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Gray 1
When people think about a mob what do they picture? Mob mentality describes how people are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors, follow trends, and/or purchase items. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, there are many examples used that show mob mentality and its powerful and dangerous aftermath. There are also many references in modern times that give evidence to indicate that mob mentality has a powerful and dangerous result. Mob mentality is evinced as powerful and dangerous in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare and in modern times by using the power of the mind to sway decisions.
One of the first reasons mob mentality is manifested as both powerful and dangerous is shown when
innocents are killed through fear. In Act III, Scene II of Julius Caesar, Cinna the poet is mistaken for Cinna the conspirator, and as a result he is killed by a mob of Plebeians. This evidence shows that even though Cinna the poet is innocent, the scared Plebeians will kill them to protect themselves from what they think is dangerous. In history, the Salem Witch Trials killed many innocent people for doing suspicious actions (“Top”). This evidence shows that innocent people can be killed out of fear of what they could do to them. Cinna’s death and the Salem Witch Trials are both examples that can be taken from Julius Caesar and modern times to demonstrate that mob mentality is both powerful and dangerous. The next reason mob mentality is revealed as both powerful and dangerous is shown when violence takes place through the persuasion of others. In Julius Caesar, Antony states, “Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honorable man” (3.2.93-94). This evidence shows that Antony was trying to make Brutus look bad and persuade the people that the Gray 2 conspirators needed to be killed. During the Holocaust, Hitler was in power and convinced many people that the Jews weren’t of the perfect race and needed to be killed (“Top”). This evidence means that when Hitler persuaded people that the Jews needed to be killed, it resulted in many people dying. Antony’s funeral speech and the Holocaust are both examples of violence trough persuasion that demonstrates mob mentality as powerful and dangerous. The last reason mob mentality is depicted as powerful and dangerous presented when a leader is impeached through conspiracy. In Act III, Scene I, the conspirators stab Caesar, and as he lay dying he asks, “Et tu, Brute?”,meaning, “ And you also, Brutus?” This evidence shows that the conspirators don’t think Caesar is fit to be in power, so they kill him.
In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, and Kendra Cherry’s article, “The Milgram Obedience Experiment”, the comparable fear factor, and naive mindset of individuals put under dire circumstances leads to the corruption of society and rise of evil in humans. Fear factors are an influential resource, and useful tactic leaders use to instil dominant power in their citizens, if this power is abused, evil and chaos occurs. For example, in Lord of the Flies, when Samneric get captured by Jack, Jack terrorizes them, snapping, “What d’you mean coming here with spears? What d’you mean by not joining my tribe?” the twins try to escape but fear takes over their morals and they, “...lay looking up in quiet terror” (Golding 182). As Jack threatens
First, before we consider what these mobs did we must understand who comprised these mobs. These mobs were comprised of various types of men but most all stemming from the same social class with the lone exception being slaves. Sailors, artisans, merchants and even blacks and slaves constituted these mobs. Sailors, in particular, from mutiny to insurrection, made these mobs a driving force behind revolutionary change. Slaves and blacks, as mentioned, were also involved in mobs though they were usually few if any in an...
This sentiment becomes explicitly apparent in the context of mobs, specifically, Colonel Sherburn gives a tirade to the mob planning to hang him and he states that “‘Why don’t your juries hang murderers? Because they’re afraid the man 's friends will shoot them in the back, in the dark -- and it 's just what they would do. ‘So they always acquit; and then a man goes into the night, with a hundred masked cowards at his back, and lynches the rascal’” (134). According to this speech, Sherburn asserts that the entire mob prioritizes self-preservation over enforcing any form of justice. This is true in both the crowds prosecution of Colonel Sherburn after his broad daylight murder of Boggs and the Colonel’s statements on how the crowd allows for potential criminals and murderers to escape trial. Ironically, the release of dangerous individuals into society is more of a destructive behavior. This passage reveals that crowds will allow the endangerment a single person to ensure the preservation of the majority, or alternate group, in this case, the Jury sacrifices the prosecution by acquitting the alleged killer. Thus, the fashion in which mobs think actually hinders the enforcement of moral
This is shown in the excerpt from the short story, “Maple Street in the last calm and reflective moments...” and the excerpt , ”We move to a series of close-ups of various people as they shout, accuse, scream...” these two excerpts show that the a group turned into a mob ,because in the first excerpt it shows how calm and peaceful everything is and how it seems as if everyone is getting along together. However, in the second excerpt it shows how a peaceful crowd could turn into a mob , because when everyone started blaming each other pandemonium broke out. This book also explains influence , because the residents are being influenced by fear to freak out. In the book it states , “[The camera pans along the faces of the people as they stare somehow caught up by this revelation and somehow, illogically, widely, frightened]” this relates ,because fear is getting into their systems and influencing them to freak out. Overall, The Twilight Zones, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” , can relate to a group turning into a mob and influence by
History repeating itself, manslaughter, homicide, and riots are all forms of mob mentality of which is shown in the book, A tale of Two Cities, by Charles Darnay. Taking the given words into consideration, ask yourself “Have I ever taken part in mob mentality?” The answer for most people will be “yes”. Mob mentality is something so negative and aggressive yet we still take a part in it. We are all too caught up in trying to fit in with everyone else, that we make it into something that isn’t such a big deal to us.
...om large groups of people, feeling more comfortable with their actions, and because one person can change the whole outlook within the crowd. This is shown through all the big impact groups that have made a difference through violence and error. In the Salem witch trials many people were killed but there were no witches that were killed. The type of events that happened in The Crucible can be learned from and applied to crowd control today. If we cannot learn from history then it is bond to repeat itself.
Mob mentality is created from the establishment of authority and power over another being or thing. This then causes others to look up to that person then fall in line beside him. Mob mentality is dangerous and yet it is one of the more common things in the world starting as soon as one is born, slowly learning to be like their parents, learning their tongue and behaviors. It is cultivated through years of school how one should act and be and what is not acceptable and what one should do to achive success. Ray Bradbury takes mob mentality and shows amazing examples, yet depressing scenarios, of it in Fahrenheit 451, “All Summer in a Day”, as well as in “The Pedestrian” with his favored idea for explanation of others wishing for complete and utter equality for the whole, with hatred of those who step out of that bubble of normality.
Characters have played a large role in setting the theme of abusive power; they gain power over a group of individuals and misguide them. One obvious example from Lord Of the Flies was Jack. Towards the beginning of the novel, when the “elections” for the leader of the group took place Jack tried to get power. “‘I ought to be chief,’ said Jack with simple arrogance, ‘because I’m the chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp’” (Golding 22). After losing the election to Ralph, he became the head of the hunters. Here he abused the miniscule powers given to him over the small group of boys formerly known as the “choir”. Jack’s influence possibly corrupted the minds of the young boys and made them into cold blooded killers going from killing pigs for food to harming humans for enjoyment. “The circle moved round. Robert squealed in mock terror then in real pain… Jack had him by the hair and was brandishing his knife.” (Golding 114). The significance of this was that it was the first major point that lead to the collapse of society on the island. Jack thought that Ralph did not appreciate what he was doing for the group by gett...
In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar is murdered by a group of conspirators under Brutus’ direction wishing to rid Rome of Caesar’s power. At his funeral, Brutus provides Mark Antony, an ally to Caesar, a chance to speak under certain terms: he cannot arouse chaos in the crowd by putting fault on Brutus and the conspirators for the murder of Julius Caesar, and he may only speak well of Caesar. Antony’s speech, however, does stir chaos and disorder in the fluctuating crowd, what he originally intended to do, and they do turn against Brutus. Antony uses appealing language, influential gestures, and significant props to sway the defensive crowd to uprising and rebellion.
During this period Le Bon states individuals go through a process called ‘contagion’ which merely means the individual stops acting as they would normally act as an individual and they submerge fully in to the group and start to experience a collective group feeling seen in looting. This behaviour exhibits a primitive barbaric behaviour that is unpredictable, aggressive, dangerous, and unapologetic and above all causes loss of individual rationality. This is not to say every crowd goes through these descriptions as they are other crowds that are peaceful and will not demonstrate the above mentioned. It is only when the crowd crosses over to deindividuation and adopt a ‘crowd mind’ as termed by Le Bon and also seen during the UK, London riots of 2011. The crowd started to imitate each other and that lead to various levels of looting from stealing to the more severe acts of murder. Le Bon‘s theory of individuation is regarded as outdated and discredited (Reicher and Stott, Guardian, 2011) as it limits the understanding of crowds to only consider the gruesome forms of crowd behaviour but does not further explain why the behaviour occurs nor does it explain the feelings and thoughts of those involved as Le Bon did not conduct his experiments within crowds but from a observational distance (Dixon et. al, BK 1, 2012, pg. 5). This criticism does not make the theory of ‘crowd mind’ less valid but it limits the reader to the language used and only to view crowds in negativity which is not always the
Mob mentality is the idea that when a big group of people are together they loose their sense of individualism and moral constraints to follow blindly what they are told. During the French Revolution mobs were highly prevalent as many of the population were starving, poor, and angry. In A Tale of Two Cities the author, Charles Dickens criticizes mobs by showing how dangerous they can be in many scenes.
The Role of the Mob in Julius Caesar The most important characters in the play Julius Caesar are clearly the citizens of Rome. The citizens have an important effect on both the audience and the characters in the play because of their unlimited desire to passionately express their emotions. Throughout the play, these emotions are communicated through various events. The first event is the celebration of the feast of the Lupercal.
The years were from 1789 to the very end of the eighteenth century, and France was submerged in political unrest. The working class was drenched in its collective anger from years of oppression and meant to take the country back; mercilessly, they dragged out, imprisoned and subsequently beheaded thousands the wealthy of France, along with any even mildly suspected sympathizers. It was from this event that philosophers and politicians alike came to see the power of the crowd and why it must be vital to understand how to acquiesce one; hence, crowd psychology emerged.
When part of a mob, people feel that they cannot be held responsible for violent behavior hoping that their actions would be perceived as the groups rather than their own behavior. Physical anonymity can lead to a person experiencing fewer social inhibitions. Many types of studies were explored to prove this theory. In 1970, Philip Zimbardo conducted a study to shock women dressed in identical outfits that were similar to the Ku Klux Klan’s outfit concealed their identity. The study also included woman whose identity was exposed just wearing a large nametag. As a result, the women hidden underneath the Ku Klux Klan’s outfit shocked the staged participants longer than those that didn’t have their identity concealed.
Revenge. Revenge causes one to act blindly without reason. It is based on the principle of an eye for an eye, however this principle is not always a justified one to follow. In Julius Caesar, Antony seeks to avenge the death of Caesar. Antony acts on emotion which leads to the demise of Brutus, who is a noble man that does not deserve to be killed. Revenge is a central theme within Julius Caesar. This is demonstrated through Antony's desire to avenge Caesar's death, and also the return of Julius Caesar's ghost. Revenge is again exemplified through the violent course of action, which is taken by the Plebeians in an attempt to seek justice for the assassination of their Roman superior.