Hysteria In Arthur Miller's The Crucible

Hysteria is shown by groups everywhere throughout the world. It is a critical element in making and particularly breaking connections and relationships. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, hysteria plays an important role of tearing apart the community of Salem by creating an environment where people act on their grudges, which is demonstrated by many of the characters throughout the play, such as Abigail, Proctor, and Danforth as they in the end ruin each other all the while.

Hysteria undermines logic and allows people to believe that their neighbors are committing foolish and unbelievable crimes—communing with the devil, killing babies, and so on. In The Crucible, the townsfolk acknowledge and get to be dynamic in the insane atmosphere not …show more content…
The most evident case is Abigail, who uses the situation to who utilizes the circumstance to blame Elizabeth Proctor for witchcraft and have her sent to prison. But others thrive on the hysteria as well: fortifies his position within the village, albeit temporarily, by making scapegoats of people like Proctor who question his authority. The wealthy, aggressive Thomas Putnam picks up requital on Francis Nurse by getting Rebecca, Francis' high-minded spouse, indicted the supernatural murders of Ann Putnam’s babies. In the end, hysteria can flourish simply because individuals advantage from it. It suspends the guidelines of day by day life and permits the acting out of every dark desire and hateful urge under the cover of righteousness.
In The Crucible, hysteria begins to emerge after the occasion of young ladies of the group of Salem, Massachusetts are caught dancing in the forest in an attempt that they believe will execute Proctors wife ,whom Abigail has affections for. After the girls are caught by Abigail’s uncle, Reverend Parris, they accuse their activities and impact for the Devil, and that Tituba, Parris' slave who instructs the young ladies about spirits, has called upon him and made them dance. The girls refuse to to admit, and …show more content…
One girl would pretend to get cold, or see a spirit, or to be attacked by a spirit, and would cry out in fear and pain; the other girls, seeing her do that, caught the emotion like a contagious disease (which is how hysteria works), and would imagine they felt or saw the same things, or at least would react to the fear in the room. Mary Warren herself, in speaking to the judges, explained how it all happened:
"I--I heard the other girls screaming, and you, Your Honor, you seemed to believe them, and I--It were only sport in the beginning sir, but then the whole world cried spirits, spirits, and I--I promise you, Mr. Danforth, I only thought I saw them but I did