As the witch hunt begins in Act 2, it is seen that these so called witches are being used as a scapegoat in order to blame the children’s naked forest dancing on, and to blame all other perceived negative occurrences. As people are blamed by Abigail, there is a sense of panic that arises. For many of the people being blamed do not believe in witchcraft, but they instead know that in order to protect themselves, they must blame others, through the action of naming names. In order to blame others, they then have to show the equivocation that they believe in witchcraft, and if it seems that everyone believes in witchcraft, there is then a fear induced bandwagon of the people. As the people join the fallacy of the witch hunt, they began to blame
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In the Salem meeting house, which was converted into a place for the trials, there are multiple citizens who try to have their loved one released. One of the people who attempts to save loved ones is Francis Nurse, whose wife was convicted a day before, on account of murdering children by witchcraft. While Francis says that he has proof that the girls are lying, Danforth dismisses his claim with the fact of Francis having already signed off on many convictions ( ). The hysteria is seen to have locked in many people to the continued witch hunt, because while some believe in the witchcraft, the ones who do not, but were once wanting to be involved in the accusations, can now not back out, because they could then be accused of being a liar. This idea of having to follow through with the witchcraft hysteria is further exemplified when Mary goes to court with John Proctor. Mary is supposed to confess how she gave Elizabeth the poppet with the pin in it, and how Abigail is lying. While she begins to confess, Abigail soon uses a scare tactic on Mary to convince her not to confess. Abigail convinces Mary by acting possessed and copying every action of Mary’s. The other girls soon start to follow Abigail’s lead, as Abigail is their authority, and due to their perceived possession, Mary is seen as a witch. While Mary knows that Abigail is merely acting, she is too fearful to stand up for herself, and so she begins acting possessed as well ( ). Due to these scare tactics, other people who may have tried to stop the hysteria, do not try because of their fear of being called a witch. No one wanted to be called a witch, as people knew that the punishment for witchcraft was death ( ). This dogmatism of death if witchcraft was done, was decided strictly off the
In the Salem meeting house, which was converted into a place for the trials, there are multiple citizens who try to have their loved one released. One of the people who attempts to save loved ones is Francis Nurse, whose wife was convicted a day before, on account of murdering children by witchcraft. While Francis says that he has proof that the girls are lying, Danforth dismisses his claim with the fact of Francis having already signed off on many convictions ( ). The hysteria is seen to have locked in many people to the continued witch hunt, because while some believe in the witchcraft, the ones who do not, but were once wanting to be involved in the accusations, can now not back out, because they could then be accused of being a liar. This idea of having to follow through with the witchcraft hysteria is further exemplified when Mary goes to court with John Proctor. Mary is supposed to confess how she gave Elizabeth the poppet with the pin in it, and how Abigail is lying. While she begins to confess, Abigail soon uses a scare tactic on Mary to convince her not to confess. Abigail convinces Mary by acting possessed and copying every action of Mary’s. The other girls soon start to follow Abigail’s lead, as Abigail is their authority, and due to their perceived possession, Mary is seen as a witch. While Mary knows that Abigail is merely acting, she is too fearful to stand up for herself, and so she begins acting possessed as well ( ). Due to these scare tactics, other people who may have tried to stop the hysteria, do not try because of their fear of being called a witch. No one wanted to be called a witch, as people knew that the punishment for witchcraft was death ( ). This dogmatism of death if witchcraft was done, was decided strictly off the