Hysteria. Act II is when the full extent of the hysteria in Salem becomes apparent. Mary says that there are now not 14 but 39 people who have been thrown in jail on suspicion of witchcraft. The hysteria has been heightened by several confessions which seem to confirm the existence of an evil witchy plot.

One specific example of hysteria occurs in Act III when the girls, led by Abigail, accuse Mary Warren of witchcraft to prevent her from testifying against them. Though multiple people (including Mary) have claimed that the witchcraft accusations are false, the court refuses to be swayed.

One clear example of mass hysteria within The Crucible, is in act one when Abigail reacts to Reverend Hale questioning her about conjuring a spirit onto Betty, she then proceeds to utilize Tituba as a scapegoat for her own safety.

The town of Salem falls into mass hysteria, a condition in which community-wide fear overwhelms logic and individual thought and ends up justifying its own existence. In The Crucible, hysterical fear becomes an unconscious means of expressing the resentment and anger suppressed by strict Puritan society.

The Crucible Themes

• Theme #1. Reputation. Reputation is one of the major themes in the play, The Crucible.
• Theme #2. Hysteria.
• Theme #3. Power and Authority.
• Theme #4. Guilt.
• Theme #5. Portrayal of Women.
• Theme #6. Deception.
• Theme #7. Goodness.
• Theme #8. Judgment.

One of the main messages of “The Crucible” is that mob mentality in any situation, religious or political, leads to thoughtless (and therefore unethical and illogical) actions. In this play, those actions lead to the persecution of innocent people.

Such episodes fall under the blanket psychological term of “mass hysteria,” and here are a handful of examples.

• Salem Witch Trials (1692–93) This is one of the best-known incidents of mass hysteria.
• The Miracle of the Sun (Oct. 13, 1917)
• Halifax Slasher (1938)
• Tanzania laughter epidemic (1962)
• Sri Lanka (2012)

The main themes in The Crucible include the destructive power of lies, the importance of reputation, and hysteria and corruption.

Abigail Williams

Abigail Williams. Of the major characters, Abigail is the least complex. She is clearly the villain of the play, more so than Parris or Danforth: she tells lies, manipulates her friends and the entire town, and eventually sends nineteen innocent people to their deaths.

Hover for more information. Judge Danforth holds more power. Firstly, he is deputy governor of the state and secondly, he is the presiding officer, which mean he sits on the bench and hears evidence. He is also the one who gives instructions to the other court officials.

Proctor is revealed to have had an affair with Abigail Williams but he has a hatred to Reverend Samuel Parris because he is entirely materialistic.

Salem witch trials, (June 1692–May 1693), in American history, a series of investigations and persecutions that caused 19 convicted “witches” to be hanged and many other suspects to be imprisoned in Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (now Danvers, Massachusetts).

August 19

The infamous Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft.

Witch-hunts are practiced today throughout the world. While prevalent world-wide, hot-spots of current witch-hunting are India, Papua New Guinea, Amazonia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

1918

1643

1626 – Founded by Roger Conant and a group of immigrants from Cape Ann. The settlement was first titled Naumkeag, but the settlers preferred to call it Salem, derived from the Hebrew word for peace. 1628 – Massachusetts Bay Company arrives and relieves the struggling Naumkeag settlement.

Much of the city’s cultural identity reflects its role as the location of the infamous Salem witch trials of 1692, as featured in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible….