Fear is what motivates people's actions. No matter what your social status you are in you fear something. The feeling of fear can lead to the feeling of hysteria. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Around the late 1690’s, A little town in Salem, Massachusetts started to fear everything that was going on with witchcraft, hanging, and losing power especially Mary Warren, Thomas Danforth, Samuel Paris, and the low class women . This fear caused hysteria in Salem which led to the deaths of 20 innocent people. If they thought rationally and didn’t let the hysteria get to them, they could have spared all the innocent lives of the citizens. Throughout the story, a group of young girls led by Abigail Williams accuse others within the
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Mary Warren, a maid for John and Elizabeth Proctor, participated in the accusations of civilians. Not only did Mary Warren know that her actions were wrong, but she also knew the reasoning behind Abigail's actions as well. Abigail’s actions were due to the fact that she had sexual relations with John Proctor and wanted to get his wife out the picture. Additionally, Abigail was thought of as a whore and was essentially an easy target to blame. Instead of telling people all of Abigail's motives, Mary stayed quiet out of fear. Mary Warren feared Abigail Williams. She feared Abigail because she thought that Abigail would kill her. “She’ll kill me for sayin’ that!” (Miller 930). Mary believes that the group of girls will turn on her and shame her. “I cannot, they’ll turn on me” (930). In a time when women were treated as a second hand citizen, Mary truly cared about the group's opinion because they made her feel as if she had an important role in society. Mary was generally afraid of people and how they felt about her. She would finally speak out against Abigail's lies because she now was afraid of John Proctor after he abused her for not telling the truth. Struggling to escape him... grasping …show more content…
People with higher power usually do what's best for them and not for everybody. They fear losing their power and respect and hysteria builds up where do they would do anything to keep their power and respect. This is exactly what happen with Reverend Parris and Judge Thomas Danforth. They were both high class citizen as Paris as a reverend and Danforth as a Judge. Reverend Parris could have ended the witchcraft rumor right when it started to come out. He was the one that discovered the girls dancing with Tituba in the forest. One of the girls fainted while being discovered which made the town wonder what were they doing in the forest. Abigail said they were dancing but no one believed her and with the hysteria of witchcraft spreading they chose to believe that Tituba,black slave, was conjuring spirits. Reverend Parris could have confirm that they were dancing but he was more concerned about how people would look at him now since his daughter Betty and niece Abigail was one of the girls dancing. ”Uncle, the rumor of witchcraft is all about, I think you'd best go down and deny it yourself...And what should I say to them? That my daughter and my niece I discovered dancing like heathens in the forest” (887). Parris feared that no one would respect him if someone found out the truth since dancing is forbidden in their society. For
Mary Warren, a maid for John and Elizabeth Proctor, participated in the accusations of civilians. Not only did Mary Warren know that her actions were wrong, but she also knew the reasoning behind Abigail's actions as well. Abigail’s actions were due to the fact that she had sexual relations with John Proctor and wanted to get his wife out the picture. Additionally, Abigail was thought of as a whore and was essentially an easy target to blame. Instead of telling people all of Abigail's motives, Mary stayed quiet out of fear. Mary Warren feared Abigail Williams. She feared Abigail because she thought that Abigail would kill her. “She’ll kill me for sayin’ that!” (Miller 930). Mary believes that the group of girls will turn on her and shame her. “I cannot, they’ll turn on me” (930). In a time when women were treated as a second hand citizen, Mary truly cared about the group's opinion because they made her feel as if she had an important role in society. Mary was generally afraid of people and how they felt about her. She would finally speak out against Abigail's lies because she now was afraid of John Proctor after he abused her for not telling the truth. Struggling to escape him... grasping …show more content…
People with higher power usually do what's best for them and not for everybody. They fear losing their power and respect and hysteria builds up where do they would do anything to keep their power and respect. This is exactly what happen with Reverend Parris and Judge Thomas Danforth. They were both high class citizen as Paris as a reverend and Danforth as a Judge. Reverend Parris could have ended the witchcraft rumor right when it started to come out. He was the one that discovered the girls dancing with Tituba in the forest. One of the girls fainted while being discovered which made the town wonder what were they doing in the forest. Abigail said they were dancing but no one believed her and with the hysteria of witchcraft spreading they chose to believe that Tituba,black slave, was conjuring spirits. Reverend Parris could have confirm that they were dancing but he was more concerned about how people would look at him now since his daughter Betty and niece Abigail was one of the girls dancing. ”Uncle, the rumor of witchcraft is all about, I think you'd best go down and deny it yourself...And what should I say to them? That my daughter and my niece I discovered dancing like heathens in the forest” (887). Parris feared that no one would respect him if someone found out the truth since dancing is forbidden in their society. For