Hear No Spirits, See No Spirits How Abigail Williams controlled the town of Salem not by divine intervention, but by slyness and manipulation What is hysteria? The American Heritage Dictionary claims that it is a state of uncontrollable emotion, such as panic or fear. Hysteria, though, goes much beyond that, hysteria is a chain reaction, waiting to be set off by the smallest of sparks. In Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, that spark was one …showed first 75 words of 1228 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1228 total…the Salem hysteria. Abigail, or any of the other girls for that matter, did not have the ability to detect witches or sense spirits. But what Abigail did have was a list of ulterior motives and the ability to make people believe what she wanted them to believe. By, essentially, taking control of the court Abigail was able to do her work under the protection of the inside, while creating the chaos on the outside.