The Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 to 1693 was composed of a series of hearings as well as prosecutions of people‚ mostly young women‚ who were said to exhibit unusual behavior in Salem‚ Massachusetts. This behavior was classified as “witchcraft” and those who practiced it were claimed to be possessed by the devil. The idea began when a number of young girls started to take part in fortune-telling games‚ but the Puritan society on Massachusetts saw these abnormal events to be a sin‚ and decided
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Epidemic hysteria happens when uncontrolled emotion is set into the minds of a group of people over an issue that is happening in the mind but not in reality. When hysteria sets into a group‚ those who have become "infected" find that their lives are thrown into chaos and ruin. Epidemic hysteria was found evident in the lives of the characters in The Crucible. The Crucible‚ written by Arthur Miller‚ is a play that retells the events of the Salem Witch Trials. By looking at those "infected" by
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throughout the whole story to cause hysteria with the witch trials. He took Abigail’s side in claiming a large majority of the townspeople are witches. He had the motive of keeping his materialistic personality under the radar‚ by doing that he is saving the little reputation he has and more importantly keeping him the job in which he acquires all of his money. Thomas Putnam had a bigger motive for starting these witch trials. Thomas Putnam helped spread the witch trials because he was bitter towards the
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Over time the definition of hysteria has been altered. Long ago it was believed to be a medical condition thought only to affect women. Symptoms of the illness included partial paralysis‚ hallucinations and nervousness. In the late 1800’s and through today‚ it is looked at as a psychological disorder (“Hysteria”). Merriam-Webster defines it as a state in which emotions (such as fear) are so strong that can cause someone to behave in an uncontrolled way(Webster). Hysteria can influence the way people
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Do you know about The Salem Witch Trials? If not‚ keep reading. The Salem Witch Trials were a series of accusations of witchcraft towards older women. This took place between 1692 and 1693. As a result‚ many innocent people were executed. The Crucible written by Arthur Miller is an example of what partially happen in the Salem Witch Tails using real names and real events in his play. The Crucible is mainly about the innocent people who lost their life’s from an injustice way and conflicts between
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ABSTRACT: When the witch trials started‚ it seemed the only way to prove you were not a witch was to be a witch. People were faced with impractical‚ and certainly deadly tasks in order to prove they were not a witch. Tasks they would only survive if they in fact had witchlike powers. In this paper I will argue as to why these trials were irrational. I will draw on reasons and rational from individuals such as Beccaria‚ Wollstonecraft‚ Locke‚ and Voltaire. The history of the witch trials is a grime‚ gruesome
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Hysteria What is hysteria? By definition‚ hysteria is a state of intense agitation‚ anxiety‚ or excitement‚ especially as manifested by large groups or segments of society. In a broader sense however‚ hysteria is a killer‚ the delitescent devil. More specifically‚ hysteria was the main cause of nineteen deaths in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692‚ and countless ruined reputations on account of Joe McCarthy. Hysteria does not just appear out of nowhere though. There are driving forces such as revenge
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In “I‚ Tituba‚ Black Witch of Salem” by Maryse Conde‚ Maryse uses Tituba to challenge Colonialists assumptions. Tituba still follows her beliefs and hasn’t converted to the Puritan ways of Christianity‚ she uses proper english‚ and is not seen as a savage. In “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller Tituba didn’t speak proper english. She was treated as a blame. If anything wrong occurred‚ such as the witch trials‚ Tituba was put the blame on just for the fact that she was a slave from Barbados. Also‚ in
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"Increasingly fed by a moral and political hysteria‚ warlike values produce and endorse shared fears as the primary register of social relations." - Henry Giroux Where man has emotion that‚ along with conspiracies‚ that usually formulates within a collective population and has the potential to become mass panic‚ that in time becomes hysteria. With the occurrences of hysterias‚ individuals spasmodically act under the influence of propaganda‚ a figure of sorts‚ and various factors that may persuade
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Hysteria in The Crucible Arthur Miller’s‚ “The Crucible”‚is about the witch trials that occurred in Salem‚ Massachusetts in the spring of 1692. For the people in the town of Salem‚ it was hard to believe that their own neighbors‚ who they thought were good people‚ could be witches. The plot of the play is quite disturbing. The play starts off with these 14 girls who cry out witchcraft. The town fears witchcraft so hysteria begins to take over. Later‚ dozens of people are wrongly accused
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