Theme Statement For The Crucible

the Crucible Themes
In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, the two main themes are, hysteria causes people to make harmful decisions and peer pressure is more influential than the pressure to do the right thing. These themes are intertwined and build off each other throughout the play due to the character's actions during the witch trials in Salem 1692.
The first theme statement in The Crucible is hysteria causes people to make harmful decisions. This theme is used many times throughout the play. For example, when Abigail is in court, and being asked questions about witchery. Abigail claims she was being witched by Mary Warren. On pages 119-123 Abigail started to freak out in the courtroom that there was a yellow bird on the beam behind the

Hysteria throughout the people in the town causes them to make bad decisions. All towns’ people are acting like this because they feel peer pressured to make these decisions to save themselves. Abigail relates to both themes because she not only is a victim of hysteria, but she also causes hysteria. Abigail also makes wrong decisions while she is being peer pressured. Not only does she stab herself in the belly because of fear, she does it because she feels pressured to be the victim and not take responsibility for her past actions. Mary Warren falls under both themes as well because she is very affected by hysteria in court. She also falls into peer pressure when she blames John Proctor for being a witch. The court setting also relates to both themes, peer pressure, and hysteria. Court causes people to blame others, lie, and come up with delusional complaints. We know the author is talking about hysteria because he portrays the characters as fearing the big idea of witchery. We also know the author is talking about peer pressure because people are lying when tension arises. That is how the two themes in the book intertwine to portray the characters'