Savannah Wood English 10 Honors Summer Reading Assignment- The Crucible by Arthur Miller 1. The puritans had many religious beliefs. The religious beliefs they held were strong and they were extremely devoted to serving their Lord. Puritans believed that people of God had a teetotal lifestyle, worked hard and were responsible. They also believed that anything and everything that happens on earth is already predestined by God. People would not earn salvation with works of righteousness but through God’s grace. The congregation would make all of the decisions in the church and they would not acknowledge any other religions. When Puritans worshipped, it was very simple and only focused on God. There was no music, stained glass windows or art. …show more content…
They wanted the worship of God to be exactly what it was, worshipping God. 2. In Salem, Massachusetts many people were accused of witchcraft. There were trials and punishments for those who were accused of being a witch. In this picture, it shows a person being dropped into the water below. Their hands and feet are tied together with rocks attached. If the person being accused floats to the surface, then they are guilty of being a witch. If the body sinks to the bottom, they are innocent. They did many trials similar to this to find out whether or not they were a witch. 3. I’m a Good Girl I’m a good girl, I don’t compact with no Devil. There be no love for Satan, No witchcraft, There be no unnatural cause here. The Devil got him numerous witches, I am innocent to a witch. If you think that I am one, There are none. There be no blush about my name, I’m a good girl. 4. In many ways Elizabeth is different from Abigail, she is the polar opposite of her. Elizabeth and Abigail have completely different personalities; the only thing they have in common is their love for John Proctor. Elizabeth is selfless and forgiving, while Abigail is selfish, and vindictive. These traits are very prominent throughout the book. Unlike Abigail, Elizabeth is selfless. For example, when she is being arrested for witchcraft she says, “Help Mr. Proctor as you were his daughter-you owe me that and much more. When the children wake, speak nothing of witchcraft-it will frighten them.”(77). Elizabeth was more worried of her children finding out about her arrest and Johns well-being than herself. Abigail is not selfless at all, she is very selfish. Abigail would do anything to protect herself from being accused of witchcraft. Abigail threatens the girls involved in the conjuring, “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 point reckoning that will shudder you.”(20). She doesn’t mind throwing her friends under the bus, especially if it keeps her alive and her ‘good’ reputation intact. Elizabeth is also very forgiving. Although at the beginning, she did not trust or forgive John Proctor, her husband, for having an affair with Abigail but towards the end she learned to forgive him. When John was about to be hanged, Elizabeth expresses her forgiveness when she lets him go and says, “He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!”(145). She finally found it in her heart to forgive him for his infidelity and so did he, they both were at peace. Abigail is not forgiving, she is very vindictive. By starting the accusations of witchcraft, that is how Abigail seeks vengeance on Elizabeth. She wants to get revenge on Elizabeth for firing her and soiling her name. Mary Warren, the Proctors servant, places a poppet in Elizabeth’s home with a needle inside it. (73). Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft after she is stabbed with a needle; she claims Elizabeth’s soul did it. (74). Abigail wanted revenge so badly; she framed Elizabeth and harmed herself to achieve it. Abigail has also tried to drink a charm to kill Elizabeth. Betty, Parris’s daughter says, “You drank a charm to kill John Proctors wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!”(19). Abigail seeks vengeance so desperately she even drank blood to get revenge. She will do anything to get what she wants. Elizabeth differs from Abigail in many ways. Elizabeth is selfless and Abigail is selfish. Elizabeth is forgiving and Abigail is vindictive. From her kind heart to her caring nature, she is nothing like Abigail. 5. Danforth, Hathorne and the other authorities are so resistant because they have already killed people for doing witchcraft; if they found out that everything these girls have been accusing people of was all a hoax that would be many innocent peoples blood on their hands. Also, how embarrassing is it to have little girl’s trick incredibly smart men? It would crush their egos; they take a lot of pride in what they do. Plus they would lose so much respect from people and no one would trust them as the leaders of the legal system. They also have to support the image of the system. So if they believed Abigail and her friends were lying, then all of those people would have died for no reason and the legal system would fail. If the legal system failed, they would lose their power and they do not want that. These men love having power and that’s why they are so reluctant to believing the claims of Abigail and the other girls. 6. Parris had many motivations in supporting the witch trials but most of them were selfish. He is a very self-centered person and only worries about his reputation, even when his daughter, Betty, is in a horrible condition. Many people supported the witch trials for very selfish reasons, Parris was one of them. He supported the witch trials for vengeance and protection and he was determined to achieve his motives. Parris supported the witch trials because he could seek vengeance. He was jealous and he hated him. John was a good, respectable man and that angered Parris. He tells Abigail, “I have fought here three long years to bend these stiff-necked people to me, and now, just now when some good respect is rising for me in the parish, you compromise my very character.”(11). He was jealous because he had to work for respect from everyone, where John already had it. Parris resented John for that and that is why he formed a strong hate and jealousy for him. The protection of the witch trials saved him from losing his job, the townspeople were starting to realize that the witch trials were pretense and they were starting to rebel. When Proctor agreed to sign a testimony for committing witch craft, Parris was very excited. He tells Danforth feverishly, “It is a great service, sir. It is a weighty name; it will strike the village that Proctor confess. I beg you, let him sign it. The sun is up, Excellency!”(141). So, Parris thought it would be a good idea to get a confession from John Proctor, who is a much respected man in the community, and that would keep the townspeople blind to what they were beginning to discover. Then the townspeople wouldn’t want to fire him as the minister. It’s a win-win. Most of Parris’s motives were selfish and greedy. He was only worried about one person, himself. The accusations of witch trials helped him seek vengeance on others and protect himself and his job. He took advantage of the witch trials for his own needs and ended up hurting others in the process. 7.
John has trouble telling the court about Abigail and the girls false accusations because he has no witnesses, so he can’t prove it. The real reason he is trying to avoid telling the court is because he had an affair with Abigail and he doesn’t want Abigail to tell the court. If the court knows, it will ruin his good image. Although, he didn’t want to tell the court in the beginning because he still cared for Abigail and he did not want to hurt her, he soon discovered that she was a very nasty person and was not going to change. He was disgusted and ashamed of himself for his infidelity and didn’t want anyone to know about it. Eventually, he did tell the court but it was to save his wife from being arrested. His good reputation was ruined by his mistakes and he had to live with …show more content…
that. 8.
Abigail and the girls, yet again, ruin someone’s life. They are the reason Proctor’s efforts failed to save his wife. John Proctor convinces Mary Warren, his servant, to confess to lying about witchcraft. When she confesses, Abigail is brought in along with Suzanna, Betty, and Mercy. Abigail denies everything that Mary has told the court. Abigail gets very scared and points up at a beam on the ceiling and says, “But God made my face; you cannot want to tear my face. Envy is a deadly sin, Mary.” All of the other girls went along with it and also accused Mary of witch craft. Mary realizes that the court will not believe her and she will be hanged for lying and for being a witch, so she turns on John Proctor and accuses him of witch craft. Mary tells Proctor, “You’re the Devil’s man!” Mary also tells the court that he threatened to murder her if she did not go down to court and lie about the girls accusations. Danforth believes their act and accuses Procter, “What are you? You are combined with anti-Christ and, are you not? I have seen your power; you will not deny it! What say you, Mister?” Procter is now being accused of witch craft and will be hanged. This is what completely destroys Proctor’s efforts to save his
wife. 9. If I was being accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, I would probably run away to a different state. If running away wasn’t an option, then I honestly don’t know what I would do. Maybe I would just confess and have my image ruined in my community or I could just pretend to be bewitched like Mary Warren did and accuse someone else of witch craft. There are so many contraceptives of avoiding the death from being accused of witch craft. But if I had to choose, I would confess. By confessing, it would only ruin my image and no one else would be harmed. I would have to live with the shame of sinning but at least I would be alive, especially when I knew everything I was accused of was false. I would never want to die for a crime I never committed, which happens very often to people now. I think I could live with my sin. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I pretended to be bewitched and accused an innocent person for the same horrible crime I was being accused of. Instead of me dying, they would die and that would be someone’s blood on my hands. I would have to live with my guilt for the rest of my life and that would be a horrible way to live. So, if I was accused of witch craft, I would confess. I did not commit the crime, and I certainly would not do the time. Confessing sounds a lot better than being hanged to death.
During the trial the girls and Abigail pressure Mary into conforming to them by pretending that Mary was bewitching the girls. When she plays along with the girls; Proctor screams at Mary with much rage, “Mary god damns all liars!”(224).Which is ironic because John Proctor has been lying to everyone about his deadly secret. Which he knows will eventually come out and ruin everything for him. Proctor finally comes out and tells the court when there seems to be no way out for Elizabeth he points out, “I have known her sir, I have known her” (220). Proctor finally confesses about his affair in front of Judge
John realizes that his good name was at risk of being destroyed due to his edgy marriage. After his wife is accused against, he sacrifices his good name himself to get his wife to be released. Elizabeth has the reputation to never tell a lie, and John knows this so he decides to confess to the court about his affair with Abigail while Elizabeth isn’t in the room because he thinks that she will tell the truth about the affair and not lie to keep his name. But when Elizabeth came in she lied to save his name, because she did not know what he did. Having this occur, shows that John And Elizabeth may be lying about the whole situation which makes them look
John Proctor committed lechery with Abigail Williams. Abigail Williams wants John Proctor to love her, but he is married to Elizabeth, and he doesn’t want to leave her for Abigail. Abigail knows that John doesn’t want to leave his wife, so she tries to get rid of her, first by drinking a charm to kill her, and she then accuses her of witchcraft. John knows that Abigail is trying to get rid of his wife so he knows that he has to tell the courts about what happened between the two of them so that they will realize why she is making the accusations on his wife. When he admits his fault to the court the girls turns around and accuse him of witchcraft in order to save themselves. John is put in jail for three months because of this accusation. After all of this time he nearly decides to admit to it, but he then realizes what it would do to himself and his name.
The Puritans were "Christians," in that they believed in Jesus Christ yet some may argue that they did not lead "Christian" lives. These fanatics seemed to obssess over a major tenet of their religion, that being "Pre Destination." That is, God Himself chose those destined for eternal salvation in the beginning of time, long before our conception and birth. This pre-ordained number is considerably miniscule, which, at times, the Puritans seemed to ignore.
Elizabeth Proctor has many moments which show how she is changing throughout the play. When she is trying to persuade Proctor to tell the court that Abigail said the girls were not practicing witchcraft, Elizabeth blurts out, "John, if it were not Abigail that you must go to hurt, would you falter now? I think not." Elizabeth is confessing that she believes Proctor had an affair with Abigail. She is giving him no mercy by showing that she will never forget what happened. When Elizabeth is being accused of stabbing Abigail, she instructs Proctor to go to court, and tells him "Oh, John, bring me soon!" Elizabeth is gaining trust in John. She is forgetting his act of adultery and now has faith that he will defend her. At the end of the play, when Proctor is sentenced to death, Elizabeth says that "he [has] his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!" Elizabeth is admitting that John was righteous to confess his sin of lechery, and she should have pardoned him. She considers herself impure for not showing mercy, and does not want to take away from his glory. Elizabeth has transformed from an ignorant victim of adultery, to a forgiving, loving wife.
The puritans were very religious. They wanted to show everyone what happens if you are good and believe in god and the heavens. If you do bad things you would be punished or be killed. If you do good things you can be hand chosen to go to heaven.
It was easier for them to blame the devil for the problems of society than fix the problems of their own strict way of life. So the girls involved with Abigail, like Mercy Lewis and Mary Warren, named many people in the town as witches. These people were put in jail and would be hanged if they did not confess to the crime of devil worship or witchcraft. Another part of the developing plot is that John Proctor knows Abigail and her friends are lying, but he is afraid to say anything because eight months before he had an affair with Abigail and did not want to be seen by the town as a lecher, which means wife cheater. So, Mr. Proctor has to fight with himself to come out and tell the truth, or his wife might die because of Abigail saying she was a witch.
The Puritans didn't have all the luxuries we have today. They were told many things by preachers such as Jonathon Edwards, who lit a candle of fear in their minds. If I was alive to hear Edwards preach, I'd certainly have to question myself. He preached that God holds us in his hands and he can make or break us. If God decides it so, he will let us go and we will fall from his hands to nothing but Hell. Certainly no one wants to go to Hell. So, the Puritans tried to better their lives, and go by rules or "resolutions." They believed if they followed these resolutions, even though their fate was predetermined by God, they could live a life of good and maybe prove they are meant to go to Heaven.
Puritans believed in strict religious dedications, by trying to follow the holy commandment. “The discipline of the family, in those days, was of a far more rigid kind than now.”(Hawthorne 9). They wanted to be considered the holiest of all people because they try to reflect a world of perfection in the sight of God. While they where trying to portray a holy life; however, they where also living a sinful life because they have been judgmental, slandering, uncompassionate, resentment, and forbearing, which are all sinful acts of the bible.
In the play John Proctor made the mistake of fooling around with Abigail Williams. He was not thinking straight and this lead to one of the main conflicts in the play. Proctor claimed to not love Abigail and that hurt her feelings. A quote that proves that Proctor does not want Abigail is “ Abby, you’ll put it out of mind. I’ll not be comin’ for you more”. He tell Abigail this and then Abigail loses it and tries to get revenge by lying to people that Elizabeth Proctor is a witch. Another situation in the play is when Abigail and her friends start imitating Mary Warren while they are in court. The people start to believe that Mary Warren is a witch because they think that she is causing Abigail to repeat everything. Abigail yells at the crowd “ Mary, please don’t hurt me!” and Mary replies to Danforth “ I’m not hurting her!”. Mary tries to defend herself but the people believe Abigail so they send Mary to prison even though she is not a
The Puritans were Englishmen who chose to separate from the Church of England. Puritans believed that the Anglican Church or Church of England resembled the Roman Catholic Church too closely and was in dire need of reform. Furthermore, they were not free to follow their own religious beliefs without punishment. In the sixteenth century the Puritans settled in the New England area with the idea of regaining their principles of the Christi...
By sleeping with Abigail Williams he had completely lost his honor and all hope for a reputable reputation, but towards the end of the story, John begins to realize his sins and the mess that has been made by one foolish act. John slowly beings to attempt redemption to his prestige. In the final act of this performance, John has a choice to make; save his own life by signing a confession to witchcraft, or be sentenced to hang if he did not. At first he began to lie, signing the false confession, then he snatched it back, “I have confessed myself! Is there no good penitence but it be public? God does not need my name nailed upon the church! God sees my name; God knows my how black my sins are! It is enough!” John does not want his name and his false confession hanging in public for all to see, his name means too much to him. John also talks about the effects it would have on his sons, “I have three children-how may I teach them to walk like men in the world, and I sold my friends?” In John’s eyes it would be more honorable to die than to hang his lie for all to see. All would know it was a lie, and how could John raise his sons, living a lie? In short, John’s reputation meant more to him than his
Her and several other girls accused so many other people for fun or revenge. They would help the court decide if the people accused were guilty or not. Because of Abigail, the witchcraft situation got way out of hand, and many of the townsmen wives were getting accused, arrested, and hung. “It is not a child. Now here me, sir. In the sight of the congregation she were twice this year put out of this meetin’ house for laughter during prayer” (Miller 1201). John is trying to prove to the court that Abigail is the evil one here, and that she has been lying the whole time. He will say anything, without lying, even if it goes against his name to prove that Abby is an evil, lying girl. When the court begins to believe Proctor, she acts like Mary’s spirit is coming to get her. “I-I know not. A wind, a cold wind, has come” (Miller 1205) This is when she starts framing Mary, and trying to get the court back on her side. Finally Mary breaks, comes back to Abigail, and accuses Proctor of witchcraft, and forcing her to do and say things. At the end of the play, Abigail gets her revenge, but not in the way she wanted. She wanted Elizabeth gone, so that she could have Proctor to herself. What happened is that she did get rid of Elizabeth, but she was the reason why Proctor got hung. Abigail knew that people were after her now because of her lies, so she got on a ship and ran. Abigail’s evilness got her in such a mess,
1.The important information that John finally reveals to Reverend Hale was that Abigail told Proctor that what the girls were doing was not witchcraft. Hale does not believe what John says because he does not think Abigail would tell him that. Proctor said on page 68 “But I know the children’s sickness had naught to do with witchcraft.” After Hale asks him who told you this, John responds with Abigail Williams. John at first asks him why did he keep this from everyone and John says how he didn’t know it was so big. Reverend Hale wants John to confess in court that Abigail told him this. He wants John to testify against Abigail in court. He asked John on page 69 “And you would you testify to this in court?” He wanted him to come clean and confess
John Proctor faces many decisions in response to his moral dilemma to try to save his life. One of the difficult decisions John makes is to reveal that he had an affair with Abigail Williams and thereby has committed adultery. If the local court convicts him of this crime, he faces being jailed. Also by admitting this crime, John reveals a weakness in his character. This flaw in his personality will make it harder for him to stand up in the community as an honorable and believable person. In trying to convince others that witchcraft does not exist John’s dishonesty with his wife will make him less convincing to the community.