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In the 1600’s people believed that being possessed by the devil and witches existed, also well known as McCarthyism. If an incident out of the ordinary occurred it was considered to be Satan’s work, which would cause people to start believing in obscene or bizarre ideas, leading to paranoia or mass hysteria. In The Crucible, a young girl by the name of Abigail Williams demonstrates man’s evil nature through her jealousy of Elizabeth Proctor, and her longing to be with Elizabeth’s husband, John Proctor. Abigail tells lies about seeing certain people dancing with the devil, including Elizabeth Proctor. She planned to destroy Elizabeth, and the marriage her and John Proctor shared in hopes of having John all to herself. Abigail caused much mass hysteria about women being witches in the town of Salem and the devil living amongst everyone. She eventually had an abundant of people all around the country knowing about witches living in Salem. Marry Warren, also telling lies about witches, announces to Abigail that “the village is out and the whole country’s talkin’ witchcraft” (Miller 1243). Much of the town’s citizens were turning against each other and becoming incredibly suspicious of their neighbors or even wives being involved in witchcraft.
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