Is Arthur Miller's The Crucible All About Hysteria and Is Hysteria Related to History cold by Lindy Chamberlain? Or is there more to explain? Jorja Belton explores how human nature is prone to fits of hysteria that override logic and generate fear in Arthur Miller's play and in the Lindy Chamberlain affair. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay “It’s such a magical mystery. When you get that feeling, you better start believing it. Cause it's a miracle, oh say you will, ooh baby. Hysteria when you’re close.” In a time when people believed in magical and mystical beings like witches, the Devil and God, imagine being forced to do whatever the judge tells you to do because of a false accusation against you? Well, these false accusations both in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible and also in the case where Lindy Chamberlain ended up in prison following a false accusation for the murder of her daughter Azaria, which caused the hysteria and controversy between communities. Hysteria has the power to manipulate, influence and divide a vulnerable community, making what seemingly ordinary people think illogical. Turn neighbor against neighbor, I say! There are many cases of hysteria in the past. Many cases of hysteria include the 300 children and adults who collapsed during the Midland marching band competition in July 1986, not to mention 9/11 and the Red Scare. Hysteria has the ability to make people turn against others for their own selfish gain. It feeds on fear which often turns into panic. Both the Lindy Chamberlain affair and The Crucible show examples of hysteria from the public and community groups preying on each other's emotional reactions, causing panic to escalate even further. There are many examples of hysteria in the past, found of course in the Salem Witch Trials, the Midland Marching Band Contest, the Red Scare, and the Nazis. However, these examples are in the past and there is very little mass hysteria in the present. But the real question is why are humans prone to hysterical attacks? It's funny and it may sound sexist, but women are the ones most involved in a lot of hysterias, hysterias like The Crucible with a group of young girls blaming others and the majority of them were women too. So far, what does this say about women? This seems so sexist, so stupid and so biased, to say the least. So it seems that women are the most well-known cause of hysteria. Have you ever heard of Salem Massachusetts? Well, the town of Salem was once a peaceful, God-believing community before accusations of witchcraft created conflict and divided the people of Salem by turning neighbor against neighbor. Arthur Miller created a play "The Crucible" based on the real-life deaths of 19 innocent people falsely accused and hanged for witchcraft. However, the play and actual events clearly demonstrate how human nature is unpredictable and cannot be trusted. How would you feel if everyone accused you of everything and nothing, even though you know you have nothing to do with the devil? Therefore, the way the citizens of Salem acted in The Crucible suggests that human nature depends on a leader to show them what is right andwrong. Furthermore, humans can be good and honorable, but in the case of Thomas Putnam and Abigail William, they can also be immoral, greedy, and selfish. These strict Puritans were extremely determined to save the city from the clutches of the devil. But people like Thomas Putnam and Abigail Williams make things very difficult because they help perpetuate the hysteria and use it for their own gain while Putnam profits from Francis Nurse's accusation. The money-hungry man had a grudge against Francis Nurse because Francis had stopped his brother-in-law from being elected minister. So he uses the witch trials to gain wealth and power by accusing people of witchcraft and then buying their land. How unfair is that? But unlike Thomas Putnam, Abigail Williams took advantage of the hysteria to accuse Elizabeth Proctor. However, the difference between the two characters is that Abigail uses him to get one thing, John Proctor, and not for wealth, greed, or gain. She has the power to manipulate people into believing that she is innocent and that others are demons only to save herself. An example is when Abigail says, "I have been hurt, Mr. Danforth: I have seen my blood flow!" I almost got murdered every day because I did my duty in speaking out against the devil's people. These characters are important in the play because they both experience crucial moments that influence the course of action and ultimately, their motivations are revealed. Abigail runs away and Putnam is insulted. Overall, their role in the play is actually crucial. Thomas Putnam perpetuates the idea that witchcraft exists, profits by taking victims' land, and Abigail perpetuates it just to get to John Proctor. “A dingo took my baby” – Lindy Chamberlain However, in the play The Crucible there are many themes involved. and these are jealousy, reputation, love and of course hysteria. Jealousy is perfidious! In The Crucible, jealousy manifests itself when Abigail Williams takes the opportunity to accuse Elizabeth Proctor to get to John Proctor, but as for Thomas Putnam, he is jealous of all the land he can have and decides to take it . It is also seen in the Lindy Chamberlain affair because all the women in the audience are jealous of her beauty because she seems so virtuous. Another theme is of course hysteria as found in both cases. Lindy Chamberlain is the mother of three children, two boys and a granddaughter Azaria. Azaria, the Chamberlains' baby girl and daughter, disappeared from the Ayer's Rock campsite on August 17, 1980. However, the parents were immediately blamed when Lindy claimed the baby had been kidnapped by a dingo and no one was there. 'had believed. The police and community struggled to understand how a normally timid creature could possibly take a baby and, as Lindy Chamberlain said, "they had nothing else to do..." so they immediately accused of murdering baby Azaria. But the police had difficulty proving otherwise. In a legal system, he is innocent until proven guilty, but to Lindy, he was guilty as charged. The townspeople reacted badly to the case of Lindy Chamberlain by showing so much anger, disgust and hatred. People didn't want to believe the evidence before their eyes because they didn't want to believe that a dingo could possibly take a baby while it was sleeping and kill it, so they immediately blamed the murder on Lindy Chamberlain. They were intolerant of his beliefs. Above all, Four Corners magazine claims that the public immediately named her guilty and murderous without even hearing her say: "We have this bitch." They reacted to the way she showed her emotions.