Puritan Behavior: The Crucible By Arthur Miller

Rebecca Nurse: A symbol of Purity in Curruption  The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a dramatized and partially fictionalized tale of the Salem witch trials which took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay’s. in the early 1690. The trials led to the execution of twenty people, mostly young women, and the imprisonment of others. Rebecca Nurse, who was both a real victim of the Salem Witch Trails, and is a character in this historical play, was a righteous, esteemed, and brave woman who falls victim to her community’s corruption, hysteria, and fear.

However, Rebecca is hard of hearing, and with her deafness, it is reasonable that she could not fully hear or understand your question (Brooks). Despite this reasoning, Your Excellency, you took her silence as confirmation of her apparent witchery and the jury switched their verdict as a result. We deem that the jurors have clouded minds and as such unclear judgment as a result of the afflicted girls startling responses. Furthermore, Rebecca’s words were misinterpreted and she should receive the original decree of “not

The priests and judges forced Proctor to accuse himself of Witchcraft and not be hanged in hopes that the people of Salem would recognize this action, and come clean. After this was all said and done, they made Proctor sign his name so they could hang it on the doors of the church, and after Proctor refused they hanged him for the crime of Witchcraft. This left the people of Salem shocked because nobody knew who to trust anymore. Rebecca Nurse was one of the most religious women in the town, and when she was accused it made Reverend Hale stop, and reconsider whether the accusations and proceedings were just and fair. “If Rebecca

Saying that and Corey saying before that Proctor doesn't believe in Witches but at the end of the pla Proctor confesses to being a witch and seeing the devil, saying to his wife ̈I have been thinkin i would confess to them... ̈ He decided to confess to the court and lie to them about being a witch so that he doesn't die. He is being so dishonest to everyone, lying to his wife, lying to the court, lying to Abigail saying he never loved her. He seems to keep lying over and over again and doesn't seem to feel bad at all even though he's very religious and reads the bible and knows he shouldn't do these things like lying to his wife even though he cheated on her.

“An era of chemical McCarthyism is at hand, and ‘guilty until proven innocent’ is the new slogan.” During the 1950s, a time period of mass hysteria came about in the United States whether someone was considered to be part of the Communist Party. The truth was nowhere to be found as people were condemned to being a communist and were sent to jail or their career was ruined with no evidence to prove they were guilty. Arthur Miller experienced this time period and wrote The Crucible as an allegory. In the play Abigail Williams and a group of girls were discovered dancing in the woods by Reverend Parris.

At the beginning of the play, Proctor is portrayed as a flawed individual who is guilty of committing adultery with his former servant, Abigail Williams. He is initially unwilling to come forward and confess and instead chooses to keep it a secret to protect his reputation. Proctor himself states that "I have known her, sir. I have known her" (Miller 648) suggesting that his adultery with Abigail is not a character defect within Proctor himself, but rather a human weakness that he ultimately takes responsibility for and tries to atone with. When Proctor does confess his adultery, it is not a realization of a personal flaw, but rather an attempt to clear his name and prove his innocence.

Nothing’s spoiled by giving them this lie that were not rotten long before” (Miller 1352). He is ultimately giving up his confession even though he knows it is not the right thing to do. A previous break to Proctor’s Christianity beliefs is when he commits adultery; however, instead of standing up for himself he gives into the court’s desire. When John Proctor confesses, his actions prove a huge weakness John Proctor has. However, his actions of confessing result in a strength.

This says a lot about Abigail, she was capable of turning a godly man, who loves his wife and children, to a man guilty of adultery. The way Abigail interacts and treats Proctor, shows her manipulative and lustful characteristics, which is highly discouraged in the Puritain

He also underlines that people have personal motives to accuse other because of their biases. Another example of this is in act III, when Proctor confesses to his act of adultery in order to save his wife from death, “God help me, I lusted and there is a promise in such sweat... My wife is innocent” (102). Proctor is attempting to accuse Abigail of faking all the accusations and affiliations with the devil because he knows that Abigail longs to remove Elizabeth from his life. His admission of adultery conveys his feelings of guilt and extreme love towards his wife Elizabeth.

As the one of the most important characters in the Crucible, John Proctor symbols common human nature and goodness of a person. He is a very respectable man of the Salem community, and because of his human nature, he did make a mistake that violated the adultery sin of the Ten Commandments. Whatever the sins of others, John Proctor’s publicized position robs him of his credibility. But John still has his goodness, he feels sorry for his wife, still loves her, and he makes the right choice in the end of the play. He was going to confess himself of the witchcraft to being alive, but he is aware that what such a shame to protect himself instead of refusing to sacrifice soul to save his life by admitting being with devils.

This magnanimous, sensible woman refuses to follow the hysteria even to save her own life. Nurse,s charity becomes apparent in Act one when reverand John Hale comments on her reputation outside Salem. Nurse's magnanimous personality is emphasised even more in act 3 when Hale says "If Rebecca Nurse be tainted, then nothings left to stop the whole green world from burning". This quote marks the point in the play where Hale realizes that innocent people are being accused of witchcraft. Rebecca Nurs refuses to abandon her moral code, even when facing death.

Rebecca was a 71-year-old woman, the wife of Francis Nurse who was a wealthy farmer and landlord in the Salem village, and had many children and grandchildren (Hill 87). She was very pious and everyone in the Salem village thought of her as an “exemplary piety” in the Puritan community (Linder). Rebecca had a very strong faith in God and told her friends on her sickbed that she recognized more God’s presence in her sickness than any other time in her life (Hill 88). Rebecca was a very respectable woman and supported by most of Salem villagers who believed in her innocence. After she was arrested and prosecuted because of the false accusations made by the “afflicted” women and girls’ against her, thirty-nine notable members of the community came forward, signed and submitted a petition to assure her innocence and piety (Hill 100).

She is accused of witchcraft for the murdering of Ann Putnam’s seven children. Rebecca Nurse is a very religious, reasonable, and caring women, who I can relate to based on my life. Rebecca Nurse is a religious woman in The Crucible and I am in life as well. In The Crucible, many people are accused of witchcraft and are put on trial to be hung. If the convicted admit to their witch actions, a sentence to jail, as well as a fine would be charged upon them.

Despite how tense their relationship has been after Elizabeth found out about the affair, Proctor and Elizabeth still hold strong mutual feelings for each other. When Hale came to arrest Elizabeth under the charge that she had assaulted Abigail through the poppet that Mary had brought home with her, Proctor defended her vigorously by declaring the statement: “I will not give my wife to vengeance!” (Miller, 77). The vengeance that Proctor refers to in this statement is Abigail and her determination to replace Elizabeth as Proctor’s lover. This statement is evidence that Proctor is trying to protect Elizabeth from Abigail’s clutches and prove that he is loyal to his wife.

Rebecca Nurse is eventually is tried and convicted of “marvelous and supernatural murder of Goody Putnam's babies”(Miller 1280). This is a small example of how someone just scared to lose their child can pear pressure the rest of their community into believing that another good person is evil. Without any evidence against Rebecca Nurse. Goody Putnam is devout Puritan yet by sending Rebecca Nurse to the courts she is going against her faith by bearing false witness to thy neighbor as the eighth commandment