What will happen to Proctor if he tries to discredit Abby? She will tell them they had an affair, she will discredit his name by calling him a lecher. She wants him to go into Salem to tell the authorities that the girls are lying. The presence of the needle is seen as "evidence" to substantiate how Abigail was under attack that evening at dinner, claiming that she was stabbed with a needle.
The discovery of the needle inside the poppet is taken as proof that Elizabeth is practicing witchcraft to get back at Abigail. Hale goes to the Proctors to warn them to get their religious affairs in order, such as baptizing their youngest child. Elizabeth's name has been brought up by Abigail as a witch, and Hale wants the Proctors to look like they are religious, upstanding people.
Why does Cheever come to the Proctor house? Cheever comes to arrest Elizabeth. Explain the significance of the needle in the "poppet. What does Proctor do to discredit her? Proctor, in his anger and desperation, grabs Abby and calls her a whore. He then confesses his sins to the court and admits to his affair with Abby and tells the court that his wife Elizabeth had set Abby out for being a harlot.
Why do golden candlesticks hurt John prayer? What is proctors response to Elizabeth's prodding? What is John Proctor's response to Elizabeth's prodding to go to Salem to tell that the girls are lying? He is reluctant to go. You just studied 14 terms!
What did the paper that the 91 signed say? What paper did 91 people sign? He claims that "an everlasting funeral marches round [her] heart," meaning that she insists on continuing to mourn for the damage the affair did to their relationship rather than allowing him to repair it. He feels that Elizabeth is constantly suspicious of him now, to the point where he can't do anything without being judged. In fact, Elizabeth doesn't show many signs of being overly judgmental of John she's actually doing pretty well considering he just had an affair with a teenager , and most of these issues are a projection of his own guilt.
The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you. The real court in Salem is mirrored by a metaphorical court within the mind of John Proctor.
Here, Elizabeth points out that John is his own harshest judge. If anyone is judging him, it's a mini-John Proctor with a judge wig banging a tiny gavel right on his heart strings. Since he's unable to forgive himself for the affair, he projects his guilt onto her even when she's not acting particularly judgmental.
Mary uses "weighty" as a synonym for "important" or "vital. In a sense, the trials really are "weighty work" because they overhaul the entire community. They provide an outlet for the repressed resentments and jealousies that were simmering under the surface.
This quote from Hale is a testament to the power of the church in this community and the perception of religion at the time.
There is an "either you're with us or you're against us" mentality that encourages persecution of anyone who deviates even slightly from accepted Christian behavior. One misstep can derail a reputation completely, so everyone is eager to conform out of concerns for self-preservation. I have seen too many frightful proofs in court - the Devil is alive in Salem, and we dare not quail to follow wherever the accusing finger points! This quote from Hale sums up the atmosphere of hysteria that has emerged in Salem.
Everyone is afraid to question any of the accusers because that might mean falling for the Devil's tricks. They feel that the consequences of doubting these accusations could be more dire than the risk of having some innocent people caught up in the mix. Reputation has been conquered by paranoia. Both Parris and Hale will cite different theological examples over the course of the play where someone who was once thought to be virtuous turned out to be evil.
In this case, it's "Man, remember, until an hour before the Devil fell, God thought him beautiful in Heaven" Reverend Hale pg. In the next act, Parris will say "You should surely know that Cain were an upright man, and yet he did kill Abel" Reverend Parris pg. On some occasions in the Bible, people who were thought to be good turned out to be bad. This shaky precedent is extrapolated to the current situation and gives the church leaders reason to mistrust even the most well-reputed citizens of Salem.
Is the accuser always holy now? Were they born this morning as clean as God's fingers? I'll tell you what's walking Salem - vengeance is walking Salem. We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law!
John is incredibly frustrated because the accusers are all taken at their word, and the accused are denied a fair opportunity to defend themselves. He points out that many of these accusations are clearly driven by revenge. Though that desire for vengeance was always there within the people of Salem, it has only now begun to affect judicial processes and societal power structures in dramatic ways.
They are now "jangling the keys of the kingdom," or testing their ability to provoke widespread chaos that favors their own agendas. It is a providence, and no great change; we are only what we always were, but naked now. This an aside John makes to himself at the end of Act 2. He views the witch trials as an unveiling of the true nature of the people of Salem. No one has suddenly become vengeful, paranoid, and unjust - they were always like this underneath a shallow layer of decorum.
Proctor has also been burdened by the secret of his affair with Abigail and the guilt he has about it. He sees himself as an immoral person, and he is relieved in a certain sense that he's about to be exposed for the hypocrite he is so his sins will stop eating him up inside. John was referring to his two cats, Heaven and Hell.
Metaphorical pet names were all the rage in 17th century New England. This is a brief analysis of the most prevalent themes in Act 2.
I'll come out with a more comprehensive thematic analysis for the whole play very soon! This act sees one of the most blatant examples of irony in the play. When John is asked to recite the ten commandments, the only one he forgets is the one most applicable to him, adultery "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
This shows how hard John is trying to repress his guilt. He hopes to leave the affair in the past and pretend it never happened, but he can't ignore the impact it has had on his relationship with Elizabeth, his sense of self-worth, and Abigail's psyche. Act II is when the full extent of the hysteria in Salem becomes apparent. Mary says that there are now not 14 but 39 people who have been thrown in jail on suspicion of witchcraft.
The hysteria has been heightened by several confessions which seem to confirm the existence of an evil witchy plot. People are told they will be executed if they refuse to confess, so obviously false confessions abound. The authorities and citizens of the town are so scared of the possibility that these coerced confessions could be the truth that they ignore any logical objections to the proceedings "I have seen too many frightful proofs in court - the Devil is alive in Salem, and we dare not quail to follow wherever the accusing finger points!
They instead continue to push for more confessions, which are then counted as "evidence" of a grand Satanic plot. Anyone who doubts the existence of this plot is brought under suspicion. When the poppet is discovered in Elizabeth's possession, it is taken as concrete proof that she's involved in witchcraft.
Elizabeth's side of the story immediately becomes virtually irrelevant because Abigail's testimony is much scarier and more dramatic: "She sat to dinner in Reverend Parris's house tonight, and without word nor warnin' she falls to the floor.
Like a struck beast, he says, and screamed a scream that a bull would weep to hear. And he goes to save her, and, stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draw a needle out. The idea that a witch's familiar spirit could be going around stabbing people willy-nilly is too horrifying for people who genuinely believe in witchcraft to give Elizabeth the benefit of the doubt.
Everyone severely underestimates Abigail's ambition and deviousness. Goody Good, an old beggar woman, is one of the first to be accused because she is already held in such low regard. It's easy for respectable citizens to accept that she's in league with the Devil because she is an "other" in Salem, just like Tituba. Elizabeth knows that Abigail has it in for her because there's no other reason she would take the risk of accusing a farmer's wife with a solid reputation.
Elizabeth is an upstanding member of the community, whereas other women who have been accused were already at the bottom of the totem pole. Elizabeth knows that her high status still affords her some credibility, but this is the point at which the value of reputation in Salem starts to butt heads with the power of hysteria and fear to sway people's opinions and vengeance to dictate their actions.
In this act it is also revealed that Rebecca Nurse has been accused, a woman whose character was previously thought to be unimpeachable.
This is taken as evidence that things are really getting out of control "if Rebecca Nurse be tainted, then nothing's left to stop the whole green world from burning. In Act 2, we see that Mary Warren has been given a new sense of her own power through the value placed on her testimony in court. Elizabeth notes that Mary's demeanor, previously very meek, is now like that of "the daughter of a prince" pg.
Mary has never felt like she was a part of something significant like this before, which likely adds to her conviction that the people she's accusing are truly witches. Mary and the other girls are riding on a high of attention and respect from powerful people in the community, so they are especially motivated to stick to their stories and even genuinely believe their own lies.
At this point, Abigail has gone from a nobody to unofficially one of the most powerful people in Salem. It would be incredibly difficult for her to go back on her accusations now.
Abigail's low status in normal times ironically gives her a great deal of power in her current situation. No one thinks she's smart or devious enough to make up all these insane stories, so she is taken at her word. In the words of John Proctor, "the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom" pg.
This theme is prominent in the dynamic between John and Elizabeth. John is frustrated with Elizabeth because she still doesn't fully trust him, but he's really projecting his internal guilt about his affair with Abigail onto her. John gets worked up because he's angry at himself for essentially setting these accusations in motion against his wife. He's frustrated that he hasn't been allowed to leave the affair behind him and hates that he now has to face up to real consequences. He underestimated Abigail and is now paying the price.
Proctor tries to prove the upright character of his home by reciting the Ten Commandments. When Proctor asks indignantly why the accusers are always automatically innocent, he comments upon the essential attractiveness of taking the side of the accusers. The accusing side enjoys a privileged position of moral virtue from this standpoint. Proctor laments the lack of hard evidence, but, of course as Danforth will later point out , in supernatural crimes, the standards of evidence are not as hard and fast.
Hale, meanwhile, is undergoing an internal crisis. He clearly enjoyed being called to Salem because it made him feel like an expert. His pleasure in the trials comes from his privileged position of authority with respect to defining the guilty and the innocent.
Power has passed into the hands of others, and as the craze spreads, Hale begins to doubt its essential justice. SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Why is the play called The Crucible? What is a crucible? Did the girls really see the Devil or witches? Why did Tituba confess to dancing with the Devil?
Was John still in love with Abigail? What causes tension between John and Elizabeth Proctor? Why is Rebecca Nurse accused of witchcraft? Why is Elizabeth Proctor accused of witchcraft?
What happens when Mary Warren tells the court the truth about the girls acting bewitched? Why does Reverend Hale change his mind about the witch trials? Summary Act II. Summary John Proctor sits down to dinner with his wife, Elizabeth.
Analysis Abigail and her troop have achieved an extremely unusual level of power and authority for young, unmarried girls in a Puritan community. Popular pages: The Crucible. Take a Study Break.
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