Monday, September 30, 2013
In-Class Discussion Notes.
In the comment box below, please respond to a classmate's ideas from our in-class discussion of The Crucible Acts 1&2. You can extend the idea, offer an alternative idea, reshape it, appreciate it, etc. Since two of the honors blocks were not able to complete their discussion, and we have a half-day tomorrow which will further complicates things, let's set the due date for this post on Wednesday night. Thanks, Mr. Telles.
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In acts one and two of The Crucible, many characters and feelings towards and against characters are expressed. As readers, we learn of events not as witnesses, so our feelings about the situations evolving in Salem are based upon information from second hand accounts. We gain knowledge about the girls actions in the woods from the girls that they seriously are in trouble for their evil intentions and practices. But actual characters are told by the girls that they were just dancing and had no evil intentions. Our feelings towards characters form from both sides' reconstruction of past events, which gives us a more truthful and correct opinion of characters.
ReplyDeleteWith rumors and lies spreading throughout Salem, the characters in the novel are told the "real story" of the accusations by many different people in different forms. Unfortunately, people of Salem do not know what to believe, and start basing the "truth" upon their own opinions. Even worse, their intentions are usually formed in order to protect themselves and avoid association to the witchcraft. With many accusations and stories told by people who are trying to protect themselves by passing the blame, the courts begin to accuse and sentence non-guilty citizens. The wrongly accused become extremely upset, but realize the courts' proof is based upon false verbal statements which are hard to disprove with other verbal statements. Also, the courts offer less severe punishments for testifying guilty to witchcraft than to testifying non-guilty. A non-guilty plea that is not accepted or proved true by the courts could lead to a hanging or other severe punishment. Most of the accused took the safe route and pleaded guilty. In the end, the courts only created more false opinions and statements, that cripple Salem's citizens' abilities to realize their twisted dilemma.
There were many different points and opinions brought up during our discussion on the book, but the thing that stuck out to me the most was a question. When my classmates started question what exactly Mary Warren's intent was in this whole mess, and what part did she play in it. I find Mary to be a particularly interesting character because it's hard to know exactly where she stands. One thing that came up in class that we were wondering about was whether Mary had been a part of Abigail's plan to get Goody Proctor accused. Did Mary know of the plan and put the pin in the doll purposely, or did Abigail see Mary making the doll and then hatch her plan to stab herself with the pin? There is evidence that she could be on either side. She comes clean and confesses that she did indeed make the doll which makes it seem that she couldn't possibly have done it to take down Goody Proctor. On the other hand, when she is confessing she is stuttering and not being very upfront about the whole thing so it's hard to tell. I'm excited to read on and learn more about Mary so my classmates and I can try to figure out her true intent.
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ReplyDeleteFrom the first few acts of The Crucible, it is obvious that witchcraft is considered a major deal and once the people of Salem figure out that there is witchcraft going on within the town, ruckus occurs. Since witchcraft is regarded as a sin and because the consequences of the one being accused is a huge price to pay, the people tend to just blame each other to get off the hook so that they would not have to suffer. However, there are other reasons, some that were brought up in the class, that the people tend to blame each other. Such reasons include jealousy. Abigail, for example, tries her very best to get rid of Goody Proctor just to be with John Proctor and for this, she hurled a heinous crime upon Elizabeth for her own selfish reasons. In addition, because the people of Salem start blaming one another, many other innocent women are held captive. With a desire like Abigail's or if it's just to get of the hook, the people of Salem have jeopardized many other individuals.
ReplyDeleteThe crucibles story is continuing to build as we are reading further into the Witch trials. More and more people are being accused each day, and there is almost nothing anyone can do about it once they are a suspect. It seems most of the suspicion in the town falls on those who less frequently attend church. It is not fear though that the people accused are actually committing witchcraft, you see, but it is the fear of the town that created the conspiracy. The girls, in fact, are faking the situations and had made it bigger than it ever should have been. They only did it to get the people they despise hung, but now it is too late to turn back. The town of Salem is in turmoil and blaming one another in order to protect themselves. Some relentless souls in the community are even going out of their way to get evidence to bring a particular person to court though they are falsely accused. This is because she is using the court to accuse those she wishes dead, such as Elizabeth Proctor, and to selfishly get her way. In fact, when it came to the poppet incident, I believe Mary Warren took part in Abigail’s awful scheme. When the town official questioned her she admitted to making the poppet but made herself out to be innocent. She stuttered and hesitated in the dialect, therefore making her tone sound nervous. Because of this, I believe Mary Warren and Abigail had together planned this out in order to frame Elizabeth. Mary Warren must have put the needle in the stomach of the poppet, herself.
ReplyDeleteDuring our discussion on the Crucible, I thought there were a lot of great points made. It takes me a while to really understand the text that I’m reading. I actually really enjoyed listening in on our class discussion. I wish I could have participated more with it, but I think it was important for me to just observe. I got to ask some important questions which cleared up a ton of events in the story. My biggest interest in the Crucible is how everyone is pointing fingers at each other. To add to that, it’s mainly only girls accusing every one. Also, the people in the town only seem to blame the one’s who do not attend church. I can see how everyone in the town is scared of people finding out their secrets because the consequences are so bad. With all the towns people accusing each other, this leads to innocent people going to court and being blamed for witchcraft. For the most part, the citizens of Salem are living in fear that they could be the next person to be accused and sent to court. Eventually more, and more people of Salem were pleading guilty (which was announced safer than saying you were non-guilty) and the court didn’t really know what to do with themselves. They knew they were giving the wrong people punishment. At this time, Salem was crazy.
ReplyDeleteThere were many topics mentioned in our class discussion on Act 1 and Act 2 of "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller. A big majority of the topics mentioned all tied together with witchcraft which was the main issue of society in Salem in the late 1600's. One topic that caught my attention was when someone brought up that Abigail talked to John Proctor of their relationship. Now, many questions arise from this topic. For example, What kind of relationship did they have? Why was Abigail wanting John back so badly? Why did John not feel the same way? Was it because he was afraid of Abigail? Was it because of witchcraft? These are some of the questions that popped into my head. John Proctor clearly states that he does not want anything to do with Abigail again and does not want to associate his life with hers other than helping Betty. He says "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" (Miller 23). I wonder why he doesn't want to involve himself with her ever anew. Maybe there is something Abigail did that turned John away and made him want to avoid her as much as possible. It could be due to the fear of him or his wife, Elizabeth, being accused of witchcraft. In that period of time, everyone accused innocent people of witchcraft so that they wouldn't get hung. This caused many problems in Salem and unnecessary uprisings that were uncalled for and selfish.
ReplyDeleteThe discussion on the crucible that we had in class gave me a much better understanding of the ideas in the book. Hearing my classmates views and points introduced many new ideas in the book to me. When I first start reading a text I dont usually catch on to the themes or main points happening at the beginning, so this discussion really helped me get a much better understanding of what is going on with the characters relationships and main ideas in the story so far. One of my biggest interests in The Crucible so far is the topic of religion. In the town of Salem at the time of the story religion is a huge part of their lives. People who are being called witches and being tried the topic always comes up. They are always asked why they haven't attended church or why they even missed one day. In the beginning of this book we start to see the whole religion topic come into play. When the girls are in the woods with Tituba doing “sinful” things, they are questioned if they connected with the devil. Also, after Betty falls ill she is accused of freaking out when she hears the lords name. Another topic that was brought up in the discussion was about Paris’s perception of witch craft. When betty falls ill after being in the woods he does not think that is has anything to do with witchcraft but now he is pointing fingers at who could be a witch. I really enjoyed the discussion on the crucible. I wish I could have participated more in the conversation but from listening to other peoples thoughts and ideas I now have a much better understanding of the book and what is going on with the characters.
ReplyDeleteIn the class we discussed the first two acts of "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller. Within these acts we learn a lot about Abigail. She watched her parents get beaten to death by Native Americans right in front of her. That could cause PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) Which would explain why she is unable to cope with situations in a healthy manner. When John Procter doesn't leave Mrs. Procter for her she tries to kill her with a spell. It doesn't work, and Paris catches the girls "spell casting" in the forest, and instead of admitting what they were doing they use the accusations to accuse innocent people. This led to other people influencing the girls to keep accusing people, because of problems that had nothing to do with the Devil or magic. People had there enemies hung as an easy way to deal with their problems.
ReplyDeleteAt the very beginning of the discussion, Riley starting talking about “spectral evidence.” We had talked about it briefly in our previous discussion, and I really feel that it is completely unfair. Spectral evidence is the fact that all of the evidence presented by the girls against the supposed “witches”, is invisible. It isn’t physical proof, there is no actual evidence against these people. So, like Riley said, how can they be expected to go against that? What do you use as a defense against something that you can’t even see, let alone prove is there? There is no way for a person to prove that the evidence against them is false, when there is no evidence. I believe that in this case, the “court” is not a court anymore. The people on the jury, the judges, anyone in a position of power in this court, cannot consider themselves a juryman or a judge. They are all using evidence that doesn’t exist, to put people in jail or sentence them to death. That is so illegal, and so wrong in so many ways. It’s as bad as a criminal or lawyer bribing the judge to vote in their favor. It’s horrible. What also bothers me about this court is they hold religion at such a high place in the court, when it really shouldn’t have anything to do with how they judge. Now, I do realize it is a completely different time period, and I realize that most of what they’re doing is accepted. I also know that women, blacks and children did not have equal rights, but I still feel that what they are doing is wrong. Danforth talks about how the whole foundation of this case is based on the fact that the voice of heaven is speaking though the children. When there isn’t even any evidence that heaven exists, so how can they take the children’s word so seriously? The whole case is corrupt, we know that already, but it’s not just in the people’s attempts to hide their secrets, but in the court system. It’s all wrong and completely against what the law is and should be. The prosecuted should have a chance to defend themselves, everyone should have an equal voice in the court of law. But if you start the case off by giving them no chance whatsoever to defend themselves, then you are already disgracing your power, and corrupting the court. And they wonder why some people are uneasy about the law…
ReplyDeleteIn act one and two of The Crucible more and more people continued to be accused by the who started the whole witchcraft business to begin with. No one really knows what to do about all of this and allow the girls to keep making their accusations. Even the most innocent of people are being tried guilty. The whole town of Salem is then in an uproar and panic.There were a lot of topics brought up in our class discussion on act one and two of The Crucible by Arthur Miller. One of the topics that stood out to me was the discussion about Abigail, Mary Warren, Elizabeth, and the poppet doll. Several questions popped into my mind about this. What does Abigail have against Elizabeth. Also, why did Mary Warren make the doll in court and stick the needle in herself. How come she was working with Abigail to frame Elizabeth? It then turns out that Mary can’t tell the court that she had made the doll because she tells John Proctor that Abigail will kill her if she does. This surprises John Proctor. I thought that this was a very interesting and somewhat difficult to understand scene in The Crucible. I can’t wait to read more of this book and get more answers. The class discussion really helped me understand things that I was confused about before.
ReplyDeleteIn class we had a group discussion about act one and act two in the Crucible. In the discussion we talked about many different ideas and beliefs with our classmates. One question that someone asked was "Why is everyone turning to witchcraft as the answer for all their problems?" I believe that the reason everyone believes in this witchcraft is because they are just blaming their unanswered issues on something no one can necessarily prove. Many people are also just blaming it on other people so that they move the spotlight away from them and move it onto someone else. In this class discussion we talked about many things and it really helped me when I was just completely lost before.
ReplyDeleteThere are many ways that the actions of the characters in the Crucible can be interpreted and deciphered. One opinion that was discussed was the idea of self protection, and how easy it is to throw accusations against someone as a group. In the Crucible if one character is accused of witchcraft other characters as a group begins to make the situation of the one in the spotlight worse. It is much easier to accuse as a group than individually, perhaps this is the case because as one person the tables can be easily turned so that the accuser becomes the victim. Many in the community of Salem also aim for self protection they are each trying not to be the victim and by doing this they may hurt the reputation of others. An example of this is seen in the case of Parris, when Betty got sick he was not as concerned about her as his own reputation and how people who view him if his status was tainted. Parris in all his actions strives to protect himself, if those close to him becomes involved in seemingly unholy things it would look very bad not only to said person but also upon himself. All in the community aims to protect themselves, however in doing this they may become selfish and try to hurt others in the community.Doing this causes things such as death of many innocent people who like their accusers simply did not want to be hanged.
ReplyDeleteIn class we had a discussion over the topic of acts 1 and 2 of "the Crucible". Many of the ideas said by the students were about the idea of witchraft around the town. Also a lot of people brought up on the idea that everyone who were said to have been preforming witchcraft just pointed their finger at someone else to get the blame off them. That was mostly what I contributed through because thats pretty much all I understood about the book... Anyway, the girls were brought into court and just started naming off peoples names in the town to get them off the hook. Sense the court system back then was just one guy and his "side kick" they could just decide that he/she was guilty or not. Although after a while John Hathorn, the witch expert, relized that there wasn't really any witches and that the girls were just lying the whole time. So overall i agree with what everyone had to say about this subject because after reading some of act three Hathorn relizes that there really arn't any witches.
ReplyDeleteIn class we had an open discussion about The Crucible by Arthur Miller. There were many different thoughts about what was occurring in the Crucible during act one and two. On very popular thought was witchcraft. Witchcraft takes a very big part in this novel. It is a huge phenomenon in the town of Salem. Many townsmen are against witchcraft, while others are intrigued by witchcraft. If any of the characters did believe in witchcraft they may try to hide it or blame someone else for the wrong doing. Every character in the novel is very dishonest and it seems to stay that way throughout the novel. Another thought that popped up in the story was John Proctor and Abigail’s affair. When reading this so many questions came into my head. Why would a married man have an affair with Abigail who is much younger? Most of my concerns were about Elizabeth, Proctor’s wife. If I was in Elizabeth’s shoes I would not deal with it as well as she did. Elizabeth decided to stay with Proctor. How could she look at his face knowing what he has done? If I was in her shoes I know for sure that I would be gone right away. She is a very brave woman to be doing what she is doing. Unfortunately after this incident Elizabeth starts to get very easily upset and isn’t really herself anymore. I also was thinking how are John Proctor and Abigail going to get away with this once the town figures it out? This part in the story got me thinking much deeper into what may happen later on in the book.
ReplyDeleteIn our class discussion about "The Crucible" many interesting points were brought up. One idea that was talked about a lot was that everyone was blaming each other because they had something to hide. The characters tried to protect themselves by turning others into scapegoats. This idea of self protection also leads to a sort of "mob mentality", the thought that it is easier to gang up on someone when you are in a group rather than on your own. In the book, The whole town turns on each other, blaming all different sorts of people of engaging in witchcraft. The author, Arthur Miller relates the idea of mob mentality in the Salem witch trials to his present life, where everyone was being accused of being communists. This theme plays a very big part in "The Crucible". The characters feel that the only way to protect themselves, and their secrets, is by passing the blame around the town.
ReplyDeleteOne very imortant thing I noted while reading and during the class disscusion is the charecters attitudes and opinions. Parris is a perfect example, at the beginning he did not think it was witch craft at all he would not believe it or let anyone else spread it. As people were noting in the class disscusion he all of a sudden is pointing fingers and accusing other people of witch craft. Another example is hale, hale is a witch expert. In the beginning he thought it was witch craft but towards the end he notices it is not witch craft and the charecters are just pointing fungers from built up anger for each other and for protection of them selves. Another event I noted was that nothing was done to ms.putnam when she admitted to making tituba conjour the dead to find out who killed her children. Off of that comment I noted that I think there are certain people who can get away with things. The class was told that the putnams were very wealthy, it might not be the case but personally I feel she got away with it because of her higher class and amount of money.I have not found any characters completely truthful or trust worthy, maybe that's why the town is in such a craze, everyone's on there own and has to defend them selves and in order to do so they blame innocent people.
ReplyDeleteI think discussing the first two acts of the crucible was very helpful. There were some very important points made. A major point made during the discussion was all the characters have something to hide so they try to find a scapegoat for their problems so they do not get blamed and get in trouble for what they are doing. Everyone blames each other with witchcraft but witchcraft is really not the problem. The real problem is that they are all mad at each other. Another major point brought up in the discussion is about the girls faking the witchcraft. The girls faking the witchcraft seems to be because they want the attention and can get it whenever they want, like Betty, she can pretend to wake up whenever she feels. Also, Abigail faked the needle in her stomach with the doll that Elizabeth had, which got Elizabeth in jail and gave her attention. Someone during the discussion brought up Hale, he is a witch expert and thinks at the beginning that it is witchcraft then soon comes to realize that it is not witchcraft and it is just everyone angry with each other, this is the opposite of Parris who at the beginning doesn’t to believe in witchcraft and then that is his only answer and he wants to blame everyone but himself. These are all very important points made during the discussion we had in class.
ReplyDeleteOver a couple days in class we have discussed act 1 and act 2 in “the Crucible”. Everyone in the class had good insight and opinions about what exactly is going on in the book right now. The people in the book are mostly afraid of the devil and witches; also of being blamed for being a witch At this point in the book many people are doing the same thing, accusing each other of witch craft. Names are just being thrown around and if you get blamed then it is up to one man to determine your fate. One person that really interested me so far is Mary Warren. She has not been the spotlight much so far and I am curious as to where she stands in this whole name game. I am very curious and interested in the rag doll she made Goody Procter, or Elizabeth. There are a lot of questions surrounding this. Why did she make the doll for Elizabeth, was it a gift? Why did she just suddenly decide to make it for her too and why did she have the supplies to make a doll. I think that Mary Warren was with Abigail and they made up a plan to frame Elizabeth and get her out of the picture. Since Abigail wants John Procter she could have paid Mary Warren to make the doll and frame Elizabeth. The only problem that I have with this is that Mary Warren said that she made the doll. Why would she admit to making it if she was trying to frame Elizabeth. If you asked me Mary is a pretty shady person and if anyone she should be convicted.
ReplyDeleteMany interesting topics were debated during our class discussion of The Crucible. An interesting question that was brought up, was asking about which characters even believed in witches. It seems as though every character is pointing fingers at others to avoid being accused, but do any of them really believe in it? Some characters such as Tituba even admit to speaking to the devil, which causes the reader to wonder if it is actually true. With everyone in the town being so paranoid it's hard to remember who even started accusing people of witchcraft in the first place. This question raised other questions such as, if no one believes in witches why are they all pretending they do? Through out the story and the discussion it became more and more clear that the reason everyone was accusing each other, really had nothing to do with witchcraft. It was more about the problems that the characters have with each other or themselves. Another good question that was brought up, was asking about Mary Warren's role in the arrest of Elizabeth. It is unclear if she was planning to frame Elizabeth for injuring Abigail, or if she really had nothing to do with it. It is interesting to see how much the characters turn against each other, and how far they will go to protect themselves. They are willing to believe in witch craft as long as it keeps them from getting in trouble. Having a class discussion helped me to understand why the people of Salem turned to witchcraft as an explanation. Being able to ask questions that my classmates answered helped to clear up a lot of the confusion as well.
ReplyDeleteIn our class discussion of “The Crucible” many different perspectives arose. The discussion gave me a much better understanding of the book and the characters motives. Without hearing these different ideas, I would still be confused, so it was definitely a beneficial use of our time. The most intriguing part of the book that has caught my attention thus far is that the girls keep accusing others of witchcraft yet there is no actual physical evidence. At any time, almost anyone could be accused and without actual physical evidence against you, how are you supposed to defend yourself? The characters just seem to admit to “witchcraft” once accused so they won’t be hung. Another topic that was brought up in the class discussion that I had not really thought about was the role of religion in the book. The point is made that the Proctors don’t attend church regularly therefore they are thought to be in alliance with some sort of devil and against god. This is most likely untrue but it’s obviously opinion, therefore can’t be defended against as I brought up earlier. In the book I predict that eventually this will turn into a complete all out war, everyone for themselves for the most part, with alliances to help one another. To save yourself from being accused or punished, everybody just seems to throw somebody else under the bus, so to speak. This will eventually lead to distrust, violence and uprisings. It will be very interesting to see how this whole situation pans out, and I’m intrigued to read more.
ReplyDeleteOur class discussion brought up many bold and valid points. Many of which I mainly agreed upon. At this point within the play, the children have blown the whole situation out of control. Innocent women are being charged or hung for doing absolutely nothing wrong. It just makes the whole situation much worse, when the characters who do not believe in witchcraft are taking advantage of the situation to get revenge on another character they may not be too fond of. Furthermore, Salem is hectic and driven to the point where people are just trying to defend themselves. They are pointing fingers to redirect the attention to other people rather than themselves so that they will not be imprisoned. This leads to many characters changing their original ideas and beliefs, and flip-flopping their statements. For example, Parris in Act 1 states that witchcraft is not legitimate, but as his daughter and niece are threatened, he jumps on the bandwagon and wants to convict anyone who has any “evidence” against them. This aspect is especially highlighted within Act 3. Furthermore, it tension is rising much more than before as the main characters and their close acquaintances are victimized and try to convey to the public, evidence that can counteract spectral evidence and defend their loved ones. The girls at this point, are either defending themselves or just creating reckless attention for their pleasure. As the story progresses and the class has shared their opinions, it will be interesting to see how the actions of the characters will turn out and how we will interpret or reflect upon the plot further.
ReplyDeleteThere were a lot of good points brought up in our class discussion of “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller. One was how there is a hierarchy of social power in Salem. In Acts one and two of, “The Crucible” you notice that there is a hierarchy of social power. The hierarchy was based upon a person’s land and wealth. First, the weak are accused because they are easy targets. Then they start accusing the higher and powerful people. The townspeople try to place the blame on others so they will not get accused themselves. The people of the town were more concerned with their own self-interest then actually finding out what was happening in their town. They are willing to blame other people just to get the attention away from them. This is a bad thing because if they are found guilty then they could be killed. While I would feel really bad if I falsely accused someone of something and was the cause of their death or something bad happening to them, I wouldn’t want to be killed myself so I don’t know what I would do. This same self-absorption is also evident nearly 300 years later in the novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. This is evident when Mayella Ewell falsely accuses Tom Robbinson of raping her.
ReplyDeleteOf all the things in our class discussion on “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, one thing that came up often and stuck out to me the most was that everyone in the town is pointing fingers at one another. The townspeople are in hysterics because odd things are going on and people want answers. Everyone wants to know what the deal is. They all point fingers to get the spotlight off them and on to anyone but themselves. They don’t have trust in each other so they throw others under the bus to save themselves. It’s an act of self protection caused by the paranoia. In Act 1 Abigail is talking to her uncle Parris and says “She hates me uncle, she must! For I would not be her slave. It’s a bitter woman, a lying, cold, sniveling woman, and I will not work for such a woman!” This shows that Abigail knows she did something wrong to make Goody Proctor resnet Abigail but to hide her secret she tried to make Goody look bad. All the people of the town have their secrets that they are trying to hide and in order to keep these secrets hidden they turn the attention on to other people. The girls accuse many, many people being “with the Devil.” They make accusations after accusation when in reality the girls were the ones who demonstrated witchcraft in the woods. The discussion helped me get a better realization of all the chaos going on in the book and how it all came about.
ReplyDeleteIn the crucible act 1 and 2 everybody in town is blaming eachother, and the girls that were "sick" were pretending. Like Abigail claims that Elizabeth Proctor is a witch, because Abigail likes John Proctor which is her husband. The girls that were in the woods are blaming basically everyone around them so they don't get into trouble. It all starter when Mrs. Ann Putnam made Tituba talk to her dead babies in order to find out who killed them. No one is really thinking logically about this besides Parris, who at the begining of act 1 denied that it was witch craft. If people accuse you of being a witch and you don't admit that you are you are to be hanged, but that isn't fair the court puts you into a lose, lose situation, the judge has so many people in jail that hace been accused of witch craft with no proof at all just the word of the people accusing them. All the people in the crucible are playing the blame game.
ReplyDeleteDuring our class discussion on acts one and two of "The Crucible", many people brought up specific points and they explained in more in depth. I like how they brought up specific points because it helps me to understand the Crucible a bit more, since it was a little bit confusing. On Act 1 of the Crucible we discussed that Mrs. Putnam hired Tituba to conjured the spirits of her seven children that was dead. That was how witchcraft was started. Hale, the witch expert, came into town and started to find out how witchcraft was started. He then came to Abigail and suddenly changes the whole story around. She told Reverend Hale that Tituba did call for the Devil. After that everyone just starts blaming on each other. In Act 2 of the Crucible, when Reverend Hale came into Elizabeth’s house to investigate the names that were on the trial list, Elizabeth’s name was one there. He asked if she have a poppet that have a needle that was stuck in the center, and she told him that she only have the one that Mary Warren gave her that day. Reverend Hale claimed that on the same day Abigail Williams was stuck with a needle, so now Elizabeth is being accused of doing something that she haven’t even done. I think what Reverend Hale is doing is wrong because he can’t prove that Elizabeth made that doll and the person he should be taking to jail is Mary Warren because she was the one who made that doll and maybe it was Mary’s fault and that she have a grudge on Elizabeth and wanted Elizabeth to be in jail and get hanged.
ReplyDeleteDuring the discussion on “The Crucible”, it was mentioned that the women of the town were being accused of witchcraft based on accusation alone with no evidence. It is very interesting that because some man from Beverley had caught some witches already, that they could all trust him. There is no proof that Hale really knows what he is doing. Whether he thinks he can tell who is or is not practicing witchcraft or he is lying for another reason all together. Because Hale has already accused people of being witches, he is well known around the area. In the beginning of the book, Parris does not want to jump to witchcraft. He specifically told Abigail and the Putnams’ not to tell anyone about the dancing in the woods. If he did not want to jump to that conclusion, why would he call for a doctor that also happens to be a witch expert? Also, as the book goes on, Parris changes. He goes from being completely against witchcraft to then believing in it. This town has many secrets, Proctor cheating on his wife with Abigail, Abigail wanting Elizabeth out of the picture, Goody Putnam asking Tituba to conjure the dead. These people definitely have something to hide, something they do not want to get out. The suspicion of witchcraft might have something to do with this. There is a possibility that no one even believes in witchcraft but are using it to make sure their secrets stay a secret.
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