Monday, September 15, 2014
First Impressions of The Crucible.
Hi Everyone: Now that you have read the first act of The Crucible, write down what you think this play is shaping up to be "about." Clearly the problem of witchcraft is concocted out of hysteria, but if witchcraft is not the problem in Salem, what is really the problem? You can also bring up scenes, situations or statements that stood out to you for one reason or another. This post needs to be done before Thursday.
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I think that this play is going to be nothing but a horrible game of "tattle tale" only the concequences are more harsh and someone important is bound to get hurt. I think the real problem in Salem is spite, because at the end of act one Tituba claims to have Goody Osborne and Goody Good with the devil and then later on Abigail and Betty start claiming that they saw certain people with the devil and then other girls or people may start to kind of catch on to what there doing and maybe start "claiming" as well, which could lead to innocent people getting punished for an outrageous crime which may be really nothing but spitefulness.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sarah. I feel like everyone wants to point out the problems going on in Salem, but 1) no one wants to take any responsibility for anything, and 2) no one wants to believe that natural causes may also play a role. They get caught up in blaming supernatural events for their misfortunes, such as Mrs. Putnam who believes that Goody Osborne has murdered her first seven babies and is in cahoots with the Devil. Abigail knows that if she blames Tituba, she can get out of this whole witchcraft business pretty cleanly. Even Tituba begins to blame others, though she was kind of pushed into an inescapable corner by Rev. Hale and didn't really do anything wrong to begin with. Even Parris, who seems to be the most level-headed of all the characters so far, joins the bandwagon and blames Betty's condition on Tituba. Mostly because it is his only daughter but it still ties into this theme. No one is willing to think logically and only wants to find the quickest and easiest explanations, and may then trick themselves into thinking that the explanation they've found, is the correct explanation, though it is almost surely not. The rest of the play most likely centers around this kind of problem within Salem, whereas the conflict of witchcraft is kind of like a "scapegoat theme" you could say. This other theme lies underneath the most obvious one. Personally, for me, I'm enjoying it so far, and I'm excited to see where this story will go from here.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the first act of The Crucible, I think that the play is not about witchcraft but that is simple the cover up for what is truly going on. The characters in this story that ‘cry witch’ so to speak are doing so out of vengeance. Mrs. Putnam blames other women for her misfortune of her dead children. Just like many others in the play, Mrs. Putnam is saying it was the forces of witchcraft instead of accepting her life and moving on. The same goes for Abigail. John Proctor will not continue his relationship with her, so out of retaliation and need for attention she accuses witchcraft for being about. Tituba’s reason for saying that witchcraft was about was a little more justified. Everyone was accusing her and saying she would beaten. Out of fear for her life, Tituba clamed that witchcraft was happening in Salem and she knew who was doing it, listing off random citizens names. Others in the first act blame witchcraft to get ahead in their social status, carriers and because of fear that their children could be sicker than being cursed. People throughout the ages have often blamed events on supernatural occurrences because they could not or did not want to explain what was really going on. This has been highlighted in the first act and I think it will continue to be a constant theme. People also blame others of being a witch when they do not like the person and want to get rid of them. I think that as we read on we will see that people are accusing each other of witchcraft to get their way or to scare people into doing what they want.
ReplyDeleteIn this first act of The Crucible, I noticed that the characters are using witchcraft as an excuse for why their children are doing things that are against their beliefs, or things that they don't personally agree with. I am very annoyed because I just wrote this whole response and it all got deleted. Anyway, the adults seem to blame witchcraft for their kids misbehaving, because when they saw them in the forest running around naked and chanting, they denied it, not wanting their children to be doing bad things. I think that as we read further into the play, these things will be showing more, as the characters get more restless and turn to blame witchcraft or supernatural causes for their children's misbehavior.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the first act of the Crucible, I believe that the play is using the topic of witchcraft to explore a greater conflict arising in the Salem community. The true issue that most of the characters face is the fear of the unknown. In order to explain mysterious events that could not be solved rationally, the characters blame their misfortunes on supernatural events, targeting other individuals of low status. For example, Parris, who is a logical individual, first denies the rumors that his daughter’s sickness is caused by any witches. He continues to search for rational answers, asking the doctor for certain causes of such symptoms. However, after receiving no information on Betty’s condition, Parris too turned to the idea of supernatural causes. He needed an answer to his daughter’s unexpected behavior, and thus he joined the other characters and claimed that it was in fact witches that were the root of Betty’s sickness. Mrs. Putnam faces a similar conflict as Parris, as she too searches for an answer to the death of her seven newborn babies and her sick child. After seven of her children died consecutively and the last one severely sick, Mrs. Putnam resorted to the solution of supernatural events as the cause behind her hardship. To seek for an answer, Mrs. Putnam was even willing to send her only child to Tituba to conjure up the spirits of her dead newborns. By the end of chapter one, this willingness to find an answer led Mrs. Putnam and others to blame Tituba as being a witch and serving the Devil. This forced Tituba to “confess” names of the other witches, ultimately leading to a back and forth transition of power between the characters. I suspect that the rest of the novel will continue to explore this theme further, and I anticipate seeing what consequences the accused “witches” will have to endure.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the first act of The Crucible, I am not completely sure what all of the characters’ motives are. If witchcraft is not the problem in Salem, then social status is. Because of what Abigail, Betty, and Mary Warren did in the woods, Parris’s name is tarnished. Since Parris is a respected preacher and priest of the town, it is clear that he wants to maintain that status. However his daughter, Betty, has fallen ill under what doctors believe to be witchcraft. Parris, not wanting to lose his status, denies in public repeatedly that Betty is just sick, and that the doctors do not know what is wrong with her. But Parris knows that something “supernatural” is going on. A few days before Betty had fallen ill, Parris had seen a naked women dancing in the woods. He later found out that it was Mary Warren, with Abagail and Betty there dancing, too. Then, in private, Abagail is confronted by Parris about what had happened that night. Abagail says that nothing was going on and that they merely wanted to dance. However, Parris had seen a cauldron there, in the woods with them. When asked what was in the cauldron, Abagail responded that it was just soup, although a frog had jumped in. This shocks everyone in the room. As Abagail is accused more and more of witchcraft, she throws Parris’s maid under the bus. Tituba, who had worked for Parris for years, loves Abagail and doesn’t understand why Abagail would accuse her of witchcraft. Abagail did this because the town already sees her as a homewrecker, since John Proctor cheated on his wife with her. So Abagail turns the attention away from her and on to Tituba. Tituba, not wanting to get beaten and whipped, then calls out a bunch of women in Salem saying that she “saw them with the devil”. Each of the characters in The Crucible have their own motives as to why they do the things they do.
ReplyDeleteIn the “Crucible” I believe the real problem is drama. People seem to say “so and so did this, they did that” and jump right into conclusion that they are a witch. These characters seem to do “the unthinkable” things in Salem 1960’s but this don’t mean they are witches. The characters in this play are trying to do they’re best to keep up their good reputation in Salem but they are more than happy to throw someone under the buss. Tituba and Abigail for example blamed several people for being with the devil. In the closing scene in Act 1, the mood was very tense and nervous. This lead to grabbing on to any information they heard and giving power to “the weak”. Tituba could’ve blamed anyone she wanted to have been seen with the devil, this being a symbolism as drama and gossipers. In “The Crucible” I believe the real problem is drama created by the citizens of Salem who are trying to save themselves by blaming others.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading act one of The Crucible, I believe the play is going to be a wild goose chase. Tituba knows there are no witches, but to save herself she accused Goody Osborne and Goody Good of conspiring with the devil. Abigail clearly doesn’t like this much attention being directed at Tituba as she starts firing off names claiming she also ‘knows’ they’re conspiring with the devil. The real problem in this story is the townspeople’s lack of knowledge of what is actually happening. Parris is looking for any excuse he can to explain why Betty is lying nearly comatose in her bed. Mrs. Putnam is also looking for anything she can to explain why she had seven children that died as infants. The whole novel is leading up to be a wild goose chase looking for supposed witches when there clearly are none.
ReplyDeletePart one of the Crucible has led me to believe that the play will shape into a violent game for revenge and reasoning that benefits some characters. Abigail will use the witch accusations as a way of revenge against her ex-lover’s wife who gave her a bad reputation. She will also use it as an escape from trouble with the town relating to the night in the woods. For Mrs. Putnam the hysteria will help her put reason to the death of her children and seek revenge upon Rebecca, who she dislikes because all eleven of Rebecca’s children survived when all but one of Mrs. Putnam’s children had died. Parris’ reasoning behind helping out with the “witch hunt” is to take down the group allying against him and to save himself from the humiliation of his niece and daughter’s actions. His other objective may be to turn the people of the town against each other. It is a twisted ploy that, if successful, will allow Parris to stay in charge and also have more power since more people will be “turning to god”. To conclude, the upcoming events can be the plan of revenge or the explanation to why things have been going wrong in their lives.
ReplyDeleteThe first act of The Crucible tells us a lot about the characters, and foreshadows some problems we could potentially see. These characters lived in a culture where many things we do or think now were deemed unacceptable. The characters then didn't have the privilege that we hold now in society - the freedom to be who you want to be. This book is a great example of how our values and beliefs evolve over time, and the effect of social pressure on our lives. Because of the cruel punishments threatened in Salem, many characters put on false fronts to their true beliefs - even if it meant constantly lying. One of the many problems of that period is the amount of blame placed on supernatural causes due to the limited extent of human explanation as to what the reasoning is behind the events in our lives - no matter how small, or how unbelievably confusing. In Act one we see a woman go to witchcraft as the cause of the loss of all her children but one. With such sorrow and loss lurking over her family, it's hard to imagine someone staying sane after experiencing such a deep loss. It is much easier to be able to blame an evil cause for your unfortunate luck than the coincidences of life. As we see the characters unfold a suspicious act performed by a group of neighbors, something else becomes clear. These characters are all very repressed, and some even spiteful. Abigail has seen so much in her life, that she had become immune to the harsh whip of life. She is always pleading for the slightest bit of attention. We also see men full of jealously and anger. Disputes over land, money, and power seem to be filling the minds of Salem residents. We have seen witchcraft used as a way to explain the unknown, and as a way of revenge. I expect this book to take me on a staggering journey filled with flawed characters, faulty coping mechanisms, and relentless greed.
ReplyDeleteTo me, The Crucible is all about scapegoating people. The characters realize the rumors that are going around about everyone and they don't want the negative attention. Just from the first act we can see who the characters really are. Throughout the book I think people will be turning on each other just because they dont want to deal with the attention. Some of these characters actually pissed me off because, as a reader, you know everyone's story and you ultimately know the truth. There are so many emotions going around this town and the characters seem to catch all of them; anger, depression, confusion, etc. I feel like throughout the book some characters will learn how to get through some of these feelings and some will just get worse.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the first act of The Crucible, I believe that this play is going to revolve around everyone blindly accusing people of witchcraft. It seems as if many characters will be falsely identifying other people as witches for their own personal benefit, and in response other people will begin looking for scapegoats in order to save themselves from being blamed or becoming the focus of someone’s suspicion. I also think that people will use affliction as an excuse for situations that they should actually be blaming themselves for. It would be easier for a character to blame an outside force that they hold no control over than to admit that they are actually to blame for something. Plus, it wouldn’t make them look as bad- it has already been shown that news and gossip spreads fast in Salem. I think this play is just going to shape into a big mess of everyone desperately pointing fingers at each other.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Act 1 of the Crucible it is obvious the story deals with witchcraft and the devil. I believe that deep down the people of Salem know that witchcraft isn't the real issue, but they use it as an excuse to mask the real problems they each face. Mrs. Putnam has trauma from loosing seven of her children and wants someone to blame. Abigail, Betty, and Mary Warren do not want to be punished for sneaking out at night and dancing in the woods. John Proctor does not want to come to terms with the fact that he cheated on his wife. Tituba starts naming people she allegedly saw with the devil when in reality she just had her own personal reasons to throw them under the bus. Then we have Reverend Hail who can come in and save the day due to the witchcraft going on. Each of these characters do not want to face mistakes they have made or horrible situations they have been in so they use the excuse of witchcraft as an easy way for them to cover up for their actions. So much has happened in Act 1, I wonder what will happen next!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Act 1 of The Crucible there are a handful of options in what the play could focus on. One option is the love affair between Proctor and Abigail, another is Parris’s search for power in the community, and lastly the play could focus on the Putnam’s and their want to blame someone for the death of their children. Personally I believe that the play will be a combination of all of these possibilities with the underlying trend of using the idea of witchcraft within Salem to the characters advantage. For instance, Abigail and Proctor can never be together in the Puritan community of Salem because Proctor is a married man with children. However, Abigail could use the witch scare in the town to her advantage by claiming that Proctors wife is a witch. This would result in Proctor’s wife being hanged and Abigail could freely and openly express her love for Proctor. Parris might use the idea of witchcraft to excuse his daughter’s behavior in the woods, but also he could use it to create a more stable working environment for himself. Paris can claim to be the one who discovered the witches in Salem and can then be deemed a hero. This would give him a more stable job, and possibly more firewood. The Putnam’s have lost every child they have conceived, but one. I believe Mrs. Putnam will use witchcraft to blame for the deaths of her children. In this way it is not her fault that they died, but a supernatural power meaning that she had no control over the deaths. If this is what she does then the people of the town, and possibly herself, will stop seeing her as a failure. As the book progresses each character will struggle to attain the power to name witches and we will see how each character uses it to his or her advantage.
ReplyDeleteNow that we have read the first act of the crucible, it seems as though the story is really about the problems that explode due to the many underlying tensions within their community. It is as if many of the people in the town are holding grudges and have seen actions that they do not wish to confront logically. Rather, they are resorting to supernatural explanations so that they have a way to avoid taking responsibility for their actions as well as an outlet for things that are incomprehensible to them. A fantastic example of this blinding disbelief is that of Mrs. Putnam, who is in so much grief from having seven of her newborn children die that she must resort to blaming someone for her misfortune. Because she knows that nobody has directly murdered any of her children, she takes to supernatural explanations such as witchcraft at the hands of Goody Osborne and Goody Good. And then of course, there are the three girls, Betty, Abigail, and Mercy Warren, who say that witchcraft is afoot solely to escape the place of blame. And then of course there is Tituba who had no choice but to spill some names to escape after being pressed by Rev. Hale. I would have to guess that the rest of the play will be a continuation of people passing off the blame of these made-up wrongdoings until the townsfolk find someone to pin it on for good. So far I am enjoying the story in all aspects and I believe I will continue to enjoy the book.
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