Examples Of Hysteria In The Crucible

With treasures of valuable lessons to learn, Miller’s ‘The Crucible’ is a sturdily startling fictionalized account of the McCarthyism era that took place in the 1950s. The rigid religious and moral views by Salem’s religious leaders on the townspeople, overthrowing the community’s thoughts by ruling with absolute terror and violence subsidizes to a town’s mass hysteria when Abigail, a young girl coated with selfishness and wickedness, along with her group of friends indict innocent people who have slighted them of performing witchcraft. The use of potent and unnerving imagery is extremely tragic and painful to witness positioning the audience to evoke an emotional reaction towards the innocent people blamed in the text and therefore indirectly

Logic and individual thought is overruled by hysteria which eventually justifies its own existence. Hysteria supersedes logic and causes people to believe that their neighbors whom they’ve known all their life and considered as upright people are committing absurd and preposterous doings such as, practicing witchcraft, worshiping the devil, etc. The people of Salem see traces of evidence of god and the devil in everything; however nobody has actually seen spirits though Abigail and the girls claim they do. The idea of supernatural means comes from the hysteria possessed within the people; they aren’t able to think logically about situations. A poppet symbolizes innocence; however, when Mary Warren gifted a poppet to Goody Proctor it was seen as a demonic figure all because of Abigail, who struck herself with a small pin in order to blame Goody Proctor for conducting witchcraft on her. "I find here a poppet Goody Proctor keeps. I have found it, sir. And in the belly of the poppet a needle stuck" (Cheever). Here it can be seen that the entire town has become manipulated by cunning Abigail and are not using their logic, their common sense is blindfolded; the poppet that once represented adolescence and innocence is now known as a voodoo doll that everyone begins to fear. The use of symbolism positions the audience to see that logic prevails over superstition, and it is highly necessary to think before you react. In this case, the audience is suited to believe that the puritans should’ve thought about the situation logically instead of hastily jumping to drastic conclusions on the base of the hysteria they possess in relation to the devil and witchcraft. Miller’s ability to convey complex themes through the use of symbolism is the reason why the play ‘The Crucible’ deserves stay part of the QLD curriculum.