Theme Of Hysteria In The Crucible

Arthur Miller explores many different subjects during The Crucible. One of the most impactful subjects he uses is hysteria, when a large group of people have an uncontrollable outburst of emotion or fear. This happens in the play when the town becomes fearful of witches and begins arresting anybody accused. Miller uses the characters to develop a theme around hysteria. Arthur Miller uses Mary Warren to show how hysteria causes the town to fall into pieces because of the destruction, hallucination, and distrust rampant in Salem.
Hysteria causes the town to frantically destroy itself from the inside out. This is shown in Act II when John Proctor asks Mary Warren “is it true? There be fourteen women arrested?” and Mary explains how “there be thirty-nine now” (Miller 1238). This drastic jump in
Arthur Miller once again uses Mary Warren to show this when Danforth won’t believe that Mary Warren isn’t attacking Abigail with a bird in Act III of the play. Mary pleads to Danforth that she’s “not hurting her” and that Abigail “sees nothin’” but Danforth only continues to ask Mary if she “compacted with the devil” and tells Mary to “draw back your spirit out of them” (Miller 1261). This distrust in the community is caused by hysteric confusion and fear. Danforth and others are caught up in the alleged devil in the room that they begin to agree with the girls and start to blame the innocent. This tears apart the people of Salem because they begin to accuse those who were previously trustworthy. People are in a confused, fearful, state and are unable to make rational decisions on trust.
And so it can be seen that the hysteric fear and confusion of Salem lead it to tear itself apart. Arthur Miller uses Mary Warren as an example to give the reader a sense of the hysteric atmosphere in The Crucible. Miller teaches us that mass hysteria is a force to be reckoned