Loading…
The Crucible
190
Transcript
Ann Putnam
Thomas Putnam
Thomas Putnam’s wife. Ann Putnam has given birth to eight children, but only Ruth Putnam survived. The other seven died before they were a day old, and Ann is convinced that they were murdered by supernatural means.
The Publicizing of Private Sins
A wealthy, influential citizen of Salem, Putnam holds a grudge against Francis Nurse for preventing Putnam’s brother-in-law from being elected to the office of minister. He uses the witch trials to increase his own wealth by accusing people of witchcraft and then buying up their land.
- To solidify one's name, it is necessary to publicly condemn the wrongdoing of others.
- Examples from the text?
Ruth Putnam
- The opening of the play--Abigail's good name has been blackened and now threatens her uncle Parris’ possession of power and authority in the community.
- The allegations of witchcraft make her more of a threat.
The Putnams’ lone surviving child out of eight. Like Betty Parris, Ruth falls into a strange stupor after Reverend Parris catches her and the other girls dancing in the woods at night.
Giles Corey
John and Elizabeth Proctor's Relationship
An elderly but feisty farmer in Salem, famous for his tendency to file lawsuits. Giles’s wife, Martha, is accused of witchcraft.
"I never said my wife were a witch,; I only said she were reading book!"
Martha Corey - Giles Corey’s third wife. Martha’s reading habits lead to her arrest and conviction for witchcraft by Walcott.
Adultery
Guilt
Rebecca Nurse
Elizabeth Proctor
Sin
John Proctor
1:15- 4:44
Strain
- Rebecca is a wise, sensible, and upright woman, held in tremendous regard by most of the Salem community.
- She is the voice of reason and common sense. She believes the girls will get tired of this game they are playing and that it is just a stage they are going through.
- Accused of being a witch by the Putnams (murder of their 7 children)
Francis Nurse - A wealthy, influential man in Salem. Nurse is well respected by most people in Salem, but is an enemy of Thomas Putnam and his wife.
- John Proctors wife
- She discovered that Abigail and her husband were having an affair and fired her.
- She has stopped attending church because she does not want to sit beside "soiled" women (Abigail).
- Abigail wants her dead so that she can take her place and be with John Proctor (charm).
- Gets accused of Witchcraft (Act two).
Abigail Williams
Questions for consideration:
Mary Warren
A Forbidden Affair
- The servant in the Proctor household and a member of Abigail’s group of girls. She is a timid girl, easily influenced by those around her, who tried unsuccessfully to expose the hoax and ultimately recanted her confession.
- In act two, she has been named an official of the court. This makes her feel more important than a servant. She disobey her employers and goes to Salem.
- Abigail is not over the affair.
- She accuses Proctor of “putting knowledge” in her heart.
- In one sense, Abigail accuses him of destroying her innocence by taking her virginity. In another sense, she also accuses him of showing her the extent to which hypocrisy governs social relations in Salem.
Themes:
- Truth
- The Nature of Man
- The Nature of God/Religion
- Choices and Consequences
- Good vs. Evil
- Survival
- Appearance vs. Reality
- Relationships
Abigail takes advantage of the witch trials for personal gain and revenge. Her secret desire to remove Elizabeth Proctor from her path to John Proctor drives the hysteria that soon develops.
- Why is Mrs. Putnam so ready to believe that witchcraft is the cause of the girls' condition?
- Why did Abigail drink the charm? What does this reveal about her character?
- What does Abigail mean when she says that John Proctor showed her the "light"?
A local farmer who lives just outside town; Elizabeth Proctor’s husband. A stern, harsh-tongued man, John hates hypocrisy. Nevertheless, he has a hidden sin—his affair with Abigail Williams—that proves his downfall. When the hysteria begins, he hesitates to expose Abigail as a fraud because he worries that his secret will be revealed and his good name ruined.
John Proctor's Entrance
Who or What's to Blame?
- The intersection of private sins with paranoia, hysteria, and religious intolerance...
Rights (Wrongs) of an Individual
- An individuals private life must conform to the moral laws that rule the society (the Bible) or the individual is considered a threat to the "public good".
Motifs
- Fear of punishment
- Birds / flying
- Proof / evidence
- Authority / abused authority and knowledge
- Books
- Betrayal
- Land
- Lying / deceit vs. honesty
- Faith
- Scapegoating
- Reputation / name
- Repercussions
- Individual vs. group
- Creating reality
- Hell / fire
- Supernatural
- Blame / accusation
- Trust
- Fear / hysteria
- Vengeance
- Moral obligation to one’s family or oneself
- Fidelity / faithfulness
Punishments are made Public
- The stocks, whippings, hangings, pressings, etc.
Purpose: To shame the lawbreaker -and- to remind the public that to disagree with the State is to disagree with God!
- citizens are under constant surveillance
to cleanse the individual of their sins
The Ritual Confession
- A person admits their guilt in a public setting and receives absolution and then completes their self-cleansing by passing their guilt on to others.
- In this manner, the admission of involvement with witchcraft functions like the ritual of confession.
Tituba
Abigail
Confession + Religious Hysteria = Power
Static -vs- Dynamic
This ritual confession also allows the person to express sediments they otherwise would have never been able to express...
- A static character changes very little or not at all during a story
- A Dynamic character changes in an important way as a result of the story's action.
- Among the Characters in Act 1, which do you think have the potential to change (Dynamic) as the play progresses?
Ezekiel Cheever
A man from Salem who acts as clerk of the court during the witch trials. He is upright and determined to do his duty for justice.
Marshal Herrick
Reverend Hale
The marshal of Salem.
Free Speech
A young minister reputed to be an expert on witchcraft. Reverend Hale is called in to Salem to examine Parris’s daughter Betty. Hale is a committed Christian and hater of witchcraft. His critical mind and intelligence save him from falling into blind fervour. His arrival sets the hysteria in motion, although he later regrets his actions and attempts to save the lives of those accused.
- Free speech is not a protected right and can easily land a person in court or even jail.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Reverend Parris
The Problem with this Philosophy
What Started it All?
- No one has to accept individual responsibility for any of the conflicts that divide the community or confront any of his or her personal issues with other individuals because everyone can simply say, “The devil made me do it.”
Paranoia
• The Crucible introduces a community full of underlying personal grudges---this divides the community of Salem.
- • Parris’ anxiety about the insecurity of his office reveals the extent to which conflicts divide Salem.
- The minister of Salem’s church. Reverend Parris is a paranoid, power-hungry, yet oddly self-pitying figure. Many of the townsfolk, especially John Proctor, dislike him, and Parris is very concerned with building his position in the community.
- He cares more about his reputation than anything else.
- He asks his niece, Abigail if her name in the village is "white" (represents "good").
- He believed he was being persecuted wherever he went.
- Felt insulted if someone did something without his permission.
- A widower with no interest in children (before the crisis, children were not significant).
Selfish Gain
- Pervasive outside dangers and threats have lessened (Persecution-Indian Invasion)
-now-
- Internal feuds over land, religious offices, the death of children, and sexual acts have separated Salem's citizens
Politically Vulnerable
Betty Parris
- Reverend Parris’ ten-year-old daughter.
- Betty falls into a strange trance after Parris catches her and the other girls dancing in the forest with Tituba. Her illness and that of Ruth Putnam fuel the first rumors of witchcraft.
- In Act One she shouts out cries to her dead mother.
"I want my mama! I'll fly to mama. Let me fly!"
- She reveals to the audience that Abigail drank blood in the forest.
"You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!"
- At the end of Act One, Betty accuses people because she is copying Tituba and Abigail's actions.