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Causes Of Hysteria In The Crucible

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Elia Kazan a Greek-American director once said, “Whatever hysteria exists is inflamed by mystery, suspicion and secrecy” In The Crucible by Arthur Miller the town of Salem gets warped into a loop of lies and false accusations. A group of girls claim to be able to see spirits to avoid being called witches, and accuse others of being witches, starting a chain reaction. Now others accuse people of being witches in order to get rid of those they don‘t like, and so they be hanged. Hysteria and conformity cause an uproar of lies that kill innocent people in Salem. Hysteria makes people become irrational , and innocent people die because of false accusations. We see this in act 2 when Elizabeth is accused by Abigail for stabbing her through a poppet. …show more content…

We see conformity in the beginning of the book where Abigail blames Tituba for making her dance in the woods. Tituba starts getting whipped until she finally decides to confess and is spared from punishment, seeing this Abigail confesses as well. “Abigail: I saw Sarah Good with the devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the devil! ...Betty: George Jacobs with the devil! I saw Goody Howe with the devil! (pg 45)” Seeing Tituba confess and not punished, made Abigail confess as well so she wouldn’t be accused. Abigail's confession leads Betty to confess and the other girls starting a big chain reaction. In addition we see another example when Proctor Brought Mary Warren to the court, so she’ll confess that the girls were pretending. Abigail pretended that Mary sent her spirit after her in a form of a bird, and the other girls followed her lead. “Abigail: Mary please don’t hurt me! Mary: Abby you mustn’t! Abigail and the girl: Abby you mustn’t. (pg. 107)” This shows how the rest of the girls still go along with what Abby says. Conformity in this case can result in Mary Warren being jailed or hanged for trying to tell the truth. People will conform to avoid being the center of an attack, or being called a

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