Mass Hysteria in The Crucible
Mass Hysteria in The Crucible
Mass Hysteria in The Crucible
progress and invent is due to the fear of the unknown. Humans have feared the unknown since
the beginning of time. Therefore, it is logical that knowledge creates security. In scientifically
ignorant societies such as puritan Salem in 1692, fear runs rampant when dozens of innocent
people are accused of witchcraft and some hanged. In Arthur Miller’s famous play The Crucible,
mass hysteria leads to the wrongful accusation and hanging of dozens of Salem citizens for
witchcraft. When fear becomes widespread and delusional as it has in Salem, it is not fear
anymore; it is mass hysteria, a collective anxiety. In a climate of mass hysteria, fear can be more
than fear: it can be used as a tool for personal enrichment; it can be used as a bludgeon to gain
Thomas Putnam is a perfect example of taking advantage of fear for personal enrichment.
Putnam was a wealthy land owner who sought to add to his wealth by accusing others of
witchcraft and buying their land. The convicted are usually forced to sell their land at second-rate
prices. Putnam’s agenda is exposed when Giles Corey, a prosperous farmer, testifies on behalf of
his wife to the court. According to Giles, Putnam was overheard telling his daughter Ruth that
she had gotten him a lot of land by accusing people of witchcraft that morning. This is not a
random groundless accusation. Giles attained this information from an anonymous source that he
refused to name because the source would have been imprisoned. Without a name to support his
claim, Giles’ evidence was not considered. At the beginning of Act 3, Giles says, “I have
evidence for the court! ...Thomas Putnam is reaching out for land!” (84). Later in Act 3, Giles
This is a significant part of the play because Giles reveals Putnam’s agenda to acquire more land.
Giles claims to have a trustworthy witness who overheard a conversation between Putnam and
his daughter. This is also an important occurrence because Giles is the only one who understands
Putnam’s feeling of entitlement to certain prerogatives due to his social class. Putnam portrays
the use hysteria as a tool for personal gain because he uses it to gain land. Fear clouds judgment,
which is why Danforth was unable to identify Putnam as a bargain hunter. Danforth already
assumed that all the people being accused of witchcraft were guilty because of the scale at which
the accusations happened. Putnam uses fear as a tool for personal enrichment by taking
advantage of the immense hysteria in Salem to assuage his acquisition of Jacobs’ land.
Fear can also be used as a bludgeon to gain a political advantage. Judge Danforth does
this by refusing to change his judgment that all of the accused were guilty of witchcraft.
Danforth is the head judge in the court, a strict interpreter of the law. At the beginning of the
play, he believes the girls tell the truth about the witches because in his eyes, the young girls
could not be lying about such a remarkable event. He viewed the girls as victims. However,
when Hale confronts Danforth about the unlikeliness of all the accused being involved in
witchcraft, Danforth changes his point of view. He no longer genuinely sees the girls as victims,
but wants to protect his reputation by continuing to prosecute the wrongly accused. Judge
message clear in Act Four, when he says to Hale “I will not receive a single plea for pardon or
postponement. Them that will not confess will hang. Twelve are already executed … the village
expects to see them [seven people who were named] die this morning … reprieve or pardon must
cast doubt upon the guilt of them that died till now. While I speak God’s law, I will not crack its
voice with whimpering….” In this passage, Danforth makes it clear that he will not delay or
pardon the case because it will portray him as inconsistent. For him, either the trial could either
advance his career due to his success or it could ruin his reputation due to his unjust judgments.
Danforth is affirming people’s fears about witchcraft in order to score political points. Reverend
Samuel Parris also does this by scapegoating anyone who challenges his authority. As a
reverend, Parris has political influence and power in Salem as a result of theocracy, despite many
people disliking him. People view him as greedy because he convinced the church to pay for
golden candlesticks holders, an unnecessary commodity. Throughout the play, however, Parris
tries to cover up his greed by pushing his ulterior motive on Danforth. To protect his reputation,
Paresis constantly in Danforth’s ear, trying to convince him the girls were innocent. He says to
Danforth “Beware this man, Your Excellency, this man [John Proctor] is mischief … They’ve
come to overthrow the court, sir! ... Excellency, you surely cannot think to let so vile a lie be
spread in open court!” (88-89). John Proctor, a man accused of wizardry, tried to convince the
court that the whole event was a joke, that all of the girls were pretending from the beginning.
Parris, aware that this could ruin his career as a reverend, badgered Danforth about the
incredibility of Proctor’s account. The reason Parris was so successful about convincing the
judge that the girls were innocent at the beginning of the story can be contributed to the mass
hysteria going on at the time. Had Hale, an educated skeptic of the incident, told Danforth the
girls were pretending earlier, Parris might not have gotten away with this because Hale would
have rid Danforth’s fear. The state of hysteria aided Parris’ cause and therefore he used fear as a
In a state of mass hysteria, fear can also be used as a weapon for revenge. Abigail
Williams, the girl that started this whole incident, used the climate of hysteria to get revenge on
Elizabeth, Proctor’s wife. Abigail was Proctor’s former servant, and he had an affair with her.
Elizabeth found out and fired Abigail to protect her relationship with Proctor. To get John back,
Abigail decided to get rid of Elizabeth, even resorting to some psychotic actions. In Act one,
Abigail says, to Betty, Parris’ daughter “…let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word
about the things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a
point reckoning that will shudder you…”(20). This is proof that Abigail is a cold-blooded
psychopath who will do anything to get John back, not excluding murder. To get to Proctor,
Abigail must remove Elizabeth from the situation by having her convicted of witchcraft. When
Abigail sees Mary Warren, Elizabeth and Proctor’s servant, making a doll for Elizabeth in court,
she stabs herself in order to accuse Elizabeth of taking part in voodoo. That is an extremely
clever tactic to use, as the rampant fear in Salem made it particularly easy for Abigail to get
away with all of her lies. Albeit the ingenuity of her schemes, Abigail did not get what she
wanted in the end because Proctor was hanged, and Elizabeth was allowed to live due to her
pregnancy. Abigail is the prime example of the use of fear as a tool for revenge. She not only
used the fear of witchcraft, but also others’ fear of her psychotic tendencies to get revenge on
Elizabeth Proctor.
The climate of mass hysteria in Salem was an opportunity for all the begrudged citizens
to release their repressed resentments. Fear in Salem could have been used to advance anyone’s
agenda. Some used the opportunity to ruin others’ lives, while others used it to help themselves.
Arthur Miller demonstrates the versatility of fear in The Crucible. Collective fear is mass
hysteria, a type of fear that usually causes mass delusion. Clouded judgment is what allowed the