Negative Effects Of Groupthink In The Crucible
Walter Lippmann, an American writer, reporter, and political commentator, once said, “Where all think alike, no one thinks very much”. Groupthink is the process of thinking as a group in a way that discourages creativity or individual responsibility. Arthur Miller, an American playwright, essayist, and prominent figure in the twentieth century, wrote The Crucible to warn the American people of groupthink and the abuse of its power. Groupthink has its benefits which allows groups to come to a conclusion and socialize. However, its power can be abused to harm a community. Groupthink is an important part of our history because it has had an extremely negative effect on people and their societies even with its benefits. Today, the way people
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It happened in Massachusetts between 1962 and 1963. During the trials “more than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft—the Devil's magic—and 20 were executed”(Jess Blumberg). During the witch trials, some people lived in fear and others strongly kept their religious beliefs and accepted the punishments they were innocent from. An example of someone who feared the trials in The Crucible was Reverend Parris. After his daughter, Betty Parris, went ill, rumors started spreading that involved Betty practising witchcraft in the forest. Reverend kept implying that they should not “leap” to witchcraft as the source of the illness. If so, the town of Salem would howl Reverend “out of Salem for such corruption”(Miller,14) in his home. Towards the end of act one, Abigail Williams, with Betty Parris following along, starts to name people in the town who they accused of witchcraft. However, the people who were accused had nothing to do with witchcraft and they were considered ne’er-do-wells, someone who is lazy and irresponsible. Out of the two hundred people that were accused, twenty of them were executed. Arthur Miller mentions at the end that after the last execution, “the government awarded compensation to the victims still living, and to the families of the dead” (Miller, 146). As this has shown, groupthink can bring negative effects to a society and the trust of the people to the
It happened in Massachusetts between 1962 and 1963. During the trials “more than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft—the Devil's magic—and 20 were executed”(Jess Blumberg). During the witch trials, some people lived in fear and others strongly kept their religious beliefs and accepted the punishments they were innocent from. An example of someone who feared the trials in The Crucible was Reverend Parris. After his daughter, Betty Parris, went ill, rumors started spreading that involved Betty practising witchcraft in the forest. Reverend kept implying that they should not “leap” to witchcraft as the source of the illness. If so, the town of Salem would howl Reverend “out of Salem for such corruption”(Miller,14) in his home. Towards the end of act one, Abigail Williams, with Betty Parris following along, starts to name people in the town who they accused of witchcraft. However, the people who were accused had nothing to do with witchcraft and they were considered ne’er-do-wells, someone who is lazy and irresponsible. Out of the two hundred people that were accused, twenty of them were executed. Arthur Miller mentions at the end that after the last execution, “the government awarded compensation to the victims still living, and to the families of the dead” (Miller, 146). As this has shown, groupthink can bring negative effects to a society and the trust of the people to the