Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
What are the effects of hysteria
Sexism since modern civilization
Sexism since modern civilization
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: What are the effects of hysteria
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, AIDS, in the 1980s and witches in the 1600s, same thing right? Hysteria is an exaggerated emotion especially in large groups of people. Hysterical events will be examined through the AIDS epidemic and the Salem Witchcraft Trials which are two separate points of history.
Just as Arthur Miller, the writer of “The Crucible”, said, “Sex,sin, and the devil were early linked” (Miller,1125). During the AIDS hysteria, homosexual intercourse was thought to be the cause of widespread immune deficiency, so the disease was soon labeled “Gay Men’s Health Crisis” (“History of HIV and AIDS”). As time progressed AIDS, it was discovered, could also be spread through heterosexual couples(“History of HIV and AIDS”). This
…show more content…
The girls were guilty, but they were afraid of the punishment which led to them accusing innocent people of also engaging in the activities (Miller, 1130). Soon after people were being taken from their families to endure punishment, the town’s people were filled with fear (Miller, 1136). Many innocent people were losing their lives due to the accusations (Miller, 1136). Arthur Miller wrote the great play called “The Crucible” to portray the events which occurred during that time.
There are many similarities in the hysterically excelled events. For example, families were ripped apart due to accusations which could have been false (“History of HIV and AIDS). During the AIDS epidemic many people would be beaten and abused by people because they were believed to be infected (“History of HIV and AIDS);The same occurred during the Witchcraft Trials in Salem(Miller, 1138). People of Salem were alleged witches because of simple events such as reading books(Miller, 1139);In the AIDS epidemic, many of those infected were believed to be gay due to the immune deficiency(Landau). In conclusion, the two events of hysteria have many negative effects on individuals. Hysterical events were examined through the AIDS epidemic and the Salem Witchcraft Trials which were two complete separate points of history. The events had many similarities even though they cover completely
Carlson begins her study with the theory that the afflicted among Salem's residents exhibited symptoms identical to those of individuals infected during the worldwide epidemic of encephalitis lethargica of the 1920s. She insists that "victims had nothing to gain" from coming forward to make their accusations, so that their torment must have been real; a bold statement, but one based on the author's opinion alone (27). Carlson tends to dismiss or simply fails to mention any material that does not neatly fit her theory. Any evidence that points to the fact that the afflicted girls were anything more than hapless victims of a virulent disease is not addressed. In fact, there is quite a bit of material from the testimonies produced at the trials of reputed witches that raises doubts about the accusers. But, Carlson sees cle...
Hysteria was a very obvious theme shown throughout the play, The Crucible. It was all started by a few young girls in Salem, Massachusetts. They were all dancing in the woods one night and were caught by Paris, the reverend in that small town. The next day two of the young girls were sick and would not move, talk, nor eat . The town began to start talk of witch craft because of the forbidden dancing that took place the other night. When the girls heard of that at first they denied it, but then they realized they could get out of being punished if they put the blame onto someone else. The began to shout out the names of people they clamed to have seem with they devil. It seemed like a logical explanation to the people in the town, so they had the people accused of being witches arrested. The whole town was in an uproar crying out witch craft to gain respect and power in the town and to get revenge on those who they were jealous of . Everyone began to thrive on this hysteria in particular Abigail Williams. She was having an affair with Elizabeth Proctors husband, John Proctor, when she had lived with them as t...
The crucible’s setting was in the year 1962, in the small Puritan society of Salem. One night some of the girls in the village were in the woods doing love potions when they were caught. The girls lied and said that witches made them do it. In an extremely religeous society the influence of witches was immensely frightening and as the thought to identify witches arose, so did mass hysteria of the...
The Crucible: Hysteria and Injustice Thesis Statement: The purpose is to educate and display to the reader the hysteria and injustice that can come from a group of people that thinks it's doing the "right" thing for society in relation to The Crucible by Arthur Miller. I. Introduction: The play is based on the real life witch hunts that occurred in the late 1600's in Salem, Massachusetts. It shows the people's fear of what they felt was the Devil's work and shows how a small group of powerful people wrongly accused and killed many people out of this fear and ignorance.
As Elia Kazan said, “Whatever hysteria exists is inflamed by mystery, suspicion and secrecy. Hard and exact facts will cool it”. (Kazan 1) Past occurrences of hysteria have repeatedly shown that there’s typically a cause to the mob mentality. One instance of mass hysteria occurred with the outbreak of dancing in Strasbourg, France in 1518; it resulted in several deaths, and panic within the community, and an ongoing medical mystery.
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the fear of opposing God and the government caused the mass hysteria and accusations resulting in the hanging of nineteen innocent men and women in Salem, Massachusetts. Miller affectively showed multiple personalities of characters in the book to represent how the hangings could of happened.
The hysteria of the witchcraft episode in Salem, Massachusetts developed over two years during the late 1690’s. One of the primary causes that contributed to the deaths of one hundred and twenty-six people, were the young village girls called the “afflicted”, who accused the women of the village of witchcraft. The majority of the accused and accusers were females while the males of the village held the important roles of trial and jury during these times.
Throughout history, mass panics and hysterias have been caused by an intense fear of certain people or ideals. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the mass hysteria that resulted in the accusations and deaths of dozens of Salem’s residents was sparked by a fear of witchcraft and the devil. This fear spiraled out of control when a group of young girls claimed to be tormented by devilish forces that worked through members of the community. Although it may seem far-fetched that an entire town would faithfully trust the unlikely claims these girls made, there are many examples of other hysterias that were very similar. The general pattern of the mass hysteria that is portrayed in The Crucible reflects the true configuration of mass hysterias in the United States in both the distant and recent past.
This paper examines the purpose to what lead to the Salem Witch Trial, and how it affected people in those communities. The salem witch trials was a series of hearings and prosecutions of people who were accused of witchcraft. This took place in massachusetts around 1692-1693 and resulted in a total of twenty executions which mostly involved women. Some studies in the early twenty hundreds claimed these were cases of “sleep paralysis”. In many cases people believe in such demonic spirits, while others thought it was nonsense. This event in history destroyed many families, and tore neighbors apart.
Carlson claims that the notorious events that created the outbreak of witchcraft hysteria in Salem correspond with the physical and neurological symptoms displayed by the residents of the town. However, Carlson’s argument lacks conviction as she fails to explain why other related family members and other communities were not affected by the epidemic. If this was truly an epidemic, the unexplained symptoms would have spread across the entire population, and eve the world, affecting millions of people. Epidemics put the entire human population at risk, not just select groups of people. Also, the majority of the accused were women which fails to explain why an epidemic would only affect women and not the male population as well. Attempting to blame the hysteria on an epidemic seems a little too simplistic. Furthermore, Carlson’s argument does not explain why the witchcraft hysteria faded as the economic conditions improved. As soon as the socioeconomic conditions and tensions improved, the witchcraft accusations seemed to fade. Therefore, in Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft, Boyer and
Through the years, hysteria has been prevalent in all parts of the world. Periodically, however, there is a new, more dangerous form of hysteria that sweeps across a large area and causes great panic among the people involved. This wave of panic is now called mass hysteria. It is defined as a condition affecting a group of persons, characterized by excitement of anxiety, irrational behavior or beliefs, or inexplicable symptoms of illness. We have seen this in Europe during the Black Plague. The people felt that they were being punished by god and killed “witches” to rid their town of evil. 300 years after this bout of mass hysteria, America saw its first rise of hysteria. The Salem Witch Trials resulted in many deaths
The Crucible is a 1953 play by Arthur Miller. Initially, it was known as The Chronicles of Sarah Good. The Crucible was set in the Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts. It talks of McCarthyism that happened in the late 1600’s whereby the general public and people like Arthur Miller were tried and persecuted. The Crucible exemplifies persecutions during the Salem Witch Trials. The people were convicted and hung without any tangible proof of committing any crime. Persecutions were the order of the day. When a finger was pointed at any individual as a witch, the Deputy Governor Danforth never looked for evidence against them or evidence that incriminated them; he ordered them to be hanged. This can be seen through his words “Hang them high over the town! Who weeps for those, weeps for corruption!” (1273), the people were persecuted aimlessly. The four main characters in the play, John Proctor, Abigail Adams, Reverend Hale and Reverend Parris, are caught in the middle of the witchcraft panic in the religious Salem, Massachusetts in late 1690’s. Persecution is the most important theme in the Crucible, the leaders and citizens of Salem attacks and persecutes one of their own without any tangible evidence against them.
Mass hysteria has caused many outbreaks and concerned many people with false threats. Mass hysteria is defined by dictionary.com as, “A condition affecting a group of persons, characterized by excitement or anxiety, irrational behavior or beliefs, or inexplicable symptoms of illness.” In order to understand why mass hysteria in the little girls have caused the effects of rampant false accusations that lead to their unrighteous deaths, we first need to look at why mass hysteria affected the little girl and not the boys, secondly look at how mass hysteria allowed the little girls to be so influential in the trials, and finally look at how the Puritan Society gave the girls an illness that lead to the whole effects of the Trials. The Puritan
The Salem Witch Trials fits all the sociological elements and basic intuitions that are necessary to develop and establish a moral panic, with the exclusion of mass media (Reed, 2015, para. 10). He begins by addressing the fact that what happened was a disproportionate response, omitting the obvious part where magic and spell casting do not exist (Reed, 2015, para. 11). The panic was driven due to the recent development of America, and the less than favorable results that they had produced. In result it seemed that women were the main target for this assault, especially those who inherited property and challenged the patriarchal structure of Salem (Reed, 2015, para. 33). This was easily obtained due to men being concerned about the evil that was being brought to them, and the women being concerned about possession. This allowed people to not focus on the obvious problem that was directly in front of them, the ruthless murder of innocent people on the off chance they were witches. As time went on, none of the accusations were taken seriously, since all you had to do was take into account the credibility of those who were possessed (Reed, 2015, para. 33). The most vital role in the development of the panic was the desperation of the priests to bring the church back into Salem, and that is exactly what they
The victim of mass hysteria may never fully move past what happened to them. Mass hysteria is a illness that in both of these cases have had large effects on the kids and in the community. For the boarding school in Eendobe village in Africa, the students that were getting it had symptoms that were able to be seen but were not able to be explained. That is same with the school in Bangladesh. The doctor couldn’t figure out what was happening to these kids. Both of these can relate back to the Salem Witch Trials in a way. For all three had symptoms that could not be explained. The only difference was that in the Salem Witch Trials the girls were being the duplicit ones. Do you think that all three outbreaks can be brought back to the same thing?