While lying with Betty, she warns the other girls, “If anyone breathe a word or the edge of a word about the other things, I will come to you in the black of some terrible night” (). However, when the news of her and the other girl's strange actions spreads like wildfire, the hysteria sets in. Abigail only contributes to the hysteria, though. She makes up lie after lie just to conceal her wrongdoing. She even pretends to see Mary Warren take the shape of a yellow bird while in court just to take the focus off her and John’s affair.
The Crucible: Mass Hysteria In 1692, a small town in Salem, Massachusetts experienced an outbreak of mass hysteria and pure chaos in fear of witchcraft. The incidents were started by a small group of teen girls who accused innocent people of being with the devil and witchcraft. It baffles me to see that such a religious town could be in such an uproar to these accusations. Arthur Miller uses great examples of mass hysteria within the girls and other people in the town. Many people go along with what the girls are doing, while some stick to their own belief in what is right.
In The Crucible, Miller vividly creates a terrifying world where superstition and hysteria blinds the people of Salem, preventing them from seeing reason or using common sense. They fear the threat of witchcraft so much, they are unable to see the reality of the situation; a group of young girls pretending, leading adults to believe their actions, acting and accusations, all of which had murderous consequences. In the opening of the play, we learn that a group of young girls were discovered dancing in the forest, in an act that appeared to be linked with witchcraft, especially find no medical reason for the girl's condition, they must now "look to unnatural things" (pg 7). From this moment, it becomes evident that the people of Salem were quick to jump to conclusions of evil due to their superstitious beliefs, before looking at all angles. Here, they have not used common sense, ignoring the possibility that perhaps the girls feared the consequences of their actions in the forest, the fact that they were young girls playing, not calling the devil.
Still tying into religious influences, the very physical appearance of a woman could lead to the belief that she is a witch. Warts and other natural marks of age were viewed as if they were stamps from the devil himself. Older women were the typical candidates for being a witch, many older than 50 years of age. They had no protectors, as they were often widowed, and could incite revenge if they erred in a way that would make them public targets of the community. These women were often
Besides Macbeth, Lady Macbeth also shows her character is deceiving by planning how Duncan will be killed. At the end of the play she dies because the guilt from helping to kill Duncan was too much of a burden on her conscience. Lastly, the witches are deceiving characters because they give confusing prophecies. Macbeth misinterprets the confusing prophecies which later lead to his tragic death. There are many appearances that show characters in the play Macbeth are deceiving, ultimately leading to tragedy.
The bottled up guilt in Salem is slowly gaining momentum amongst the townspeople. Although the townspeople may seem honest and dedicated to god, they are still human and fall prey to sins. The town is morally declining. There are girls dancing in the forest and a corrupt minister who cares more about material possessions than fulfilling his duties. Because of their sins, the townsfolk have guilt and blame others to free themselves of it.
The witches sound evil and many fear them because of their powers and witchery. They also want Macbeth to be king by saying, “Hail, Hail!” when he walks in. The witches know that this will make him anxious, in which it does. These three hags can also be portrayed as Fates in the mythology state. February 1, 2012 “When shall we three meet again?
Nine-year old Elizabeth Parris and eleven years old Abigail Williams started having fits, strange behaviors and would scream with anger. A doctor looked at the girls and decided that the only explanation was spells caused by witchcraft. Despite the fact today we know it wasn’t logically true, but the town had a strong belief of the devil. Hysteria and chaos took over the town, soon enough when girls all over town decided to take part in it, and began accusing the townspeople without a reason. This is one reason why this is the worst thing that happened to America.
At the beginning of Act 1 we are confronted with the physical conflict in the play when Abigail threatens her friends when they are crumbling and on the verge of spilling Abigail’s secret: “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.” Power through violence is a main theme in this play. Whoever has power will enforce it viciously to ensure their needs are secured. For example, Tituba, Reverend Paris’ slave faces certain death by beating or confess to witchcraft. This outcome suits Paris’s needs, in order to hold responsible someone outside of his immediate family for witchcraft. Physical conflict is at the heart of the play through the witch hunt; a constant threat to all of the main characters integrity, constantly being scrutinised by a suspicious community on the road to utter destruction.
Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you…”(20). Abigail fears that the village will accuse her of being a witch if they find out why she truly danced in the forest the night before. She strikes fear into the girls to keep any chance of knowledge of her murder attempt from spreading. Abigail’s use of offensive persuasion affects the girls to lie, blame, and do anything to keep Abigail from getting caught. She lays her first accusation on Tituba.