Paranoia In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

The Crucible is a play by Arthur Miller describing the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. It prompts the reader to wonder what the causing factors were for these events to take place. There are many ways to answer this question, although paranoia in the Puritan community played a major role in the downfall of the town. Paranoia came from jumping to conclusions, the fear of the devil, and superstition, and it caused the downfall of Salem, Massachusetts. The tendency of the Puritans to jump to conclusions made them excessively paranoid and ultimately contributed to the town’s destruction. For example, they accused others of witchcraft based on very questionable evidence, and there are many instances of this happening in the play. In Act One, Mrs.

Puritans had very strange beliefs about how witchcraft was presented in people. For example, strange fits, poppets, reading books other than the bible, being female, and having a mole or birthmark were signs that one was a witch. These unfair superstitions made it easy for innocent people to be accused of witchcraft. For example, when Elizabeth Proctor was accused, ministers and court officials came to her home to search for any suspicious items. A poppet was discovered, and this raised skepticism. “’Tis hard proof! I find here a poppet Goody Proctor keeps. I have found it, sir. And in the belly of the poppet a needle’s stuck. I tell you true, Proctor, I never warranted to see such proof of Hell, and I bid you obstruct me not, for I-” (75). Clearly, owning a poppet does not mean a person is a witch, but in a community full of superstition and paranoia, it did. The superstitions surrounding witchcraft increased paranoia of ordinary, innocent people who were religiously faithful and had no connection to the devil. Also, in The Crucible, Giles Corey accidentally makes his wife, Martha, a suspect of witchcraft when he says that she often reads books other than the bible. “Your Excellency, I only said she were readin’ books, sir, and they come and take her out of my house for-” (86). After Danforth interrupts, Giles continues, “It is my third wife, sir; I never had no wife that be so taken with books, and I thought to find the cause of it, d’y’see, but it were no witch I blamed her for.” (86). Reading was frowned upon in Puritan society, and ultimately led to the death of Martha Corey when she was hanged after being found guilty of witchcraft. Superstition in Salem caused the unfair death of Martha Corey just because she read. This excessive superstition caused people to be paranoid and hysterical, contributing to the cause of the Salem Witch