Sunday, October 13, 2013

Blog Number 3

Having discussed in class the power of three, I could not help but notice that the Crucible is split into distinct sections, which are put into different ACTs in the play.  Though there are four ACTs in the play, the idea still works to show that there is a distinct difference in not only setting, but also character's feelings for each other.  In the first act we are plopped in the story after a long night of witch worshipping.  The town is eager to learn what happened the witches and what is going on with Betty (She would not wake up).  Abigail is confident in her ability to cover up what happened and still has a positive outlook on her chance of happiness.  She believes that she can win her ex-lover Proctor back and this is her motivation throughout the first ACT of the book.  As we move to the end of the first act, Abigail has gotten rejected from Proctor, and Betty has awoken.  Abigail and Betty are forced to call out their fellow witches to take the blame away from themselves. As Tituba was about to give Parris their names they probably thought it better to confess themselves then to have someone else do it for them  "I want to open myself!  I danced with the Devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book" (Miller 45).  The end of the first act is the end of any kind of happiness in the story.  As we move into the second act, many women have already confessed to witchery in order to not be hung.  This act is much sadder and we don't see any happiness.  The characters are all scared of the church and of Abigail and her friends because clearly, anyone whom they mention automatically is questioned and arrested.  When Elizabeth is brought up, and arrested for having someone else's doll with a needle in it, all the characters seriously question the legal system, as well as their own chances of getting through the ordeal alive.  Act three is the trial act, where we find ourselves in the courtroom, where more lies are told and more people accused.  The general feel moves from sacredness to no trust.  Everyone in this scene just wants whats best for them.  As we move further into the act, Abigail, to save herself once again starts to blame Mary, claiming that she controlled all the girls the whole time.  I am disgusted by the acting of all the characters. They are the most unmoral, despising people, which moves us into the fourth and final act where the characters will come to the doom.  They are all executed, with the exception of Abigail and Mercy who escape.  Proctor almost confessed, but decides that he would rather die then lie about something he doesn't do.  The final act shows a failure in society.  The fact that people have to either lie or die is ridicules.  So we see a pattern of good to scared, to scared and corrupt, to death.

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