Examples Of Rebecca Nurse's Character In The Crucible '

The Crucible PRESENT TENSE CHECK!

After reading The Crucible, there is only one question left in the mind of the reader and that is: how do bad things happen to good people? Perhaps the author, in his own creative way, addresses this universal question through the notorious witch trials of Salem. Miller wrote this play in the background of the McCarthyism Era during which anti-communist government men and other influential politicians led by Senator Joseph McCarthy “witch-hunted” people in the 1950s that were believed to be communists by bringing them to trial and punishing them. During this time period Miller saw how the actions of a corrupted government could have the same destructive consequence on a society fearful of communism as well

In his play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller shows how a corrupt theocracy can negatively impact people of moral integrity and reason through the characters of John and Elizabeth Proctor, Giles Corey, and Rebecca Nurse.

One such person who maintained a rational outlook during the Salem witch trials is Rebecca Nurse. Her sensible personality is first mentioned in the beginning of the play, “ … the general opinion of her character was so high that to explain how anyone dared cry her out for a witch―and more, how adults could bring themselves to lay hands on her―we must look to the fields and boundaries of that time.” (Act 1). Later, Francis, her husband, even describes Rebecca as being “the very brick and mortar of the church” (Act 2). This representation of Rebecca’s overall life foreshadows the dreadful outcome she experiences even though she was a highly regarded citizen. It can be surmised that something deep, dark, and powerful was at fault for the accusation of Rebecca as a witch. That something was the scheming Putnam family who used the unfair justice system of the Puritan

Rebecca and her husband Francis Nurse are caught up in a land dispute with Thomas Putnam who eventually has his daughter, Betty, point to Rebecca as her attacker in the witch trials. Putnam easily uses Rebecca Nurses’ ethical integrity to manipulate her into taking the blame as a witch. This is all just a power move by him to take her out of the picture so he can go back to his land grabbing ways. Fortunately for him, Rebecca did not go against her morals. She is a prime example of someone who quickly became a target for witch accusations by not conforming to the supernatural beliefs held by most Puritans in the 1690s. When Rebecca says that Betty “ … will wake in time … when she tires of it” she is insinuating that the Putnam’s daughter will eventually come to her senses; also implying that witchcraft and loose spirits should not be to blame for her strange behavior (Act 1). Now Putnam, recognizing that Rebecca Nurse’s approach is in the minority, sides up with Reverend Parris to later get Rebecca in jail and charged“ ‘… for the marvelous and supernatural murder of Goody Putnam’s babies” (Act 2). This ruling shows the prominent hand that influential people can have on good-standing citizens when the government is corrupted. When Francis Nurse attempts