causes for chaos in Salem

Only resulting in 20 deaths, the Salem witch trials still managed to permanently edge its way into American history and continue to cause controversy for hundreds of years. Even though the causalities were low, the chaos and confusion was not. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play that gives insight on how the lives of Salem citizens would have been during 1692. These people lived in fear everyday of being accused of a witch or potentially being executed as well. Mass hysteria, rendering power and turning against one other became a daily routine. There are many explanations to what caused these unfortunate events but a certain group was at the root of the problem. The compelling reason why the events in Salem spiraled out of control was because of this group of girls that showed aspects of group think such as having a mind guard who kept the fire going, the illusion of having invulnerability, and pressuring dissenters.
Abigail Williams is the self-appointed ‘Mindgaurd’ as a result to the girls listening to everything she says and following her accusations and fits of hysteria that is so called caused by witchcraft. At first it was fear that fueled Abigail because she did not want any of the townspeople to find out about her and her friends’ night when they conjured spirits in the forest. Witchery was considered to be a huge sin and could have been awarded with death. Before getting her group accused of such acts, Abigail felt that to protect her friends and herself they had to accuse others. When the creeping suspicion arose in Abigail’s mind that Betty was going to expose the truth, Abigail jumped in with a threat, “Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s dead sisters. And that is all. 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” (Page 20). Abigail tried eliminating