Hysteria and Acting

The witch scare of 1692 was a massacre. Many people were killed with no proof to sentence them to such a fate. Had the people of Salem been kinder, more forgiving and had more tolerance of other people, so many would not have been murdered. The only reasons for this "scare" was because of either Hysteria or the girls were playing around and acting.

Hysteria is a psychological medical disorder in which the inflicted may obtain hallucinations, paralysis or sleepwalk without any noticeable cause. This problem is caused by stress and anxiety. The lives of the Puritans were anything but easy and pleasant. The rigors of the church and trying to be the "perfect Puritan" was extremely stressful. Salem Town and Salem Village were also completely surrounded by woods which housed the ever threatening Indians. An attack could come at any time. The children at the time seemed to have an extremely hard life as well. These children were not treated as children are today. Their purpose was to help around the house or the farm. Children weren't to speak until spoken to and when a family took meals, the children were forced to stand. If a child misbehaved, the parents may either beat them or make them miss dinner. Those punishments have since diminished drastically from then. Hysteria also happens to occur in isolated groups. Salem Town and Salem Village were very isolated from not just other towns, but the people were also isolated from each other by miles. This disorder also occurs mostly in women and children. Some symptoms are the feelings of strangulation, choking, pinching, sensations of flying, or out of body experience; seeing a "ball of fire", convulsive movements and distorted postures. Between these "fits", individuals today have said that they have memories or ideas that were not there before. When an inflicted person was having a "fit", another person, a friend or family member may say something or suggest something to the inflicted. The inflicted may agree or take what they said and make it a real memory. An example would be if a minister asked an inflicted person if the "fits" were caused by witchcraft, that person would very likely say yes not knowing what was really being asked of them. Between "fits" many people go back to normal, as if nothing had ever happened to them. All of these facts about Hysteria match up with the events of the witch scare and there are some people who seemed to have the symptoms as well.

All of the girls experienced most of the typical symptoms of Hysteria. Abigail Williams was said to throw herself upon the ground and scream in pain that someone was pinching or biting her. Betty Parris said the same, along with the other girls. Mary Warren was said to have crossed her legs and the only way to move them would have been to break them. The first signs of Hysteria was when little Betty began walking around but not hearing anything that was going on around her. She was sleepwalking. Abigail Williams and all the other girls screamed out that they had seen the spirits of women. The girls would have seen these women because they most likely saw them all the time. They might have been scared of them in person so when they were hallucinating, the "specter" would have come to get them. There were also times when the girls were fine and acted like the proper Puritan child should. But again "fits" would come back and the children would become wild once again. These children had Hysteria, so the fault cannot be blamed upon them but the adults. The adults should have not taken them so seriously, to the extent that when ever a girl cried out a name, they were imprisoned or hanged. The adults of Salem Village and Salem Town should have looked at the situation with a clear, level head.

The girls were also most likely playing around. Tituba was the slave of the Reverend Parris, and was from Barbados. She grew up with the thoughts that Voodoo was real witchcraft and that witchcraft wasn't a devil's thing. The girls would gather at the Parris' house and conjure things with Tituba. The girls were not supposed to do that, so the secrecy of it all made it that much more fun. The girls had no time to play or release all that energy children have. The adults did not want the children to play. This was the only outlet for the girls. Once they were caught, they did not want to get beaten, as they probably would have, so they said it was witchcraft. They were great little actresses. Once they said it was witchcraft, they were forced to say who was torturing them so. The girls gave