The Crucible By Arthur Miller - 1738 Words

Hysteria can be defined as exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people. In Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, this feeling disperses throughout Salem, Massachusetts, a Puritan town with a theocratic government in 1692 and 1693. In this play, Betty, the daughter of Reverend Parris, the minister of Salem’s church, is under an unconscious and unresponsive state. Her condition follows her father catching her dancing in a forest with her cousin, Abigail Williams, and other girls who live in the town. Many come to believe that the source of Betty s condition is from witchcraft, an unlawful act in Salem. The discovery of the situation in the Parris household triggers people to accuse one another of†¦show more content†¦Mary adds that the girls must inform the town of what they did in the forest: dance and cast charms. However, Abigail does not want her actions revealed and threatens the other girls, â€Å"Now look you. All of y ou. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam s dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you† (1.353-9). Abigail knows that she committed witchcraft by drinking blood in order to curse Elizabeth Proctor. the wife of the man with whom she is infatuated; therefore, she threatens to kill Mercy and Mary if they make any attempt to tell anyone that they did anything in the forest except dance and witness Tituba, the slave of Reverend Parris, conjure the dead sisters of Ruth Putnam, daughter of Thomas Putnam, a land-greedy townsman of Salem, thus protecting herself from it being leaked that she practiced witchcraft. For all of that, hysteria is created, as Abigail will not let the truth of the girls’ activities in the forest be leaked, so false lies will flood the town. Next, Rev erend John Hale, a well-known expert on witchcraft, has been called upon by Parris to determine whether or not the cause of Betty’s unconscious, unresponsive state is indeed witchcraft. Abigail,