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Hysteria In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

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Only in rare cases is something so impactful on a story caused by solely one person. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, luckily, is not one of those cases. There would be much less of a story if it was that simple. The blame of the hysteria that is revolving around Salem is upon many shoulders. The three people that are most intertwined with this are Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and Mary Warren. The origin to the chaos was Abigail Williams, a young girl who had had an affair with John Proctor, a middle-aged farmer. This was introduced in Act 1, along with Abigail’s conclusion that if she couldn’t have John Proctor, she would have to kill his wife, Elizabeth Proctor, instead. Her intentions are clearly shown when Betty says “You drank a charm …show more content…

She has an arrow in you yet, John Proctor, and you know it well!”(Miller, 66). Though Proctor has been trying to forget about what he has done with Abigail, he comes to realize that, while he despises the idea, Abigail will stop at nothing to be with him, even if it means killing Elizabeth Proctor; John Proctor has come to think that keeping his affair in the dark is a better choice than confessing to his sins, when the truth is that it’s only the easier choice. Because Proctor refuses to face his fear of confession, many people are accused by Abigail, including his own wife. Furthermore, Proctor is taking a greater risk by not confessing, for Abigail Williams can use the affair as leverage, and the longer he waits to confess, the worse the punishment will be, especially if he isn’t the one to give himself …show more content…

With John Proctor and possibly Elizabeth Proctor to be hanged, there isn’t much that anybody can do to save the accused. At the end of Act 3, Proctor has said “God is dead!”(Miller, 125), which naturally caused outrage in the townspeople, and Proctor was charged with conversing with the devil. Though he is given an offer to sign a confession during Act 4, he decides it would be better to save his name than to save his life, so he tears the confession to shreds. By doing this, Proctor redeems himself for some of the chaos he has caused, because when the townspeople see a good man hanged, they realize the pure insanity of the witch trials which have taken

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“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. ”(Roosevelt). The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a historical fiction about how hysteria and groupthink can have drastic consequences. It follows the Salem witch trials and the events that led to 19 people being convicted of witchcraft and subsequently killed. The most important subject in The Crucible is how fear can affect decisions.

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John Proctor makes his intentions clear with Abigail. In the 1600s, having an affair is uncommon. His marriage proves that although love is enduring, it takes diligence. On the contrary, lust is sheer and unsustainable. Proctor believes that he must conceal his relationship with Abby to plead his wife’s innocence.

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She didn’t think anything through nor did she know exactly what she was getting into. Abigail was desperate for love and as everyone knows, love can make you do crazy things. “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart!” From start to finish, it was all miss Abigail Williams. She created this mass hysteria that blanketed Salem like low hanging

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