Paranoia In The Crucible

During the 1600’s, a group known as the Puritans founded colonies in America to pursue religious freedom. With the Puritan faith being so strict in following the bible, many Puritans feared those who did not comply with the specific rules of the faith. They called those they feared witches and were afraid these witches would harm others in the the town. The fear that these witches would harm others lead to an event known as the Salem Witchcraft Trials in Salem, Massachusetts. Arthur Miller began to research the Trials long after they occurred and became very interested in what had happened in Salem during this time. His interest in the the event led to his play The Crucible. Throughout the play, paranoia is common among Betty Parris and Ruth

The morning after Betty and Ruth were caught dancing in the woods with Abigail Williams, Betty’s older cousin, the two girls both appeared sick to those around them. Betty is first found by her father, Reverend Parris, “not [able to] move herself since midnight,” almost as if she were in a coma (Miller 914). Reverend Parris soon began to show paranoia because he felt a spirit had entered into his daughter and took over her body, leaving her in what appeared to be a coma. Parris emphasized his paranoia when he tried to call in a nurse to examine his daughter as a precaution to find out what was wrong with her. While the nurse was looking at Betty, others from the town, including the Putnams, entered Betty’s room, curious about the situation going on. Once Mrs. Putnam noticed Betty showed to be sick similar to her daughter, Ruth, she began to describe Ruth’s symptoms. Mrs. Putnam mentioned Ruth as having not “waked [that] morning, but her eyes open[ed] and” she could walk, but couldn 't hear, see or eat (Miller 917). With the behaviors Ruth showed, Mrs. Putnam added to the paranoia among those in the room. She also felt that something had entered her daughter and feared it would end up killing her daughter. Mrs. Putnam mentioned that she believed her daughter and Betty had both not been sick, but instead called it “the Devil’s touch” which is “heavier than death” according to her (Miller 917). Others began to hear about the girls being touched by the Devil, leading to a mass paranoia among those in Salem, in fear the Devil would come after them. The young girls, Betty and Ruth, created a paranoia throughout Salem by simply acting extremely sick, leading to a conclusion that they had been touched by the Devil,