A restrictive society, like in The Crucible and The Handmaid’s Tale, drives people to hide themselves from others. When there are deadly consequences for any small mistakes you make, it forces individuals to put on the guise of being perfect in fear they will be killed.
Reputation
In The Crucible, any act that goes against the Ten Commandments will immediately put one at risk of danger in their religious town. John Proctor, a respected man in the town holds a dark secret; his affair with former servant Abigail Williams. As Abigail charges Mrs. Proctor with witchcraft in attempt to get her out of the picture, John forces Mary Warren to confess Abigail’s lies.
PROCTOR. …you will tell the court what you know
…
MARY WARREN. I cannot do it, I cannot!
PROCTOR. Make your peace with it! (76).
He is too cowardly to claim Abigail is lying for then she will expose their past affair, thus ruining his reputation in the town. However, he has no trouble terrorizing Mary Warren into exposing Abby, even at the risk that the girls will turn on her.
“Hypocrite” Photo on Flickr / CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)
PROCTOR: Because it speaks deceit and I am honest! But I’ll plead no more! I see now your spirit twists around the single error of my life, and I will never tear it free! (59).
John Proctor desperately wants to be a good person and tries to convince himself that he is good, despite his mistakes. However, he isn’t able to tear free from his mistakes because the only person that focuses on it is himself. He is scared the town will find out about his affair because it will ruin his honest reputation. At the same time, the fact that the town doesn’t know is what makes Proctor torture himself with the idea that he is a hypocrite who puts on the facade that he is honest, when in reality, he withholds the truth due to his fears.
Paranoia
In Gilead, the people are in constant fear that they are being watched in case that what they have done is not orthodox. The government makes handmaids travel in pairs so they are able to monitor each other in case one of them goes against the rules. Offred thinks of her new handmaid partner as a goody-two shoes who truly believes in the Republic’s ideals.
I think of her as a woman for whom every act is done for show, is acting rather than a real act. She does such things to look good, I think…But that is what I must look like to her, as well. (31).
They must both follow the strict rules expected of them if they wish to survive in Gilead, but Offred complains that her partner is too virtuous, when she herself has also only ever followed the rules and said what was expected of her because she is scared to be punished for anything otherwise.
Citations:
- Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: A Play In Four Acts. New York: Penguin Books, 1976. Print.
- Atwood, Margaret Eleanor. The Handmaid’s Tale. New York : Anchor Books, 1998, c1986. Print.
Hey Paula!
Why do you feel that people must be perfect or else they would be killed? Any reason for this killing? In my own opinion, these killings are unreasonable and I consider this a sin to people who have conducted unreasonable killings.
Nice use of page breaks and block quotes! Now I can easily read through the contents you have written, in which I consider them very well written! But why do you consider John Proctor as a coward? He just wanted to save the others from the risking condition of people being sentenced to death only due to the conduction of witchcraft!
Apart from that, I do agree that lots of people are in constant fear and in order to escape from that fear they often tell to others things that they do not really believe in — thus being hypocrites, just like John Proctor in The Crucible and Offred in Gilead, the ones you have analyzed in your post.
Sure, I do consider that being a hypocrite is an act of survival, as reputations in public could be destroyed if you say offensive comments to others in order to be consistent with your beliefs.
Hi Paula😃
Your blog is so easy to read and follow! I like the way you separate your blog into several categories. After reading your blog, I totally agree with your side where John Proctor is a hypocrite because I also think that he cares about his honest reputation in the village the most and he acts like an honest person even though he is not. I found your connection to the Gilead quite interesting because I didn’t know what that is, however, in my opinion, I think many people in real life is same as her, being a hypocrite that’s scared to be punished.
Hello Paula
After reading your blog, i am intrigued by the story you gave that related to the crucible. These societies and communities that you talked about in your book are very surpassing and demanding to the people living in it. Do you think these kinds of society actually exist, where people have to be a hypocrite in-order to survive?