Rebecca Nurse In The Crucible

On the surface Rebecca appears to demonstrate the conventions of the romantic genre. The storyline includes a heroine, who is thinks herself to be very plain “with straight, bobbed hair and youthful, unpowdered face, dressed in an ill-fitting coat and skirt…”, as well as a hero, who the heroine believes is

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.

Hale knows that people will confess to anything to avoid being hanged, and he is deeply troubled when he learns of Abigail’s motifs for revenge. Respected people have told Hale that the trials are non-sense. He has tried to find holes in these people’s reasoning, so he can be reassured he hasn’t made a big mistake in his aiding of the conviction of these people, but their reasoning is completely logical. Hale becomes more aware of the truth near the end of Act II, when Giles Corey and Francis Nurse report that their wives have been taken away. Reverend Hale is surprised, but disturbed by the news because he thought of Rebecca as surely being innocent when he met her. He says that, ‘‘ if Rebecca Nurse be tainted, then nothing’s left to stop the whole greenworld from burning’’ (71). Hale then tries to explain her arrest by saying (in great pain) : ‘‘Man remember, until an hour before the Devil fell, God thought him beautiful in Heaven’’ (71).

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.

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.

Purist Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 suffered from a rapidly increasing phenomenon: witchcraft accusations and trials. The Crucible is a play that recounts the times of this incident. For the most part, it follows a man known as John Proctor. He is a sensible, honest, and hardworking man who made the mistake of succumbing to lust which sets off a chain of events that leads to the witch trials, and to his own demise. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible’s protagonist John Proctor proves to be a flawed human being who struggles to make sense of his past relationship with Abigail, his love for his wife, and his pride.

Rebecca Nurse was a good person at heart. Her image changed when she was accused of witchcraft and people started to consider her as an evil person. "As for Rebecca herself, the general opinion of her character was so high that to explain how

In The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, John proctor and Rebecca Nurse were accused of witchcraft. John proctor and Rebecca Nurse are very humble, and they are very well respected by the people in Salem. When John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse got send to jail because they got accused of witchcraft ,their attitude were very similar, because they both want to keep their reputation. As we all know Abigail known by Abby and the rest of her friends are the main people that started this big problem of accusing everyone in Salem of Witchcraft. This is important because many people that get accused of a crime they tried to keep their reputation, but at the same time they want to save their lives and blame other people. In my opinion i think that a

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

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible the witch trials in Salem were a devastating time. The entire community was in disorder and chaos because of personal vengeance. This included accusations of innocent town’s people being called witches, so they hanged and were jailed. Throughout the play certain characters help the rise of witchcraft as well as the disapproval of all the innocent people who were being convicted for no reason. Reverend Hale is a dynamic character whom comes to rid of the evil spirits in Salem, yet he later tries to end the trials. Hale realizes the accusations are false, attempts to postpone the hangings, and persuade the victims to lie conveys that he is a dynamic character and changes throughout the play.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. It all started when Reverend Parris discovers a group of girls dancing in the woods. After he found the girls in the wood, his daughter Betty fall ill. Since Betty wouldn’t wake up, people become paranoid and started believing that witchcraft was real. Fake accusations were made and innocent people kept dying. In The Crucible there are many people to blame for all for everything that occurred, characters such a Abigail Williams, Reverend Hale, and Reverend Parris. Abigail Williams is to blame because she accused everyone else just to protect herself. Reverend Hale is also blame because he was the one who got people to think that witchcraft was real. Lastly Reverend Parris is to blame because he was just worried about himself and his reputation in Salem.

One character that proves the community ranks more than the individual is Rebecca Nurse by being most respected and charitable in the town, as well as disapproving the practice of investigating in the devil. In this instance Rebecca advises John Proctor to stay calm when he questions Reverend Parris’s

Miller portrays Rebecca Nurse as someone who is gentle, trustworthy, and favorable. Her character is a great example of how her good reputation meant nothing in the end of The Crucible. He mentions in the play, “As for Rebecca herself, the general opinion of her character was so high that to explain how anyone dared cry her out for a witch - and more, how adults could bring them-selves to lay hands on her -we must look to the fields and boundaries of that time” (26). What would make him provide this description? The answer is because Miller sets up her character as the last person anyone would think to have any involvement with witchcraft to prove a point.

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

p.127 Rebecca is a pillar of the church and if she is given the opportunity to speak then she will show the town what a righteous woman she is by her prayers and then the town will turn on those that have condemned these righteous and respectable people.