Examples Of Hysteria In The Crucible

The witchcraft trials in Salem in 1692 were a result of many different elements that were going on within the town. Jealousy was the cornerstone of the mass hysteria that soon became known as the Salem witch trials. In his play, The Crucible, Miller demonstrates how the fear of people in authority can destroy a community by bringing it to mass hysteria through the characters of Parris, Putnam, and Proctor. Reverend Parris, the minister in Salem, fears the people of the town to a point where he can hardly leave his house without believing that someone is plotting against him. Reverend Parris has a suspicion that there is a faction in the church that is looking to overthrow him just as they have overthrown that past 2 ministers before him. He explains this idea of faction to John Proctor, who he assumes to be a member of this. Reverend Parris’ daughter, Betty, was the first one that caught the sickness, his servant, Tituba, was the first one that called
The fear of harming his wife led to him hurting his own name and Abigail’s by saying that he committed lechery on her. He only confessed this in order to save his wife and all of the others that had been arrested. He also had a fear, deep inside himself, that he would be accused and wouldn’t be able to die. He feared being hung, but feared blackening his and his children’s’ names even more and therefore hung. He told Danforth that he would be nothing without his name and didn’t want it to be blackened in the town. The fear of letting down his wife once against caused him to make the decision to be hung rather than confess, because he knew that his wife would never confess no matter how horrible the punishment. He also shows a fear of God by asking God who he was and what he was supposed to do. John’s main fear is of himself because he knows that his faults have brought him to hurt his relationship with Rebecca, Abigail, and