Several people are heroes in The Crucible because they are brave and morally strong. First, someone who is a hero is Martha Corey. She is falsely accused of bewitching Walcott’s pigs, but does not confess and lie because she is morally strong. Her husband tells Hale that, “Walcott charge her … He goes to court and claims that … Martha bewitch them with her books!”
The novel’s most prominent point of the cruelty of Puritanism can be found in the fact that women are portrayed as weak creatures, who are expected to submit to men, and whose only access to power is through deceptive methods. None of the females in The Crucible possessed extreme power, but the truthful, transparent, and unadulterated women seem to be even less powerful than the rest of the female roles. Elizabeth Proctor and Rebecca Nurse are two of the less powerful women in The Crucible. “Both of their lives are driven by the desire to protect and serve their families and communities” (Alter 1).
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).
The United States of America has many well respected people like, Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa parks, Sam Houston, and many more. In the Book The Crucible, author Arthur Miller, townspeople turned on each other for their own reasons. Some use it as revenge and others out of fear. Rebecca Nurse age 72 the wife of Mr. Nurse, is friends of most in the town and has no problems with any. She is a well respected and peaceful person who teaches us that integrity leads to more of a self-satisfied life.
In The Crucible, a lot of characters were not judged fairly. Most of them were jailed or killed and it provided little proof of witchcraft. One character for example was Rebecca Nurse. Rebecca was first brought to trial when her name was brought up into court and so she was brought in to determine if she was capable of witchcraft or not. During the trial, Mary Warren pretended that Rebecca has summoned her soul to choke her.
Alas, the pinnacle of the chaos that rampantly overthrew the town, initialized due to the people of Salem deliberately ignoring the word of God. However, Rebecca Nurse has never defaulted to betrayal amidst the chaos. In act I of “The Crucible”, Goody Nurse is immediately defined as having aided Goody Putnam in all eight of her labors as a midwife. Later in the play, Goody Putnam complains that seven of those children had perished and proceeds blames Rebecca for it. The text reveals that Rebecca Nurse was condemned for “the marvelous and supernatural murder of Goody Putnam’s babies” (Miller 63).
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
Revealing the Impurities “Character is both developed and revealed by tests, and all of life is a test,” said by Rick Warren, expresses how the true nature of people are revealed through tests of character, such as community crisis or chaos like the witch trials in The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller. The Crucible expressed how the Red Scare was in the 1950s through comparing it to the witch trials. The characters that most accurately represented the effect of this chaos were Rebecca Nurse, Giles Corey and Mary Warren. Rebecca Nurse was an admired, well-respected older woman within the town of Salem. Giles Corey was a weak-minded, malleable, robust man that constantly switched between opinions.
The Red Scare was a movement during the Cold War in America. Communism was spreading throughout the world, and hysteria spread all over the United States that communist were among them. McCarthyism was a fierce campaign carried out by Joe McCarthy against alleged communist in the U.S government and other institutions. In response to McCarthyism, Arthur Miller demonstrates through his play, The Crucible, that lies are used to avoid consequences, too much power can become corrupt, and innocent people will suffer for crimes they have not committed even with a lack of sufficient evidence.
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.
Hysteria: Exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people. In the Crucible, there are a lot of themes being shown which are very noticeable, one main theme is Hysteria. In 1692, in Salem Massachusetts, the superstition of witches existed in a society of strong Christian beliefs. From the very beginning of the play, Rev Parris demonstrated selfishness, he was concerned more of his personal status in the town than his own daughter.
With the Bad Comes the Good In The Crucible, a well-known play written by Arthur Miller, the city of Salem, Massachusetts faces a wave of hysteria, leading people to fear witchcraft during the late 17th century. The play is based on the Salem Witch Trials and portrays a concept similar to that of McCarthyism. When a group of young girls was found dancing in the forest, and the Puritan minister’s daughter, Betty, appears to fall into an unconscious slumber, the extremely religious city began to suspect witchcraft. Once the intimidated group of girls witnesses the reaction and attention that this incident brings them, the local minister’s niece, Abigail Williams, realizes that she can use it as an opportunity to get vengeance on her worst enemy
Rebecca Nurse was blamed for the death of all of Ann Putnam’s children, except for one. The events also caused numerous people to be convicted of witchcraft, some of them being executed. Two of the most notable people convicted in the play were John Procter, condemned for adultery and later hung, and Tituba, who confessed, saving her own life.
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.
Nicole Schaefer Mr. Becker American Literature October 29, 2014 Two Women for Two Different Worlds In the novel the crucible, Elizabeth, wife of John Proctor, and Abigail Williams, mistress of John Proctor are two main roles. Elizabeth, a woman who is loyal and true, or manipulative and ruthless liar, Abigail. She pretends to see spirits and commands the other girls to pretend as well.
