The Significance Of Hysteria In Arthur Miller's The Crucible

In the novel, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is centered on false claims of witchcraft in the city of Salem during the late 1600’s. These false claims took a toll on the usual way of life, and changed the characteristics of the entire village, many believed their own family members could not even be trusted. The witch trials are a result of religion, and superstitious culture; sets the tone for numerous characters to believe that killing the witches in the village was to fulfill God’s work. Hysteria was a key piece of evidence in The Crucible. It shows why the allegations spread through the village and resulted in numerous deaths. The word Hysteria means “a situation in which many people behave or react in an extreme or uncontrolled

In The Crucible, she is Elizabeth and John Proctor’s servant. Mary was one of the girls seen in the forest dancing and reciting spells with Abigail. Betty fears being punished and pretends to be in a coma, and compelled by the Devil so she can’t wake up. Abigail knows she is not in a coma but makes severe threats to the girls, and mostly putting fear into Betty, and Mary Warren by saying, “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” (WilliamsCollege). When Betty hears the threat in her sleep she continues to play along with Abigail’s accusations to refrain from being killed. Throughout the story Mary Warren and Abigail go head to head with either telling the truth or continue sacrificing others for their lies. In order to turn the suspicion off of her, she and the other girls pretend that a yellow bird in the ceiling of the church is the spirit of Mary Warren. Abagail and the others chant, “But God made my face; you cannot want to tear my face. Envy is a deadly sin, Mary...Oh, Mary, this is a black art to change your shape” (WilliamsCollege). The other girls begin to scream and run out of the church, and Mary Warren is so accustom to playing into Abigail’s plan, she does not realize that they are setting her up. She was so fixed into the

She is still concerned with covering her numerous lies and getting Mr. Proctor all to herself. Without her, the girls would not have made the false accusations against any of the villagers. They were persuaded by her slickness, and were very convinced that they were really being tormented by the Devil. If Abigail would not have started instigating the situation and just told the truth, many lives could have been saved, and the rumors of them being possessed would have passed with time. It may seem wrong to say that Abigail was the prime suspect and should take most of the blame, but it is safe to say that she took advantage of the situation by using witchcraft and superstition to cover her lies. Everything she did was to protect herself from being seen as the culprit; she did not care about anyone else’s’ life or how she caused havoc. As long as the blame was not on her, she was happy and continued to lust after Mr.