The Salem Witch Mass Hysteria In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

Many novels, plays, and motion pictures revolve around one or more common reoccurring subject matters, which are often not spoken aloud. This is known as a theme. It represents a subject of talk, or a person’s thought. The drama, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller is a perfect example of a piece of literature with unspoken thought. The themes are displayed by character emotion, actions, and speeches. The theme of hysteria*caused by uncontrolled fear in The Crucible can be applied to more modern day events such as The Great Fear and The Year 2000 Problem (Y2K), displaying that themes from the 1600’s are relevant and have continued to occur throughout history, still existent today.* The Crucible is a drama written in 1952 about the Salem Witch

Exaggerated, uncontrollable emotion was felt by all members of the Salem community, causing them to lose their critical thinking skills. “And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.” (*Miller 19).” This statement by the character Abigail in the narrative of The Crucible demonstrates the length to which people will go in order to protect themselves in the courts when accused of whichcraft*. She fears that the other girls will reveal their secrets of dancing and charms meant to kill her lover's wife. She is afraid that they all will be greatly punished by hanging. “But if you trafficked with spirits in the forest I must know, for surely my enemies will and they will ruin me with it.”(Miller 10) This separate statement from the character Parris displays the illogical fear that not only himself, but the community feels. Irrationally and selfishly the character wants all of the signs of witchcraft to be concealed so that he and his church can stay protected and respected, instead of facing the problem and trying the accused. Hysteria is a reasonable response to fear for a rumor such as witchcraft, and that is why this emotion is a theme in the drama

They accused everyone, and assumed that they would be the next person with a noose around their neck. Similarly, the villagers of France were plagued by hysteria and fear because they believed the superiors in their towns were going to destroy their livelihood. Finally the Y2K Problem was a recent view of what hysteria and fear can do to the world’s populations. The reliance upon computers took a vicious toll on the world when it was believed they all would fail and bring the financial and communications world to an untimely end. The world is a scary place, and people succumb to the emotion known as fear easily, they lose their ability to think clearly, and that is why hysteria caused by uncontrolled fear is such a relevant theme, not only in literature, but in our own lives today, in current