creative writing piece- amy irving

Another lonely night.
He’s out again, this time for the whole night. It just doesn’t make sense, he works late every night and tonight he can’t even come home to see his own wife.
What’s happening?
I pace around the room thinking, Always thinking, What’s he up to?
Where is he really?
Why does he lie?
What have I done wrong?

I think about all the things I could do. Why don’t I phone Jenna and ask if Sean is at the meeting, he works in the same department as David, so why wouldn’t he be there? I go over to the note my ‘darling husband’ left me and look at it for about the 10th time. I don’t know why I keep looking at it because every time I do I become more furious and frantic about what he is doing.

I’m not going to be home tonight darling, I have a late meeting at the Balmoral hotel, and I have decided to just stay there over night, so that I don’t wake you. Have a nice night.
Love David.
xx


THAT’S IT! I can no longer control my agitation anymore, I grab the phone and carelessly punch the numbers of Jenna’s house in… 0131 225 6840.
Ring Ring
Ring Ring
Ring Ring
Rii…
JENNA: Hello.
ME: Hi Jenna, it’s Sarah.
JENNA: Oh, hi Sarah. How are you?
ME: OK thanks, you?
JENNA: I’m great thanks.
ME: Good. I’m just phoning to ask if Sean is at the meeting at the Balmoral tonight, and if…
JENNA: What meeting? Sean hasn’t said anything about a meeting, he is in the house just now.
ME: Oh, erm, well. OK then. I must have my days mixed up sorry for bothering you Jenna.
JENNA: No bother Sarah, speak to you soon. Bye.
ME: Bye Jenna. Thanks again.

The room spins uncontrollably, my heart starts to race and my stomach flips. It’s happening isn’t it? He’s having an affair!

What have I done wrong?
I need to do something, but what? I wonder if he is really at the Balmoral. Should I go?
That’s it I’m going, I’m not going to let the bastard get away with this! I look around for my bag, but I don’t need anything, all I need is my confidence and self-assurance. I storm out the house and make my way to the Balmoral.
………………………………...................................................................................................................
I get to the Balmoral and demand to know the number of the room that my cheating bastard of a husband is in. After what felt like hours of debating with the receptionist she finally gave me the key and the number of the room he was shaggin’ in. I quickly ran to catch the lift before it closed and press the button. I fimble around with the key, getting more and more anxious and distressed about what I am going to walk in on.
-It might be nothing.
Oh god I hope so.
DING!!
Shit. I’m here. Fuck! I keep walking. Every step I take, I say to myself, keep walking, keep walking, keep walking, to take my mind off what I am just about to do. I look up sharply and…
426
That’s it. Should I knock?
-NO!
Should I just barge in?
-Yes, no. I don’t know.
Aw fuck it! I insert the key into the slot and with a push of confidence swing the door open, and there they are, just as I thought. In bed, covers over them, candles lit.
My heart breaks, I mean literally breaks. I don’t know what to do. I feel the anger build up inside of me. I don’t know what to do. I stand there motionless, until all my anger builds up and I scream.
WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?
I slam the door shut and look at the both of them, waiting for an answer, an excuse, anything. But I get nothing in reply. My ‘darling husband’ just looks at me disturbingly, I excuse the filthy look and ask again. WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS? David quickly sits himself up and starts asking for my forgiveness giving me all these pitiable excuses that don’t mean anything to me. He cheated. We were married. I loved him. I thought he loved me too.
I ask him who he wants? Me, or this whore lying completely oblivious to what is happening around her under the covers with MY husband. He looks at me and looks down. He’s going to say it isn’t he? He doesn’t want me, he wants her.
DAVID: I’m sorry Sarah.
My whole life flashes in front of my eyes and my world comes tumbling down.
I glare at him. I don’t know what to do, what to say. I shamefully turn around and walk out the hotel room, I drag myself along to the lift and as soon as the door opens I collapse into it. What am I going to do? As soon as the lift hit’s the bottom I drag myself towards the door to go home.
When I walk in the house I run up to the bedroom and get all his stuff and chuck it out the window, in the bin, every possible place I can think of, until I realise that this isn’t going to do anything. It’s not going to get him back. He’s not going to feel as distraught as I do. I need to get him back somehow. I walk out of the room in a daze wondering what to do, I go to make my way down the stairs, but miss.
I can feel the blood surrounding me, but I can’t feel anything, no pain, where can I be bleeding from? I try and move but I have no energy, I can’t move myself. The only thing I can feel is this soaring pain inside my heart. He succeeded, he won, I’m dead. The bastard killed me.

[OH NOOOOO. ITS NOT EVEN WORKING PROPERLY, THE LAYOUT HAS CHANGED. GUTTED! WILL TRY AND GET IT TO YOU ANOTHER WAY SO THAT YOU CAN SEE WHAT IT IS REALLY LIKE]

AMYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Monologue- Sher Khan

My foolish subjects, why do you blame me for being a tyrant? What sin have I committed which was not in the best interests of the residents of this mighty jungle?

Yes, I have tried many times to kill the human cub known as Mowgli for many years. I admit it ... I hate humans. Filthy creatures. Always cutting down trees. Polluting the rivers. Killing us, the most noblest of animals for… Food!
I was killing humans to protect you all from them. Mowgli is, and always will be a human. It was necessary to eradicate all traces of them from the forest. He was no friend of the jungle, he coveted my place as king. He was a spy for his people, had he not fled from the jungle, he would have led his people to us. To kill us. So that they may rule the jungle.

Being the king, I hunted him down and was about to end his petty existence, but I gave him mercy and told him he had ten second to run. I upheld my promise and went after him but the traitors known and Baloo and Bhagera however thwarted me. I however valiantly defeated them and pursued the cub.

Once I found him I challenged him to a fair fight but instead the coward threw dirt in my eyes, temporarily blinding me. He ran as fast as he could but I still persevered and followed, but alas fate had it that the cub would find fire. Although I could have fought and been burned to death I chose to retreat and save myself so I may lead the jungle yet again.

As rightful king.

{{{Gursevak singh}}}

Specialist study.

Anita and Me is a semi-autobiographical novel written by British-Asian author Meera Syal. It follows the early life of the protagonist of the novel, Meena. Meena is a nine-year-old girl torn between the ethnic culture of her Punjabi parents and that of the white British sixties. The relationship between Meena and Anita changes and reflects the changes in Meena as she denies her heritage and then finally accepts who she really is. This essay will show how Syal effectively conveys the theme of friendship and through the use of characterisation and narrative structure.

The novel is told from the point of view of Meena, and is in her own words.
As a result, the events told by Meena are unreliable but as we see everything through Meena eyes we understand her better and we have a better knowledge of her feelings. The fact she is the narrator makes us take her side and prejudge characters from what we are told from Meena’s point of view.

The first time we meet Anita she is at the local shop and stops to talks to Meena. Anita tells Meena - who is looking at a navy poster - that the officer on the poster is in fact her father. This is a blatant lie, but Meena’s naivety leads her to believe anything Anita says. Meena can’t believe that Anita, the girl that she has admired for such a long time has actually talked to her: It had been the first time Anita had ever talked to me and I wondered what I had done to deserve It. This shows the extent of Meena’s idolisation of Anita, as she feels that she has to have done something wonderful to deserve Anita talking to her.

As Anita and Meena’s relationship progresses, Meena is just a tag-a-long to Anita’s group, the wenches brigade: ‘I was happy to follow her a respectable few paces behind knowing I was privileged to be in her company’, showing that she isn’t really a part of the group as she is behind the others. This further adds to the fact that Meena idolises her. Meena tries to conform to Anita’s views: ‘I wanted fish fingers and chips like Anita’, instead of Indian food, this shows that Meena rejects her own culture in favour of Anita’s as she giving up Indian food in favour of English food.

In time Anita and Meena become firm friends and Anita even has dinner at Meena’s house, this is a big step in their friendship, as Meena has never ‘eaten Indian food in the presence of a white person before’, This shows that Meena trusts Anita enough to share her culture with her . This shows the relationship between Anita and Meena growing stronger; Meena is including Anita in the Asian parts of her life. However she begins to realize what Anita is really like when the Wenches brigade turns against another girl: ‘I had seen how in an instant, those you called friends could suddenly become tormenters, sniffing out a weakness or a difference, turning their own fear of ostracism into a weapon with which they could beat the victim away’. Meena realises that she will also be ostracised because of her ethnicity. This shows us that Meena realizes the social power Anita has.

The final realization of Anita’s true personality occurs when a family friend is paki-bashed by Anita’s boyfriend. Meena overhears Anita laughing about a racist incident, which her boyfriend instigated. Meena finally begins to alienate herself from Anita, and she ends their friendship soon after: ‘I don’t give a toss what your sister does, Tracy. You can tell her that from me’. This shows us that Meena has matured and has finally learned to stand up for her self, and feel more comfortable in her identity.

This essay looked at the themes of friendship and identity, his has been shown using characterisation and narrative structure.

{{{ Gursevak singh's essay. }}}

spec study

“Things fall apart”, written by Chinua Achebe, set in Nigeria in the 1960s is a three dimensional story. It is built around Okonkwo who later commits suicide. This study will examine the downfall of Okonkwo to deduce from it whether he is responsible of his tragedy or it is simply a matter of fate used by the writer.
Okonkwo is a man physically strong and a member of the Igbo tribe. He had won fame as the greatest wrestler since his earlier age in the villages surrounding Umuofia and he is also well known throughout the clan because of his wealth.”Okonkwo’s fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan”: this shows how he has risen from nothing to a powerful ,wealthy and proud man.
His life is pretty much directed by his culture and his religion(his ancestors beliefs).
Although Okonkwo is seen as a great and determined man he has his weaknesses. He never shows his feelings and this is due to the Igbo culture that says that any man being too sentimental is a weak man in other words a “woman” which is “Agbala” in Igbo. And being that hard on himself by not showing his real feeling is a sign of weakness. This weakness is the fear to be called a woman. He also tends to follow word by word his culture and wants to be a model by ruling his family with an iron fist:” No matter how prosperous a man was if he was not able to rule his women and his children ,he was not really a man”: this a word of Okonkwo referring to his father who was a debtor. He owed everyone in the village and never pay attention to his child future.” he neither inherited a barn nor a title nor even a young wife”. Okonkwo,based on the bad reputation his father has in all clan does not want to resemble him. This is why he is harsh with his family and himself. His downfall is due to his extreme harshness and starts when his gun explodes during the funeral of one of the great man of the clan .He is called Ezeudi. During the funeral of Ezeudi his gun didn’t just explode but killed a young boy. Okonkwo’s nightmare starts since then as he has to leave the village for seven years.
He has to start all over again on his mother land. That was not as dreadful as seeing his clan being taken over by missionaries when he gets back after his seven years in exile. He could see himself not considered as a great man of the clan because of the arrival of the missionaries.:” nobody organised a feast to welcome him”. Another thing that increases his anger is that Nwoye,his son, integrated the missionaries and was no longer observing the laws of their ancestors. Okonkwo can also be sometimes ill-tempered and act without thinking carefully. He can not control his anger: “answer me!!” roared Okonkwo,”before I kill you! “.That was the way he reacts when he finds out that his son was going to church. Seeing his clan splitting apart by the new laws of the white men he was grieved .A revenge has then risen from his side as he is a proud and well attached to his ancestors’ beliefs. He wanted Umuofia to go for war but as a matter of coincidence five messengers have joined in the meeting. There was where Okonkwo attacked the head messenger and killed him. There again he has been without help from Umofia because they left the other messengers escape. In result he was not sure anymore of why he did so:” why did he do it?”, he heard voices asking him. This again shows how quickly he gets enraged. After that acting and having seen that no hope was left for him ,he hung himself. This is because he didn’t want to be killed under the law of the white men. As a proud man and a conservative person he saved his pride to please his ancestors.
To sum up, the status, strength and belief of Okonkwo all together lack an element which is how to control his anger. Also his exaggerated pretence of not being a” woman” makes him a bit mad. Since he believes that a man can manipulate his own destiny, he is the subject of his downfall.

that message was from amy, silly me forgot to put my name.
but i'm sure you knew it was from me miss. haha.
xx

birthday

happy birthday and merry belated christmas miss. hope you enjoyed yourself on both events :)
have a good new year and see you sooon. bet you can't wait.

The Crucible - Characters

Reverend Samuel Parris


Parris’s guiding principle is self-interest, but he is too ineffective to achieve his purpose.
His vanity, resentment, and constant complaints against his parishioners betray a weak character.
He is servile towards social superiors (e.g. Danforth) but brutal to anyone unable to retaliate, such as Tituba.
In the opening scene we are shocked by his lack of fatherly feeling. He is far more concerns about the effects of Betty’s illness on herself.

His inability to take firm decisions has led him to summon a witch-hunter, while trying to damp down rumours of witchcraft that would damage his own reputation. When the blame is safely diverted to Tituba, Mr. Parris becomes an enthusiastic witch-hunter.
His behaviour during the trial scenes is as self-centred as we would expect. Parris fears the victims will turn against him if they are set free, and sweats with anxiety whenever the judge seems impressed by their defence. His anxious interruptions provoke a crushing rebuke from Danforth.
Parris gets his comeuppance when his niece realises that the tide of public opinion has turned against the witch hunt, and makes a run for it with the contents of his strongbox. When his enemies are condemned to die, he pleads for a postponement – because he fears he may be assassinated, not because of concern for his victims.



John Proctor


John Proctor is the central character of the play, the protagonist.
He appears as one of the villagers drawn to Parris’s house by the rumours of Betty’s strange illness. His entry comes directly after Betty’s cry to Abigail: “you drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife!”
Almost until the end of the play a sense of guilt and shame holds John back from taking positive action at the right moment.

In his scene with Abigail, we learn the reasons for his guilt, and why he lies to himself as well as to abigail and his wife. “I have hardly stepped off this farm this seven-month”.
In the scene around Betty’s bed, John emerges as a down-to-earth man who speaks his mind and is not afraid to confront those in authority, especially when they abuse their position.
We may disapprove of his threatening of Mary and Abigail with the whip, but this must be seen in the context of his time.
His seated replies to Parris are not always to be taken at face value (“why, then I must find it and join it”). They show an honest disgust at Parris’s materialistic outlook and betrayal of his calling.


John is a practical farmer, struggling to win a living for his family, but still finds time to take a sensuous delight in his surroundings: “I never see such a load of flowers on the earth”.
The difficulties with his marriage might appear insuperable; but finally they appear as surface damage to what has been a deep and lasting union.
John’s anguished reaction to his wife’s arrest is the first move towards breaking through the restraints imposed by guilt. In the escalating horror of the witch-hunt, he becomes a reluctant hero. In striving to expose its fraud, he comes to acknowledge his responsibility to society and thereafter finds his true self.
Miller has sometimes been criticised for giving his hero a modern mind. This is surely a misreading of history. By 1692, there was dissent at all levels of colonial society. The number of recorded whippings, reprimands and public humiliations prove that many people did not accept the Puritan ethic. John Proctor in Miller’s play is a link between our own times and the values of seventeenth-century.


Abigail Williams


Miller gives us two facts about Abigail: she is “Strikingly beautiful” and has an “endless capacity for dissembling”.
Abigail is one of a band of Salem girls, most of whom are orphans. Their childhood has been joyless, subject to strict Puritan discipline.
Although adolescent, these girls are addressed as “child”, a wilful suppression of their developing sexuality. They suffer the drudgery of adult labour without adult freedom. They cannot work off their energies in the outdoor pursuits of their brothers, not express their frustrations. Their rebellion takes the form of expeditions into the danger zone of the forest. The thrill of arousing adult anxiety if they are found out is probably part of the excitement.

Before The Crucible begins, John Proctor has drawn Abigail into the adult world by seducing her. “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart!” she cries, when John rejects her. His repentance is sincere enough, even if it does not stretch to what he has done to his 17 year old servant.
Elizabeth sees her adulterous husband as a “good man…only somewhat bewildered” while Abigail is a “whore”.

As well as being the driving force of the play, Abigail’s desire for John is a symbol for the anarchic, irrational side of life that the Puritans tried so hard to repress. Thwarted love makes her ruthless. She has already “drunk a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife”.
By blaming Tituba for the adventure in the forest Abigail discovers a more dangerous aspect to the ascendancy she holds over her friends.
When she begins to name the witches, Betty picks up her lead without instruction. Backed up by her hysterical followers, Abigail controls the adults who have previously controlled her. Her ability to turn events to her own advantage increases with practice.

Her refusal to accept John’s rejection combines fatally with the rising social panic. The accusations eventually bring down her real target, Elizabeth Proctor. Once embarked on this course, Abigail cannot draw back, even when the man she wants is condemned to die.
In the end all she can do is to leave town in a hurry. With a last bold gesture she ensures a comfortable future by emptying her uncle’s strong box.

Abigail has courage, intelligence and a magnetic personality, but employs these gifts only in destructive ways. She exerts a totally malign influence on the terrified villagers. Most of them do not realise that the only witch in their midst is Abigail Williams.

Mary Warren


The same age as Abigail (17), Mary is the most fully developed character among the band of girls. She is “subservient, naïve, lonely”, and when we first meet her she is in a panic about their escapade in the forest.
She is a target for bullying, yet for such a timid person, she is surprisingly pert to her master, perhaps because she knows his secret.

Mary’s behaviour varies greatly during the play. At the beginning of Act 2, Elizabeth tells John that she has been unable to stop Mary leaving the house: “She raises up her chin like the daughter of a prince and says to me, ‘I must go to Salem…I am an official of the court!’”. The attention of Judge Danforth and other officials has inflated Mary’s ego, but her sense of self-importance is fragile.

When she enters she is depressed and exhausted. She weeps for the sentence passed on Goody Osburn. Her conscience protests, but she is too overawed to question the judges’ version of events. This inner conflict makes her seek comfort in a childish pursuit – doll-making. The “poppet” she sews in court has fatal consequences for the Proctors.
When her master orders her to bed, Mary becomes petulant and tries to assert her rights; but by the end of the act she is sobbing in terror at the thought of standing up to Abigail: “I cannot, I cannot”. Despite her best efforts, this is exactly what happens in Act 3.

Mary stands for all those people who recognise injustice but are too weak to resist it. Through her, Miller also shows how and why the girls managed to believe in the victims’ guilt.

Elizabeth Proctor


Early in the play Abigail describes Elizabeth as “a bitter woman, a lying, cold, snivelling woman…a gossiping liar”. We soon learn the true reasons for her opinion, and when Elizabeth appears in Act 2, it becomes obvious that Abigail has grossly distorted the truth.
Elizabeth has a more complex personality than her quiet, somewhat repressed manner suggests. John’s infidelity has hurt both her pride and her religious convictions. She cannot bring herself to give her husband the warmth he craves, and she suspects, quite rightly, that he still finds Abigail attractive. She undervalues John’s efforts to make amends.

Elizabeth is both gentle and practical. Despite her pity for the “poor rabbit”, she kills and cooks it for John’s super. She tries to save Mary a whipping; after her arrest, she fives orders for the household and tries to conceal her fear, concerned more for the children than herself. She is the first to understand Abigail’s intentions, and braves her husband’s anger to urge him into action. Unfortunately, it is already too late.
During her three months in prison, Elizabeth looks into her heart and realises that her own coldness has provoked John’s adultery: “I never knew how I should say my love. I kept a cold house!”. Going against all her beliefs she lies to save her husband’s reputation, unaware that he has already made his adultery public.

Elizabeth’s real strength shines through in the last Act. She resists all pressure from John himself, from court officials, and her own longing to save him from the gallows. She insists that her husband must decide for himself: and makes no comment on his first false choice. She gives way to grief only when he has torn up his confession.


Danforth


Danforth, the senior judge, is “a grave man in his sixties, of some humour and sophistication”. His reasonable manner only reinforces the horror of his actions in Salem. Only once does he lose control of himself, when at the end of the trial scene he becomes caught up in the hysteria created by Abigail.
At the beginning of Act 4, Danforth hears from a distraught Mr. Parris that Abigail has fled from Salem with the contents of his strngbox. “He walks in thought, deeply worried”. Is Danforth worried that Abigail is a fraud, and the whole series of trials has been based on a false assumption? No, he is anxious that the news may get around and persuade others to think so.

To the very end of the play, Danforth remains convinced that he is in the right. “While I speak God’s law, I will not crack its voice with whimpering”. Like Mr. Hale before his change of heart, he seems to believe that the witchcraft hysteria and its results are in themselves a sign that the Devil is at work in Salem.
Through Danforth, Miller demonstrates what happens when the state assumes absolute moral authority to direct the lives and beliefs of its citizens. The results are terrifying. Danforth “knows” that his mission is to purge the village. This overrides legal quibbles about evidence or court proceedings. He is unable to understand that even if God’s law in infallible, its interpreters are not.

This throw light on his behaviour in Act 3, where he displays both ruthlessness and courtesy. Judge Danforth and the defendants are following different agendas. John and Giles suppose their fate depends on presenting credible evidence. Danforth has a higher good in mind. He must carry out God’s will in Salem. To this end he manipulates court procedure and openly exploits the weaknesses of those on trial. He uses Elizabeth’s pregnancy in his efforts to dissuade John from charging the girls with fraud, and he remains silent while Hathorne bullies Mary Warren. For the same reason, he will not postpone the hangings. Danforth will not permit any crack in God’s fortress.
The overall result is that lies are taken as truth, and common sense ignored, for example, his wilful blindness to the widespread fear his court has aroused in the village, and his refusal to believe that Elizabeth has lied to spare her husband’s reputation. In these incidents Miller drives home the danger of allowing the state to take over the functions of private conscience.


Reverand Hale


The minister from Beverly is perhaps the most pitiable character in the play. Although John Proctor’s road to self knowledge ends at the gallows, he dies with a renewed sense of his own worth and reconciled to his wife. In Reverend Hale’s case, self-knowledge brings a weight of guilt that must haunt him for the rest of his life.
John Hale is a sincere and kindly man. His failing is to believe without question that those who rule by the laws of God cannot make mistakes, and that all evil is external, not in people’s minds.

By the end of the play, he has realised that the powerful can be imperfect. A rather conceited intellectual, and inclined to “smile at the ignorance of the yeomanry”, he is eager to use his “painfully acquired armoury of symptoms, catchwords, and diagnostic procedures”, that without meaning to, he unleashes the Salem witch-hunt.
Hale examines Tituba with conscientious attention to detail; he even treats her kindly. It is plain that her fear prompts her to “confess” and that Parris and Putnam are taking callous advantage, but Hale is too blinded to notice. By Act 2, the witch-hunt he has authorised is out of control.

When he interviews the Proctors, he firmly suppresses his emerging doubts. He convinces himself that the arrest of Rebecca Nurse indicates “some secret blasphemy that stinks to heaven”, and not a miscarriage of justice.
Rev. Hale’s doubts grow as the trials proceed. In Act 3, he becomes increasingly alarms and tries to put a case for the defence. Danforth ignores his attempts. When Elizabeth is removed, Hale brakes into open opposition: “ I may shut my conscience to it no more – private vengeance is working through this testimony”. After John Proctor’s arrest he denounces the proceedings and walks out.

Tortured by remorse, Hale returns to Salem, and tries to persuade the condemned prisoners to avoid hanging by making a false confession. “Cleave to no faith when faith brings blood” he warns Elizabeth, begging her to make her husband confess. She rejects Hale’s plea as “the Devil’s argument”. The minister’s last desperate appeal proves that he has lost sight of everything but his own sense of guilt.

Theme of Truth in The Crucible-

THEME OF TRUTH Wohooo!

Act 1:
We are firstly introduced to a community that believes that if they commit a sin, they must confess to be saved. This is shown in the first act, “so inclined to express publicly his guilt and sins, under the cover of accusations against victims” in Miller’s introduction, but he gives us an example of this, “Martha laid herself down on his chest and ‘nearly suffocated him’. Of course it was her spirit only, but his satisfaction at confessing himself” this shows how Miller believes that the people’s perception of confessing or even telling the truth was used not for its purpose, but for personal gain, in this case it would be to ensure that the accuser was saved and in the light of God.

This episode is repeated in the play although this time for the audience to witness, but appears in another kind of situation. It begins when Betty is incredibly afraid to get in trouble and pretends to be unconscious to avoiding having the confrontation with her father reverend Parris, of what truly happened that night. Abigail the niece of reverend Parris is blamed for Betty’s condition. The community automatically jump to the conclusion of witch craft being involved and accuse the girls of being part of it. Abigail then realises what would happen to her if people would think she was a witch and tries to deny it,”I never called him! Tituba, Tituba…” this then leads to Abigail bending the truth to shift the blame, “she sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer” this is Abigail ‘telling the truth’ and this also shows a perfect example of her manipulative character. She is a key character as she is the one who triggers the call for a witch hunt. Abigail confesses to Proctor “We were dancing in the woods last night, and my uncle leaped in on us,” which tells us that there was no witchery involved, to prove that the witch hunt is made from lies.

Truth is also unravelled in this act. Parris asks Abigail why she was dismissed from Goody Proctors service, Abigail replies that, “she hates me, uncle, she must, for I would not be her slave. It’s a bitter woman, a lying cold snivelling, woman, and I will work for such a woman”. This is a lie as later on we discover that Goody Proctor had dismissed Abigail for the affair she was having with her husband. We realise this when Proctor goes to visit Parris’s house, Abigail says to him when they are alone “I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I come near!” This is a key scene in act 1 as it shows the feelings they have for each other are still there, but most importantly this is when Abigail confesses to Proctor that they were only ‘dancing’ and this is used later to provide evidence that the girls are lying about there being witch craft.

Reverend Hale is another key character when discussing the theme of truth. Hale acts very confidently which provokes the village believe everything without hesitation as if what he is saying is fact.

Conflict- Dave, Gursevak,Lindsey, Miriam and Stephanie

Conflict

Conflict is a key point 2 the cruciblewhen people such as judge danforth hold strong beliefs conflict is inevitalbethe revenge of the which trials steems from conflict between the villagers which is unsettledalso there is an internal conflict within john proctor as he feels guilt for what he did 2 his wife and the douts his own judgementridled though out the play is the tention between the characters which end for some in a drastic death.

Act 1.
In the first act there is conflict between Abigail and John Proctor. Although it isn't as obvious at points it is a very deep underlying conflict between the two. Both of them have had a connection at some point and there is very mixed feelings between the two. The conflict is there because of the affair in which they had. For John it was for lust but for Abi it was love.
Quotes like ;(Abigail: I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I come near!) Shows us that the affair did happen.
John however denies it, this part of act one is the most straight forward bit to identfy the conflict between the two.

Proctor: We never touched, Abby

Abigail:Aye, but we did.

Proctor: Aye but we did not .

This shows that John Proctor is ashamed of what happened between them and will not even admit it happened , even to Abigail.
Arthur Miller uses stage directions to make an effect on how awkward the company of these two people being together. He uses directions like; "setting her firmly out of his path" and "grasping his hand before he can release her".
Shows us again that Abigail doesn't want John to not want her and he is doing what he can to resist the young girl.

Act2.
There is conflict between elizabeth and John, it is already apparent that John has Slept with Abigail. The seperation between the two continues.

Arthur Miller uses directions to tell us that 'a sense of their seperation arises', this shows us that they are still in conflict with each other.

Elizabeth: (She doesn't want
This again shows us that their is still underlying theme of conflict.

Their are various times in the second act in 'The crucible' that show John Proctor's stage directions with the theme of conflict. Like ;'his anger is rising' and 'with a violent undertone', are just a couple to show the feeling of conflict in this marriage.

Proctor:(laughing bitterly);Oh,Elizabeth, your justice would freeze beer!
This is an important quote as it sums up his feeling towards Elizabeth, he is in conflict not only with Elizabeth but with abigail too.He's also in conflict with himself for what has happened to his mariage.

Conflict- Parris

Parris always goes on about his enemies and what they think about him, but we are never actually told who his enemies are and if they even exist. This could show that he has had conflict or even expects conflict to arise. Parris says things like;'It must come out - My enemies will bring it out'.and 'I cannot blink what i saw, Abigail,for my enemy will not blink it'.

In act3 , Proctor comes into the court ,Parros says'Beware this man. Your Excellency, this man is mischief'. After this he goes on to try and get Proctor in trouble from Danforth. 'Such a Christian that will not come to church but once in a month' and 'Do you rebel the gospel, Mr Proctor?', these quotes show that there is now conflict between these two men. As act 3 progresses Proctor starts getting hiw ways and Danforth starts listening to him, Parris reacts angrly to this and says 'He's come to overthrow the court, Your Honout!'. The stage directions 'Parris nervously moves over and reads over Danforth's shoulder ' show us he is quite a paranoid man.
In Act 4 Parris eventualy shows sympathy for Proctor and begs him to confess to save his life. At this point it seems the conflict has gone.


p.s Miriams attachment wouldn't open on my computer so it is missing, sorry Ms Moore will put it on as soon as we can. - Steph

Theme - Religion

This presentation is based on the main theme of the 'Crucible', Religion. We have decided to cover many of the different parts of religious activity that is portrayed throughout the play. We are going to show how religion is conveyed through the languauge of the characters, their forenames and the set of the play.
The play lets us know that in 1692 Salem was run by a theocracy, which basically means that the community of Salem was run by the church, so they were exceptionally religious, well they had to be.

The language that is used in the crucible has it's origins in religion.
The people os Salem think they are the chosen ones, but this creates paranoia between them all. This society is one which is rural and deeply religious. The irony of the witch trials is that the fight against sinfullness in Salem will become more sinful and malicious than any of the actual events that occur.
The forenames of the characters, and others mentioned are taken from the bible, as was the practise in christian communities, eg, John, Elizabeth, Mary and Ezekial.
Some of the language that is used in the 'Crucible' mostly comes from religion: "Aye, sir. I pray for her."

This theme is also maintained by the setting of the play. At the very beginning of the play in Act 1 the house of Reverend Parris is described as a very obscure and narrow place. This darkness and narrowness have a connotation of Evil. It is indeed a contrast with the religion they are supposed to be applying to their lives. Furthermore, this obscure place of the shepherd reveals the kind of person he is, he is also driving off the community. This is an example of Proctor ploughing on Sundays and having not baptised his third child. However, at the end of each season there is a harvest, on which almost the whole community lives on. A good harvest, in the bible, symbolises hard-work and also a holy labour. Reverend Parris isn't the only form of misconduct in Salem, it is also due to everyone elses behaviour. The setting of Act 1 shows us Proctor's house, that although seems peaceful, (like it should, according to their religion) is not in reality. This example gives the impression that this is what is happening in every household in Salem. To finnish with this is another fact going against the religion which is the rate of unfair decisions and hangings at the court.

Amy, Anika, Mwamba, Sera and Lyndon.

Hype and Hysteria By Ross, Smaira, Jess and Gemma

To hype is to publicise or promote, especially by extravagant, inflated, or misleading claims

People who are "hysterical" often lose self-control due to overwhelming fear

The term also occurs in the phrase mass hysteria to describe mass public near-panic reactions.


Hype and Hysteria is a big theme in Arthur Millers play, ‘The Crucible’. It first becomes apparent when Abigail Williams accuses the innocent of witchcraft, which during this time was a crime punishable by death. Abigail Williams first starts accusing members of Salems community in order to take focus off her own crimes, and accuses Elizabeth Proctor so she can take her place as John’s wife.


Before the accusations began, Salem was a very close knit community, and the witch trials gave the people a chance to speak out against others for the first time.


This was used by people to settle long grudges by accusing them of witch craft.

Elizabeth Proctor was accused by Abigail for the simple reason that she wanted to take her place as John Proctors wife.

John Proctor was also accused because once he told Abigail that he loved his wife and nothing was ever going to happen with them, Abigail became angry and wanted her revenge she then accused Proctor of sending his spirit out on all of the girls.

Goody Nurse was also accused of witch craft, and killing their babies, by the Putnams. Rebecca Nurse was hung because she did not admit to the crime that she did not commit.

Martha Corey was first related to witch craft when her own husband confessed to her reading books.


Hype and hysteria is one of the most important themes of the play as it builds up throughout the play and causes every character to change and go against each other, just to save themselves from death.

Theme of Community!

The Crucible
Community


In this play, the people of the town were always aware of everyone else’s business. No secrets were kept in the community. So, when people started to talk about witchcraft and accusing others of it, everyone knew very quickly.
Everyone and everything belonged to God or the Devil.

These villagers believed in witches and the infallibility of the bible.
Anyone, in the community that doubted any evidence given against an accused person, would be questioning God’s will.
The tensions caused in the community because of the witch trials, led to a confrontations between characters.

Key Characters
Although all characters are linked to the community, Reverend Parris and Reverend Hale are the key ones.

Reverend Parris
Although Parris is meant to be the leader of the town, he changes through the duration of the play. He separates himself from the town and his own family, resulting in the breakdown
of the entire community. He also divides the community by claiming that he doesn’t get enough money and demanding possessions, such as the house that he lives in. This starts arguments between the characters
He shows more concern over his own reputation than his own daughter’s welfare at the beginning. His concerns over his reputation develop throughout the play.

Stage Description
The smallness of the room in Parris’ house symbolises the narrow-mindedness of the community.

Reverend Hale
Hale arrives in the town to question people, as an expert on witchcraft. He investigates who goes to church and who works on Sundays, to see who should be under the suspicion of witchcraft
At first he is arrogant, but his confidence erodes when he realises that the girls may be lying in the court. He finds himself caught up in the hysteria of the community.

McCarthyism
The McCarthy hearings were when people were put under suspicion of being a communist because they were involved in Anti-American activities.
The play has a strong link with the McCarthy hearings of the late 50’s and early 60’s in America. The witch trials symbolise McCarthyism and the community represents the American society of that period.

Act 1 of "The Crucible"

Act 1
First performed in January of 1953, The Crucible is first and foremost an allegorical tale relating the Salem witchcraft trials to their contemporary equivalent in Miller's time, the McCarthy hearings. The figurative witch hunt of McCarthyism becomes literal in Miller's play, which is constructed to illustrate how fear and hysteria mixed with an atmosphere of persecution may lead to tragically unjust consequences.
Miller presents the play with traditional theatrical devices, relying on the dialogue and situations to illustrate his themes, but finds these somewhat insufficient; in the first act the play therefore contains a number of historical digressions that reveal the motivations of each character and which cannot be accurately conveyed through a strict stage interpretation.
Through these prose passages that interrupt the dialogue and action of the play, Miller establishes the particular quality of Salem society that makes it particularly receptive to the repression and panic of the witch trials. The Puritan life in Salem is rigid and sombre, allowing little room for persons to break from the monotony and strict work ethic that dominated the close-knit society.
Furthermore, the Puritan religious ethic informed all aspects of society, promoting safeguards against immorality at any cost to personal privacy or justice. The Puritans of Massachusetts were a religious faction who, after years of suffering persecution themselves, developed a willful sense of community to guard against infiltration from outside sources. It is this paradox that Miller finds to be a major theme of The Crucible: in order to keep the community together, members of that community believe that they must in some sense tear it apart.
Miller relates the intense paranoia over the integrity of the Puritan community to their belief that they are in some sense a chosen people who will forge a new destiny for the world. This relates strongly to the political climate of the early 1950s in which Miller wrote The Crucible. After the end of the second world war, the United States found itself engaged in a struggle for political supremacy with communist forces, in particular the Soviet Union; just as the Salem authorities believe that witchcraft threatens their community, many Americans during this time saw communism as a threat to the American way of life.
However, the Salem witch trials as described by Miller have a sexual element that runs concurrent with the political aspects of the allegory. The community is one that promotes interference in all personal matters and intensely frowns upon any sinful conduct without allowing for any legitimate expurgation of sin. The witch trials serve as a means to break from this stifling atmosphere and publicly confess one's sins through accusation.
This simultaneous fear of and fascination with sexuality is a theme that predominates throughout The Crucible, as demonstrated by the particular relationship between Abigail Williams and John Proctor and the sexual undertones of the dancing that instigates the witchcraft trials, and it also relates to the quality of 1950s culture in which the play was written.

The first act establishes the primary characters of the play who instigate the Salem witch trials. Each has his particular obsessions and motivations that drive him to push for the trials. The first and perhaps most reprehensible of these characters is the Reverend Samuel Parris, a man who symbolizes the particular quality of moral repression and paranoia that characterize the trials. Miller immediately establishes Parris as a man whose main concern is his reputation and status in the community and not the well-being of his daughter, for whom he shows little emotion. It is Tituba who shows more concern for Betty Parris than her father, who rules his household as an autocrat.
When he discusses finding Abigail and Betty dancing in the woods, his concern is not the sin that they committed but rather the possibility that his enemies may use this sin against him. Parris will manifest a sharp paranoia concerning possible enemies, even when they may not exist. The particular quality of Parris that renders him dangerous is his strong belief in the presence of evil; even before the witchcraft paranoia, Proctor indicates that Parris showed an obsession with damnation and hell in order to strike fear into his parishioners. With the seeming presence of witchcraft in Salem, Parris now has a concrete, physical manifestation of the evil he so fears.

Abigail Williams is a less complex character whose motivations are simple; she is a clear villain with straightforward malicious motivation. Miller establishes that Abigail is suspected of adultery with John Proctor, a rumor that is confirmed later in the first act, while Abigail physically threatens the other girls if they disobey her. Abigail demonstrates a great ability for self-preservation: she admits what she must at appropriate times, and places the blame for her actions at the most convenient source, Tituba, when she realizes that it is the most savvy course of action.
Abigail's lack of any morality renders her able to charge others with witchery no matter the consequences. The third character who serves as a proponent of the witchcraft hysteria is Thomas Putnam. While Putnam's motivation is suspicion and paranoia and Abigail's is mere villainy, Thomas Putnam demonstrates that his motivation is his longstanding grudges against others; the witchcraft trials give Putnam an opportunity to exact revenge against others, and, as will later be shown, to profit economically from others' executions.
The final character who sets the witchcraft trials in motion is Reverend John Hale. Hale is perhaps the most complex character in The Crucible, a man who approaches religious matters with the conviction of a scientist and a scientific emphasis on proper procedure. Hale holds the contradictory belief that they cannot rely on superstition to solve the girls' problems but that they may find a supernatural explanation for the events. Since he lacks the malicious motivations and obsessions that plague the other instigators of the trials, Reverend Hale has the ability to change his position, yet at this point he finds himself caught up in the hysteria he has helped to create.
In contrast to these four characters stand the three main opponents of the witchcraft accusations. The Nurses are the most straightforward of these; Miller portrays Rebecca Nurse and her husband as near saints who rely on practical wisdom and experience. In contrast, Giles Corey has none of the noble character of the Nurses, yet he can oppose Parris and Putnam because of his contentious, combative manner. Giles Corey is a man who cares not for public opinion and may therefore choose whichever position he finds most suitable, even if it places him in danger.

However, Miller places John Proctor as the main protagonist of the story and its moral center. Proctor, as Miller writes, is a man who can easily discern foolishness and has the will to oppose it. He is a rational man with a brusque manner who, like Giles Corey, has no qualms about expressing his opinion. Miller portrays Proctor as a decidedly modern character, who eschews superstition for rationality and expresses skepticism for the trappings of organized religion, particularly the obsession with hellfire and damnation that Parris expresses.
The particularly modern quality of John Proctor draws the audience sympathy to him, even if he is a self-professed sinner who had an affair with Abigail Williams. Yet this is the single sin that Proctor manifests and exists more as a plot point than as an organic character trait. The Proctor that Miller portrays throughout The Crucible seems hardly capable of giving in to lust for a manipulative and demonstrably wicked young girl.
Several significant themes emerge early in the play. One of these that Miller develops throughout the act is the capability for gossip and rumors to disseminate throughout the close-knit society of Salem. Miller establishes that Salem is a society in which little information is considered private; there is no line between public and private conduct, for all information is open to suspicion and question. This correlates to the McCarthy hearings, which probed into the lives of the suspected communists for evidence of their anti-American activity, no matter the actual relevance.
Perhaps the most important theme that Miller develops in this act is the ability for accusations to snowball. The charges against the girls and Tituba become perpetually more significant: at first they are accused of merely dancing, then of dancing naked. The charges proceed until Tituba is deemed a witch and accuses others of conspiring with Satan. Legitimate charges of dancing and sinful activity increase in magnitude until charges of Satanism arise. The irony of this situation is that the fight against sinfulness in Salem will become more sinful and malicious than any of the actual events that occurred.

Act 2 - "The Crucible"

Act 2
While the first act takes place in the ostensibly Œpublic' setting of Reverend Parris' home, the second act moves into what should be considered the private sphere of the Proctors' home. The conversation between John and Elizabeth Proctor is intimate and even at times mundane, but there is a significant subtext of tension that remains between the couple that is undoubtedly caused by Proctor's affair with Abigail Williams. Elizabeth Proctor is intensely suspicious of her husband, worrying when he arrives at home late for dinner and adopting a condescending tone when her husband admits that he was momentarily alone with Abigail Williams.
Miller establishes Elizabeth Proctor as a morally upright woman, respectable and dignified, yet with an air of superiority that renders her frigid and distant. Elizabeth has made her home into a repressive atmosphere, as she continues to punish her husband for his wrongdoing. Still, if Elizabeth Proctor adopts a tone of moral superiority it is because she is in a significant sense the superior of her contemporaries, with an unwavering belief in the capability of persons to remain moral.
Miller creates an atmosphere of guilt within the Proctor household that mirrors the similar conditions within the larger Puritan society. John Proctor has expressed contrition for his infidelity and asked for forgiveness, yet there is no sense of catharsis within his marriage nor ability for full reconciliation. The Proctor marriage is stagnant and stifling, as the weight of John's adultery is a perpetual consideration.

Miller demonstrates this, in particular, when Proctor states the Ten Commandments; while John, likely motivated by guilt, wishes to forget the commandment against adultery, it is Elizabeth who offers him a sharp reminder. Miller seems to indicate that, like the rest of their Puritan society, the Proctors need an outlet to expiate John's sins and without this means for redemption they are committed to a perpetual obsession with the husband's infidelity.
Two major themes emerge in the second act of The Crucible. The first of these is the line between public and private. The chapter itself moves from the intimate conversation between husband and wife to more public matters, but the division between these two spheres becomes obscure. Even in setting, the public discussions of the Proctors' guilt or innocence occurs within the home.
. More importantly, Reverend Hale and the other court officials use private information for their public matters, such as information about the frequency with which they attend church and their belief in the validity of witches. The court officials investigate all aspects of the suspects' private lives. Under such intense scrutiny, these officials are able to find any information that may be may interpreted as evidence of guilt. This certainly relates to the intense public scrutiny of Miller's contemporary McCarthy hearings in which information about who was present at communist meetings years before was considered relevant.
The second major theme of the act is the ambiguity of evidence. This begins even before Hale arrives at the Proctors' home, when Elizabeth Proctor construes John's late arrival at home as possible evidence that he may be guilty of additional indiscretions. This continues with Reverend Hale's misinterpretation of John's forgetfulness of one of the Ten Commandments and the evidence against Martha Corey, which deems her a witch for reading books.
The most significant symbol of this theme in the second act is Mary Warren's poppet. Although Miller makes it clear to the audience that Proctor did not use the poppet as a charm against Abigail Williams, its presence in the house certain attests to this conclusion.
The poppet demonstrates that Abigail Williams is more villainous than earlier indicated. In the first act she behaved solely out of self-interest. She was ready to do harm to others, but only to save herself. However, in this instance she purposely frames Elizabeth Proctor out of revenge, planting the poppet as a means to engineer Elizabeth's murder. This event even serves to break the icy exterior of Elizabeth Proctor, who deems that Abigail must be "ripped out of the world."
Miller creates a situation of bleak irony in this chapter with the arrest of Rebecca Nurse and Elizabeth Proctor. These characters are the most upright in the play, yet are accused of witchcraft by the two most ignoble, Thomas Putnam and Abigail Williams. The dynamic of the witchcraft hysteria has created a situation in which the accuser of witchcraft is automatically presumed holy, as Proctor notes, while even the most spiritual character may be suspected of a Satanic alliance. In this situation the evil persons of Salem may raise their reputations at the expense of the good.
An additional irony that Miller constructs in the act is in the plot structure. The Proctors and their allies can rely on a single person to save themselves from Abigail Williams' treachery. Yet this person, Mary Warren, is the weakest and most pliable character in The Crucible. She alone has the power to stop the hysteria of the witchcraft trials, but neither the strength nor resolve to effect this act. Mary requires intense coercion from John Proctor to even consider admitting to the falsehood in court.
However, despite her weakness Mary Warren is as dangerous as Abigail, for the guileless girl betrays none of Abigail's malicious bearing and thus appears more overtly innocent. She is a pawn who may be used by the Proctors to prove their innocence, but Miller foreshadows that Mary Warren may be used by Abigail to serve her own purposes.
Among the characters in the play, it is Reverend Hale who demonstrates the most prominent character development. While the other characters remain fixed in their particular allegiances and beliefs, Hale demonstrates the debilitating effects of the witchcraft trials by the change in his character. When he reappears in the third act he has none of the enthusiasm of before; although he clings to his belief in the absolute certainty of finding proof of witchery within Salem, Hale appears more tentative about the results.
He demonstrates a strong feeling of guilt for his actions, as shown by his reliance on what he grasps as indisputable evidence; like Pontius Pilate, to whom Proctor compares Hale, he wants to play only a passive role in the proceedings without any feeling of personal responsibility. Hale's growing disillusionment foreshadows his later repudiation of the court's actions.

Act 3 of "The Crucible"

Act 3
Among the characters in the play, it is Deputy Governor Danforth who seems to provide the most obvious symbol of Senator Joseph McCarthy. Danforth rules over the proceedings as if he automatically has assigned guilt to the accused suspects, and adopts a harsh and vindictive air. However, Miller does not make Danforth a direct equivalent of the irrational demagogue McCarthy; rather, Danforth is a stern, cold man of unfailing faith in his judicial powers.
He does not manifest any particular political ambition, but instead acts to preserve the strength of the court over which he rules. This does make Danforth suspicious of any attack on the plaintiffs and the proceedings, but does allow him some room for flexibility. He uses reason to persuade Proctor to drop his charges against Abigail, telling him that his wife is spared for at least a year and that he need not worry about her execution.
. It is Danforth's stern rationality that makes him a more disturbing figure; he is not a malicious villain equivalent to Abigail Williams or Thomas Putnam, but rather a man who operates out of intense faith in the integrity of his court. He operates under the assumption that good and evil can be clearly and intensely defined, a flaw of tragic irony. In his desperate hope to sharply delineate good and evil, Danforth becomes the willing accomplice of those who obscure this line.
It is Reverend Parris who appears as the demagogue in this act of the play, denouncing all challenges to the court as challenges to Christianity and God himself. Parris is paranoid and foolish, demanding that all ninety-one people who attest to the good name of the three accused women be brought in for questioning. It is Parris' rabid defense of the trials that finally causes Hale to break from the court and offer a defense of the Proctors, Coreys and Nurses.
Parris knows that the trials are a fraud and that the girls are lying, yet continues to push against witchcraft to suit his ends.

Miller develops the motivations of the proponents of the witchcraft trials in this chapter. Reverend Parris remains motivated by suspicion and paranoia, while Thomas Putnam moves from an original motivation of grudges against others to unabashed greed. Abigail Williams, in contrast, has moved from self-preservation to a more general lust for power. However, upon the arrest of Rebecca Nurse and Elizabeth Proctor, Reverend Hale now eschews the supernatural explanations for more concrete, legal explanations.
He redeems himself from his role as a Pontius Pilate by serving as an advocate for justice. This is significant, for it provides concrete evidence that opposition to the trials does not necessarily mean opposition to law and order.
Deputy Governor Danforth espouses the central irony of the witchcraft trials: because there can be no concrete evidence of witchcraft, one must automatically assume that accusations are true, for the only two persons who take part in the crime are the witch and the victim, and the witch will never accuse herself. This essentially negates the idea of evidence, taking opinion and allegation to be concrete fact. It is this flaw that on which Abigail Williams and the other girls capitalize when making their accusations.
Miller establishes that it takes only a simple accusation for a person to be convicted of witchcraft. Thomas Putnam uses this for economic gain, coercing his daughter into accusing George Jacobs so that he may purchase his land once Jacobs has been executed. Yet it is Abigail Williams who brings this particular quality into sharp relief. Abigail is intense and dramatic; she targets the weak-willed Mary Warren, knowing that she will easily break from her alliance with Proctor once challenged.
When Abigail pretends to see a yellow bird attacking her, it is an obvious falsehood, yet the court accepts it as truth because they have established that such evidence is irrefutable proof.
The chapter culminates to encompass two central ironies. The first of these is that, to prove his own innocence and prove himself faithful to his wife, John Proctor must publicly declare his infidelity. To save Elizabeth and protect himself from an inevitable accusation of witchcraft, Proctor must tear down his name and condemn himself for the crime of lechery.
Despite Proctor's obvious sin, this places Proctor as a martyr, sacrificing any chance for a good reputation in Salem, where public reputation is essential, in order to save his wife and others wrongly accused of witchcraft.
The second irony involves the testimony of Elizabeth Proctor. To save her husband from accusations of witchcraft, she must condemn him for lechery. Miller establishes that she is an honest woman who never lies, yet at the moment in which her honesty is most critical she chooses the noble yet practical lie that she believes will defend her husband. As Hale notes, it is a natural lie for Elizabeth Proctor to tell, yet an incredibly ill-timed one; Elizabeth Proctor chooses dishonesty at the precise moment that her integrity matters the most.
Miller continues the theme of revolving accusations in this act when Mary finally breaks down and accuses Proctor of witchcraft. Fearful of her own life, Mary realizes that the only way to save herself is to accuse Proctor of coercing her into attempting to overthrow the court. In this case the accusation contains some truth: Proctor did force Mary Warren into testifying, yet in this case the purpose is to promote true justice rather than to dispute it.
At the end of this chapter, Proctor condemns himself by claiming that God is dead. When he states this, he speaks metaphorically, lamenting a world in which a stock villain such as Abigail Williams may preside over the ostensibly just and moral society of Salem. Once again Proctor gives into melodramatics when faced with injustice. He may be correct, yet expresses his righteousness through means that make him an easy target for those such as Abigail and Reverend Parris.

Act 4 of "The Crucible"

The fourth act of The Crucible largely concerns the perversion of justice that has occurred in Salem. Miller demonstrates this immediately in the comic interlude that opens the act. Tituba and Sarah Good are foolish comic foils whose claims of communing with Satan are intended to be absurd. Yet while these women are spared the gallows because they have confessed to witchcraft, persons such as Rebecca Nurse who refuse to admit to a crime they did not commit remain sentenced to execution.


This large-scale inversion of justice is reflected in the larger workings of Salem society. As Parris claims, there is the possibility of rebellion because of the witchcraft trials, while the numerous people who remain in jail have caused the village to fall into shambles. This is yet another example of the irony of the witchcraft trials: while they meant to preserve the order of society, the trials throw Salem into a state of anarchy and rebellion.


However, since the previous act there has been a shift in the public opinion concerning the trials. Miller indicates that the citizens of Salem supported the trials when the victims were obviously disreputable members of the community, but now that the executions of the more respectable community members are imminent. This reinforces the idea that the Salem witch trials were in part vindictive; the purpose of the trials was not to remove witches from Salem, but rather to remove certain members of the community for other reasons.


For the citizens of Salem, the executions only become unacceptable when they involve those honored members of the community, even if the charges against them have the same proof, or lack thereof, as those against the disreputable Bridget Bishop or Sarah Osburn. The implications of this are wholly cynical: the shift in public opinion is not a turn toward justice but rather an expression of personal preference.


If there is a sense of justice in The Crucible, it is meted out to Reverend Parris and Abigail Williams in this chapter. Reverend Parris reveals himself to be a fool capable of being easily manipulated by Abigail Williams, whose guilt seems obvious thanks to her sudden escape from town and theft of Reverend Parris' savings. However, even with these revelations which cast further doubt on the validity of Abigail's charges of witchery against others, the Salem court continues with the trials and executions.


This demonstrates that the trials have taken on a life of their own separate from the accusations of the principles, who set legal machinations in motion that even they cannot stop. This therefore fulfills the theme of snowballing accusations that Miller established early in the play. The accusations began with Abigail Williams, but now, supported by the weight of the judiciary, the prosecution does not stop with her downfall.


Contrasting considerations of self-interest lead Danforth and Parris to beg John Proctor to confess to witchcraft. While Parris fears for his physical safety, Deputy Governor Danforth operates to defend the court from further attack. The change in Danforth's overt motivation is important: previously, Danforth meant to uphold the integrity of the court, but here he suggests corruption to simply preserve the political stature of the government; he even worries if postponing the executions might show weakness on the part of the court.


By prompting Proctor to give an obviously false confession, Danforth indicates that he likely believes that the witchcraft allegations are false. This fully demonstrates how the witch hunts have gained a life of their own; considerations of reputation and the political dynamic lead the court to continue with prosecutions and executions even when the original proponents of the trials are proven disreputable and even when the political officials who run these trials show serious doubt concerning the validity of the charges.


The final passages of The Crucible concern ideas of martyrdom and justice. Miller places three of the accused as possible martyrs, each representing different methods and approaches to self-sacrifice. Giles Corey, the first of the noble victims of the trials, remains the comic tragedian even in the event of his death death. He does not passively accept the decision of the court, but struggles against the court's charges. Even when Giles Corey dies at the hands of the court, he chooses his fate, giving as his last words the order "more weight" when he is pressed by stones.


In contrast, Rebecca Nurse accepts her fate passively, remaining consigned to her fate and thus placing herself as a long-suffering martyr to the court's injustice. Unlike the truculent Giles Corey, Rebecca Nurse only displays those most Christian qualities of resignation and turning the other cheek, but in behaving as such she does nothing.


The critical test for John Proctor in this act is whether he will accept the martyrdom of Giles Corey and Rebecca Nurse or choose self-interest. Proctor himself proposes the question of whether a sinful man may accept martyrdom by clinging to principles he has not always upheld. The saintly Rebecca Nurse may accept martyrdom because it suits her character, but the sinful Proctor questions whether or not it is hypocrisy to stand for his principles when he is an overt sinner.


Miller implies that Proctor can choose self-sacrifice for his principles, for it is not a question simply of his reputation, but that of his family and his community. Proctor may not be an exemplar in all matters, but he could not serve as a father to his children if he were to so readily give up his name to preserve himself.
The second question of this chapter is whether it is a worse sin to lie to save oneself or to make a decision that directly leads to one's death. This is the fulfillment of the theme of self-preservation that has recurred throughout the novel.


While Hale suggests that God damns a liar less than a person who throws one's life away, Elizabeth suggests that this is the devil's argument. Miller seems to support Elizabeth's position, for it is by giving self-preserving lies that Tituba and Sarah Good perpetuated the witch hunts.


Elizabeth Proctor serves as the moral conscience in this act of The Crucible. It is she who puts forth the most prominent arguments for Proctor accepting his own death, despite her stated wish that she wants her husband to remain alive. This could be interpreted as another manifestation of Elizabeth's cold nature, for she remains seemingly more concerned about abstract moral principles than her husband's life; Danforth even questions whether Elizabeth does have any sense of tenderness.
However, Miller counteracts the possibility that Elizabeth Proctor is an unfailingly cold woman; she refuses to attempt to influence her husband even if her position is clear, and she even admits her failings, accepting some portion of the blame for her husband's infidelity. Elizabeth shows herself to be more fragile during this act of the play, allowing her to serve as the story's moral conscience rather than a proponent of abstract and harsh moral law.

The negotiations between Proctor and Danforth concerning his confession illustrate the theme of public versus private redemption. Proctor insists that his penitence remain private, while Danforth requires a public declaration of guilt and a further condemnation of other witches. It is this critical factor that turns Proctor to accepting his martyrdom when he chooses sacrificing himself to stop the perpetuation of the witchcraft accusations. Proctor thus answers his own concern about martyrdom, ending his life with an action that remains indisputably noble dispute the sins he has previously committed.

yarr

am putting this up so i can get it at home ^^ lol

and help if your internet is working please :S

""Harry Potter And The philosophers Stone

This study will look at the theme of good and evil in JK Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone’, we will also focus on Rowling’s use of characterisation, setting and symbolism. Harry is a young boy whose life has not been the best up till when he discovers he’s a wizard. He goes into this new world makes friends and enemies and finds an old one too who almost kills him but Harry escapes and continues on his new happy life.""

OOft Please God Make It Thursday

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pretty please make it thursday most of the class have no chance at all of getting it in =[

Pretty Please are you sure that alcohol won't swing it

Technical Terms (reposted)

Alliteration:the repetition of the same consonant sound in two or more word.

Allusion:A reference to another event, place, person, or piece of literature.

Ambiguity:Words or phrases in which the meaning is unclear or which has more than one possible interpretation.

Archaic:old-fashioned language; used to describe words which are seldom used any more.

Assonance:The repetition of similar vowel sounds.

Blank Verse:Unrhymed poetry in iambic pentameter.

Cliche:A phrase, idea or image that has been used so much that it has lost its original meaning and significance.

Climax:Building up to a high point or important moment.

Colloquial:Ordinary, everyday speech.

Connotation:The implication or suggestion attached to a word or phrase.

Couplet:Two consecutive lines of verse that rhyme.

Dialect: a way of speaking in certain areas of the country.

Enjambement:A line of verse that flows on to the next line without pause.

Euphemism: A softer, less harsh way of expressing something unpleasant.

Extended Image: A comparison that is repeated in more than one place in a poem or is continued throughout the writing.

Feminine Rhyme: Rhyme of more than one syllable (eg. constitution)

Figurative Language: Language which is symbolic or metaphorical; not meant to be taken literally, such as similes, metaphors and personification.

Hyperbole: elaborate exaggeration.

Imagery: The use of words to create pictures or images for the reader.

Infinitive: "To" plus a verb form, such as "to jump" or "to swim".Internal Rhyme: Rhyming words within a line rather than at the end of lines.

Inversion: Word order which places the verb before the subject or otherwise "inverts" the usual structure of a sentence with which we are familiar - subject, verb, object - and thereby puts emphasis on the word which is out of order.

Irony: Saying one thing while meaning another: a word or phrase has a surface meaning but the opposite, often contradictory, meaning is implied.

Jargon: Language which is particular to a particular profession or occupation.Juxtaposition: Placing togther two items which are not usually placed together to create a striking combination.

Masculine Rhyme: Rhyme of one syllable.

Metaphor: A comparison of two things to make a description more vivid. the metaphor states that one thing is the other; whereas, a simile would say that it is "like" or "as" the other object.

Metre: Regular use of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry.

Monosyllabic: Single syllable.

Mood: THe overall emotional feeling or atmosphere communicated by a piece of writing.

Octave: The first eight lines of a Petrarchal sonnet.

Onomatopoeia: The use of words whos sound copies the sound of the thing they describe.

Oxymoron: A figure of speech which joins together words of opposite meanings.

Paradox: A puzzle; a statement that appears contradictory, but when it is considered more closely it is seen to be true.

Parallel Sentence Structure: Two sentences follow the same structure of syntax or pattern. usually used to show either a contrast in the ideas of the two sentences or a similarity. (Also known as a balanced sentence or "antithesis")

Parenthetical: from paraenthesis: a word or phrase which gives extra information and is not strictly speaking necessary for the sense. These phrases are placed within brackets or commas.

Parody: A work that is written in imitation of another work, usually written to make fun of the original work.

Pejorative: A negative suggestion or implication of a word.

Pentameter: A line of verse containing five feet.

Persona: The "person" in the poem - not necessarily the poet; it is the perspective or point of view from which the poem is written.

Personification: Giving human qualities to an inanimate object. A metaphor in which an inanimate object is likened to a person.

Polysyllabic: Made up of more than one syllable.Polysyndetic: The joining of words in a list with "and" between each of the items. Usually this is used to emphasise or draw attention to some feature of the list.

Pun: a play o words: two words that have similar sounds but different meanings.

Quatrain: A stanza of four lines which rhyme.

Refrain: Repetition throughout a poem of a phrase, line or verse.

Rhetorical Question: A question which does not require an answer because the answer is obvious or because it is implied in the question.

Rhyme: Corresponding sounds in words, usually at the end of lines.

Rhyme Scheme: The pattern of rhyme in a poem.Sarcasm: Usually a very cruel or cutting remark.

Satire: The exposing of human failings by ridiculing them.

Sestet: The last six lines of a Petrarchan sonnet.

Sibilants: Words which begin with "s" or soft "c", like "soft shoes".

Simile: A comparison of one thing to another in order to make a description more vivid. Similes use the words "like" or "as".

Simple Sentence: A sentence which has one clause with a subject and verb.

Sonnet: A fourteen line poem. A petrarchan sonnet has an octave and a sestet which is often a puzzle followed by an "answer" or a resolution. A Shakespearean sonnet is three quatrains plus a couplet. The quatrains are often related and an idea is developed throughout the quatrains reaching a climax or conclusion in the final couplet.

Stanza: The blocks of lines into which a poem is divided.

Stream of Conciousness: A technique in which the writer writes down thoughts and emotions as they come into mind without seeming to bother about an order or structure.

Structure: The way that a piece of writing is put togther.

Style: The individual way in which a writer uses language to express ideas.Symbol: A physical object representative of something else.

Syntax: The way in which sentences are constructed.

Theme: the central idea or ideas that are explored in a piece of literature.

Tone: The author's voice or overall impression created in the poem. it is created in a combination of ways, such as word choice, sentece structure, rhythm, rhyme.

Transferred Epithet: An adjective which is usually applied to a person is applied to an object to draw attention to the quality.

Verse: A unit of Poetry

Villanelle: A verse form which is complex and artificial. It has a very tight rhyme scheme: aba aba aba aba aba abaa. Certain lines are repeated entirely: line 1 is repeated in lines 6, 12, 18; line 3 is repeated in lines 9,15 and 19.

New year - New Class

Hello Higher class 2007/2008.

Welcome to the forum that is my blog. As you know you are taking over this blog from last year's class, but that does not mean you are simply replacing them. You are adding to the wealth of knowledge already displayed. Feel free to look at the postings already made. There is a great deal of brilliant stuff on here. However, do NOT delete anything once it is posted. That is my job! There is a lot of stuff on here that I would like to keep but not had a chance to archive yet.

Over the next few months you will find various hints and tips about the texts studied and to help you with exam technique. There may also be a few surprises along the way. You must check this regularly for feedback, homework tasks, etc.

So welcome and enjoy!

Ms. Moore