Examples Of Rebecca Nurse In The Crucible

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an elaborate play that tells the story of the village of Salem and how the community slowly falls apart because of a strategic witch hunt ploy. The fear of witchcraft turns the once peaceful village upside down and accusations destroy the lives and reputations of so many people. Different characters’ actions have different impacts on the community, but one character stands out the most. Abigail Williams from The Crucible is a clear representation of how impactful the power of manipulation and deception is in a vulnerable society to create mass hysteria.

Rebecca Nurse was one of the most respected people in town and known for being a good person. In the play, Rebecca shows good pride when she was accused of witchcraft. When Rebecca Nurse was accused of killing Putnam’s babies she said, “let us go to God for the cause of it. There is prodigious danger in the seeking of loose spirits. I fear it, I fear it. Let us rather blame ourselves and—” (Act I 26). Rebecca prided herself in believing that Goody Putnam’s accusations of her were false. Throughout the play the accusations of witchcraft became more and more serious once they started punishing people. Though if one confessed and turned in other people, they would be safe from hanging. Goody Nurse prided herself into not giving up people’s names and lying just to save herself, “why, it is a lie, it is a lie; how may I damn myself? I cannot, I cannot” (Act IV 129). Even though Rebecca Nurse was put to hang, she kept with her morals and did not give up other people’s names. She stuck with what she truly believed in even when her life was on the line. Miller showed good pride through the acts of Goody Nurse because she held pride in her beliefs and did not give up on them even when her life was at stake.

“Pray, John, be calm.” This quote is spoken by Rebecca Nurse in Act I of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Rebecca Nurse is a 72 year old woman who lives in Salem, Massachusetts and is accused of witchcraft by killing seven of Ann Putnam’s babies. Her character in The Crucible is a small part and is only in Act I and IV, but she plays a vital role during the Salem Witchcraft Trials. Rebecca Nurse and I have similar personality traits because of our religious beliefs, kindness, and optimism.

When reading the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller the character Rebecca Nurse can be analyzed. When analyzing her, she can be portrayed as a very retinal character that always keeps a level head. This means she never jumps to conclusions and stays calm and collected. Then Rebecca nurse renders herself as an honest old women throughout the play. Because of this, it makes her very well respected. Lastly, Rebecca Nurse displays herself as a figure highly motivated by religion. This allows her to try and please her God which results in her being a very admirable character. Thus saying, throughout the course of the play when analyzing Rebecca Nurse she is proven to be rational, honest, and motivated highly upon religion.

It is 1692 in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts; fear and hysteria are running rampant. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the residents of Salem are allowing their grudges and personal rivalries to distract themselves from the truth. The witch trials are escalating, more and more people are being accused, and the tensions are high. The Putnams have different motivations and grudges that are driving the accusations. Ann Putnam is using the trials to harm the women she deems responsible for the deaths of her seven children. In contrast, Thomas Putnam is driven by his greed for wealth and land to accuse those he is envious of. A young girl, Abigail Williams, is a devious teenager seeking revenge on the innocent wife of her past lover.

None of the females in The Crucible possess extreme power, but the truthful, pure-hearted, and family oriented women seem to be even less powerful than the others. Elizabeth Proctor and Rebecca Nurse are two of the less powerful women in The Crucible. Both of their lives are led by an instinct to serve their families and communities (Alter 1). Elizabeth Proctor is convicted in

Also, Rebecca Nurse was treated unfairly in court due to suspicion of being involved in witchcraft, but should have been judged based on solid evidence. Rebecca is a positive individual who suggests to solve everybody’s problem: “let us go to God for the cause of it. There is prodigious danger in the

“The Crucible” is a play created by Arthur Miller and is based on the Salem Witch Trials. Rebecca Nurse is an elderly member of Salem Village in this play. She is looked up to by most of the villagers for her vast experience and knowledge. She is a mother and grandmother many times over. Rebecca Nurse is wise, faithful and honest.

Another example of vengeance dictating a characters' actions would be the dispute between Mrs. Putnam and Rebecca Nurse. In a scene at Parris's house, Mrs. Putnam asks Rebecca to take a look at her daughter, Ruth, who is also ill. Rebecca dismisses her anxiety and explains that she is just going through a silly season and will tire of it and wake up. Rebecca's optimistic interpretation of Ruth's condition is not favorably received by Mrs. Putnam. She comments that, "You think it God's work you should never lose a child, nor grandchild either, and I bury all but one" (Miller 1249). Shortly after, one might conclude Mrs. Putnam suspects Rebecca of murder, when she asks Hale, "Is it a natural work to lose seven children before they live a day" (Miller 1256). Since every child Rebecca delivered that belonged to Goody Putnam died, she believes that Rebecca is using her spirit to kill

John Demos’s nine point portrait of a witch is one way to analysis the case of Rebecca Nurse. To do so, one must first evaluate and understand the history of Rebecca Nurse and her role in the Salem in the late 1600’s. Rebecca Nurse was the wife of Francis Nurse, a farmer who became wealthy after buying and tending a large plot of land between Salem Village and Salem Town. Together they had eight children, and as a family they were prosperous. Connecting this information to Demos’s portrait of a witch, Rebecca Nurse falls under the first four points made in his sketch. These first two points are that she was “female” and that she was of “middle age”. However, the latter point is slightly inaccurate because Nurse was older than sixty years. The final two points that Rebecca Nurse falls under in Demos’s portrait of a witch are that she was of “English” and “Puritan” descent and culture, and that she was “married”, with little or no children. Again, the latter point is not fully accurate because Rebecca Nurse, while married, had, in fact, eight children in her lifetime. The significance of these traits of Rebecca Nurse agree, for the most part, with the

Families have many traits that they pass on to one another. Some of these traits may be biological, or they may be shown in actions. Rebecca Nurse, a distant relative of mine, and I have many character traits in common. Rebecca is a character in The Crucible who is based off of a real woman who lived during the Salem Witch Trials. I can relate myself best to Rebecca Nurse because we both share a bond with children, stubborn attitudes, and think logically in situations.

She screams and writhes as, "Stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, [Parris] draw a needle out." (Miller, ) Envy even pushes Abigail to inflict pain on herself. To frame Elizabeth, she resorts to extreme and desperate means of proof. She casts away all shreds of morality, religion, and common sense to pursue her treasure. Anne Putnam exposes similar motives for accusing Rebecca Nurse. Francis Nurse quotes the arrest warrant for his wife, "For the marvelous and supernatural murder of Goody Putnam's babies." (Miller, ) Goody Putnam envies the Nurses because they already have a large clan of offspring while they are left with one weak child. Envy and jealousy play a key role in Goody Putnam's decision to blame Rebecca. To obtain vengeance, they accuse Rebecca in hopes to solve their own misfortune. The Putnams envy her success and instead of celebrating their happiness and cherishing their only child, they choose the immoral action and strike back at their scapegoat, Rebecca. Abigail plays a cruel trick on Proctor to try to resolve her envy, and the Putnams condemn Rebecca Nurse to death for some false hope in their lives. Envy encourages ordinary people to feel disappointed, but it encourages the ones without strong ethics to strike back and take revenge. In The Crucible, this revenge takes the form of unreasonable trials of innocent people.

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Rebecca Nurse played a prominent and appreciated older woman in Salem. She was drawn into the witch trials because of Mrs.Putman’s beliefs about her. Although Rebecca Nurse is introduced in Act 1 and does not appear again until Act 4, she is an important character because of the moral ideas that she represents. Rebecca made an attempt to help the society regain order by not accusing anyone of witchcraft and carrying out the madness.

In “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller the most reasonable, sensible, and thoughtful character is Rebecca Nurse. On page 28 Rebecca states “I think she’ll wake in time. Pray calm yourselves.” She has high hopes that Betty will awake soon. Everyone else is doubtful that she will not wake up but Rebecca is keeping the situation positive by saying she will soon awake. On page 29 Rebecca says “Mr. Parris, I think you’d best send Reverend Hale back as soon as he come. This will set us all to arguin’ again in the society, and we thought to have peace this year. I think we ought rely on the doctor, now and good prayer.” Rebecca does not assume that Betty is sick because of witchcraft. She thinks Betty needs to see a doctor so she can get checked out.

Female characters in The Crucible each exist only to represent a stereotype. These stereotypes are based entirely on their interactions with men. As soon as Abigail begins to stray from the norm, she is painted as an antagonist, and as the “other woman” stereotype. Tituba also suffers greatly from being written from Miller’s point of view, as she fills the slot of “crazy black woman who fills children’s minds with lies”. Although it may seem unreasonable to critique the feminism in a play written in the 1950s, about real life events of the 1690s, but their are simply no good women portrayed. A situation where the heavily oppressed female members of society are finally given power to make a difference is usually inspiring and an opportunity to create strong female characters. Instead, Miller depicts women as weak beings that only access power through dishonesty, manipulation and being perfidious. When Mary Warren states “You must see it, sir, it’s God’s work we do… I’m - I am an official of the court,” (pg 59), she seems pitiful. The play is written in such a way that the reader perpetually sees those that buy into the whole idea of witchcraft being real as idiotic. Consequently, whenever Mary or another woman says anything that is aligned with accepting the existence of witches (for their own safety, usually), it is seen as laughable and weak. When Elizabeth says she is pregnant, the men in charge value her only as a vessel to give birth to the child. Danforth tells Proctor