Hysteria :: essays papers

Hysteria In 1692, in Salem Massachusetts, the superstition of witches existed. In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, a group of young girls act up and are then accused of being witches. These girls then blame other people in order to get out of trouble and even pretend to be "bewitched" in front of the court during a trial. This leads into the deaths of some innocent people who were accused found guilty. The leader of the group is Abigail, who is in love with John Proctor. Many situations in the poem can still be found in modern examples. It can be compared to an article about protecting children from social workers who want to have the children removed from their home just because their parents didn’t get them a vaccination. They both involve isolation from different believes, innocent are accused of a crime, and people refuse to go against their beliefs. The Puritan society was led by a church that promoted isolation from any other group of people with different beliefs. The church was against dancing, singing and chanting as related to devil-worship. It was a time of anxiety and skepticism. After the girls in the village were caught dancing in the woods and one of them falls sick, rumors circulated about witchcraft going on in the woods, and that the sick girl has been bewitched. Once the girls talk to each other, they become more and more frightened as being accused as witches, so Abigail, the main character and the principle accuser, starts accusing others of practicing witchcraft to save her friends. It results in the hanging of many innocent people. The parents of the children in the article distinct believe that it is safer if their children aren’t vaccinated for tetanus. So when the children do get tetanus the social workers try to take the children away. This is like punishment for the parents who are totally innocent. All they wanted to was keep their children healthy. Both the group of girls and the social workers, who have done wrong, get no punishment. The Judges and preachers try to get the people the girls accused of being witches to confess to being witches so they can have mercy on them. Most of them will not do this. They stick to telling the truth about really not being witches until the death. The parents of the children also stick to what they believe is best.