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What Is Mass Hysteria In The Crucible

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Mass hysteria is a condition affecting a group of persons, characterized by excitement or anxiety, irrational behavior or beliefs, or inexplicable symptoms of illness. Since the beginning of time everyone has dealt with mass hysteria. One mass hysteria that connects to this story is the hysteria about the Ebola virus infecting everyone. The Ebola virus by definition is a usually fatal disease, a type of hemorrhagic fever, caused by the Ebola virus and marked by high fever, severe gastrointestinal distress, and bleeding. We all know how rare the chances are of actually getting infected yet no one cares. Everyone is so dead set on the fact that they are going to get infected and then eventually die. This connects to The Crucible because not only …show more content…

Elizabeth is known for her truthfulness and whenever she lies straight to the face of two judges it sort of causes chaos. While John Proctor is trying to overthrow the court, he admits to his affair with Abigail. The court does not believe John and so he tells the court to have Elizabeth tell them what actually has been happening since she never lies. What throws the whole court off is that whenever they ask her about the incident, she lies. Elizabeth tells them that Proctor never had an affair. Her lying makes Proctor look like an even bigger liar than the court already believes he is. Another example of how Elizabeth is responsible for the death of John Proctor is that Elizabeth knew about how Abigail is the one accusing people of witchcraft and how she is making false accusations yet Elizabeth did nothing to stop her. The whole time Elizabeth and John both knew that the accusations that Abigail was making was false, yet they continue to let it happen until Elizabeth gets accused. They do not care about anyone else getting thrown in jail or killed unless it is one of them. They are so selfish and that is proved whenever Proctor did not speak up until Elizabeth and a few of his friends wives are accused and thrown into jail. If Elizabeth would tell the truth, then John would not be accused and

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Elizabeth Proctor Elizabeth Proctor in Act three, was call to court to testify the affair between John Proctor and Abigail Williams. Her severe test was to say the truth or deny it. Elizabeth deny it the affair, she want to save John reputacion, then she lie about it. She didn’t know that John confest already. Instead of save John he got more in trouble.

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Elizabeth thinks then realizes what she has just done and has been caught in a lie and John tells the court she was only trying to save his name. Elizabeth’s test would’ve been doing the right thing. Although John is her husband, she should’ve told the truth for not just their sake but everyone else’s. If Elizabeth told the truth she would’ve put an end to all the false accusations being made against John, Abigail, and many others. As time goes on and both Elizabeth and Proctor are in jail, in their last conversation Elizabeth was with a child, and she told John she could not judge him and that she realized he was a good husband.

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Do as you wish, then.” (Miller 51) “I'll not have your suspicion anymore.” (Miller 51) “The reader quickly infers that John Proctor had the affair because Elizabeth is cold, emotionless and a detached woman. Elizabeth is naïve about the situation and wants to still believe she is living a perfect life.”

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Likewise, when Elizabeth is brought before Danforth to verify Proctor’s confession, she lies to protect her husband, whom she refers to as a “goodly man,” from suspicion (Miller, 113). The affair may have caused Elizabeth to doubt Proctor but both parties still care deeply for each other and try to protect each other from harm. Even in his last moments, Proctor’s last words- “Show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it!”- were directed toward Elizabeth and were full of love and care (Miller, 144). Proctor may have sinned but his regret over his affair with Abigail and the trouble he had brought upon his wife justifies his

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Fear has become part of humanity as humans evolve over time. Since the beginning of time humans have always been feared of the unknown. This fear of the unknown has given humans a drive to progress to be better. In the past there have been societies that take wrongful advantage of this fear by creating mass hysteria by religious, political, and social activities such as the Puritans in Salem. The famous play The Crucible by Arthur Miller demonstrates this mass hysteria which has led people of Salem in wrongful accusations and death of twenty individual citizens of Salem for witchcraft.

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He hopes to save Elizabeth by confessing his lechery and to expose Abigail. He thinks Danforth and Hathorne will believe him because he has a high reputation in the community. They do not believe him because his wife did not validate his words. 6. How is Elizabeth’s testimony used against Proctor?

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465 Words | 2 Pages

This affair was never fully proven, but Proctor did say, “Abby, I may think of you from time to time but I will cut off my hand before I’ll reach for you again” (Miller 1140). Abigail was madly in love with Proctor and wanted Elizabeth out of the picture so she could have Proctor all to her self. Abigail was very jealous of Elizabeth. She thought that if Elizabeth would die, she would get Proctor all to her self. She accused Elizabeth of being a “cold, sniveling woman”(Miller 1140).

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However, this is inaccurate because he avoids Abigail and risks everything for his wife. Elizabeth was taken by the court because she was accused for being a witch, but John knows she is a good women and fights for her. Elizabeth is worth the trouble of going to the court and defying the government. It is honorable for a husband to protect his wife after all they are family. John is talking to the court and tell the court a secret that no one knows about, John’s reputation is on the line.

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When John Proctor first arrived at court, he had admitted about the lechery committed with Abigail Williams, and how terrible of a person she was. John didn’t care at all about getting in all this trouble, and told the complete truth in order to establish justice. The court was very sceptical about John’s claim, so they had asked to bring Elizabeth into the room and prove John’s statement. Elizabeth was brought into the room and was questioned by Judge Danforth. “Look at me!

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Also, in attempt to tell the truth about Abigail, John Proctor admits to cheating on his wife with Abigail, but Elizabeth lets her fear assist her in lying. John Proctor tells everyone in the court, previous to Elizabeth arriving, “she [has] never lied” (III.891.). With everyone now knowing that she does not lie, it makes her trustworthy and believable. Deputy Danforth then brings Elizabeth in to confirm what

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Elizabeth has never told a lie beforehand which tells she really does care for Proctor and doesn’t want anything bad to happen to him even after everything he's done. She doesn't realize Proctor has already confessed so she thinks she saving him from utter humiliation and embarrassment and she hopes to keep him out of trouble but her lie does just the opposite. This causes Proctor to be doubted so he is thrown in jail where he is sent to wait for his

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The Salem Witch trials took place in Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693 where people were killed if they were thought to be witches. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller writes about the witch trials and what happened during that time. The Crucible has many themes throughout the play. One prominent theme is the theme of mass hysteria. Mass hysteria is shown in many cases throughout the play such as the scenes when the people of the village of Salem are accused, in the court room while the people state their case, and when the townsfolk are about to be hung after failing to call out other witches.

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Elizabeth tries to protect her husband reputation and name by lying, made the whole situation even worst, by putting her husband in jail. The state where John Proctor is in have to two choices whether he stay in jail and be hang or to lie and clear his name. There are two choice that the people of Salem have to do, do not say anything and will be killed or lie/confess, to order to honor their as an induvial, and most of them have to do this to keep their name and pure. In Act II Abigail threaten her friends, to not say about that dancing at the forest, Abigail drink blood, and the fact Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam.

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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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685 Words | 3 Pages

Although Elizabeth was not the best wife at some moments, she loved her husband so much that she lied for him. When questioned by Danforth if Proctor committed lechery she said faintly “No, sir” (Miller 113). Elizabeth lies for the first time to save her husband because she is loving and cares about him. Although Elizabeth is not truthful, she protects her values by doing what she feels is right for her husband. Abigail is revengeful throughout the play at Elizabeth.

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