The amount of hysteria that Aruther Miller expresses through his characters in the crucible is more than relevant to what was going on at the time. Aruther Miller shows hysteria through many characters throughout the story. The characters I choose to focus on are Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and Elizabeth Proctor. The ways that he includes hysteria helped show the public how they were treating people at that given time. One of the characters Miller chooses to cause hysteria is Abigail Williams. Miller does this by having her be overly dramatic and mischievous. For example, in the play during line 160 Abby threatens the girls and tells them she will kill them if they mention what truly happened in the woods. “ I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.” (Miller 575). Also through lines 448-470, Abigail is making a scene in the court during Elizabeth's trial trying to convince the others that Mary is a Witch. “Marry, please don't hurt me..” (Miller 652). This evidence shows that Abigail is dangerous and that others need to be wary of her. This is also showing how …show more content…
He also causes hysteria when he is refusing to give them the names of people he “saw” with the devil. In the play during line 66 Proctor says, “If the girl’s a saint now, I think it is not easy to prove she's a fraud, and the town has gone so silly.”(Miller 604). Another way he adds to this is in lines 240- 249 when he doesn't give names of people he “saw with the devil. “Mr. Proctor, a score of people have already testified they saw this woman with the Devil”...“Then it is proved. Why must I say it?”(Miller 675). This evidence proves that he is adding to the hysteria by not going and ending the girls lying to everyone and by not giving up the names of “other