Preview

Hysteria Changes People

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
829 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Hysteria Changes People
Hysteria is a mental disorder marked by excitability, anxiety, or imaginary disorders. It can play an important role in people's lives. Hysteria supplants logic and enables people to believe that their neighbors, whom they have always considered highly respectable, do things they would never expect them of doing. In "The Crucible", hysteria causes people to believe their friends are committing deplorable acts. The townsfolk accept and become active in the hysterical climate not only out of genuine religious piety but also because it gives them a chance to express repressed sentiments and to seek reparations from grudges. Hysteria suspends the rules of daily life and allows the acting out of every dark desire and hateful urge under the charade of righteousness. In "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller, the hysteria due to the paranoia of witchcraft causes Abigail to lie in order to save herself, Danforth to ruin the community, and Proctor to be convicted of witchery.
The hysteria surrounding the witchtrials causes Abigail to lie in order to save herself. She is affected by the hysteria because she does not want to exposed as a liar. She forgets about the people that are close to her in order to protect her reputation and identity. Abigail abandons Tituba, and accuses her of "sending her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer" (41). Abigail also says Tituba "comes to me every night to go and drink blood (41). Abigail reacts like this only to save her from being suspected of witchery. Another way Abigail tries to save herself is when she tries to accuse Mary of practicing witchcraft. She is trying to save herself from being exposed
Puyot - 2

as a fraud. Mary was going to testify that Abigail and the girls were frauds, but Abigail says that Mary has descended a "cold wind" (108) upon the courtroom. She then starts to mimic Mary's every words and forces the other girls to do the same. Mary then breaks down and accuses Proctor of being a

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Abigail, looking about in the air, clasping her arms about her as though cold: I-- I know not. A wind, a cold wind, has come. Her eyes fall on Mary Warren." (108)…

    • 889 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    She makes her story plausible by using spectral evidence against the accused. John Proctor knows he did wrong and has repented his ways, however Abigail refuses to forget and repent; she wishes to runaway with John and stay with him. Abigail continued to lie and make threats towards others further showing her lunacy, and therefore her ties to the Devil through sins. Abigail’s accusations begin to go too far when she turns on the judge of Salem and infers that he, too, is controlled by the Devil. When Mary Warren suggested that they should confess to dancing in the woods.…

    • 583 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Hale first questions Abigail about the dancing in the woods she says there was no witchcraft involved, but Hale, wanting to discover witchcraft, continues to question her. Abigail uses Tituba as a scapegoat to avoid having retribution thrown her way. Hale takes the bait and follows suit in turning things on Tituba. “Instantly Abigail points at Tituba ABIGAIL: She made me do it! She made Betty do it!...She makes me drink blood!/HALE: You have sent your soul out upon this child, have you not? Are you gathering souls for the Devil?” (Miller 40-41) Abigail, painting herself as the victim, causes Hale to believe her and turn his interrogation on Tituba. He is caught up in the excitement of things and believes he has begun to discover witchcraft in Salem. He has studied supernatural beings and has no reason to think Abigail could be lying. This notion is furthered when Tituba, herself, confesses. “TITUBA: No, no, don’t hang Tituba! I tell him I don’t desire to work for him, sir.” (Miller 42) Though her confession is somewhat coerced since the thought of a death sentence hangs in the air, Hale listens to her intently and buys every word. “HALE: You are God’s instrument put in our hands to discover the Devil’s agents among us. You are selected, Tituba, you are chose to help us cleanse our village. So speak utterly, Tituba, turn your back on him and face God-face God,…

    • 2059 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Abigail In The Crucible

    • 131 Words
    • 1 Page

    Furthermore, Abigail’s most infamous manipulation came when she was before the court defending her own credibility when suddenly, she cried out, “A wind, a cold wind, has come” and “I freeze!”Undeniably, Abigail’s words hold power over the court, to the point of blind cooperation, which Abigail completely takes advantage of. She first uses her circumstances to her own advantage by pretending to be attacked by a spirit, so that she might take suspicion away from her own credibility, and put it onto the weaker Mary Warren. However, this later backfires when Mary Warren utilizes the exact same tactic, to move suspicion from herself, over to John Proctor. As a result of Mary Warren’s betrayal of John Proctor, all of Abigail’s plans are destroyed…

    • 131 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To begin with in the play “ The Crucible ” it states that Abigail Williams lied to the towns peoples and said Tituba was the one who was a witch. She also stated “ she comes to me at night in my bedroom and disturbs me” , which she knew she was lying. She would continuously lie on and to other people, just so she wouldn’t get in trouble. Abigail was such a good liar she convinced most of the town to believe that what she was saying is true. She…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Abigail to John Proctor trying to start the affair with him, “I cannot sleep for dreamin, I cannot dream but I wake and walk about the house as though I’d find you comin through some door”. In this quote Abigail is trying to get back with John and start the affair again. After Tituba confesses about witchcraft Abigail is afraid she will be hanged so she has an outburst, “I want to open myself… I want the light of god, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I go back to Jesus, I kiss his hand. I saw Sarah Good with the devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the devil, I saw Bridget Bishop with the devil!”. In this quote it is the outburst of Abigail after Tituba confessed to witchcraft. Deception is the last theme in the…

    • 482 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “She sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer” (Miller 920-921)! Abigail had said this to prove she never called the devil and that Tituba did. This is what she was saying about Tituba trying to get her hung instead of herself. She had to come up with lies to get others in trouble other than her and the other girls who were with her during the singing and dancing. Abigail had twisted the justice in salem after that innocent people were being accused and they didn't even know why. Also to make the court believe them they would act as if the devil were present during any court session with which every person that has been accused during their…

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, various people had been accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. This leads to a hysteria of fear of the devil and witches. Hysteria is often an outcome of jealousy, revenge, and greed. The characters in the play all contributes to the paranoia occurring in the town.…

    • 206 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mass hysteria is a condition affecting a group of persons, characterized by excitement or anxiety, irrational behavior or belief, or inexplicable symptoms of illness(dictionary.com). The play The Crucible by Arthur Miller perfectly exemplifies the phenomenon of mass hysteria. The way all the girls feed of what Abigail is doing, the townspeople’s reactions, and the inability of the court to think reasonably all are examples of mass hysteria.…

    • 393 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The protagonist of The Crucible the leader, Abigail, fear motivates her to lie. She’s afraid to be whipped for dancing and other things in the forest. She deals with her fear by saying Tituba makes her do things in the forest and sends spirits. “She made me! She made Betty do it too! , She sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer!”(187). Because Reverend John Hale asked Abigail “Why are you concealing? Have you sold yourself to Lucifer?” She had to point finger at someone and she had to seem like a good girl. At that moment Tituba enters and instantly Abigail points at Tituba.…

    • 606 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the Crucible, Arthur Miller writes of the hysteria during Salem Witch Trials, hoping that the world will never do anything stupid again because of hysteria. During the Salem Witch Trials there were many people that chose to act as individuals, rather than a community. Judge Danforth, Reverend Parris , and Abigail Williams had the power to stop, and even prevent the trials, but chose not to because they did not care for anyone except themselves. Judge Danforth could have stopped the trials when he found out that he was wrong about the whole thing. Also, Parris is the reason the trails took place, and Abigail Williams fed the flame of hysteria throughout the trails. These three individual contribute to callous attitudes that exist in Salem, and cause the ultimate deaths of the innocent.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Crucible was a brilliant representation of mass hysteria. The examples are very limited when it comes to panic on as great a scale of which the Salem Witch Trials created. The reasons for there are not a large amount of examples is because the timing must be perfect to achieve the range of hysteria as seen in The Crucible.The hysteria was only entrenched so deeply in Salem for the following reasons: people urged the panic on for selfish reasons leading to panic, religion and state not being separated as it should turning the panic into mass hysteria, and lastly the mass hysteria led to many well respected and loved people dying to sate the hysterics of the people.…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Reverend Hale speaks of how so many have been accused that the Devil is in Salem. A simple pointing of the finger has led multiple people to be hung. This power of pointing the finger is abused by Abigail to accuse and incite hysteria in the people of Salem. Her extreme acting overrides the reasoning of the public and causes them to think with emotion and fear. Mary Warren falls prey to Abigail’s antics and betrays Proctor because of it. Abigail with the other girls accused of witchcraft act as though they are being controlled by someone else or feel a cold draft. These anomalies scare the people of Salem driving them to hysteria. The unsuspected accusation of witchcraft towards many townspeople caused Salem as a whole to become enveloped in hysteria. In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, hysteria is prevalent in the way Abigail Williams incites the other girls, Marry Warren’s sudden change of sides, and Salem as a…

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    She uses her untainted reputation to bring her away from trouble by casting the blame on other innocent women. Abby’s uncle is speaking to her about what he saw last night with their “party”, and Abigail tries to get out of it by lying and trying to make their party was not as evil as what Puritans think. Abigail says, “(in terror). No one was naked! You mistake yourself, uncle!” (170). Abigail desperately tries to deny any situation that there were some weird stuff happening the prior night. She lies quickly to her uncle about many things such as a misplaced dress and dancing and casting a charm on Elizabeth Proctor. Although her uncle believes most of it, she would accuse Tituba of all the mess. This shows how Abigail tries to save herself by accusing others of witchery, caused by her…

    • 556 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “Hysteria is an overwhelming fear and excitement that overrides all logic, and is often enhanced and intensified by the presence of others who are acting out on that fear” (Campbell). The play The Crucible takes place in Salem Massachusetts in 1692. The story is centered around a group of girls who terrorized their neighbors by accusing them of witchcraft. One of the girls in the group is named Abigail. Her straitlaced uncle, Reverend…

    • 1123 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays