Blog Five: Crucible

The definition of crucible relates to the play it’s self. The first definition is "a container made of a substance that can resist great heat, for melting, fusing, or calcining ores, metals." Even though this definition is in the litteral sense, I interpret another way to further understand the play's titles. The container is equivalent to the society in The Crucible. Both the container and the society are resistant to heat, or in the society, prejudice, fights, or other cruel acts. Like the container, the society can with stand all that heat without being destroyed. There is never a perfect invention, everything has flaws. The container can over flow while melting very hot substances on it and it can leak all over and cause much destruction. This is similar to the society. The society with stands all the prejudice and as in The Crucible, they with stand the theocracy and the lack of freedom and fun. Nobody does anything to stop it and one day the society becomes mad and "overflows" with melting lava or very mad people and they start to murder and convict innocent people. 

I have encountered a crucible like this one in my life. When I was younger, about seven years old, I used to keep things bottled up inside of me. I would create "a container made of a substance that can resist great heat." I was made up of something that let out no emotion. I thought my body was so powerful that nothing was going to melt me away, until one day when I did not "melt" but I did overflow. My anger leaked out of me and that hot substance poured out into a screaming fit. Since I overflew and not melted everything out, I still have some of that hot metal inside of me. Since I am full and I never empty out completely, I over flow quicker now and I break out into screams more often than ever. This is  similar to what is happening today. An example of this would be with gay people. The society never lets all their feelings out at once. They pour out every once in a while and as time goes on, more and more prejudice is shown and out breaks of predjudices occur, such as the humiliation of the gay college student that caused him to committed suicide. The society is getting worse and it won't be fixed until we figure out to melt that heat resistant container, which seems impossible.

Blog Four: Die or Live?

    Giles Corey is an interesting character in history; he was around during the time of the witch trials in Salem. Giles Corey was killed because he refused to be put on trial for witch craft. He did not want to lose his dignity and he refused to be humiliated and accused of such an outrageous crime in front of everyone. He was killed by being pressed, which is by placing stones on his chest until he no longer lived. Instead of confessing or screaming or crying while this happened, he simply said "more weight." Giles Corey died with dignity, like wise did John Proctor. John Proctor refused to write down a written confession. He also did not want to be publicly humiliated or accused. Giles Corey and John Proctor both mad the decision to die with dignity, instead of living with public humiliation. 

      I do not have many things that I would be willing to die for. Unlike Giles and John, I am not willing to die to save my dignity or to express my belief. I would rather live to see what impact I can make or to see what new people I meet. There are very few things I would risk my everything for and that is for my loved ones. I would rather be put to my death then to lie about loving my loved ones or lie to them to hurt them. I would not want to die for a cause such as religion. I can care less what the society believes; I care about my loved ones and I would not leave them if it was for my own selfish, pride reasons. If i was accused for witch craft back then, I would admit to it as long as I was able to live and see the ones I loved. Nothing is more important them. 

Blog One: Fear

During Act Three in the play, The Crucible, Danforth continuously states that the good have nothing to fear. This statement by Danforth is not true. In The Crucible, many innocent people were convicted and/or punished for witch craft. An example of this is the conviction of Elizabeth Proctor. Elizabeth was convinced of being seen with the devil by Abigail, who only did this because she wanted Proctor. Elizabeth is innocent and according to Danforth, she has nothing to fear, but since she was convicted and death was the punishment, she has much to fear. Proctor had a similar situation occur to him. He too is innocent, but also he was convicted of witch craft. The occurrence of conviction to Proctor and Elizabeth prove that Danforth's words were untrue and that the innocent has much to fear since the innocent were the ones who were convicted.

Danforth's words about how the good do not have to fear are very untrue, especially in my life. Elizabeth's conviction reminds me of a time when I was convicted due to jealousy. I was accused of stealing from my friend by a peer because that peer wanted to break me and my friend apart. My friend believed my peer over my word since she thought that peer did not have a reason to lie but I did since I was the one in trouble. I had much to fear because I feared about losing a friend over someone else’s lie. Even though I did not commit the crime, I was fearful of losing a friend. Another situation that Danforth's words remind me of is when my brother and I were convicted of chipping the bathroom sink. I did not do it, but i was feared of getting punished if i did not admit to it. The good has much to fear, unlike the words of Danforth, and it is present in my life and in today's society.

Blog Three: Emotion

Miller uses poetic devices when Proctor and Elizabeth discuss about Proctor’s confession. They had a lot of emotion when they were talking. He uses a lot of pauses, such as when Proctor says “Aye. She will now let herself be drowned in the sea that threatens her. They come for my life now.” That long pause and Proctors thoughts were very poetic. They convey emotion and give another look into what he is thinking and what is happening. Miller also makes pauses when Elizabeth starts to cry and he describes her sobbing. His descriptions show and covey a lot of emotion.

I also have been in a situation where there were a lot of tension and emotion. One time is when I had to confront my niece about the cat that had just passed away. This reminds me of Elizabeth and Proctor even though it seems much different. In both situations, tears where present and there were many pauses. She asked questions similar to what Elizabeth asked John, such as “was that cat tortured or did she go through a lot of pain?” It was very hard to have this conversation with her. Another reason why it was so hard was because I let the cat outside that day. This is similar to when Proctor had to admit earlier to having an affair with Abigail and that it what started this whole thing. This was not directly my fault but if it wasn't for me, the cat would still be here today. Another time where tension and emotion was present was when I had to have a conversation with my dad about having a boyfriend. He used many pauses since he was mad that I did not tell him earlier.

Blog Two: Like me

I most indentify with the character, Rebecca Nurse, from The Crucible. She is a very caring and nurturing nurse of Salem. She is highly respected, which is unusual for women to have such respect. Rebecca is seven-two years old, a bit older then I, but I still find the connection. She is full of gentleness. When she walks into Betty's room, towards Betty's bed, "Gentleness exudes from her" (Miller 16). Rebecca has a lot of personal life experiences. She has "eleven children" and is the "twenty-six times a grandma," she has "seen them all through their silly seasons" (Miller 16). Rebecca is such a good nurse because of her experiences.

I indentify with Rebecca Nurse and her qualities. I am such a good babysitter because I too have a lot of personal experience. I have not eleven children but I do have ten younger family members whom I take care of, under the age of 11. I take care of them with kindness and gentleness. When I put my baby cousin to sleep, I rock her carefully and my softness allows for her to relax and be comfortable. I am respected by adults, as Rebecca is respected by men. It is rare for children to be respected by adults as it is for women in her time to be respected by men.

John Proctor from The Crucible is most like the author, Millers. Proctor has a little of the characteristics of all the characters. He is an all around character. He is a sinner but he accepts and gets past it. Miller when he was young, sinned in school, by not doing him best, but he got past that and became a great writing.