The Change in Salem

The town of Salem has changed durastically throughout the story of the Crucible. Entering the final act of the story, the whole town is different. In the beginning of the story, everyone believes in witchcraft but doesn't want to get involved with it and don't plan to. Then all of a sudden, the girls start accusing innocent people and pretty soon the entire town is caught up in witchcraft. The whole town is in mass hysteria. Towards the middle of the story, the majority of the town has been accused of witchcraft. Some people of the town are getting suspicious. One of these people is John Proctor. He figures out that the girls are just accusing innocent people of witchcraft. He can't believe that the people of Salem aren't figuring it out as well. When he says," If she is innocent! Why do you never wonder if Parris be innocent,or Abigail? Is the accuser always holy now? Were they born this morning as clean as God's fingers? I'll tell you what's walking Salem--vengeance is walking Salem. We are what we always were in Salem,but now the little crazy children ar jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law! This warrant's vengeance! I'll not give my wife to vengeance!!"(page  77) He can't believe that everybody just believes the children.Towards the end of the play people are starting to realize that the kids are making this up. Hale especially changes. He realizes it's a little far fetched as well. People also get suspicious when some of the girls just disappear. Overall the town of Salem was pretty messed up.

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Reverend Hale

In the beginning of the Crucible, my impression of Hale is that he was an intelligent man who knew quite a bit about witchcraft. He came to the town to try to convince people that Betty Parris wasn't messing with witchcraft. When he says," Here is all the invisible world, caught,defined, and calculated. In these books the devil stands stripped of all his brute disguises. Here are all your familiar spirits-- your incubi and succubi; your witches that go by land, by air, and by sea; your wizards of the night and of the day. Have no fear now-- we shall find him out if he has come among us, and I mean to cruch him utterly if he has shown his face!"(page 39) He shows that he knows what to do to try to get rid of the devil. He thinks he will be able to wake Betty up.

About midway through the story, Hale starts to change. He starts convincing people that there is witchcraft, and is blaming people for it. He should be trying to help people with their sins instead of blaming people. He is starting to believe more and more in witchcraft as well. All the people getting charged with witchcraft is very convincing. He is a good listener and thinks everybody should get a chance to be heard in court. When he says," I think you must hear the girl, sir, she--"(page 88), he thinks he should be listening to her instead of interupting her. He definately changed throughout the story.

Salem Witch Trials

The Salem witch trials were a classic case of mass hysteria. The people of Salem believed all the lies that they were telling themselves. They pretty much just covered up lies with more lies, and everybody believed them because strange things were supposedly happening to people. Everybody was panicking that they were going go to be the next ones accused. The whole town was in hysteria. When Abigail gets stabbed in the belly with a needle, nobody thought she could have done it herself. Everybody thought it was because of the popet. When Hale says "This is a strange time. No man may longer doubt the powers of the dark and are gathered in monsterous attack upon this village. There is to much evidence to now deny it. You will agree sir?" He is concerned and he knows something isn't right. When Cheever says,"Tis hard proof.—I find here a poppet Goody Proctor keeps. I have found it, sir. And in the belly of the poppet a needle stuck. I tell you true, Proctor, I never warranted to see such proof of Hell, and I bid you obstruct me not, for I…", he doesnt even consider it a lie. The people of Salem are in a fright, and the witch trials messed with a lot of people.

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Mass Hysteria

Mass Hysteria is a condition affecting a group of persons, characterized by excitement or anxiety, irrational behavior or beliefs, or inexplicable symptoms of illness,





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The Monkey Man of Delhi
In Delhi India people reported being attacked by a monkey creature at night. They said he was about 4 feet tall and covered in thick black hair. They also said he had a metal helmet, metal claws, red glowing eyes, and three buttons on his chest. This caused mass hysteria. People were scared to go out at night in fear of getting attacked by the monkey man. People still don't know what it was.