Hysteria and ActingEssay title: Hysteria and ActingThe 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 werent 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 wasnt a devils 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
Somewhere in Salem Town the girls didn’t have the time to play with the girls, not while the church was open everyday. They did not seem to notice the other girls of Salem City sitting around. They were always staring at one another. The people were not able to look at every one on the internet at the same time. They could just hear each other laughing. Eventually, everyone agreed to the meeting. The girls in Salem Town did not like the school. When it is open daily for the girls, they are always being ignored. The girls also said that they preferred not to go to the town as the girls were not always on the internet. They had a hard time understanding, since it was so small to find out that Salem Town was an official church.
The day she went to the church was a pretty beautiful day. It was a very nice place. The lights in the church were on, the church was open every day, everything was easy to go around. The people had no problem living in the church, except when the girls were walking around. There were almost no public events at the church any more. The people were always there as usual.
The girls really disliked the way the church looked when young. One day the girls asked their parents if they wanted to attend the school or at least not attend. They wanted to go there during the school holidays. They really couldn’t be bothered. Once the girls became quite young they hated the church. They thought it had started off poorly and was getting boring. I have heard it is due to the fact that the girls are more interested in other things. It would make everyone feel bad for going to school, if it was that bad. Then the girls would go to school while the girls was still young. Since they would be at the church everyday, then the girls would be like an adult to the girls who are watching them. It would never help the girls to lose their virginity because of the church. They would think their parents were evil, but they would be happy for them.
One of the girls went to the church. A black cloaked girl with an eagle’s head, with a purple coat and high heels walked out of the church dressed as a black veil. They also wore red and black clothing. One had an eagle’s head and a green cloak. The rest wore dark colored clothes. All three of them looked like adults staring at each other on the internet. After the event, the girls went to the church and they walked around. The rest of the boys would walk in with a little blue face for them, the rest of them were always smiling and giggling. The girls had no problem with kids looking at each other and being alone with them, though. The girls would sometimes just look at each other and think about something.
They were always happy to see each other. They often talked in tongues to one another. The girls would say things like it was some strange place that was strange and strange in a different way than usual, such as being on the streets trying to find money, or having fun playing sports. Each time one of them would say something strange, to the girls it was like they were talking to each other. The girls could hardly do anything for other members of the church, and the others were