...How does mass hysteria effect so many people at one time? There are many examples of mass hysteria and its affects on schools and different groups of people. Many examples happen in schools and manily to kids. Mass hysteria is a fear that spreads across a large gorup of people. Mass hysteria mainly affects younger people because they are more pliable or likely to make things up and believe the things they hear. Fifty schools were closed due to a mass hysteria out break in Bengladesh. It first started when one girl was having difficulty breathing, then thrity-seve of her classmates complained of the same symptoms. They evacuated everyone from the school but thirty other girls also became sick. They students were taken to the hospital but there was no reasonable explanation for their symptoms. “ Mass hysteria is often misunderstood as being an illness...
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...In a society where world peace is a dream, hysteria affected the world drastically. Hysteria is a phenomenon that incites, real or fake, threats to people in a society, causing fear and uncontrolled actions. In American history, there were many different accounts of mass hysteria such as: the Salem Witch Trials, the Red Scare, 9/11 and today’s modern day mass hysteria. Mass Hysteria greatly impacted American societies in the past, for instance, the Salem Witch Trials. Occurring in Salem Village, Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693, where Salem’s society believed heavily of their Puritan beliefs which includes the devil and witchery. The Salem Witch Trials were a series of trials where a group of girls in the Village, falsely accused several people using witchcraft with the help of the devil. By gaining the approval of the head-judge of the court which allowed to control Salem’s courthouse, this group of girls were able to condemn anyone in their society. The girls would then abuse their power convicting numerous amounts of people to witchery...
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...Mass hysteria is the phenomenon in which a group of people experience similar symptoms of anxiety, fear, or other physical symptoms. A well-known case of mass hysteria in history was the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. This incident was portrayed by the Arthur Miller play The Crucible, in which a group of girls starting falsely accusing multiple women in their town of witchcraft, starting a wave of hysterical fear throughout the village. Neighbors would accuse others of witchcraft over land disputes, petty squabbles or simply because they did not like them (Miller). A more recent case, and on a much greater scale, was the Pokémon Panic of 1997, when an episode of Pokémon in Japan sent hundreds of children to the hospital with seizure-like symptoms....
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...At the Edge of Unjustified Suspicion Mass hysteria is a plague that has been around for many decades and is still around in today’s society. Mass hysteria is a condition in which many or certain groups of people are afflicted by the belief that something is not real or that is a fable. A prime example of mass hysteria occurred in Spring of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, known as The Salem Witch Trials. The mass hysteria which caused the Salem Witch Trials was unjustified. The Salem Witch Trials began in 1688 when the Goodwin children all started behaving in a bizarre manner. Then, four years later, in 1692 two young girls (Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Parris) started to twitch, choke, and twist their bodies in many different horrifying...
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...During the Salem Witch trials many disastrous events occurred. The “mass hysteria” of the people during those times can be logically explained scientifically. One may be a symptoms may be “ergot” which causes hallucinations. Another, is that the girls just simply wanted attention. Last, is that the stories they read could have influenced the girls to believe in something that isn’t true. Every actions can be explain logically and factual. The events in Salem Witch Trial may be unnatural and weird. It can be explain from what everyone ate. According to Berlureau (Source A) and Caporael (Source E), “ergot” was common in Salem Town. Ergot was a wheat which is also a grain that can be made into many common delicacy of sandwiches, bread, or more food which everyone in town ate. It also can causes hallucinations which can make the residents of Salem Village to believe and see objects differently. The girls may have believed that the “spirits” may have been controlling their actions and seeing the “spirits” due to the consumption of the “ergot”. Not everything is what it seems to be. According to Berlureau (Source A), one of the reasons of the ‘hysteria” is that the girls simply wanted attention and were having fun. Elizabeths and...
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...The Crucible and Mass Hysteria Mass hysteria has been displayed many times throughout history. From The Dancing plague of the 1500’s to the more modern LeRoy High School tourette incident of 2012, mass hysteria is rare but perplexing when it is seen. Though it is fairly easy to find differences between mass hysteria and other problems in modern times, it is harder to distinguish older supposed cases of mass hysteria due to their limited evidence and the legends which have become a part of the story. This is displayed greatly in the events of the Salem witch trial. It is very hard to distinguish if the events of the trials were caused by mass hysteria or some other catalyst which caused the destruction of so many lives. Even so it is safe to say that is is very unlikely that this tragedy was caused by mass hysteria, rather some other illness. Before a claim is made there must be a...
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...the plot of the play significantly. In situations of mass hysteria such as the Salem witch trials every word on the topic is believed to be the truth. Giles Corey says that he is worried because his wife is reading books everyone immediately assumes it is witchcraft. When Mary Warren is being set up to look like a witch and confesses that she works with the devil out of fear of being hanged she provides the judges with false information that Lucifer is in Salem. Tituba confesses that she works with the devil making anyone that is accused of being a witch that doesn’t confess seem guilty. These minor characters’ actions are the reason the Salem witch trials found so many innocent people guilty....
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...The Crucible and The Salem Witch Trials both contain mass hysteria and elements of McCarthyism. Mass hysteria is defined as, “a condition affecting a group of persons, characterized by excitement or anxiety, irrational behavior or beliefs, or inexplicable symptoms of illness.” McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of treason without proper regard for evidence. During the McCarthy era many Americans were accused of being communist and became investigated and questioned before government agencies. This time period of fear and accusations caused mass hysteria within the country. The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism are similar because they both caused mass hysteria in which people accused each other of things that were not true....
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...what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law!”(77). The people in Salem don’t base their opinion on facts. The possibility of witches in their village brings mass hysteria to the people. While some would say the theme of The Crucible is corruption can happen anywhere, the theme of The Crucible as displayed through the author is that hysteria can rip apart a community, this is expressed through language, symbolism and characterization. First, language in The Crucible displays the theme by showing aggressive and passionate tones. Shouting from the accused at trials shows how bad the hysteria was. Also, the girls screaming at the sights of pretend spirits shows that the language in the play fuels the theme of mass hysteria ripping apart the town. Elizabeth and John Proctor confessing their...
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...world, there are many reasons for mass hysteria. In "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller, the mass hysteria was that many girls were accused of being witches because they were "dancing in the forest". An entire town went balistic when they heard the word witch. In the twenty-first century, people panic and become frightened over terrorist attacks and bombings. Numerous attacks and bombings have occured in the United States and an infinite amount of people become terrified that something worse might happen. In "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller, the people of the town go insane when they heard that a number of girls were bewitched. Once the people heard, their only reaction was to run and see if it was the truth. Reasons why a diverse amount of people become frightened is because people are going to get hurt or killed and also are worried about themselves because they can also be accused. Humans cause problems as a result of not having a satisfying childhood and want to make others lives miserable....
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...spirits.” The theme that the tragedy fiction play, The Crucible, displays is hysteria and desire leads to unconscious consequences. As conveyed throughout the play, hysteria is most clearly observed in the villagers' illogical acceptance of the girls’ claims of witchcraft. Specifically, Act III depicts the idea of mass hysteria devastating the community when the afflicted girls led by Abigail, accuse Mary Warren of witchcraft for testifying against them. Furthermore, several people including Mary Warren have indicated that the witchcraft accusations are false yet the court refuses to be persuaded. Arthur Miller’s play the Crucible was an exaggeration of the Salem witch...
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...The Salem Witch trials, which took place in Massachusetts between the years of 1692 and 1693, have long been viewed as a mystery due to the sudden erratic behaviors and harsh punishments placed on those who were tried as “witches”. During the Salem Witch Trials, over two-hundred people were arrested for showing signs of witchcraft, which included biting, scratching, and screaming. Of the two-hundred who were arrested, nineteen were hanged and one was stoned to death. As Emerson W. Baker – an archaeologist who specializes in the study of the Salem Witch Trials – explained in his book A Storm of Witchcraft, that the witch trials were caused by a “perfect storm” of three big problems. (Baker) The main causes of the Salem Witch Trials were harsh winter weather, political discord, and religion....
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...The term mass hysteria is defined as a situation in which many people are affected by similar hysterical symptoms. In the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller a situation of mass hysteria is perfectly portrayed. The play takes place during the Salem witch trials, at the peak of the witch hysteria. The hysteria, which sent the village into a frenzy was set into motion by the niece of Reverend Samuel Parris. His niece, Abigail Williams, is portrayed as a person who lies to get out of her own punishments, or to avoid trouble. The point is Abigail Williams and Reverend Samuel Parris could have stopped the hysteria in Salem. Abigail Williams could have stopped the hysteria by admitting to dancing and charming in the woods, instead of lying. At the beginning of the play, Reverend Parris confronts his niece for seeing her and a group of girls dancing in the woods, which includes his daughter who lies motionless and unresponsive. His daughter is the reason witchcraft is considered. Then goes on to confront her about conjuring spirits. Abigail could have just admitted to trying to charm with the group, which the punishment for that is a whipping. So, if she would have admitted that, witchcraft would have no longer been considered. As Abigail says...
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...It seems as if the Salem Witch Trials and the Holocaust would have little in common.They occurred at totally different periods in history. The Salem Witch trial and the Holocaust have things in common, many people were killed in both of these events. The Salem Witch Trials took place in 1692 where over 200 people were accused of witchcraft (History.com). It all started with a group of girls dancing in the woods and then rumors started around town that they were conjuring spirits (History.com). It had got to the point where if someone did not like another person then they would lie and say that they other person was a witch just so they would be killed (History.com). Series of investigations and persecution caused 19 people to be convicted (Miller 1124). If someone would do anything strange then they would be automatically accused of conjuring spirits and they are possessed by the devil ( History.com). It started family feuds and innocent people were killed (History.com)....
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...Does the Salem Witch Trials that took place in 1692 and The Holocaust that took place in 1933 have many things in common? The Salem Witch Trials and The Holocaust have many things in common, many innocent people were killed in both events and they became known in the towns they took place in. The Holocaust took place in 1933 where 6 million Jews were killed. The leader of the Nazi group was Adolf Hitler. The Nazis would imprison people for no reason and kill people who had mental illness(Ushmm.org). The Holocaust was marked with a yellow star, because it meant a symbol of Nazi persecution and inscribed with the word “Jude”. “Don’t be deluded. Hitler has made it clear that he will annihilate all Jews before the clock strikes 12”-(Elliewiesel.wight)...
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