The Crucible: Act I

 

  • Combination of history and fiction
    • Definite opinions and commentary on specific historical characters
      • Parris: “cut a villainous path, and there is very little good to be said for him”
      • Like a stage direction, but a political slant as well—we can clearly see his interpretation of the episode, not up for “interpretation”
        • How does this differ from “history”?
  • Puritan life
    • “To the European world the whole province was a barbaric frontier inhabited by a sect of fanatics who, nevertheless, were shipping out products of slowly increasing  quaintly and value” 4
    • austere life—no theatre, no novels, no dancing, no Christmas—only fun “raise the roof”—no time to fool around, so most followed the strict rules
    • tattling to the magistrates
    • wilderness as dark and threatening “the virgin forest was the Devil’s last preserve”
    • They survived unlike the Jamestown settlers because they were so strict and so focused on faith
  • Connection to 1950s (time book was written-1953)
    • Mc Carthy era
    • “It is a paradox in whose grip we still live”
      • for good purposes – “theocracy” . . . “organization grounded on the idea of exclusion and prohibition”—repression sometimes greater than “the dangers against which the order was organized” 7
      • connection to 50s “we” “still”
      • witch hunt of Salem vs. McCarthy’s witch hunt—finding a “commie” behind every door
        • motivations for accusing others—vengeance, “land-lust,” elevates the petty to the “arena of morality”
  • actual lines in the play don’t begin until 5 pages in—p 8
  • Betty and Ruth—young girls
    • Possessed or faking it?
    • Crime accused of? Dancing in the forest, cooking something (frog in it), someone naked, Tituba singing in the language from Barbados
  • What is Parris’s main worry?
    • If Betty is associated with witchcraft, how will it affect his career?
  • Abigail’s character
    • Hates Goody (Elizabeth) Proctor
    • Affair with John Proctor
    • Leader
    • Threatens (20) “I will come to you in the bladck of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it; I saw Indians smash my dear parents’ heads on the pillow next to mine . . .”
    • Lies without hesitation 25 (lied to Parris about her reputation being clear)

 

  • Thomas Putnam
    • Man of many grievances, his relative refused the minister’s post
    • Vindictive 14
    • So many of the accusations in his handwriting 15
    • 15- “intent upon getting Parris, for whom he has only contempt”
  • The truth slowly leaks out
    • What really did happen out in the woods?
      • Mary Warren: “We must tell the truth, Abby! You’ll only be whipped for dancin’ and the other things!”
      • Conjured the dead to reach Ruth’s siblings
      • Abby drank blood—a charm to kill Goody Proctor?
  • Betty awakes 19
    • Is she faking?
    • “I’ll fly to Mama. Let me fly!” “You drank blood, Abby”
  • John Proctor
    • “powerful of body, even-tempered, and not easily led” 20
    • “in Proctor’s presence, a fool always felt his foolishness instantly” 20
    • had an affair with Abby, wants to stay true to his wife—tries to push Abby away, but she’s persistent
    • “Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind. We never touched, Abby.” 23
      • do you believe him?
      • Cruel, kind, self-centered, human?
    • No respect for Parris
      • When Parris whines about a faction against him in the church, Proctor sarcastically says he’ll join it. “I like not the smell of this ‘authority’” 31
  • Rebecca Nurse: people have a high opinion of her
    • “the general opinion of her character was so high”
    • Putnam signed the first complaint against her
      • What was his motivation? Why would people believe him if her reputation is so good?
    • Betty quiets when Rebecca sit by and comforts her—kind woman, but Mrs. Putnam freaks and says “What have you done?” as if her touch was dark magic rather than maternal
    • 11 children (Mrs. Putnam is jealous)
    • not shy about expressing her opinion, seems intelligent, well grounded, and rational—tries to hold John Proctor back from riling Parris (31)
  • Francis Nurse: Both sides have respect for him, called on to arbitrate
    • Land war with Putnam
    • Lead the group against Putnam’s brother in law, Bayley, for minister
  • Mrs. Putnam
    • Lost 7 children
    • Jealous of Rebecca
    • Asks Tituba to conjure the dead to find out why her babies die
    • Thinks a witch is killing her babies 28
    • Blames everyone else for her problems
  • Parris
    • Worried about reputation more than anything else, motivated by self-preservation
    • “hellfire and bloody damnation” preacher, rarely mentions God in his sermons (says Proctor)—focuses on the horror of hell rather than the grace of God
    • greedy—asked for deed to house, wants firewood in addition to salary
      • they ask about his preaching style and he demands his firewood 29
    • paranoid, think there’s a faction out to get him
  • Corey Giles
    • Always getting sued and suing others, been in court six times that year
    • Accuses Proctor for defamation
    • Guys guy, straight-forward, easily angered
    • Not too quick and pretty stubborn
    • 80s
    • different fate, comical hero
    • blamed for everything, (missing cows, fires)
    • “a crank and a nuisance, but withal a deeply innocent and brave man”
    • not scared of anything
    • not very religious, only started going to church and praying after recent marriage to Martha

 

  • 32: Proctor hauling lumber from property purchased from Francis Nurse, Putman claims that the property was his, willed to him by his grandfather
    • Giles and Proctor re-unite over this because they claim Putnam’s grandfather often willed land that wasn’t his

 

  • P. 38 Hale: “We cannot look to superstition in this. The Devil is precise; the marks of his presence are definite as stone . . .”
  • p. 39 Mrs. Putnam: “Let God blame me, not you, not you, Rebecca! I’ll not have you judging me any more!” irony? Hypocrisy of Puritan thought
  • p. 39 Hale: “Here is all the invisible world, caught, defined, and calculated. In these books the Devil stands stripped of all his brute disguises.” Do books have that much power? Is it that simple? How do we know?
  • Rebecca’s moral superiority: they are resentful, but acknowledge her superiority?? She does not think Hale will help, wants him gone
  • Hale plants ideas in Betty’s head: did someone or something afflict you: bird, woman, cow, etc.
  • Admit that they called the Devil
  • Tituba
    • “I tell him I don’t desire to work for him, sir.” 44
    • Connection to the devil?
    • Her confession—a real confession?
    • “Oh, how many times he bid me kill you, Mr. Parris!” 47 – the Devil? She thinks, or just her frustration with slavery? Devil promises freedom, but she says no
    • “I do believe somebody else be witchin’ these children.”45
    • accuses Sarah Good, Goody Osburn,
  • Hale to Tituba “You are God’s instrument put in our hands to discover the Devil’s agenets among us. . . God will protect you.” 46
  • Tituba’s accusations inspire Abigail’s – “I want the light of God” sincere?—add Bridget Bishop to the list
    • First few accusations all of homeless, crazy women
    • Betty adds George Jacobs, and Goody Howe
    • Add five more—10 total

 

Why are mostly women accused of witchcraft?