The Crucible - Was The Mass Hysteria Necessary Essay

In The Crucible, there was a lot of senseless behavior. The purpose of The Crucible is to educate the reader on the insanity that can form in a group of people who think they are judging fairly upon a group of people. Judge Hawthorne believes what he is told by certain people is the truth even if little evidence is to be shown. The young girls with Abigail convince Hawthorne of others being witches so that Abigail can get what she wants, John Proctor, also so that Abigail does not blackmail the girls. The Crucible by Authur Miller investigates the effects of hysteria, superstitions and repression on the Salem Community in the late 1600’s. Author Miller, 1915- was born in New York City and graduated from Abraham High School in Brooklyn,†¦show more content†¦In A View From the Bridge (1955; Pulitzer Prize) Miller studies a Sicilian-American longshoreman whose unacknowledged lust for his niece destroys him and his family. All My Sons (1947), Incident at Vichy (1965), The Price (1968), The Creation of the World and Other Business (1972), The Ride down Mount Morgan (1991), and Broken Glass (1994). His screenplay, The Misfits (1961); television dramas, Playing for Time (1980) and Clara (1991); His novel, Focus (1945); and a study of the Soviet Union, In Russia (1969), Arthur Miller’s last book written was his autobiography Time bends: A Life. (Kennedy Center) nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a play about the Salem witch trials in 1692. these were classic examples of mass hysteria, resulting in the hanging of a great many respectable men and woman of charges of dealing with the devil. They were convicted by people at least as respectable as themselves, largely on the evidence of many young girls lead by Abigail William’s, who had been caught dancing in the moonlight and laid their rakish behavior to the influence of Satan. Many innocent people were accused and convicted of witchcraft on the most absurd testimony, the testimony of Abigail and the other girls blaming whom they wanted to, so that they were not seen as witches. Descent citizens who signed petitions vouching to the good character of the accused friends andShow MoreRelatedHuman Nature Causing Mass Hysteria in The Crucible1139 Words   |  5 Pagesin The Crucible) In, The Crucible, several of the characters are constantly feuding, not only among themselves but with the entire community as well. Many citizens spread ridiculous lies and rumors accusing innocent people of being â€Å"under the influence† of the devil. The people of Salem fall victim to an eruption of delirium, caused by natural human tendencies. Arthur Miller illustrates blame, majority versus minority, ideology as being natural human tendencies and driving forces to the mass hysteriaRead MoreThe Crucible By Arthur Miller1431 Words   |  6 PagesThe quality most necessary in a leader and a catalyst for hysteria is the ability to manipulate. The play The Crucible by Arthur Miller depicts the events that occurred in 1690s in Massachusetts best known as the Salem Witch Trials. These events center on a group of young girls who are found dancing in the woods with a black slave. Among them is Abigail Williams, a 17 year-old-girl desperate to conceal her affair with a married man and escape charges of witchcraft. In an attempt to pull the spotlightRead Moreâ€Å"Red Alert Is The Colour Of Panic. Elevated To The Point1704 Words   |  7 Pageslead to full-throttle screaming And the welfare is asphyxiating Mass confusion is all the new age and it s creating a feeding ground for the bottom feeders of hysteria† American Eulogy by Green Day was written and released in 2009 giving their audience the feeling of what it is like to be in the middle of mass hysteria and trying to escape that life. Just as people felt During the Cold War and the Salem Witch Trials. The Crucible takes place in Salem, Massachusetts when he wrote the play in 1953Read MoreSimilarities Between The Red Scare And The Crucible1506 Words   |  7 PagesConor Regan Mr. Young American Lit Honors 9/29/17 Wicked Witch of the USA: The Parallels Between The Crucible and the Red Scare Imagine the panic when there is the possibility that anyone around who looks no different than everyone else is relaying information to the enemies. Having no idea if the neighbors who have lived there for 15 years are actually spies. 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As the tale persists, Salem, Massachusetts gets wound up in the witch hunt of 1692, creating an infectious hysteria on all the villagers. City-wide fear overtakes individual thought and reasoning as well as it can today in America’s â€Å"trivial† matters. The Crucible has many components where the characters experience moments of hysteria. The play introduces the concept of witchcraft where inRead MoreThe Crucible By Arthur Miller1762 Words   |  8 PagesAs defined, a crucible is a container where metals or other substances are heated to a very high temperature or even melted. In these small canisters, extremely violent reactions take place. A crucible isn’t solely an object necessary for chemical reactions, but is highly symbolic. Arthur Miller, author of the play The Crucible, used this as a metaphor of mass hysteria during the Salem Witch Trials. Through this, Miller connected the Puritan trials to The Red Scare, a span of time in which CommunistRead MoreThe On The Hands Of An Angry Mob1477 Words   |  6 PagesArthur Miller, through many of his works, criticized this American state of superiority, exposing underlying insecurities within common pride. By these means, The Crucible exemplifies the American state of chaos; the myriad of ignorance, intolerance, and stubborn ways reflect just as disappointingly today as they did in the 1600s. As hysteria ran rampant, people began to believe things that were completely contradicted by common sense. The Salem Witch Trials were a prime example of this; combining theRead MoreTheme Of Hysteria In The Crucible1314 Words   |  6 PagesIn sociology or psychology, mass hysteria is defined as a phenomenon that transmits collective illusions of threats, whether real or imaginary, through a population in society as a result of rumors and fear. During the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts, this definition directly correlates with the behavior of the people of Salem. They also say that you can trace the cause of mass hysteria back to one person or a group of people. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible a group of girls are plagued withRead MoreThe Salem Witch Trials : The Causes Of The Deadly Accusations912 Words   |  4 PagesOrr Toledano Mr. Blenner AP U.S. History – Period 1 11 April 2015 The Salem Witch Trials: The Causes of the Deadly Accusations In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, he writes, â€Å"We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law!† (Miller 77). This partially fictionalized tale of the Salem Witch Trials points to one of the causes of the trials, vengeance, but the over dramatized tale s early stages were quiet