The Crucible Act 3

    Act three begins with Giles attempting to show his wife's innocence by presenting other evidence. This scene is interrupted by the entrance of Francis and John Proctor. They present evidence that the girls are faking being bewitched but the judges question their accusation. Parris is extremely paranoid that they are attempting to overthrow the court and refuses to accept the allegations. Proctor brings Mary Warren to testify that she never saw any spirits and she confirms that the girls were pretending. The judge continues to question Proctor about his devotion to God and his reliability is questioned when it comes to attention that he plows on Sunday. The judge also asks why Proctor is telling the court the girls are faking and he says it is to prove his wife's innocence. Judge Danforth says that his wife will be spared for nine months because she claims she is pregnant. Proctor decides that he still needs to tell the truth to the court. Putnam is then accused of trying to steal Jacobs's land by accusing him of witchcraft. The court's attention shifts back to Mary Warren as she says that she is with God now and wishes to tell the truth. Abigail and the girls are asked to confirm or deny Mary Warren's accusations and Abigail denies them. Mary Warren assures the court that she used to faint because she thought she saw spirits but she never actually did. Abigail and the girls pretend that Mary Warren has sent out her spirit and Proctor becomes angry. He tells the court about his affair with Abigail and she continues to deny everything. The court brings in Elizabeth, who never lies, and she says that John never had an affair with Abigail. The court launches back into hysteria and Abigail claims to see a "bird" and all the girls repeat what Mary Warren says. Mary Warren cannot convince the judges of her innocence so she blames Proctor. John confesses to seeing the devil and is taken to jail.

    This act shows a significant amount of paranoia, not only towards the accused, but towards the accuser as well. Parris is constantly claiming that people are trying to take over the court and interrupts anyone who says something he doesn't agree with. It is also shown that Judge Danforth is quite arrogant and believes he is always right, so he often jumps to conclusions. It becomes clear in this chapter that Mr. Hale is the voice of reason. He refuses to condemn anyone without overwhelming evidence because he is doing the work of God. It seems that he would like everyone to calm down and examine all evidence closely. At one point Judge Danforth says, "Reproach me not with the fear in the country; there is fear in the country because there is a moving plot to topple Christ in the country!" and Mr. Hale replies, "But it does not follow that everyone accused is part of it". (Miller 91) Mr. Hale says what I have been thinking this whole time. People are being accused and convicted out of fear but being accused does not mean they are guilty. The people of Salem are so fearful of witchcraft that they can accuse anyone without evidence and they will be convicted. The judges feed into this fear by automatically believing these allegations. Another thing I noticed in the chapter is the change in John Proctor. In the earlier chapters he seemed to be quite selfish except when it comes to his wife. When he came to court he found out his wife would be safe because she was pregnant but he still decided to tell the truth. I think we begin to see John's moral compass because he wants to protect his friends and their wives. Also, when Mary Warren switches to accuse him of seeing the devil, he accepts that accusation. I'm not exactly sure why he choses to do that but my interpretation is that he had already ruined his reputation by telling the court about him and Abigail, so he decides to let all of the blame fall to him so that Mary Warren's reputation isn't ruined too. We also see more of Abigail's intelligence and ability to deceive in this chapter. By acting indignant about the court thinking she's lying, she can manipulate them into feeling bad for her. She also makes it virtually impossible for Mary Warren to convince the court that she is innocent because Abigail is pretending that she sent out her spirit.

Questions:

1. Why do you think John Proctor accepted the accusation from Mary Warren that he had seen the devil?

2. Do you think that Mary Warren's accusation of Abigail will lead to consequences from the girls?

The Crucible Act 2

    Tension are high throughout the many different relations which are seen throughout Proctor's interactions. There are obvious flaws between Proctor and Elizabeth, because he will not come clean about his relations with Abigail. Things escalate when Elizabeth realizes her name was mentioned in court. She cannot understand why people in their town would think to accuse her. Mary Warren eases Elizabeth by saying she defended her in court and gives her doll the was working on. Elizabeth believes that Abigail accused her of witchcraft because she knows Abigail does not like her. It is reasonable for Abigail to hate Elizabeth because she wants Proctor to herself and Elizabeth is standing in the way. Ezekiel Cheever and Herrick come to the Proctor's residence and asks for Elizabeth. Their reasoning for taking her is that she supposedly had a doll and they see the doll that Mary Warren gave her. This makes Elizabeth hysterical because she does not understand why the Marshal would believe the accusations against her. When they take her away, it infuriate Proctor because he does not believe the have probably cause to take her. 

    Although the relationship between Proctor and Elizabeth is tense, they still have a lot of love for each other. Elizabeth has every right to be mad at her husband because he is an adulterer but will come clean about his actions. But when the Marshal comes to take Elizabeth, Proctor fights for his wife because she believes she is innocent. It is ultimately it is Mary Warren's that Elizabeth is arrested because she could have planted the doll. It is the only thing that links Elizabeth to the crime, but it does not belong to her. Mary Warren realizes her error and tries to help, but her efforts are futile.

The Crucible Act 1

 

Rebecca seems to be the most sensible of all the characters we have met thus far.  On page 25, she discusses how she believes that Ruth will wake with time.  She continues, “I have seen them all through their silly seasons, and when it come on them they will run the Devil bowlegged keeping up with their mischief.  I think she’ll wake when she tires of it”.   We will see how long it takes for Ruth and Betty to “wake” from this act and end this witch hunt.  It was interesting how Rebecca’s character was used as foreshadowing.  On page 26 she states, “If so he is, then let us go to God for the cause of it.  There is prodigious danger in the seeking of loose spirits.  I fear it, I fear it.  Let us rather blame ourselves and— “.  The danger Rebecca speaks of is of course the ruining many lives that will occur because of this witch hunt.  Rebecca foreshadows the future problems in Salem and we see these problems begin to surface between Parris, Abigail, Tituba, Putnam, and Hale.   

We also learned more about Abigail.  She seems to cause all the problems of the play.  At first, it seemed like she wasn’t completely trying to blame Tituba.  Parris cuts her off so she cannot finish her sentence.  Parris and Hale assume that she is going to say that Tituba called the Devil.  I think Abigail was panicked and frantic so she went along with that story.  Her lies accumulated to her saying that Tituba made her and Betty drink the blood of chicken and that Tituba forces her to dream corruptions.  Parris, Putnam, and Hale’s persistent questions cause fear and escalate the situation.   Parris demands that Tituba confess herself or threatens death.  Putnam continues, “This woman must be hanged!  She must be taken and hanged!” (42).  Tituba becomes desperate. Her life is threatened.  Fear for her life causes her to say that somebody else is bewitching the children and she starts naming people after Parris presses her on page 44. 

Questions for the group:

Do you guys think anyone will accept the accusation that they are a witch or do you think everyone will deny?  Also, do you all think everyone will name a different witch?