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Theatre production design essay
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Cases of mass hysteria have been recorded all over the globe and throughout the years. One such case was that of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, where various people were tried and convicted for witchcraft. These were the basis on which Arthur Miller wrote his play, The Crucible. Accordingly, there are many instances of mass hysteria throughout the play. The mass hysteria exhibited in the play can be described as anxiety and unusual behavior in a group of people caused by an “abnormality” with no real backing. In his play The Crucible, Arthur Miller exhibits multiple examples of mass hysteria and demonstrates the factors and effects related with it by using characters like Abigail Williams and Judge Danforth, as well as his own personal connection …show more content…
to McCarthyism to reinforce its characteristics; moreover, this relates to the mass hysteria caused by sexual assault accusations. During the play, fear, anxiety, and peer pressure play a major role in the play’s conflict; this impact can be seen most vividly in the creation of mass hysteria. As the play progresses, many vital scenes depend on characters’ reactions and emotions for direction in the storyline. Some of the emotions that greatly impact the story’s development are fear, anxiety, and peer pressure: these emotions play a role to push people to participate in the hysteria. An example of this can be found when Abigail starts screaming in fear from “seeing” the bird Mary Warren supposedly sent to attack her as retribution (Miller 105). The situation quickly escalated as others in the room shared her fear. This fear and anxiety, caused by this incident, is expressed when Miller describes Judge Danforth’s reaction, “He lowers his eyes from the ceiling, and now he is frightened; there is real tension in his voice. Child! She is transfixed— with all the girls, she is whimpering open-mouthed, agape at the ceiling. Girls! Why do you—?” (Miller 105). Everyone’s fear of what is happening to Abigail is what causes them to react hysterically and to unjustifiably accuse Mary Warren of hurting Abigail, even when Mary Warren is simply, harmlessly pleading with Abigail to stop acting falsely. As a result, Mary’s feeling of pressure to dovetail with Abigail’s story and not feel isolated and attacked in her attempt to rectify false accusations, ultimately leads her to sway in her stance and respectively accuse Proctor of witchcraft (Miller 110). Another example of how fear, anxiety, and peer pressure cause mass hysteria is showcased when Leonard Moss states that, in the beginning of the play, the community of Salem is fearful at the prospect of witchcraft having infiltrated their community (Moss). Here, Moss implies that the fear instilled in the community and the pressure from the Putnams influenced Reverend Parris’ actions and evoked him to, later on, bear false witness and participate in mass hysteria even, when he, himself discovered the girls’ wrongdoings and knows the reality of the circumstances. Besides being predominantly caused by fear and anxiety, mass hysteria is also reinforced by its public acceptance in Salem; for instance, many people testified against witchcraft because it was publicly acceptable to talk about things that were normally shunned in the Puritan society. Throughout the course of the play, the act of criticizing, outing, shunning, and even taking revenge on your neighbor became known as normal behaviors that occurred under the veil of “protecting the community.” This sanction is greatly due to the validity that was given to the claims of the victims by the involvement of powerful and respected characters, like Judge Danforth, who publicly voiced their belief in witchcraft. Similarly Paul McHugh states, “By virtue of his ‘diagnosis,’ moreover, they were given license to name others in the community as the witches who were torturing them” (McHugh). The confidence and assurance of this verdict permitted the girls to manipulate the situation with free range, consequently giving others the illusion that it was permissible to do the same. The people of Salem watched on as educated people with high status in the Puritan community cried out against witchcraft and worked at the forefront to diagnose witchcraft and imprison assumed witches. This allowed people to use them as models and to reflect their behavior onto themselves. As people started to blame their neighbors of witchcraft, mania overcame those who were accused, or had loved ones who were accused, as they tried to reason with the courts. It additionally overcame those who accused others, as their desire to convince the public that they were honest led them to perform false acts of fear and pain. The author of the play The Crucible, Arthur Miller, knew tremendously of how fear and anxiety warp a person’s thoughts because he himself had experienced ithad written the play after being accused of communism during the height of McCarthyism.
Subsequently, he used his own life experience as an inspiration to write about the happenings of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Steve Hendrix states as such when he wrote, “One of those he would accuse, playwright Arthur Miller, would finally draw the circle from Sen. Joseph McCarthy all the way back to zealot judges of Salem with his acclaimed parable drama, ‘The Crucible’” (Hendrix). This reveals that Miller wrote the play as a sort of protest, writing about the “witchcraft” in Salem in The Crucible to express the similarities between those proceedings and the ones during 1952 when he released the play. This background gave Miller the capacity to create a realistic atmosphere of malaise in The Crucible and allowed him to reference his current injustices by using characters and situations in his work as an image of McCarthy and McCarthyism: this gave him the liberty to voice the effects of these inequities. Miller expressed his demurrals by creating parallels between Judge Danforth and Senator McCarthy. This can be seen when Miller writes, “I will not receive a single plea for pardon or postponement ... Postponement now speaks a floundering on my part” showcasing that both Danforth and McCarthy manipulated the evidence and …show more content…
testimonies of the witnesses so as to reflect positively upon their reputation and status (Miller 119). The fact that Miller interlaces this theme throughout his play can be inferred when Miller voices, “It was the fact that a political, objective, knowledgeable campaign from the far Right was capable of creating not only a terror, but a new subjective reality, a veritable mystique [with] holy resonance” because in spite of Miller talking about McCarthyism, these same themes came be seen vividly in the play when the people of Salem begin to change their morals and succumb to their fears during the process of the Witch Trials (Moss). Ending sentence The way modern-day “witch hunts” and mass hysteria coexist with sexual assault trials today is similar to the way Miller expressed these in The Crucible.
Hollywood has beenis notorious for its breeding and objectification of women, therefore it came as no surprise when a flurry of sexual assault allegations surfaced in the industry. As allegations came to light, hysteria spread as people called out for action against the accused without any assurance that the suspicions were truthful. Even though many of these allegations have been proven to be truthful, there are still some who stem from no real occurrence and only serve to hurt a person’s reputation and belittle their influence. For this reason, some actors like Liam Neeson consider the overflowing amount of sexual allegations that have surged in the industry as a kind of “witch hunt” for the remorseless consequences they bring, like in the case of Garrison Keillor who lost his job following sexual assault allegations (Guardian). Homologous to The Crucible, the testimonies of victims of sexual assault are more esteemed and trusted than that of the accused because it is not commonly thought that one would offer themselves to the scrutiny that a lawsuit would bring just for blasphemies. The power of the victim in low-evidence crimes is displayed when John Proctor says, “Why do you never wonder if Parris be innocent, or Abigail? Is the accuser always holy now? … I’ll tell you what’s walking Salem— vengeance is walking Salem …
common vengeance writes the law!” (Miller 73). This shield of innocence presents an advantage to the accuser, which they can use to create hysteria that helps them in their resolve to damage a person’s prestige. In summary, Arthur Miller introduces mass hysteria into The Crucible to express the heightened fear and frenzy caused by the suspicion of witchcraft in Salem. In doing so, he uses characters like Abigail Williams and Judge Danforth to bring about and encourage mass hysteria, while also alluding to McCarthyism. Throughout the play, it is evident that mass hysteria spurs further out of control when it is normalized and justified by powerful institutions or people of great influence. The mass hysteria expressed in The Crucible can also relate to the current hysteria caused by sexual assault allegations through the similar way the victim is honored as genuine without any hesitation and how the accusations can significantly impact someone’s life. Mass hysteria was a great theme in The Crucible and can be perceived during McCarthyism and in modern times. It has the potential to warp people’s opinions and has dessimating effects, such that it can lead to the death of many honorable people and the demise of innocent people’s lives.
In “The Crucible”, the author, Arthur Miller, conveys what he believes Senator Joe McCarthy is doing during the Red Scare. The Salem Witch Trials were true events, while this play uses these trials and adds a fictional twist to show a point. Witchcraft was punishable by death during this time. Once names started flying in town it was like a chain reaction, people were accusing others of witchcraft because they were not fond of them or they had something they wanted. Some definitions state mass hysteria as contagious, the characters in this play deemed it true. In this play, innocent people were hung because some of the girls in town cried witch.
In 1953, the play called “The Crucible” written by Arthur Miller created hysteria in all parts of the country. This play describes the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 and the irony of a terrible period of American history.
In The Crucible, the mass hysteria surrounding the witch trials caused paranoia amongst the people of Salem. Miller uses the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 as a symbol and allegory of the fear surrounding the spread of communism during the 1950s in America. The community’s sense of justice was blinded by the mass hysteria and for some, a desire for vengeance and personal gain. The Putnams
“Whatever hysteria exists is inflamed by mystery, suspicion, and secrecy. Hard and exact facts will cool it.” – Elia Kazan. In the crucible, Arthur Miller describes the witch trials and the hysteria that was caused by it. The fear of the devil overwhelms reason and makes the town of Salem even more afraid. In the story, Marry Warren falls under hysteria and through her, Arthur Miller explains that fear causes people to leave behind all their logic and reason.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller The Crucible is a fictional retelling of events in American history surrounding the Salem witch trials of the seventeenth century, yet is as much a product of the time in which Arthur Miller wrote it, the early 1950s, as it is description of Puritan society. At that particular time in the 1950s, when Arthur Miller wrote the play the American Senator McCarthy who chaired the ‘House Un-American Activities Committee’ was very conscious of communism and feared its influence in America. It stopped authors’ writings being published in fear of them being socialist sympathisers. Miller was fascinated by the Salem Witch Trials and that human beings were capable of such madness. In the 1950s the audience would have seen the play as a parallel between the McCarthy trials and the Salem Trials.
What is hysteria? By definition, hysteria is a state of intense agitation, anxiety, or excitement, especially as manifested by large groups or segments of society. In a broader sense however, hysteria is a killer, the delitescent devil. Hysteria was the main cause of nineteen deaths in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Years later, hysteria was responsible for countless ruined reputations and lives during the era of Senetor Joe McCarthy. Hysteria does not just appear out of nowhere though. There are driving forces such as revenge and abuse of power that bring about the irrational fear that can take over society. These are the issues expressed in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.
Hysteria is characterized as an uncontrollable outburst of emotion or fear, often characterized by irrationality. Wherever hysteria takes place, it seems to condone distortion of the truth, unfathomable actions, and illogical accusations causing communities to rip apart. Hysteria supplants logic and enables people to believe that their neighbors, whom they grown to trust, do things that one would normally find anomalous. People who died in the haste of fear and uncertainty were often unnecessary because fear clouds the judgment and perception of a person.
In Arthur Miller's famous play The Crucible, innocent people are falsely accused of witchcraft and are killed as a result. Even the thought of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts in the late 1600s would put the whole village into mass hysteria. Mass hysteria refers to collective delusions of threats to society that spread rapidly through rumors and fear. This is the main reason why so many people were arrested and killed for witchcraft. One way people could save themselves was by falsely confessing to having performed witchcraft.
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.
The year is 1692 in Salem, a small town in Massachusetts, and the Puritans community is in serious trouble. In the story “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, the Puritans community is in the Salem court where John Proctor admits to committing adultery to Abigail Williams who at the time was very young. Abigail Williams is where the court started after she is involved in the case where John Proctor is accused of committing adultery with her. Abigail also lead the girls and their witchcraft accusations in court. Abigail truly believed that John Proctor still had love for her.
In The Crucible, the members of the Salem community accept the lies that their neighbors are taking apart of witchcraft as the truth. The lies and deceit in the community help attribute to the play’s overall theme of hysteria. The theme of hysteria is prevalent throughout the play, as the belief that witchcraft is occurring in the town enables members of the community to believe that their neighbors have committed devilish acts. As the town descends into a hysterical climate, members of the community take advantage of the situation to act upon any long-held grudges or repressed sentiment. Characters, such as Abigail, use both lies and hysteria to seek revenge and gain power. This reveals that the lies and deceit told throughout the play drive
In the Crucible, the accused were unfairly tried and convicted on limited evidence or even word of mouth from the girls.
The crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is about the Salem witch trials and how people react to hysteria created from the fear of witches. In the play, after hysteria breaks out, the Salem government starts persecute and hang people it believes are witches. This prompts people to start to accusing people of witchcraft. Some people who accuse others of committing witchcraft are Abigail Williams and Thomas Putnam. They do not accuse people of witchcraft to stop witchcraft, but for personal gain or to hurt others. Thomas Putnam, one of the many characters who takes advantage of the witch trials, is able to use the fear of witches to bend the court to his will. Hysteria causes people to believe claims that are clearly false. This allows Putnam to persecute his enemies. He and many other are able to get away with this because hysteria driven persecutions are not run like regular courts and the fact that witchcraft is an invisible crime allows evidence to be made up. The theme of The Crucible is when any persecution is driven by fear and people can and will manipulate the system so they can gain and hurt another.
Arthur Miller’s book The Crucible, based on historical people and real events demonstrate the witch hysteria that unfolded in Salem, Massachusetts in the seventeenth century. The story is set in a Puritan community, where the belief that witchcraft is Satan’s work and that there are people serving him amongst the Puritans creates a paralyzing fear of witchcraft. This eventually leads to the witch-hunts that take place in order to cleanse Salem and reaffirm their devotion to God. Since the events that took place are acknowledged as some of the most tragic events in American history, it is fitting, then, that the book follows the classic model of a tragedy. In Bennett and Royle’s book An introduction to literature, criticism and theory, tragedy
Miller wrote the play to compare what was happening in the 1950’s at that time with what had occurred in the Salem witch hunts. Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’ was written so that people at the time could relate what had happened in Salem with the McCarthyism happening at that time. The McCarthyism era was when the Un-American Activities Committee was at power and punished civilians who were accused as communists. The events that happened at the two periods of time were similar as people were naming other innocent individuals to try and get out of trouble and this unfortunately led to the phenomenon in both Salem and in 1950s America.