How Does Miller Present Mass Hysteria In The Crucible

In Puritan society, citizens are to strictly adhere to set laws and instructions, or they risk being condemned to ‘an eternity in Hell’, as they put it. To understand as to why the Puritans are so conservative, one must first comprehend their origins. The Puritans are a sub-denomination of Christianity which left Europe to establish an orthodox society, purified of all corruption, that is also attributed, The City on the Hill. The Holy Bible,the ultimate (-- removed HTML --) , declares the manner in which an ideal Puritan is to act. Unfortunately, few of the Puritans who Arthur Miller portrays in “The Crucible”, a play that which describes the accounts of mass hysteria in a Puritan community named Salem , abide by the statutes enacted by God.

Alas, the pinnacle of the chaos that rampantly overthrew the town, initialized due to the people of Salem deliberately ignoring the word of God. However, Rebecca Nurse has never defaulted to betrayal amidst the chaos. In act I of “The Crucible”, Goody Nurse is immediately defined as having aided Goody Putnam in all eight of her labors as a midwife. Later in the play, Goody Putnam complains that seven of those children had perished and proceeds blames Rebecca for it. The text reveals that Rebecca Nurse was condemned for “the marvelous and supernatural murder of Goody Putnam’s babies” (Miller 63). Goody Putnam is rather vocal when it comes to voicing her concerns; she hammers Rebecca after each instance yet nevertheless, Rebecca continues to assist Goody Putnam, proving her worth as a Puritan. Moreover, she always put others before herself, when others failed

Contributing to the hysteria, many Puritans decided to immaculately lie. However, good ol’ Rebecca Nurse never confesses, it is mentioned in the text,”<>”(Miller, ). By not lying when many others did, she remained the quintessence of a Puritan.

An entirely pure society for the Puritans also includes its inhabitants benevolence toward one another. Rebecca Nurse is an inerrant example of this for she never ceased to give up on John Proctor’s soul. This becomes evident when she states, “ “(Miller ). By doing so she wound up saving Proctor with her guidance and that means she’s pure pure super pure.

When determining Rebecca Nurse’s Puritan intent, some may argue that despite her efforts, she is not quite Puritan in the context of local statute. Rebecca refuses to plead guilty to witchery on account of the clergy’s demands. Conversely, Rebecca Nurse retains a moral obligation to follow the laws and notions defined by God prior to those enacted by the clergy. Additionally, God decides the fate of the clergymen, if they were to encourage lies, both the liars and the permitters are to be damned, which is against the Puritan concept. Thus, by not falsely confessing, Rebecca Nurse maintained her status as entirely pure more so than any