“Shouts and cries tear through the midnight skies as a large mob rushes through the streets screaming ‘monster, monster!’ Carrying torches, pitch forks, and any other sort of ominous weapon they attack the doors to destroy the creature inside.” No this was not the latest strike against Sadam, or another crazed cult attack; it is mass hysteria and it grips the world with an iron fist. This concept is not a recent new age thing either; it has been around sense the dawn of time. The madness that condemned the town of Salem still broods inside the hearts of people to this day in the form of stolen planes and suicide bombers.
It is the lack of knowledge that brings about paranoia and panic. When people do not understand something they fear it; “’I’d [Mr. Putnam] not call it sick; the Devil’s touch is heavier then sick. It is death y’know, its death drivn’ into them, forked and hoofed.” No one could explain her sickness so it was automatically blamed on supernatural forces. This stirred up suspicions among the town of who was really loyal and who was not, even though it was a hoax. When Abigail started to pretend that Mary Warren was sending out her spirit to attack her Danforth cried out “‘Mary Warren, do you witch her? I say to you, do you send your spirit out?’” It was the first explanation for what was going on in the court room and Danforth jumped on it like it was treasure for the taking. Even though these girls were obviously pretending, it was unheard of that someone would falsify information to get there way in an already Devil corrupted world the Puritans were living in. The lack of knowledge during a suspenseful moment causes many ideas to brood in someone’s head so they feel in control.
When others start standing up or during some extreme cases related to people who are being oppressed they are automatically painted with the same stain as the others. During the witch trials John Proctor attempts to clear his wife’s name, “I have made a bell of my honor! I have rung the doom of my good name-you will believe me, Mr. Danforth! My wife is innocent…,” John tries to protect is wife by throw his name in the dirt but the court not only disregards his statements but labels him a wizard as well.
The first reason Abigail is to blame for the deaths of the innocent Puritans is her lustful personal ambition to be John Proctor’s wife. John and Abigail previously had an affair, which basically began the hysteria. An exasperated John attempted to tell Abigail the affair is a thing of the past, by saying, “Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again.” Abigail, however, relentlessly strives to keep their “romance” alive. Because of this intense jealousy of John’s wife, there is an enormous amount of tension between Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail even goes as far as to consume a potion with the intent to murder Elizabeth, which Betty confronts her about by saying, “You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!” Abigail is so envious of Elizabeth, she does the unthinkable by accusing her of witchcraft. She claims that Goody Proctor’s spirit came to her and stabbed her with a needle. She felt that if she could dispose of Elizabeth Proctor, she could take her rightful position as John’s wife.
hysteria brought about by the witchcraft scare in The Crucible leads to the upheaval in people’s differentiation between right and wrong, fogging their sense of true justice.
The mass hysteria between today’s society and the Salem witch hunt can be compared through Freedom , Religion ,and the killing of innocent victims. Mass hysteria has caused a lot of destruction in society throughout the years. It has brought about a lot of chaos in both Salem as well as the present society. Mass hysteria has brought out a lot of fear in people in both Salem and present society.
?What is left when honor is lost?? Publilius Syrus' quote, though dating from 100 B.C., still seems pertinent to our era (Quotations). Many people still feel that once integrity is lost they are nothing and many are willing to stand up to keep their integrity. Without integrity, we are nothing. During the time that Arthur Miller wrote his most famous play, The Crucible, innocent men and women are accused of having Communist leanings. Their whole lives are ruined in a short amount of time because they refuse to compromise themselves by selling out their friends. Miller tries to make a statement about these unfair trials by comparing them to the Salem witch-hunts and trials of 1692. The main protagonist of his play is a man named John Proctor who is accused of witchcraft but stands up to maintain his name and his honor, even though he is hanged for it. During the H.U.A.C. trials some took stands for their beliefs with the knowledge of possibly being shunned by society. Knowing this, instead of taking the cowards' way and giving the names of their friends, they refuse to tell the committee anything in the same way that John Proctor stands up against a court that is ruining the lives of innocent people.
Abigail and the girls feign that Mary Warren sends out her spirit reinforcing the notion
It was easier for them to blame the devil for the problems of society than fix the problems of their own strict way of life. So the girls involved with Abigail, like Mercy Lewis and Mary Warren, named many people in the town as witches. These people were put in jail and would be hanged if they did not confess to the crime of devil worship or witchcraft. Another part of the developing plot is that John Proctor knows Abigail and her friends are lying, but he is afraid to say anything because eight months before he had an affair with Abigail and did not want to be seen by the town as a lecher, which means wife cheater. So, Mr. Proctor has to fight with himself to come out and tell the truth, or his wife might die because of Abigail saying she was a witch.
Salem Massachusetts became the center of a horrible tragedy, which changed the life of many people. It was a hard time, because of the bad crops and diseases. The people in Salem had to blame someone or something. This people accused innocent people by calling them witches. They were accused by having contact with the devil, hurting people, to pinch people on their bodies and more. These actions were result of hysteria. Maybe those extraneous symptoms were result of an illness or bacteria. On the Bible says “thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” This mean that any type of witch or curse will not live, so I think that quote or versus in the Bible want to explain that we need to fight against the devil, those people who are practicing witchcraft need to be light, to be with God. Those people were confused because is not necessary to kill innocent people and the Bible says that if someone kills is a sin.
One of the broader suggested causes was hysteria. Hysteria can arise due to many different situations. One catalyst for hysteria was fear. Fear of things such as Indian attacks (salemwitchtrials.com) kept people up at night. People lived in fear-ruled worlds. Puritans had to be careful, because at any point Indians could attack them. This resulted in the spread of rumors, because survivors of attacks would then go and seek protection in Salem, and they would tell others of their recent horrific experience.
During the early winter of 1692 two young girls became inexplicably ill and started having fits of convulsion, screaming, and hallucinations. Unable to find any medical reason for their condition the village doctor declared that there must be supernatural forces of witchcraft at work. This began an outbreak of hysteria that would result in the arrest of over one hundred-fifty people and execution of twenty women and men. The madness continued for over four months.
There are some events in history that put the human race to shame; however, these occasions can change our future forever. Society cannot deny that social injustices occur almost every day, maybe even more than once. One large blemish in our history, the Salem Witch Trials, alienated a certain group in our society. These trials were an unfortunate combination of economic conditions, a flock’s strife, teenage boredom, and personal jealousies.
One of the turning points of the war was in 1777, when the British surrendered at Saratoga with over 5,500 troops. After General Horatio Gates and General John Burgoyne came in conflict, but the latter understood that supplies were lackluster, they had to surrender. This battle would result in France entering the loop of the war and siding with the Americans, attacks from out of Canada would be secured and New England isolation would be all prevented because of this battle.
All of these are examples of modern-day witch hunts. Everything from racial actions towards certain people, to the hunting down of terrorist and dictators, to the actual witch hunts in the third world countries. Just like in the play The Crucible people use fear as a primary weapon. Knowing some ones fear is like having a finger on the button to destroy the world. Everyone will do what you want if you know how to use their fear.
Hysteria has no place in a society because it is wrong. It causes chaos and confusion and in these cases death.
Mary realizes that what Abigail is doing is wrong and she’s the only one who can put a stop to it. Abigail’s frustration grew as Mary announced to the court that, “She [Abigail] sees nothin’!” (121) and tried to accuse her of murder. Abigail saw Mary’s confidence building up as Mary kept denying using witchcraft after she repeatedly accused Abby of it. Transition here Abigail screaming at the “bird” on the ceiling because she thought it was Mary, Mary supposedly sent to attack her as Danforth asks Mary, “Have you compacted with the Devil? Have you?”(121) and Mary replies with, “Never, Never” (121). Mary Warren knows that if she does not admit to using witchcraft she could be hung, but she knows she must put an end to Abby’s manipulation. Earlier in the novel, Mary was too intimidated by Abigail and would never have had the courage to accuse Abby of lying about the events in the woods. To successfully accuse Abby, Mary had to admit that, “I never saw no spirits” (112) which put her own life in danger as well. Until accusing Abby of witchcraft and murder in the court with John Proctor, Mary Warren had no confidence in herself and did what everyone else wanted her to do. At the end of the play, Mary made decisions for herself and wasn’t afraid to go against what everyone else was doing.
Salem's hysteria made the community lose faith in the spiritual beliefs that they were trying to strictly enforce. The church lost many of its parishioners because the interest of the town was now on Abigail because people wanted to know who was going to be named next. When the church was trying to excommunicate John Proctor, there were not enough people at church to do it. The people were getting misled so far as to leave a dagger stuck in the door of their minister's house: “tonight, when I open my door to leave my house a dagger clattered to the ground...There is danger for me” (128), were Parris' exact words. With the conveyer of God fearing for his life there was no longer anyone but Abigail to lead the community.