January 5

Today we discussed the first two questions about The Crucible. The first question was: Why do Abigail and Tituba both confess when they both have claimed to be innocent? Why do they implicate others?

We determined that this can be answered in two parts. The first part of the answer is self-preservation and the second part of the answer is power. Initially, they confess to avoid the most severe punishments and then they implicate others to deflect the attention to others. If, after the first few implications, they had stopped it would have been mostly an act of self-preservation. However, they continue to implicate others even after it seems that they have been saved. This suggests that the two were motivated by the power that they had while they accused others. It was discussed that this power was treasured by Tituba and Abigail because of their positions in the Puritan Society. Finally, we explored why the initial accusations were accepted. We decided that it was due to names that were announced- they were the names that people wanted to hear and wanted to believe were witches.

The second question was: How honest is Proctor really? There were two sides to this question. It seemed that initially most people believed that John Proctor was honest despite the lies he had made in the past, however another view- that Proctor was actually dishonest to both himself and others- seemed to gain most support. John Proctor deliberately omits information, for example Proctor conveniently forgets to mention that he was alone with Abigail when talking with Elizabeth. He also does not come forward with information when he believes that people were being falsely accused. Even when he tells the truth it is only when it is the last possible option. This is why he only confesses to having an affair with Abigail when he was caught and admitted it to the town only when his wife was accused of witchcraft. Proctor only came forward with the truth when it was too late.

We also discussed the possibility that John Proctor was a tragic hero whose flaw was his dishonesty and which actually led to the witch hunt and that the only truthful character was Elizabeth.

Kelsey