The Role Of Hysteria In The Crucible

With witchcraft on the rise, many citizens of Salem in 1692 were fearful, greedy and jealous. Nearly every character in this story gives into one of the factors. In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, fear, greed, and jealousy contribute to the witchcraft hysteria and mass executions in Salem. One of the main contributors to the mass hysteria would be fear. As if the witchcraft hysteria wasn’t enough, in 1692 many Salem villagers feared famine due to the upcoming war. The people of Salem contributed any of their misfortunes to the power of evil and they also believed in witches and those who served the devil. “There were fearful people and believed that witches, servants of the devil, were real and dangerous” (Miller 1124). When many girls fell “ill” after dancing in the forest with Putnam’s slave Tituba, civilians feared that the illness of the girls was due to the devil. If any of the girls who spoke in court mentioned one’s name, they would then be condemned and it would be considered that the one whom was mentioned had been seen with the devil. Overall, the people of Salem feared their lives not only for witches, but also due to famine and many thing which were
Abigail is the whole idea of jealousy. She exudes jealousy and envy over Elizabeth Proctor and she wants her dead for it. In Abigail's raid of jealousy, she first mentions Elizabeth’s name in court and then she has Mary Warren give Elizabeth a poppet which is soon used against her. When Abigail and the other girls were first dabbling in witchcraft, Abigail supposedly drank blood which was supposed to have killed Elizabeth. Abigail has such hate for Elizabeth due to the fact that she is married to Proctor and also because she had fired Abigail and talked badly about her throughout the town. “She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her!” (Miller