ipl-logo

Examples Of Hysteria In The Crucible

555 Words3 Pages

Collective Hysteria is a significant aspect in making and ending relationships. In Arthur Miller's, The Crucible, hysteria displays a key role of tearing apart the community of Salem, Massachusetts by forming an environment where people act on their resent and hatred, which is exemplified by, the protagonist, John Proctor. Miller uses Proctor's internal conflict and logical fallacies to express his message of the harmful results of hysteria. Firstly, Miller uses Proctor’s internal conflict to forebode the harmful results of collective hysteria in the Puritan society. Proctor is deeply challenged to tell a challenging and shunned truth. Proctor has committed a form of lechery on his wife, Elizabeth, with Abigail. Still in love, Abigail, gets …show more content…

Proctor voices to his slave, Mary Warren, “ My wife will never die for me! I will bring your guts into your mouth but that goodness will not die for” (76). After Elizabeth is sentenced, Proctor tries to use Mary’s word to free her. During the court session, Abigail and the other teens begin to clap and accuse Mary of sending her spirit on them. Proctor leaps at Abigail’s and begins to yell at her, “How do you call Heaven! Whore! Whore!” (101). Miller uses the fallacy of ad hominem to direct against Abigail rather than the position. Miller gets caught up in the destructive hysteria and weakens his case in court. Towards the end of the court session, Abigail makes the accusation that a bird (Mary) is attacking her. Immediately after the rest of the teens follow and Mary becomes overwhelmed. Mary tells Proctor, “I have no power… You’re the devil's man” (110). Marry is so frightened by the hysteria of the teenager girls she starts to believe them and sides with them. Miller uses the fallacy of bandwagon to express the danger of hysteria and how hysteria can cause the society to believe something because the majority of the people believe

Show More
Related
245 Words | 1 Pages

Proctor knows it is his fault that the accusation was made and he now know he must do anything to save his wife. As the play goes on Proctor begins to realize that his wife is the one who really loves him, as Abigail will so quickly throw anyone, including him, under the bus. John

Read More
999 Words | 4 Pages

This strong revelation perfectly labels Abigail as a vindictive and immoral woman, immediately highlighting Elizabeth’s fondness. Thus, Proctor’s regret is what assures the reader that Elizabeth is his true love. While Abigail’s entire life revolves around sin and treachery, Proctor praises the fact that his wife’s way of being is completely transparent. He says, “In her life, sir, she have never lied. There are them that cannot sing, and them that cannot weep- my wife cannot lie”(103).

Read More
692 Words | 3 Pages

Society as a whole seeks to satisfy themselves. This may be at the expense of their peers or individuals they are associated with. Arthur Miller brilliantly displays this dark side of humanity’s side in his play The Crucible. This play is based on the Salem witch trials in the early 1690s. During the Salem witch trials over two hundred people were accused of witchcraft and twenty were executed.

Read More
614 Words | 3 Pages

Proctor’s case is ultimately not believed by the court because Elizabeth did not tell the truth, therefore he will pay the consequences of his actions according to the court. The morning before his conviction, he speaks to his wife Abigail and confesses by saying “I cannot mount gibbet like a saint, it is fraud, My Honesty is broke, Elizabeth, I am no good man, nothing's spoiled by giving them this lie that were not rotten long before.” (Miller 126). By this quotation in the text the reader is able to tell that Proctor, who knows is going to die, expresses his disappointment in himself and asks Elizabeth for forgiveness for his crime of adultery. This in turn shows the sporadic change of proctors situation.

Read More
967 Words | 4 Pages

Despite how tense their relationship has been after Elizabeth found out about the affair, Proctor and Elizabeth still hold strong mutual feelings for each other. When Hale came to arrest Elizabeth under the charge that she had assaulted Abigail through the poppet that Mary had brought home with her, Proctor defended her vigorously by declaring the statement: “I will not give my wife to vengeance!” (Miller, 77). The vengeance that Proctor refers to in this statement is Abigail and her determination to replace Elizabeth as Proctor’s lover. This statement is evidence that Proctor is trying to protect Elizabeth from Abigail’s clutches and prove that he is loyal to his wife.

Read More
1198 Words | 5 Pages

The contention between the characters have intensified as the argument escalates, and Proctor's failure at pinning the blame on Abigail has frustrated him. When Abigail begins another self righteous fit of possession and calls upon Heaven, Proctor can no longer stand her hypocrisy. He cries out in a “roaring voice” “breathless and in agony: It is a whore!” (Miller 109, 110).

Read More
445 Words | 2 Pages

Abigail tells everyone the Elizabeth sent her spirit out to stab her with the needle that is in Mary Warren’s poppet. When John Proctor finds out what Abigail is up to, he threatens her in the woods. He will not let Abigail accuse Elizabeth and try to have her hanged. This is when John Proctor shows more passion is his marriage.

Read More
789 Words | 4 Pages

The affair with Abigail causes hurt between John and Elizabeth’s relationship, but they remain together. Confessing to the affair leads to Proctor’s downfall because his reputation has been ruined and the people of Salem do

Read More
1199 Words | 5 Pages

(Miller 77). Proctor shows that just because Abigail is the accuser, doesn’t mean she is innocent and that she is lying so she can gain revenge. Once again, the court ignores all of the reasonable answers that Proctor provides and agrees with Abigail’s theory of witchcraft. After further disagreement with the court, Proctor finally decides to confess his affair with Abigail to prove that she isn’t as innocent as she seems. This action sacrifices Proctor’s good name; which is sacred in the Puritan society.

Read More
1608 Words | 7 Pages

Abigail, in tears, “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men! And now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I will not, I cannot! You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!”

Read More
1143 Words | 5 Pages

I am no Sarah Good or Tituba, I am John Proctor” (143). He will not do as Abigail has done and trick the town with lies to gain respect. He defies the court once more, telling Elizabeth to “show a stony heart and sink them with it” (144). These last comforting words to his wife can some up the main moral conflict of the play; lies may save ones life but the truth will save ones soul and lives of many others. The hypocrisy of the town can most clearly be seen in Hales final attempts to save Proctor.

Read More
570 Words | 3 Pages

Cruelty is a recurrent theme in literature that often acts as a critical factor in a novel’s development. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, the occurrence of cruelty is seen to be gradually increasing as the story goes on from accusations of witchcraft that lead into chaos and death. Through Miller’s depiction of the merciless accusations and murders of innocent people, cruelty reveals a high extent of people’s animosity and vengeance that is greatly influenced by the attitude of the surrounding atmosphere. The accusations first began when the girls who were caught “dancing” in the forest were under pressure to confess what they were truly doing.

Read More
1451 Words | 6 Pages

Fear that spread among a group of people in Salem during the Salem Witch Trials, that event in history is a prime example of Mass Hysteria. In Salem the reason why so many women were killed was because of Mass Hysteria. It caused many people, in Salem during this event to think fast, rash and jump to conclusions. “The Crucible”, a short play dedicated to these events in Salem shows us how hysteria was such a leading cause of why the Witch Trials had even occurred. Reverend Hale, Abigail Williams and Judge Danforth.

Read More
872 Words | 4 Pages

Because of this, logic behind his actions become lost since he begins executing them with a desire to reform the corruptness of his crime. Elizabeth suggests to Proctor, that by telling the court that Abigail and the other girls bewitchments are of pretense, all women who were sentenced to death would be given their lives back. He knows that telling the judges is the most rational, but he pauses before making a choice as he responds “quietly, struggling with his thought” (53). His uncertainty shows his conflicting emotion because Proctor feels he cannot accuse Abigail because his guilt will not allow him to. But he coexisting feels the priority to accuse her in order to keep Elizabeth in high spirits.

Read More
705 Words | 3 Pages

He defends his wife and tells the court that his wife fired Abigail because of their affair. When the court brought Elizabeth Proctor into the court and asked her about the affair she denied it. Even though she knew the affair was true she denied it because she didn’t know Proctor had confessed and wanted to take her husband’s name

Read More

More about Examples Of Hysteria In The Crucible

Related Topics

Open Document