Our theme is mass hysteria and conformity. Mass hysteria is when panic strikes a majority of the population. In Salem the mass hysteria was about witches and the devil being among them. The accusations that Abigail and her friends made of people being witches sparked the mass hysteria and witch trials. Conformity is following what everyone else is doing.
Miller leaves the audience with a negative impression of the affect that these with power can have over others as he conveys the suffering that can result from such situations. Abigail lies to conceal her affair, and to prevent charges of witchcraft. Lowering her eyes to Parris, Abigail innocently pleads “we never conjured spirits”. Abigail shifts the focus away from herself, finding an avenue of power and takes full advantage of it. Ruthlessly accusing others of witchcraft she changes her story as a desperate act of self-preservation, “I danced with the devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss his hand.
At the beginning of the play, Reverend Parris accused Abigail of witch craft but to avoid punishment she passed the blame to Tituba saying “I never called him! Tituba, Tituba…” (Miller 42). Abigail took no responsibility for her actions but blamed another person claiming, “She made me do it! She made Betty do it!” (Miller 43). Once Tituba confessed to witchcraft, Abigail joined in by accusing others of witchcraft so the negative attention would not be on the girls.
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.
The Crucible and Dante's Seven Deadly Sins In the play The Crucible hundreds of people were falsely accused of witchcraft without any proof, this time period is known as the Salem Witch Trials.. Arthur Miller wrote this play to show how horrific and unfair the Salem Witch Trials were. In this play sins are broken rapidly.. Some of these sins are pride, wrath, lust, envy, sloth and gluttony. Pride is to be very positive about what you have done. Lust is to have a sexual desire or determination toward someone or something.
Throughout the years, witchcraft has been the common fear of mankind. In England, the legal definition of a witch was “a person who hath a conference with the devil to consult with him or to do some act”. In early modern Europe, women were thought to be witches due to their biblical association with the devil, the superstitions and misunderstanding of the people of Europe, and the negative perceptions of those who deviated from the social norm. As a result, these beliefs and superstitions led to the death of thousands of alleged witches. (Witch Hunts) Witches were thought to be consults of the devil who gave up their bodies and led others away from the church for the devil in exchange for otherworldly power.
The accused had two options; either they “admit” to being a witch/communist and name others, or maintain their innocence and be hanged/blacklisted. It was all delusional. Miller was motivated to write ‘The Crucible’ while seeing McCarthyism take place. Miller used several different techniques to create tension in the first Act of ‘The Crucible’ as to capture the audience’s attention. For example in the first scene of ‘The Crucible’ where Parris is trying to get to the bottom of what Abigail, Betty and the other girls did in the forest.
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.
It makes perfect sense as to why Miller wrote The Crucible allegorically to these events, 1953 was a time in which American fear and madness concerning communism was frankly getting out of control, just as the experiences in Salem were in the 1690s. The Crucible is a historically fictitious adaption of the Salem Witch Trials which as previously stated, was an episode of unjust accusations of witchcraft/devil worship carried out by a group of female teens. In the play, the group of accusing teens is led by girl named Abigail Williams. In order to refocus the “heat” on another source in order to save herself from trouble, her and her peers wrongfully stage a phenomenon of witchcraft in Salem, producing mass panic in the community for months on end. It got so bad in fact, that at one point Abigail implied that even the official court judges could be guilty of wicked doings; “Let you beware, Mr. Danforth.
The Crucible In the play The Crucible author, Arthur Miller, writes about witchcraft in the town of Salem and it’s all started by the character Abigail Williams. Her behavior is caused by the fact that she is committing adultery with John Proctor. While Abigail and some of the other girls were with the slave Tituba, doing a Barbados ritual, in the woods they were caught by one of the towns’ people. Upon being caught some of the girls faked being ill. So they wouldn’t get into trouble Abigail and all the other girls claimed Tituba was calling the devil.