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Snowball Effect In The Crucible

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The dictionary definition of “the snowball effect” is a process that starts from an initial state of small significance and builds upon itself, becoming larger and more serious, and also perhaps potentially dangerous or disastrous, and thought to be beneficial instead (a virtuous circle). The town of Salem soon had too large of a snowball to contain it in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible . Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, tells the story of a young girl named Abigail Williams who was very selfish and cold-hearted. She kept herself in mind and only what benefited her and this was devastating for the townspeople of Salem. Abigail, Reverend Hale, and Mr. Paris are the three characters who are most to blame for the hysteria and subsequent death
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The Crucial World Inside the Crucible The trial of Rebecca Nurse is a perfect example of logical fallacy at work. Back in Salem, Massachusetts people had assumptions, also known as illusions, against other Salem citizens. With no proof or evidence it was also known as logically fallacy. Which is faulty reasoning using to persuade, done manipulatively.

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In the play along with the movie The Crucible, John Proctor and Abigail Williams have interesting relationship bound by adultery and lies. Abigail becomes obsessed with John and will do anything to be with him. John quickly shuts down her fantasy ideas and tells her that what happened between them was a one-time thing that will never take place again and a mistake on his part. With this knowledge, she soon spends all her time plotting to get John all to herself and to make him fall in love with her, even if that means taking out John’s wife, Elizabeth. We see many examples of this forbidden relationship through their secret encounters and arguments in both examples of the story, still, there were more scenes of John and Abby alone in the movie than in the play.

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Stopping Panic One of America’s greatest plays is “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller. The Crucible is based off of the true events of the Salem Witch Trials, which caused mass hysteria all throughout Salem; However, it was a satire that explained the hysteria during Arthur Miller’s time known as the “Red Scare”. During this satire, he uses characters that had real-life counterparts to explain how mass hysteria, which is exaggerated and uncontrollable emotions of fear, to show how people of his day were doing the same things and how they needed to stop it before it got worse. In the play, two characters who could have stopped the hysteria that plagued Salem were Abigail Williams and Reverend Hale. One character that could have stopped the hysteria was Abigail Williams.

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During the late 17th century a total of 200 people were accused of participating in witchcraft, while 19 people lost their lives to the mass hysteria. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a group of girls start a huge uproar in Salem, Massachusetts when they start screeching about Salemites being associated with the Devil. Throughout the play write, it shows the consequences of mass hysteria and how it puts people's lives in danger. Abigail Williams causes a wave of mass hysteria and because of her trickery, innocent people have died by her and the other girl’s actions, for this Abigail is the most unforgivable character in The Crucible.

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In the play, The Crucible, Salem, Massachusetts, along with the United States during McCarthyism, is engulfed with paranoia. Although both situations include different causes, their effects are strikingly similar. For instance, throughout The Crucible, Abigail Williams is being shown repeatedly accusing innocent people of witchcraft. Her actions begin sending the small town into a panic as they throw people into jail and hang them in an effort to try and cleanse the town from any aspect of evil. Similarly, throughout 1950-1954, Joseph McCarthy falsely accused people within the United States Government of being a member of the Communist party.

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The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a dramatic play that expresses a very important message and that is how far people would go to save themselves from the hands of death. There are many characters in the Crucible who are guilty of taking innocent lives, but there are three major characters who, without a doubt, are the most at blame. The play takes place in the city of Salem, a city filled with people that would do anything to keep their reputation clean. Throughout the play, Miller is introducing multiple characters that experience changes in their decisions and negatively influence more people eventually leading up to the witch trials. The main point that the story revolves around is that people would rather lie and blame someone else instead of confessing and accepting the punishment.

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The actions of others can and will affect the lives of the people around them whether it is in the community or a specific family. There are many examples of this in the book The Crucible by Arthur Miller that will affect others. As I was reading this the events that showed up most was witchcraft and lying which caused a vast majority of the problems throughout the play. Many characters demonstrated different things that impacted others’ lives, such as Abagail lying in court, John Proctor committing adultery, and lastly the girls dancing in the woods.

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Hysteria can be defined as the exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people. This definition proves true and exists throughout the course of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. In The Crucible, a group of girls go dancing in a forest around a cauldron, some even naked, and along with a black slave named Tituba. Reverend Parris, the local minister, then catches the girls in the act. As a result, Betty, one of the girls and Parris’s daughter, goes into what it seems like a coma.

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“Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant” (Horace). The idea that hard times elicit the development of certain aspects of a character, whether good or bad, is prevalent in literature, particularly The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Horace’s assertion is true in regard to the two texts in that they both contain characters who develop maturity and mercy, a new self-awareness, and cunning duplicity. The notion that adversity develops talents is shown in the characters of The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter who matured and developed an ability to forgive over the course of the plot.

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Abigail’s secret of faking being bewitched in court was finally about to come out. So, in a last second frenzy, she had started to attack Mary Warren to save herself, to which Mary turned on Proctor to save herself. After attempts to save themselves from damnation, characters of the Crucible started acting hysterically as well as pointing fingers at anyone they could, creating a stampede of frenzy and agitation, stomping cold-footed through the pages of the play. Every single character in the play had been affected by the mass hysteria that crept through Salem like a thick fog. Many people - Reverend Parris being a good example - were worried about their reputations, how they would look to the mass’s judging and unforgiving eye.

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The 20th century was a time of both success and sadness, triumph and tragedy, however, no event in European history has been quite as disheartening as the Nazi Holocaust, the darkest hour in European History. In less than a decade, The Nazi Party murdered well over 6,000,000 Jews. 6,000,000 mothers, children, fathers, even babies. This tragedy was justified on the grounds that the people of the Jewish population were subhuman, a burden to the Nazi regime. Similar to the Jewish population of Europe, the people of Salem in The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, were unfairly sentenced to death without any justifiable reasoning, other than suspicion and hatred.

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Power, the ability to maintain control, command, or authority over others can often be determined by one’s reputation and his or her persuasiveness. This principle is displayed within The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, in which follows the town of Salem, Massachusetts attempting to navigate through a “Witchcraft” outbreak supposedly lead by the Devil. Within such a theocratic society such as Salem, the Devil is often associated with death, fear, and uncertainty. While his name alone is often believed to be able to influence others in to following through in certain actions. The Devil, as a key figure behind the immense “witchcraft” occurring in Salem, is crafted by Miller as the most influential “character” due to his infamous reputation and his ability to control characters’ actions.

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Dying for a cause, it’s happened many times throughout history. It’s how the world has progressed through many wars, rebellions, and social movements. Reverand Hale in The Crucible by Arthur Miller says “no principle, however glorious” is worth dying for, which was said during the period of the witch trials. This was a logical statement in that particular situation, where it was a basis of false accusations and pride. However, in modern times this statement applied to the situation of the present-day can be refuted and rejected.

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1451 Words | 6 Pages

Fear that spread among a group of people in Salem during the Salem Witch Trials, that event in history is a prime example of Mass Hysteria. In Salem the reason why so many women were killed was because of Mass Hysteria. It caused many people, in Salem during this event to think fast, rash and jump to conclusions. “The Crucible”, a short play dedicated to these events in Salem shows us how hysteria was such a leading cause of why the Witch Trials had even occurred. Reverend Hale, Abigail Williams and Judge Danforth.

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A paradox is a statement that appears to be self-contradictory or obvious but may include a hidden truth. It is also used to illustrate an opinion or statement contrary to accepted traditional ideas. Authors often use paradoxes in their works to make them more interesting. In the play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller presents the audience with a paradox, which he developed from the Salem witchcraft trials. In the small town of Salem, a theocracy was created for good purposes.

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