How Does Arthur Miller Present Hysteria In The Crucible

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the theme of hysteria slowly grows until it is very obvious the character’s morals are shifted and their actions are completely under its control. The hysteria sort of hangs throughout the town a like a cloud. john proctor, a respected man and in the novel, he is one of the few who sees through the fog of hysteria because he knows the motive of the girl controlling the hysteria. He states “I never knew until tonight that the world had gone daft with this nonsense” (Miller act 2, 68) this is a clear indicator Proctor can see through the hysteria and knows that the girls are behind it. To the reader john proctor seems like the only hope of stopping the confusion. The fact that reverend hale and the other citizens

When a person like Parris or Putnam manipulate the hysteria for their own desires, it establishes their innermost values and how they achieve them. Parris says about Proctor “since I come to salem this man is blackening my name” (Miller 105) the only reason Parris can make such an accusation is because of the hysteria in affect all around the other characters. Proctor and the other character’s present have good reason to try and pull reverend parris out of his position, he has wasted their money on unnecessary things to make his church seem grand. The hysteria controlled primarily by the girls gives Parris a higher reputation so Parris’ accusation has more weight, especially since the hysteria has made Procor seem guilty of witchcraft. With this accusation, strengthened by the hysteria, it is easy to see that Parris’s values his reputation above everything, he doesn't care that Proctor is an innocent man, and Parris would prefer Proctor sits in jail or hangs rather than continue to stab at his reputation. This example shows how the author uses hysteria to show the human values and morals of a character like Parris, his selfish desires and twisted way of achieving them is hidden from most characters because of the blinding hysteria and he uses that to his advantage, as do other characters to get revenge on those who have wronged them, this shows the weakening of morals due to hysteria and people will do terrible things if they can stay hidden. This lesson about how hysteria can affect the morals of characters on such a massive scale is a definite reason why this novel is regarded as a