How does brainwashing affect you and your life? Brainwashing has a huge affect and impact on you and your life. It makes you go against your morals and what you believed in all your life and makes you take in false information of the exact opposite of what you believe in (Brainwashing Gergen, Kenneth Paragrapg 1). You then would have to go and do what the manipulator tells you to do even though it’s against your morals and beliefs. At this point you are doing the things you a commanded to do. Your mind has been completely changed and lost in all the mind games they have been playing with you, so even if you do things against your morals you don’t know you are doing it, the
only thing you know is it’s the right thing to do because the manipulator says it’s right. Mary Warren’s life has been affected dramatically due to the mind - games that Abigail William was playing with her. She was force to lie that the girls never did with-craft in court because she felt that she was threatened by Abigail William, if she didn’t listen to her.
What techniques are being used in this mind-control game? The techniques used in this horrendous action can vary due to the state of the victim is in. The manipulator sees what is happening to you first after imprisonment so he or she tries to find a way that fits you best by your condition you are in. Being in imprisonment the manipulator,
denies you food, sleep and medicine, you are brutally tortured until their last
reserves of mental and physical strength has been sapped then you are now
forced to agree with the propaganda of the manipulator (Scheflin and
Opton, Jr. 23).
Here are some techniques that can be use to take over your mind: (“Brainwashing mind control techniques” & An Article on Brainwashing 1) Fear 2) Isolation 3) Abuse 4) Verbal Abuse 5) Food and 6) threatening). There are much more techniques out there in the world that can be used rather than the six examples present. The different techniques are probably in use as we speak right now. Some where out there in the world they are trying to play games with someone’s innocent mind so they would convert and follow the manipulator. “Brainwashing process was a sophisticated means of interrogation designed to weaken the will of the prisoner to the point of no resistance” (Scheflin and Opton, Jr. 91).
The techniques that Abigail Williams mainly used to take advantage of the girls is fear and treats issued out in the beginning of the play when it all happened:
‘Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured spirits. And that is
all. And mark this. 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. And you know I can do it’ (Miller 20).
The fear of the girls of being jailed and trailed for the usage of with-craft just makes Abigail William even stronger and more powerful as a manipulator in the play. Abigail takes in all of the girl’s fears and uses it against them. The witch- trails were going on in Salem and it started when Abigail shouted out some names of the innocence the girls caught on and said a whole bunch of name that they claimed to see using witch-craft. From that point on Abigail had the minds of the girls in control. This shows fear in the girls for they do not know what to do, so they have to follow the evil manipulator what to do. They do this through out the play until one escape the mind-games of Abigail and that is Mary Warren. She was saved by John Proctor; he smacked some sense in her when Elizabeth was taken away. Mary Warren was immune to the mind-games. But that didn’t last very long because when she came in court confessing to the judges saying that the girls are lying and they are pretending all these non-sense, the Abigail mind – games began once again. Abby acting in front of the judges and lied to them got Mary Warren’s attention again and slowly brought her back to Abigail’s side again. Mary Warren sees how the court is being played out and she could see that the court were on the girl’s side due to Abby’s acting skills. So she lies to the judges:
Mary: John come at me by night and everyday to sign, to sign—
Danforth: Sign what?
Parris: The Devil’s book? He come with a book?
Mary: My name, he want my name. “I’ll murder you,” he says, “if my wife
hangs! We must go and overthrow the court,” he says! (Miller 118-119)
It turns out that fear has once taken over the mind of Mary Warren again.
Why do manipulators use this awful technique? The leaders use these techniques because they want to be powerful, want to be known, to have fame, to have money, to have what they desire and for revenge. Abigail didn’t use these horrible techniques to be
powerful, to have wealth, to have fame but she used these techniques to satisfy her needs. She was selfish and jealous because she wanted to have John Proctor all to her self and her main reason is to get rid of Elizabeth for good. Elizabeth is the one holding Abigail back what she wants and desires the most, John Proctor.
This just shows us how deadly manipulators can be using this nasty device to play games with the human mind. The manipulators are willing to go to the extreme to get want they want and desire. Abigail William being a powerful and strong manipulator that she is, she got stronger throughout the play by absorbing the fears of the girls. Abigail single handedly took over the court into her own hands with that the lives of the innocence people fate. Abigail is a true master of the technique manipulating the minds (brainwashing) of people. But it shows that the manipulators plan and action can go against you. Abigail’s plan blew up in her own face when John Proctor was arrested and later hanged. Like Alan W. Scheflin and Edward M. Opton, Jr. explains it in their book what to expect when you are being manipulated:
We make the brain perfect before we blow it up. No one whom we bring to this place ever stands out against us. Everyone is washed clean. There is nothing left in them except sorrow for what they have done and love the manipulator. It is touching to see how they love the manipulator. They beg to be shot quickly so that they can die while their minds are still clean. (15)
No matter how you interpret this word “brainwashing” or going around asking people what this means, it all comes down to bad, evil and disgusting. This word makes a difference in how you see the people and how the people see you.
Bibliography
Alan W. Scheflin and Edward M. Opton, Jr. “The Mind Manipulators” New York
February 20. 2005
Arthur Miller “The Crucible” New York
“Brainwashing.” World Encyclopedia 2004 Edition January 28 2005
“Brainwashing” World Britannica Encyclopedia Vol.22 January 28 2005
Gergen, Kenneth J. "Brainwashing." World Book Online Reference Center. 2005. World
Book, Inc. February 12. 2005. <http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar073940>.
No Arthor “An Article on Brainwashing” February 14. 2005
< http://www.4degreez.com/free_thought/brainwash.html>
No Arthor “Brainwashing & mind control techniques” February 13. 2005
< http://www.phinnweb.com/neuro/brainwash/>
Robert Todd Carroll “Mind Control (Brainwashing)” The Skeptic’s Dictionary
February 13. 2005
< http://skepdic.com/mindcont.html>
