A clear example of mass hysteria is when Mary Warren sobs hysterically,
"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!...He wake me every night, his eyes were like coals and his fingers claw my neck, and I sign, I sign..."
Mary had come to court to testify that the Abigail and the other girls had lied about the witchcraft, but Abigail connivingly leads a dramatic display of mass hysterics, feigning that Mary herself is working at the behest of the devil. Although she tries to stand firm to the truth, Mary at last succumbs to their pressure, becoming frantic herself and accusing John Proctor of being the one who is on the side of evil.
An example of fear is shown in the terror the people feel at speaking the truth in defense of those accused of witchcraft. Proctor brings before the court a testament, explaining that
"the people signing it declare their good opinion of Rebecca, and (Proctor's) wife, and Martha Corey...these (signers) are all landholding farmers, members of the church".
Unfortunately, Danforth immediately asks that the people who signed be summoned before the court for questioning, to which Francis, who helped gather the signatures, replies,
"I gave them all my word no harm would come to them for signing this".
The people are deathly afraid that any association with those already being held will subject them to the same terrible suspicions as those leveled at the accused.
Finally, in an admission of guilt which essentially cause his life to "(collapse) about him, John Proctor reveals that he did indeed have sexual relations with Abigail, trembling proclaiming,
""I have known her, sir. I have known her" (Act 3).
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