The definition of hysteria is exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement. The devil came to Salem in 1692, or did it? The Puritans believed that Salem had been conquered by witches. The girls began to name members of the surrounding community. They became hysterical. Confined by strict Protestant laws and poor education that lead to low interpersonal skills and illogical reasoning, the characters in The Crucible can't do more to end the hysteria in Salem. During Puritan times, people were restrained by the laws of Protestantism. The Puritan had extreme laws and strict early catholic values. According to the article, Puritan Laws and Character, by Henry William Elson, “The people as a whole were liberty-loving in the extreme, but the individual was restrained at every step by laws that no free people of today would tolerate for an hour.” This idea explains how extreme their laws are. People had no freedom. It was Paternalism. This fact led to people acting out irrationally. …show more content…
Harvard College was founded after an exodus began. There was a rare occurrence of teachers to educate the young. Soon later they would acquire schooling but only for a certain number of students. This could lead them to make poor decisions. The illogical decisions would lead them to do things, such as, feed a ‘witch cake’ to a dog and wait if they cry out. This would accuse them of being a witch. They would accuse people for being different. According to The Salem (and Other) Witch Hunts, by Mike Kubic, “ The sentencing of Bridget Bishop, the first victim of the witch trials, was typical of the Salem justice system. Bishop was accused of not living “a Puritan lifestyle” because she wore black clothing.” The people of Salem determined someone to be a witch or simply immoral because they were different. Thus, people could be making irrational decisions because of their poor