Fear feeds fear. The play The Crucible and the opinion editorial “Nature Isn’t on a Rampage. That Would Be Us” both address the topic of collective hysteria. Both of these texts exemplify how fear in individuals can breed mass hysteria in the collective, and when the collective falls into mass hysteria, people are blinded from the truth.
In The Crucible, accusations of witchcraft based on circumstantial evidence against people the accusers have known for years indicate that the witchcraft hysteria of Salem started from the underlying fears of individuals, which later thrown the entire community into chaos. When Mrs. Putnam argues with Rebecca about the cause of her many miscarriages, she points to the supernatural and asks Tituba, “Did you ever see Sarah Good with him? Or Osburn?” after Tituba confesses to practicing witchcraft (Miller, 46).
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Putnam has already attributed the fear and resentment she felt from her miscarriages to witchcraft, and following Tituba’s confessions, she immediately blames her midwives, Good and Osburn. Clearly, Tituba’s confessions that stemmed from fear of being punished, convinced Mrs. Putnam that Good and Osburn caused her miscarriages. Since the fear in Tituba fueled the fear in Mrs. Putnam, the audience can see that the fear in the two women drove them to blame even people they knew for long periods of time. Furthermore, when Francis defends his wife who has been arrested for witchcraft, Hale tells Francis, “There is a misty plot afoot… we should be criminal to cling to old respects and ancient friendships. I have seen too many frightful proofs in court” (Miller, 71). By stating that friendships and long-term relationships should be disregarded, Hale is an epitome of a character affected by the witch hunt hysteria. He does not particularly fear being accused and does not seek to accuse others, but the mass hysteria in Salem and the “frightful proofs” produced by it has