The Crucible Mass Hysteria Analysis

A common term used to describe a situation in which various people all suffer from similar hysterical symptoms - either from a phantom illness or an inexplicable event, is mass hysteria. In Arthur Miller’s play ‘The Crucible’ the town of Salem, Massachusetts, is thrown into mass hysteria when the the word witchcraft spreads about the town. Those who have cried witchcraft have gathered at the home of Reverend Samuel Parris to see the girl, Betty Parris, who has been affected by the ‘Devil’s dark deed’. Up in the room of Betty Parris, Reverend Parris learns that his orphaned niece, Abigail Williams and company were dancing in the woods alongside Tituba, the Parris’ slave, who was accused of conjuring up the souls Mrs. Ann Putnam’s deceased children, …show more content…
Mary Warren, being the lonely, naive, seventeen year old girl that she is takes on that roll. Of all of the girls, she is the one who wants to tell the truth, but she is easily frightened and very weak. “Abby, we’ve got to tell. Witchery’s a hangin’ error, a hangin’ like they done in Boston two year ago! We must tell the truth, Abby! You’ll only be whipped for dancin’, and the other things!” (Miller 19). Mary starts off with good intentions, she wants to tell the honest truth. She knows that what she saw and what she participated in was wrong and that she went against the Puritan morals and beliefs. She is level headed and one of the only characters that wants to be fully honest. As the play goes on, we see less of the honest girl and are given a manipulated and lying seventeen year old. “I cannot charge murder on Abigail” (Miller 84). In this single line, we see that Mary Warren is not willing to tell the truth anymore. She is refusing to do so to save her own life. She knows that if she tells, she will be charged for lying, along with the other girls. Her personality and behaviour towards this massive problem is cold and heartless. If she tells, Abigail will stop at no cost to end Mary’s life. In a way Mary is also trying to defend those around her. The evidence she has is crucial. Although easily manipulated, she still has a soft spot for the Proctor …show more content…
Those who cause the mass hysteria in the town of Salem have done it out of selfishness and greed. When the truth was so dreadfully needed to save the lives of the to be victims, the three women, Mrs. Putnam, Abigail Williams and Mary Warren, turned their backs on them. If greed, anger, and cowardice are all put together during such a drastic event, many will pay the consequence, and those who are responsible will continue to be jaded by their emotions to acknowledge the lives they tear