Examples of Hysteria in the Crucible, Themes of Fear and Intolerance
Haven’t you ever read a book that you felt still exists in today’s society? Well, one book I've read that does this is called The Crucible. I noticed how the author uses aspects, themes and messages which relates to modern society. The Crucible is a play written in 1953 by well-known author, Arthur Miller. It is based on the tragical events that had taken place in Salem, Massachusetts witch trials in the Bay colony of 1692 to 1693. Arthur Miller had written and conveyed the message, by exploring the idea of fake news which therefore manipulated the people of the Puritan town. Genre conventions, characterization, aesthetic features and stylistic devices are used to interpret hysteria, fear and intolerance to convey the relevance The Crucible has to contemporary society.
The first theme fear is evident in The Crucible as the emotions caused by being afraid or frightened is experienced in today’s society. This theme is portrayed in the play as people of Salem are driven to the extent in which they are afraid of losing their lives. A character named Mary Warren who is depicted as a 17-year-old girl is easily manipulated, pushed around and frightened. An example of this characterization is shown when Mary fears to confess the truth against Abigail in court for misleading and falsifying statements on witchcraft which is a forbidden crime in Salem, resulting to death. As she says, ”She’ll kill me for sayin’ that! Abby’ll charge lechery on you, Mr. Proctor! I cannot, they’ll turn on me, I cannot.” Mary is hysterically frightened to confessing as Abigail had once threatened her friends by saying “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. And you know I can do it. This is how fear is portrayed in the play and is evident in society as people are negatively peer pressured into smoking, drinking and bullying; general fear is also evident concerning animals, heights, the dark, war or even death. Another example of fear is shown during the Holocaust in Nazi Germany where Jews were sent to concentration camps to be killed, as Hitler believed in the ideology that Jews were impure. Jewish individuals and families hid themselves as they knew they could be the next victims to be killed as no one could help the innocent Jewish community that was forced into imprisonment and death. Only few neighbors and friends could be trusted as Hitler manipulated people across Germany to believing Jews were at fault for their nations decreasing welfare causing marginalization. In regarding to this fact, it justifies how fear is seen in today's society.
Hysteria is the extreme emotion of fear which builds up overriding logic and is evident in The Crucible. This theme is relevant as people express this emotion in contemporary society. The people of Salem are manipulated into believing that the devil infests Salem by spreading its evil amongst the people, and one main character that states this is known as Reverend Hale. In Act 2, Hale states how, the devil was in Salem by saying,” I have seen too many frightful proofs in court-the devil is alive in Salem, and we dare do not quail to follow wherever the accusing finger points.” Justifying how the town believed that ‘the devil was alive in Salem’, through sightings and court proceedings that were faked, as Mary Warren confesses in court. Though the townspeople were already manipulated into believing that witchcraft was running in the roots of people's homes. Another case of hysteria is when Giles Corey accuses his wife of witchcraft and restates this accusation to Danforth the judge by saying, ” I never had no wife, sir; I never had no wife that be so taken with books, and I thought to find the cause of it, d’y’see, but it were no witch I blamed her for (Openly weeping).” Hysteria is proven in Salem through the example of Giles Corey as when news broke out that witchcraft was taking control of their town people turned against each other. This showed their belief and faith in the devil resulted in the deaths of many innocent townspeople even though they believed in God. Hysteria is evident in contemporary society as people fear terrorists such as the Muslim terrorist group called ISIS. People around the world feared those believing in the same faith creating a sense of hysteria. Some of which went to the extent to harming innocent Muslim people for the acts that ISIS commits; such as the New Zealand mosque shootings that occurred recently by an Australian fanatic. This horrifying act shows how fear against Muslim people escalated to hatred and anger, leading to the innocent deaths of 50. This is how Miller successfully shows hysteria in The Crucible justifying it in today’s society.
The last theme, intolerance is the unwillingness to accept views, beliefs or behaviors that are different from others. Intolerance is seen when the Puritan town of Salem devotes their way of life to teachings of God and refers this to the context of purity in townspeople. Puritanism is the religious reform where the church and catholic teachings is the way of life and is seen when Hale questions Proctor on why he is absent in church on Sabbath day. Proctor responds to this by saying, 'My wife was sick this winter, so I surely came when I could, and when I could not I prayed in this house. When this was said, Hale states,”Mr Proctor, your house is not a church; your theology must tell you that. A Christian on Sabbath day must be in church.” This shows Hale’s doubt for Proctors purity, as not attending church means the devil could choose him to carry out his work for being a weak individual. Due to this, many innocents died on the belief that their purity was based on the context of religion which justified their innocence in court. An example that shows this is when Judge Hathorne condemns Goody Osborne to be hanged as he states, ”What curse do you mumble that this girl (Mary Warren) must fall sick after turning you away?” When this was asked Goody Osborne replies with,” why your excellency, no curse at all. I only say my commandments; Though when asked to recite the commandments by Hathorne, she could not even recite a single one, as Mary Warren states.” Showing the hard proof; ‘hard as rock’ proof that condemned many for the act of witchcraft seen by this example of Goody Osborn. Intolerance is evident in contemporary society as it’s depicted in racism; an issue that many people still face in our society today. Racism is discrimination directed against people of a different race, religion, sex, color or ethnic background. One example showing racism in our society is when a police officer shot a 15-year-old unarmed black teenager in America that was returning home from a house party. Jordon Edwards was killed while performing a heroic act to save his friends from shots fired by white officer, Roy Oliver. This shows how racism is portrayed in society today through this recent act killing an innocent teenager, just because he was from another race. This is how intolerance is seen in our society today.
In conclusion, Arthur Miller successfully shows the themes of fear, hysteria and intolerance in The Crucible to convey messages relating to our contemporary society. These three themes are evident in this play and relates to society as they have been portrayed in certain events throughout history. Fear is seen in the Holocaust; hysteria is seen during the recent mosque shootings in New Zealand and intolerance is seen in racism such as the police officer that had shot a 15-year old unarmed black teenager in America. Justifying how these three examples prove how the play The Crucible still lives on in society today.
