I’ve seen many examples of how people manipulate others to get what they wish, so does Arthur Miller’s The Crucible which portrays the phenomenon of hysteria formed from one single lie as Salem’s witch hunt.
From the beginning of The Crucible, a lie came from jealousy and personal greed that causes revenge by damaging others’ reputations. Abigail was jealous of Elizabeth Proctor because of stealing her place as Proctor’s wife, so she lies about Elizabeth’s nature. “She hates me uncle, she must… It’s a bitter woman, a lying, cold, sniveling woman… Goody Proctor is a gossipy liar!” (12) In my experiences, I’ve seen many similar cases when one turns to say that he/she is not the one who has anger but the accusing one does. It shows how jealousy can develop absurdity. A person speaks the backhanded remarks to reach the goal of persuading others to believe one’s words which causes the effect of suspecting and avoiding contact with each other.
Second, frustration about blatant lies could cause further deceit. Abigail lied and the other girls were afraid of getting into trouble, so they decided to follow Abigail to act to the rest of the village. “Now look you. All of you…” (19) In fact, Abigail herself fears that the lies she made would be exposed, so she turned her fear into a threat to the girls. The move Bad Genius which is about two students cheated on exams and the others were threatened to not spill the truth that demonstrates the criminal act of a group. In the end, they all cheated together.
Third, when fear spreads, it rules over logic and then individual thought fades away. The hysteria in the village shows the Butterfly Effect when one believes something, then it got spread and more and more started to follow. In the end, causing a butterfly effect where everyone started to panic for irrational reasons. “Uncle, the rumor of witchcraft is all about… The parlor’s packed with people, sir…” (9) In the Crucible, Salem went to a mass hysteria where everyone started to panic and their neighbors whom they’ve known for years and at the end went on trials of honest and death. From my experiences, a person tends to believe something when everyone just follows. There’s a Chinese proverb: three liars make a tiger. It means that one person says that there’s a tiger coming down from the mountain to eat the villagers and no one believes it; another person says the same thing and people start to suspect it; then the third person says it and everyone just believes it. It demonstrates the human nature when multiple voices are being spoken, it makes people believe that there really is one around.
In conclusion, a lie destroys a good person’s image in other people’s views. Then, the fear of hearing lies causes the listeners to shape the lie circle as the accomplice. Finally, hysteria forms when frustration is spread widely and people lose their senses, judgments, then start following the others who seem correct.
Hi, Heloise, You mentioned that you have seen people jealous of others and start to damage their reputations, what will you do if this happens to you or you are the one who was saying you are a bad people with a bad reputation?
Hey Heloise!
I’m not sure which Chinese proverb are you referring to in your post. Would you add the original Chinese proverb after the English translation so that people who knows Chinese can instantly recognize the proverb you are using?
I also believe that lies could belittle a person’s impression among other people, in which a great example is my parents. Do your parents also believe that telling lies could belittle your impression among others and that they strongly prohibit you from telling lies to them? What’s your opinion on white lies, lies that are told to avoid other’s feelings?
I am very impressed that you have connected the texts in the Crucible to your own experiences as well as a movie. Moreover, I didn’t realize that the whole situation was hysterical before reading your blog post. Very interesting connections you have made here with lies turning into hysteria. A total wowzer!
Hi, Heloise, thank you for your post, when I was reading your blog post, the choice of the quote you used from The Crucible together with the explanation you wrote on how Abigail tries to manipulate other’s thought to escape her responsibility, really demonstrates and shows how a single lie could lead to such chaos. As well as, I can relate to what you are saying about how one’s or a group of people’s perspective can deviate from other’s rumor and lies, and it reminds me of a phenomenon called “Information Satisficing” by which when one is not concerned with hunting the right answer, our brain tends to follow whatever answer that is laid out, so maybe that is the reason why people in Salem follows Abigail’s lie. What do you think?