What in the play would make a student say: ‘Abigail is the main cause of

the mass hysteria in Salem’

Consider the statement above. How far does this apply to what we know
about the play?

In your answer, you should reference the context of the text.

Throughout Act 1, it is clear that Abigail is one of the main causes of hysteria
in Salem. Abigail is the leader of the group of girls who first went into the
devil’s forest, who have now all been accused of doing witchcraft in the forest
of which some have now confessed to. The Crucible is based upon the Salem
witch trials, where there were numerous prosecutions of people accused of
witchcraft of which some were hanged. Mass hysteria was recorded as an
illness spread throughout a community, that didn’t have an obvious cause for
it, but the people who have it shared the same belief of its origin.

Abigail is definitely one of the main causes of mass hysteria in Salem. This
can be attributed to the fact that she is threatening the other girls of speaking
a word about what happened in the forest that night. She says in the middle of
Act 1, "Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other
things and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring
a pointy reckoning that will shudder you." This shows that Abigail is willing to
resort to violent means to make sure what happened in the forest doesn’t
become public information and use the other girls’ fear for her to keep them
quiet. Abigail is able to use the superstition and growing hysteria in Salem to
manipulate people into turning against each other. “I saw Sarah Good...
Goodie Osborn... Bridgit Bishop with the Devil!" Her manipulation can be
observed in this quote as she tells multiple lies, accusing people of witchcraft
and adding to the growing hysteria of Salem.

In addition, Reverend Hale’s presence made the matter much worse in Salem.
This is because he came to Salem, expecting to find witches. 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 crush him utterly if he has shown
his face!” This only makes the mass hysteria in Salem worse, for he is hunting
the devil in their community and only confirming the fact that there is witchcraft
within the town of Salem.

Not only does Abigail have a part to play in the mass hysteria, but some of the
other girls do as well. One of these is Tituba. Tituba was Reverend Parris’
slave and is significant in causing mass hysteria throughout Salem for she
was the first to confess to being possessed by the devil after Abigail accused
her of practising witchcraft. Furthermore, Tituba was an easy target for Abigail,
for she was already known to have told strange stories to the other girls and to
have practised voodoo with them for fun. Tituba’s confession only confirmed
what Reverend Hale thought he already knew. Also, Tituba accuses more
people after she has been accused, adding to the hysteria and the growing
amount of people accused of witchcraft in Salem.