his return across the sea, a storm came and destroyed a ship in the fleet and, nearly sank the boat the king himself was on. The blame fell on the witches working in both Scotland and Denmark. These things that the king believed, studied and wrote about are incorporated into the script of Macbeth.
When he decided to choose the latter, it was transparent that the trails had changed him drastically as he appeared to be a stubborn man in the beginning. By the end, Proctor chose to die in the most righteous way. In the beginning, Proctor could be described as stubborn and somewhat selfish, but by the end of it, he was anything but these qualities. The characters who were wrongfully accused were symbolic to an actual crucible and the trials that they been through was a furnace where we are expected to tell the “truth” when the trials itself is based on false accusations. In conclusion, The Crucible was an excellent title for the play.
. .] It is this synchronizing of nature and fortune that soothsayers study, and that the witches in Macbeth know something about. We call it fate, which over-simplifies it. (88-89) In his book, On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy, H. S. Wilson explains the stand taken by Macbeth in his relationship with fate: He pits himself no merely against the threat of hell but also against the enmity of "Fate" (as represented in the prophecies of the Weird Sisters): come, Fate, into the list, And champion me to th' utterance.
Gillian MacDonald 21 March 2013 ENG 4U Mr. Chalmers The Ringleaders of the Salem Witch Trials In the book The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the theme of hysteria is dominantly present throughout the entire play. It is not hard to narrow down the cause of the widespread hysteria to three people that inevitably had their hand in the trials. The devious character, Abigail, shows her wicked mind and skill of manipulation in the play so she can get what she wants, John Proctor. The slave, Tituba, gave into the accusations and started the hysteria of the witch trials. The last character that contributed to an entire town’s belief in witches would be Danforth.
The Underground Man is a hermit. He is always alone which is a sign for existentialism because he argues that every man is in constant isolation. Man is born alone and he will also die alone. He is away from his fellow human beings. The Underground Man makes his unchanging character known within this quote; “I did not, of course, maintain friendly relations with my comrades and soon was at loggerheads with them and in my youth and inexperience I even gave up bowing to them, as though I had cut off all relations.
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.
Shakespeare further cultivates Macbeths quickly changing character through soliloquy and dramatic irony. His success in doing so is disclosed as the once ‘noble’ Macbeth goes against all odds to convey his idea of fulfilling the witches’ prophecies: to kill King Duncan. Macbeth also notifies us that to even anticipate slaughtering the sacred King is an act of treachery and betrayal nonetheless he delivers himself as quite motivated and determined to do so. The “horrid image”, “doth unfix” his hair and make his “seated heart knock”; his lust for ultimate power poisons his loyalty and decays at his integrity. As the play moves on, the audience observe the hasty crumbling of his devotion to God and the King.
John Proctor – John is an honest, blunt-spoken, good man with a temper. His affair with Miss Williams, creates her jealousy of his wife, which causes the whole witch hysteria. Proctor realises he can stop Abigail but only if he confesses to his adultery. Confessing to this would ruin his good name, he is a proud man who puts great emphasis on his reputation. Eventually he makes an attempt, through Mary Warren’s testimony, to name Abigail as a fraud without revealing crucial information about the affair.