Tag: crucible

Innocent Until Proven Guilty…

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Overview of Unit

During this unit, we learned about the Salem Witch Trials through reading The Crucible by Arthur Miller. We annotated the text and analyzed it in a multiple of ways including TIEA, blog posts, dramatic readings, sketchnotes, post its, and book snaps. The historical significance of this book was brought back to life through the characters and imagining of what their lives were like. By reading this book, we learned about how people’s morality were judged by people in charge who abused their power and took advantage of their position in order to benefit themselves.

Dramatic Reading

 

TIEA

Blog Post – To Do What’s Best

Unit Reflection

An Act of Survival 

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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“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.

via GIPHY

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.

Manipulation Leads To Power

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In The Crucible, Abigail was able to manipulate people and events in a way that helped her to take control of the community similarly to how Hitler and the Nazi party seized reign over Germany through intimidation and manipulation.

What Caused It?

1. Hatred –> Pushing the Blame

ABIGAIL: She hates me, uncle, she must, for I would not be her slave. It’s a bitter woman, a lying, cold sniveling woman, and I will not work for such a woman! (13).”

via GIPHY

When Parris accuses Abigail of having tainted her own name in the community, Abby immediately jumps on the defensive and states that the cause of her unemployment is the fault of Mrs. Proctor. Abigail holds a deep hatred for Elizabeth Proctor because she is the wife of John Proctor, who Abby is in love with.

Her jealousy and hatred of Elizabeth is what causes Abby to accuse Mrs. Proctor of witchcraft, since she knows that the only person who could prove otherwise is John (who is held back by his reputation).

The Germans were in a political and economical crisis. Rather than admitting their own faults had caused the current struggle, it was easier to push the blame onto the Jews. Gradually, their own frustrations and hatred against the Jews built up and violence was used in order to express their anger (which was really against their situation, but they chose to believe the situation was caused by the Jews).

 

How Did It Succeed?

2. Manipulation/Sharing of power

MARY WARREN: I cannot charge murder on Abigail.

…

MARY WARREN: She’ll kill me for sayin’ that! Proctor continues toward her. Abby’ll charge lechery on you, Mr. Proctor! (75).” 

via GIPHY

Abigail and Hitler both held the image of being strong leaders who would stop at nothing to get what they wanted. This appealed to and scared people into doing what they said.

They were also good at making people feel like power is shared amongst everyone, which is technically true because Abby and Hitler both needed the others in order to keep them in power. They were the ringleaders and perpetrators, but the true power is always in the hands of the majority and the majority chose to keep them in power because it also benefited them.

 

What Were The Consequences?

3. Baseless Deaths

HALE: The jails are packed-our greatest judges sit in Salem now-and hangin’s promised (75).”

Low Angle Photo of Concrete Cross Under Clouds

“Low Angle Photo of Concrete Cross Under Clouds” on Pexels

Abby and the girls just keep accusing anyone and everyone they dislike. This leads to many innocent people being held in jails and then hung if they did not confess to the crime they didn’t commit. Those who did not confess did so out of their belief of keeping their integrity and the truth sacred.

In the Holocaust, the Nazi regime senselessly tortured and killed millions of Jews because of their belief that the Aryan race was superior and Jews needed to be eliminated. Like Abby, they just killed those that they did not like.

MLA Citation:

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: A Play In Four Acts. New York: Penguin Books, 1976. Print.