Hysteria In The Crucible

During the Salem Witch Trials it was very commonplace to see people exploit public hysteria in order to manipulate people and in turn gain power. During the McCarthy Era this same effect had been seen; people would exploit hysteria to manipulate people, and receive power. The Salem Witch Trials involved the overwhelming fear of witches at the time. During the McCarthy Era people had the same overwhelming fear, but this fear was instead for communists. As an illustration there are many examples that can be seen in The Crucible, by Arthur Miller in which there was an overwhelming fear of witches used to create hysteria, and public outcry. One example is seen when Putnam states, “That is a notorious sign of witchcraft afoot, Goody Nurse, a prodigious sign!” (Miller 25). This shows that Putnam is attempting to put into the minds of the others that there is likely witchcraft taking place. He uses Betty as a way to put fear into others and create public hysteria in order to manipulate the others and receive power. …show more content…
According to Arthur Miller in, “Are You Now Or Were You Ever?”, “It would probably never have occurred to me to write a play about the Salem witch trials of 1692 had I not seen some astonishing correspondences with that calamity in the America of the late 40s and early 50s. My basic need was to respond to a phenomenon which, with only small exaggeration, one could say paralyzed a whole generation and in a short time dried up the habits of trust and toleration in public discourse” (Miller 1). This shows the reasonings for why Arthur Miller decided to write The Crucible which is now seen as a famous writing. The reasons in which Arthur Miller wished to write The Crucible was to show people during the time of McCarthyism followed in the footsteps of the people in the Salem Witch