Throughout the play, The Crucible, there are many different fears that are present, but the most common would be the fear of hurting others. The whole hysteria is spreading community wide and it is making neighbors who have known each other for years, turn on each other. The overall fear of witchcraft has spread furiously through the town of Salem; because of this the fear of hurting other citizens has also spread. The epidemic is controlling how people go about living their life. The fear is shown most through Mary Warren, John Proctor, and Reverend Hale. The witchcraft hysteria is the reason why the fear of hurting others is so prevalent in the Salem community.
Mary Warren is a prime example of how the hysteria is contributing to the fear of hurting others. Mary Warren is afraid of hurting her owner, John Proctor. At the beginning of act three, she refuses to testify in favor of his wife, Elizabeth Proctor. Elizabeth is a victim of the false accusations of witchcraft. Mary said she didn’t want to testify not only for her safety but also because she knows Abigail would tell the court of the secret relationship Proctor and Abigail had. Mary is put in a difficult situation because of this. If she tells the court that Elizabeth is innocent, John Proctor will be in trouble and if she doesn’t say anything than she hurts Elizabeth. The last thing Mary wants to do is hurt them.
John Proctor will do anything in his power to help get his wife, Elizabeth Proctor, out of jail. In the play, John and some other husbands went around having people sign a petition to convince the judges that their wives are innocent. John Proctor told the court that they could not integrate the people that signed the testimony. The court was so enraged that they said if they couldn’t interrogate, then the petition could not be used in court. This left John in between betraying his community or losing something else to help save his wife. The power of the fear of hurting others is making the choices of each citizen more difficult.
Reverend Hale is a visitor in the town of Salem. He is the reverend of a nearby town that has been called to remove the devil from Salem. Up until now, Reverend Hale has been positive he is doing the Lord’s acts by sentencing a lot of women to the death sentence for devilish activities. Now reflecting on his actions, he is starting to wonder if he is doing what he says he is called to do. Something that all started with one child’s illness, has grown into a mass hysteria and he is starting to feel responsible. The fear of him hurting a lot of people is starting to come back and make him rethink what he is actually doing to the town of Salem.
Fear is the driving force behind the people of Salem. The hysteria is continuously growing because of the constant fear of hurting other people in the progression of time. The underlying problem in the play is that fear feeds fear. The more fear of hurting others residents of Salem have, the worse the problem of hysteria gets. The witchcraft hysteria is the reason why the fear of hurting others is so prevalent in the Salem community.
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