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.
Witchcraft is not the only discrepancy in “The Crucible” . There are numerous people who contribute their own problem to the town. Mrs. Putnam seems to keep rambling on in Act I about her seven dead babies who never got to see childhood. She wants to point the finger at someone to feel satisfied, and that finger is pointed to witchcraft. She wants to feel as if her childrens tragic and unexpected death does not go unjustified. She is not the only one either. John Proctor and Abigail (Parris’s niece), apparently had sexual relations. This stirs up a situation as well. Abigail wants to believe that John Proctor still loves her, but he does not. He loves his wife Elizabeth whom Abigail tried to murder through drinking chickens blood, and witchcraft. Still though, Abigail relentlessly tries to pursue him by telling him all these manipulative things like, “You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!” Their affair is still unfolding, but what about the people of the church in Salem. The people of the church who formed a group deliberately created to plot, and conspire, against Parris. These people greatly dislike Parris, and this a glorious opportunity for them to reveal to the city of salem the rituals of witchcraft being operated under Parris’s roof. This is their chance to remove Parris from the church once and for all. Then, on top of all of this, Tituba falsely confesses that lucifer himself has talked to her and told her to do these awful, unholy sacraments. She knows if she does not lie, and refuses these convictions, she will be lynched. So she starts naming random people. The peoples names whom Tituba is telling Reverend Hale about are involved in witchcraft, as far as he is being told. In reality, they have done no such thing. Tituba is trying remove herself from the conflict at hand by focusing his attention on the names, and not her.Then, abigail also starts to name people off the top of her head to put the blame on someone else. I predict in Act II, there will probably be a whole ordeal with this list of people who know nothing about witchcraft, and It will be the beginning of a whole different problem in Salem.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading through Part I of The Crucible by Arthur Miller, it is relevant that witchcraft is not the only conflict in the story. Many of the characters seem to be creating their own issues outside of witchcraft. All in hope to use someone as a scapegoat in order to get the target off their backs. The most obvious of this situation is Abigail’s (niece of Parris) relation with John Proctor. According to Abigail, they apparently had sexual encounters together. This is important because she wants him to admit that he really loves her. Even though he really does not love her and is truly in love with his wife Elizabeth. This ties back to the conflict of witchcraft because Abigail tries to kill his wife by "drinking chicken blood and using witchcraft." Another scenario of the real problem in Salem is shown by the people of the church. Parris (leader of the church) is extremely disliked by his followers, so they try to exploit him for how he is letting devious things be done under his watchful eye. The people choose to form a group specifically designed to go against Parris and show what is really going on in the town of Salem (witchcraft). A third example of other conflicts going on in the town of Salem is how Tituba, Parris’ slave completely confessed to Reverend Hale (proclaimed witch doctor of the town) that she committed witchcraft. She willingly confessed simply because Reverend Hale offered her salvation if she confessed about who else is committing witchcraft. In order to get the target off of her back,Tituba chooses to place the blame on such vulnerable people of the town, by choosing the poor and destitute people of the town. This allows her to blend in with the rest of the crowd of witch haters and not be the center of turmoil and chaos in Salem. Yes Tituba was the first to begin accusing people of witchcraft,however, shortly after, Abigail began to start listing off names the moment Hale and Parris began to question her about her fiasco in the woods with Tituba talking to the dead and naked people dancing. All in an attempt to keep the attention off of her and to stay quiet. There are countless parts of Act I of The Crucible that display outside conflicts created by the main characters outside of witchcraft.Even though in one way or another they all tie back to witchcraft. But these are the main points that really caught my eye while reading.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Act 1 of the Crucible in class, obviously one of the issues to be dealt with is witchcraft. But there are many contributing factors that add to the chaotic hysteria that is formed in just the first Act. Religion seems to be one of the first problems shown because at this time you were all supposed to believe in the same God, and people always have different opinions, so I think there will probably be more drama over religion. Reverend Parris was one of the first characters introduced, and he shows his paranoid side right away. He seems unhappy and strict, and says things straight to the point. He thinks that he should be the boss of everything and over everyone, and doesn't think it should be allowed that anyone do anything without his permission first. He proves to have a strong opinion and that can come back to bite you in the end. Betty was lying in the bed "unconscious" and not responding to anyone trying to awaken her. She knows that rumors of her and the other girls doing witchcraft are spreading all around Salem, and she chooses to not deal with the crisis all together and just lay in bed. That too can come back to haunt you, ignoring your problems instead of dealing with them. They send for John Hale, a "witch doctor" and believe that he can make Betty better with his tactics. Which shows that they're gullible and easily persuaded, which can also be a major problem. Then, Tituba is brought in and everything gets worse. They all scream and yell at her, trying to get their point across, meanwhile she is denying everything. They all believe that yelling their opinions at her at once will get the problem fixed, but it just made everything worse. Abigail, one of the girls, proves to be a liar in the first act by not telling the truth about what had happened out in the woods. There is also an intimate moment between Abigail and John Proctor, a Doctor. She reminds him of what they had once had, which is very inappropriate because he is not only married, but quite a lot older than Abigail. It's a secret, but it probably won't be kept from the public for long because of Abigail's obvious feelings for John. This would not be good for anyone, and John could get in a lot of troubles. Then there's the Putnam's, they both seem to be a bit rude and outspoken, thinking that everyone wants to hear everything that comes out of their mouth, even though for the most part they don't. Then there's Mercy and Merry, two girls who were with the others in the woods that night. They also seem like liars, which is bad because being sneaky eventually hurts you. And the whole town seems to have a bad rumor mill, secrets spreading like wildfire, so everyone finds everything out. It's also not really helpful that most of the people seem very nosy, and trying hard to get into the others business. Even though witchcraft is one of the main issues, there's many other contributing factors that lead to the main problems in the Crucible.
ReplyDeleteJulia Wood
So far throughout the book “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller we are shown that witchcraft is not the only tension that is building up in this story. With witchcraft being a big deal, all the characters are trying to find someone to blame for during any little situation or problem that they have. They all find this necessary so they can not be seen as someone possibly using witchcraft. One of the conflicts in the book (as well as the most obvious one) was when the girls were caught dancing in the woods. Not only is it bad just to be in the woods during that time, but they were doing an action that was against the religious beliefs of their town. When people start to find out about this, rumors begin to be spread, and because of this people living their start to be accused of witchcraft. A second conflict in this book would be the affair that John Proctor had with Abigail Williams. Abigail believes that if she finds a way to get rid of John’s wife Elizabeth Proctor, then John would belong to her. Although, even though John had an affair with Abigail he does not love her, but Abigail believes that it was true love. John becomes frightened and worried when Abigail tells him that she loves him and that she will find a way to get rid of Elizabeth so they can love each other, but John is unable to convince her that he is not in love with her. Abigail ends up trying to kill his wife by drinking chicken blood and using witchcraft. Another example about a conflict in the book is Mrs. Putnam’s seven dead babies who she never got to nurse. Mrs. Putnam feels that someone should be in trouble for this so she makes up a rumor that someone is using witchcraft to do this. One last example would be how the people chose to form a group against Paris (the leader of the church). They did not like Paris at all so they decided to put the idea that he is doing witchcraft out there so they didn’t have to deal with him anymore at their church. By reading scene I of “The Crucible” I believe that many innocent people will start to be accused of doing witchcraft which will cause many big problems in Salem.
ReplyDeleteSophia Pata
As a class we have read the first act of The Crucible by Arthur Miller. In the beginning of the story I was very confused on what was happening but then i slowly started to understand the plot. Something important that I noticed is that witchcraft is definitely not the only conflict in this story. I have many first impressions on The Crucible. Most of these characters are very selfish. They would do anything to protect themselves from being blamed. Abigail Williams does everything for herself. She drank the chicken blood to cast a spell on Elizabeth Proctor so that she could have John Proctor to herself. She'll do anything to get things her way. Parris only cares about his reputation. He blames everything on everyone else. His daughter is sick and he would like an explanation for it. He blamed Betty being sick on witchcraft immediately and did not consider anything else. He blamed Abigail and the other girls for Betty not waking up. Mrs. Putnam will do anything to get attention. I see her as a liar, an overexaggerator, and someone who is not trust worthy. She uses the existence of witches as a scapegoat for her seven children being dead. Mr. Putnam is just as much trouble as his wife. He is a wealthy man that enjoys to get people in trouble by his daughter Ruth Putnam. He has a lot of disputes. I believe that all Tituba wants is to remain alive. This story was a little confusing to me but it is all starting to make some sense.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading all of Act I of The Crucible by Arthur Miller, it’s simple to see that the rumor of witchcraft has created a lot of outside problems for the characters, or helped other problems of theirs to grow. At a glance, it can seem like witchcraft is the biggest problem the story carries, but when looking more into it, it is easier to see how each character has their own way of using the theory to protect themselves and create excuses.
ReplyDeleteThe base of these characters conflicts seem to always be along trust, whether it is inner questioning or outer, and sometimes even both. As we read, I definitely noticed all of each separate characters issues, but I also felt a lot of trust problems based off different situations. To start off, the strict lifestyle that the people of Salem live calls for something like what Betty and Tituba were caught doing in the woods to happen. Although it was doubtedly witchcraft that they were performing, it makes you wonder what it was and why they did it. The story hasn’t seemed to give us the answers to that just yet, but I saw trust issues scattered in one of the last scenes, where Betty wakes up again and speaks of what was told and what shouldn’t be told. Not only this scene, but one closer to the middle when John Proctor and Abigail speak of what they ‘once had’ can prove there will be lying going on, and things that shouldn’t be happening, will be. These are just a few examples of how there are many liars, people who want to cause rumors, and secretive people in the story who will eventually receive what they will soon deserve. To be more based on conflicts in the story, all of the characters that are calling people out for witchcraft have different motives to protect themselves, and make people believe things that maybe they also want themselves to believe. Each person accusing another of witchcraft in this book seems to have their own reason, sometimes even being benefits, to spread rumors and cause ruckus. For example, Rev. Parris may like the idea of the rumor since it could give his church even more publicity and for improving his reputation. Why would he give up a free offer to blame something horrible that could be happening when it could only help him out? Mrs. Putnam couldn’t stand the fact that 7 of her babies were killed, and she needed a way to fill the space. While everyone else is pouring their problems on to the rumor, why not use it too? They have this one excuse that seems so solid, it would be insane not to take advantage, especially while everyone else seems to be. The benefit of their reasons for belief consist of protecting themselves and their reputation, or filling in empty spaces of things that have faltered in their lives. It’s an easy excuse to use witchcraft as a blame for some adults like Parris, who would rather have backup
justification for his daughter misbehaving in the woods. The people of Salem in 1692 are finding that they can simply point a finger at witchcraft for every supernatural event that seems to take place. As long as these characters have something that they can blame their strange, supernatural, or personal problems on, they will take it and go with it for sure, and while witchcraft is an excuse for this happening all at once, it’s bound to be an interesting clash of troubles and complication.
After reading the first act of The Crucible by Arthur Miller it is easy to identify that the actual problem is hysteria, not witchcraft. I think this play will be about the problem of witchcraft in Salem and how all of the characters deal with this problem. One of the characters that I am interested to see deal with the witchcraft accusations is Reverend Parris. In the first scene Reverend Parris seems to be very angry with Abigail and Betty because he saw them in the forest, which is forbidden, doing what he thinks is witchcraft. I am interested in seeing if Abigail will be officially charged with witchcraft or if Parris' reputation will be ruined by this incident. So far everyone has had different reactions to the idea that there is witchcraft going in on in their town. Some choose to deny it and some agree strongly. In this period of time people didn't have reasons for why some things were happening so blaming others may have been their only option. By saying that some girls cursed someone and that was the reason that their crops didn't grow was sadly easier for some than to just accept that their crops didn't grow for whatever reason. This is usually how hysteria like the one in The Crucible starts. I think that as the book continues a lot more accusations will be made of different people.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading Act I of The Crucible by Arthur Miller, I had many thoughts of what is going to happen next, and how it will take place, and shape throughout the play. One of the most obvious conflicts developing in Act I is the appearance of witchcraft forming throughout the village. Although witchcraft is one of the main conflicts that is causing the death of innocent villagers, there are many more collisions ruining the lives of others. The real problem in The Crucible is the accusations of villagers from other villagers. The reason why this is happening is because if the villagers try to convince the believers of witchcraft throughout the story they will look guilty, so the throw others under the bus to save themselves. At this point in time it is every man for themselves or else they will pay the consequence of being imprisoned, or even worse, being lynched. The first conflict that lead all of the other conflicts was when the girls were dancing in the woods and “worshiping Satan”. This lead to Abigails affair with John Proctor and the accusations, who also happen to be started by Abigail. Abigail starts accusing others when she sees Tituba getting all the attention when she was being accused of witchcraft, and confessed to it. Abigail says, “I want to open myself! . . . I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him, I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!” The reason Abigail did this was because all through Act I she was worrying about how she was caught dancing in the woods with Betty and Tituba, and that she drank blood in the woods, so the second she found a way to get out of punishment she took it. Witchcraft was not the real problem, scared villagers who wanted to survive was the real reason, even if the only way to survive is risking other people's lives.
ReplyDelete-Haley Blanchette
After reading the first chapter of the crucible, I predict that the play will be an endless cycle of blame triggered by a primal need for self preservation. In the first chapter we already see the start of this cycle. Abigail is clearly not a witch, however when her life is threatened, she starts to “remember” her powers and comrades. To take attention off herself, Abigail blames Tituba who is in the social class below her. When Tituba was in the very same situation, she followed the same pattern as Abigail. This snowballs out of proportion though, when Abigail realizes the potential power that she could possess. Abigail immediately takes the opportunity to be the factor between anyone’s life and death. I also predict that Abigail will use her newfound capabilities to try to eliminate Elizabeth so she could have the proctor all to herself. I think the real problem in Salem is that there are no recreational activities. There was no way for residents to relieve stress, leading to high tension relationships. Also, there must have been a lot of boredom considering the only thing to do was work and house maintenance. Because of these factors,the witchcraft hysteria provided people a sick twisted version of reality T.V. that distracted people from their struggles. Some other stress factors existed between individual characters. One example of this is the constant reminders throughout chapter 1 from Mrs.Putnam. I don’t think Mrs.Putnam talked about anything else other than her deceased infants or her sick child. The witchcraft hysteria provided characters such as Mrs.Putnam distraction or revenge for unexplained disasters. Mrs.Putnam is just one of the many characters who feel stressed when a problem comes without an explanation. Although the first chapter led to many predictions, I’m sure The Crucible by Arthur Miller has many unexpected twists.
ReplyDelete-Alexia
After reading the first act of The Crucible by Arthur Miller it is clear that there are some issues that go beyond witchcraft. One might even say that witchcraft isn't even the main problem (which is now known to be true). There are problems rooted within the community of Salem. The people don't trust each other, and it seems as if everyone hates each other. They are quick to accuse others just to save themselves. The citizens of Salem also tend to be very stubborn. Once they have an idea of what might be happening they stick to it, no matter how ridiculous what they're saying is. Not only do they accuse each other of witchcraft but they claim that everything they can't explain is somehow supernatural, witchcraft being one of their means of doing so. The play seems like it may be turning out to be about the relationships of the people of Salem. This would make for great conflicts throughout the play as the citizens of Salem seem to have very complex relationships.
ReplyDelete-Benjamin Hunter
I already have several first impressions of the play “The Crucible” after reading Act I in class. Witchcraft is a main conflict and theme in the play but there’s also more to it. I think that the characters create enough conflict amongst themselves which doesn’t even include witchcraft. It seems that the characters always seem to be blaming everything on each other and are always pointing fingers. Every character seems to be obligated to point out anything any other character or characters does wrong. One example of this is when Abigail and Betty were caught in the woods and Parris pointed out that it was forbidden. Another example of this is when Tituba and Abigail are trying to cover up their faults by telling the others’. The main problem is that characters spend most of the time creating new conflicts with each other.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Act One of the "Crucible" by Arthur Miller it is clear that witchcraft is not the problem in Salem. Salem is a town full of Puritans. The Puritans lived a very restrictive society that didn't allow many things. Through this they lived in fear of being scrutinized and punished. Abigail, Betty, Mercey and Titiuba confess that they are no longer witches. In doing this they share exploit many innocent people. They tell name of so called "witches" to take the blame off themselves and shift it to others. If they didn't' do thins they would subjected to severe and public discipline. The problem in Salem is not witchcraft, it's fear. Fear of being punished, fear of being judged and fear of discipline. The people in Salem are also very superstitious. Mrs Putnam has had seven unexplained miscarriages. She can not wrap her head around this so she turns to the thought of witchcraft. She does this as a way to cope. Instead of realizing that something so ordinary could happen she chalks it up to witchcraft. Many people in the book just need an explanation for the explainable. All in all, in Act One of the "Crucible", witchcraft has nothing to do with the real problems happening in Salem.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading act 1 of the Crucible I have concluded that witchcraft isn’t the problem. During this time period many people thought that any weird behavior or sickness in a person had to be witchcraft. Many of the Puritans are just hysterical. I think later on down the book witchcraft will not be the problem, the problem will be the rumors, and blame. Even after reading act 1 Tituba and Abagail pointed fingers at random people to cover for themselves. The city has practically put the people in situation where if they have been accused of witchcraft they must name other witches or they will be killed. This leads to the pointing of random fingers at random people so the “witches “don’t get accused. I think the biggest problem in the second act will be that to there are simply to many witches. If things keep going like they have been there will be a long chain of accusations throughout the city of Salem. Everyone knows that if they are accused of witchcraft and don’t say anything they will be killed. In the second act I think “witchcraft” is going to flood the city and the only option the people of Salem has is to start killing many of the witches. I think later on in the book, the fear of being punished will overcome the people of Salam the will aimlessly point fingers and accuse anyone they can to save themselves. I also think many more people will get accused simply because of suspicion. Since now one wants to be accused I think people will look for all the suspicion things in people so they can keep the attention away from themselves. For example in the first act many people were already suspicious of Mrs. Putnam who had many miscarriages. I think the second act in the Crucible there will be a lot more action and violence.-Matthew Heckman
ReplyDeleteThe main problem in Salem was not witchcraft, but rather the many conflicts between all the townspeople. The Puritans had hard lives and no methods to cope with stress so eventually, they started blaming each other for their difficult lives. Adding to this, the children were grasping at straws to get attention from the adults because they weren’t treated well and only given enough attention to keep them alive. The children found that they were finally given attention when they acted sick, and taken seriously by adults when they started accusing people of witchcraft because the people they accused were often the people their parents resented. This led to a hysteria in which people blamed and accused others of practicing witchcraft. Not only were people accusing others because they didn’t like them, but also because they knew that if they didn’t accuse anyone it was only a matter of time before they became scapegoats themselves. Witchcraft and hysteria were not the real problems, but rather the conflicts between the people of Salem.
ReplyDelete