The Crucible Argumentative Essay
Hysteria is defined as exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, the feeling of hysteria is experienced throughout the entire town of Salem, Massachusetts. Salem is a town that holds witch trials where people are tried for not following the puritan beliefs. In the play, Betty, the daughter of Reverend Parris, is asleep and cannot be wakened. People in the town suspect witchcraft as the cause. Abigail, niece of Reverend Parris, and her friends are suspected by people. Abigail knows the punishments of being found guilty of witchcraft and takes matters into her own hands. Although some may believe Judge Danforth, deputy governor, is to blame for the hysteria, Abigail Williams is the true culprit for the hysteria evoked in the town. Abigail Williams is to blame because she protects herself by controlling and accusing others of practicing witchcraft. First, Abigail is with Mercy Lewis and Mary Warren, two girls that were caught dancing in the forest with Abigail. Betty is in the room unconscious; she wakes and informs the girls Abigail did not tell Reverend Parris that she drank chicken blood (an act of witchcraft) in the forest. Abigail slaps Betty in the face and faces the girls and threatens them, “Now look you. All of you. 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. 353-59). Abigail clearly knows that she committed an act of witchcraft (drinking chicken blood to kill Goody Proctor), because of that, she threatens to murder Mary Warren and Mercy Lewis if they reveal that the girls were not just dancing in the forest and that Abigail drank chicken blood. …show more content…
By threatening Mary and Mercy, Abigail is protecting herself from being condemned of witchcraft by controlling the people around her. Due to all of this, Abigail’s forced concealment of the truth causes hysteria amongst the girls; the truth is never released, only false lies are spread which causes hysteria amongst the people. Next, Abigail is surrounded by people with Reverend Parris, John Hale (an expert on witchcraft) and Betty who lies unconscious. Abigail accuses Tituba, Parris’s slave, of being a witch. Tituba, knowing her status in society, falsely exclaims that she committed witchcraft and Sarah Good and Sarah Osburn, member of the lower class of Salem, also committed witchcraft. Abigail jumps on the situation and pleads, “I want to open myself! I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!” (1. 1050-59). Abigail saw Tituba admit her guilt of witchcraft and then accused Sarah Good and Osborne and come out clean. Abigail decides to do the same and admits to witchcraft and then accuses Sarah Good and Osborne; this was all done to protect herself from being guilty of witchcraft. As a result of this, hysteria in the town increases because the people that Abigail untruthfully accused were set to be on trial for practicing witchcraft. By accusing other people, Abigail caused and increased the hysteria in Salem. Lastly, Ezekiel Cheever, the man who arrests people accused of witchcraft, goes to the Proctor household. He has a warrant to arrest Elizabeth Proctor, wife of the nonreligious farmer John Proctor. He enters the house looking for a poppet. When he finds one, he looks to see if there is a needle inside of it and surely there is. He explains to John and Elizabeth that someone has accused Elizabeth of witchcraft. Cheever recalls, “The girl, the Williams girl, Abigail Williams, sir. She sat to dinner in Reverend Parris’s house tonight, and without word nor warnin’ she falls to the floor. Like a struck beast, he says, and screamed a scream
Hysteria is defined as exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, the feeling of hysteria is experienced throughout the entire town of Salem, Massachusetts. Salem is a town that holds witch trials where people are tried for not following the puritan beliefs. In the play, Betty, the daughter of Reverend Parris, is asleep and cannot be wakened. People in the town suspect witchcraft as the cause. Abigail, niece of Reverend Parris, and her friends are suspected by people. Abigail knows the punishments of being found guilty of witchcraft and takes matters into her own hands. Although some may believe Judge Danforth, deputy governor, is to blame for the hysteria, Abigail Williams is the true culprit for the hysteria evoked in the town. Abigail Williams is to blame because she protects herself by controlling and accusing others of practicing witchcraft. First, Abigail is with Mercy Lewis and Mary Warren, two girls that were caught dancing in the forest with Abigail. Betty is in the room unconscious; she wakes and informs the girls Abigail did not tell Reverend Parris that she drank chicken blood (an act of witchcraft) in the forest. Abigail slaps Betty in the face and faces the girls and threatens them, “Now look you. All of you. 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. 353-59). Abigail clearly knows that she committed an act of witchcraft (drinking chicken blood to kill Goody Proctor), because of that, she threatens to murder Mary Warren and Mercy Lewis if they reveal that the girls were not just dancing in the forest and that Abigail drank chicken blood. …show more content…
By threatening Mary and Mercy, Abigail is protecting herself from being condemned of witchcraft by controlling the people around her. Due to all of this, Abigail’s forced concealment of the truth causes hysteria amongst the girls; the truth is never released, only false lies are spread which causes hysteria amongst the people. Next, Abigail is surrounded by people with Reverend Parris, John Hale (an expert on witchcraft) and Betty who lies unconscious. Abigail accuses Tituba, Parris’s slave, of being a witch. Tituba, knowing her status in society, falsely exclaims that she committed witchcraft and Sarah Good and Sarah Osburn, member of the lower class of Salem, also committed witchcraft. Abigail jumps on the situation and pleads, “I want to open myself! I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!” (1. 1050-59). Abigail saw Tituba admit her guilt of witchcraft and then accused Sarah Good and Osborne and come out clean. Abigail decides to do the same and admits to witchcraft and then accuses Sarah Good and Osborne; this was all done to protect herself from being guilty of witchcraft. As a result of this, hysteria in the town increases because the people that Abigail untruthfully accused were set to be on trial for practicing witchcraft. By accusing other people, Abigail caused and increased the hysteria in Salem. Lastly, Ezekiel Cheever, the man who arrests people accused of witchcraft, goes to the Proctor household. He has a warrant to arrest Elizabeth Proctor, wife of the nonreligious farmer John Proctor. He enters the house looking for a poppet. When he finds one, he looks to see if there is a needle inside of it and surely there is. He explains to John and Elizabeth that someone has accused Elizabeth of witchcraft. Cheever recalls, “The girl, the Williams girl, Abigail Williams, sir. She sat to dinner in Reverend Parris’s house tonight, and without word nor warnin’ she falls to the floor. Like a struck beast, he says, and screamed a scream