2 “Probably more than creed, hard work kept the morals of the place from spoiling…” (4/4).
Speaker: Arthur Miller
Audience: Readers
Context: Arthur Miller, the author of this novel is presenting an opening statement about Salem. He is giving the readers more enlightenment to the situation in Salem.
Content: The time the people of Salem spent grinding hard to develop and grow helped keep Salem tightly enclosed more than religion
Significance: It construes Salem to be a place with hard-working individuals with a strong bond. In terms of this quote being at the start of the novel, it allows the reader to have a better understanding to why later on he expresses through the characters how religion was what all decisions were based upon. Religion was portrayed to be unimportant in this quote but later on, there is a huge change in the plot that revolves around religion.
7 “He is a sinner, a sinner not only against the moral fashion of the time but against his own vision of decent conduct” (20/19).
Speaker: Arthur Miller
Audience: Readers
Context: Betty has woken up for a slight second. She plays as if she is going to jump out of the window to frighten Abigail. Abigail attempts to stop Betty from jumping out the window. Betty then starts blabbering about Abigail drinking blood to kill John Proctor’s wife. Abigail threatens her and gives her a story to tell along with Mary Warren about them going to the forest. Mary Warren is petrified but Abigails tells her to be hushed. John Proctor then enters the room.
Content: Not only is John Proctor a man who sins against the towns religious beliefs but also against his own personal beliefs
Significance: This is the very first time John Proctor is being introduced into the story. This quote brings light to the situation between Proctor and Abigail. At this point, the readers do not know what happened between Proctor and Abigail which lead her to develop such awful thoughts about his wife Elizabeth Proctor but, the readers can begin to have an idea as to what may have happened through this quote. It presents Proctor as being such a sinful man that he cannot even commit to his own perfect demeanor.
4 “To the best of their knowledge the American forest was the last place on earth that was not paying homage to God” (5/5)
Speaker: Arthur Miller
Audience: Readers
Context: It is the beginning of the novel and the Author Arthur Miller is still describing the town of Salem. While introducing that there is a forest he explains how the people of Salem are not too fond of it because it not a place with the presence of God.
Content: The forest in America was not a place for believers of God in that the Devil takes over
Significance: The author lays out the main focal point of the novel which is the idea that everything revolved around God. The idea that a forest is a place where the Devil stands ground contributes to what happens later on when the town creates a problem based upon what young girls and a slave did.
3 (column b) “You are God’s instrument put in our hands to discover the Devil’s agents among us” (46/44).
Speaker: Hale
Audience: Tituba
Context: Reverend Hale is questioning Tituba about her affairs in the forest after Abigail accused of witchcraft. He is trying to convince her to admit to her “wrongdoings” to save her.
Content: Hale is telling her that God has sent her to tell them who has committed witchcraft
Significance: As I mentioned before, everything in this town revolves around God. Hale tells Tituba that God has sent her to help them unveil devilish acts within Salem. God will not rebuke her since she confessed and she will be able to save the people of Salem. If Tituba goes against what the town believes, is protecting them she will not be able to be saved. Hale is representing his devotion to God through this quote by using Tituba as a way to become God’s helping hand in bringing light to witchcraft in Salem. Later on, this will lead to undirected people being accused of witchcraft but in the short term allow Hale to “save” Tituba.
Rhetorical strategies: Hale’s tone is affirmative in trying to aspire Tituba. He does this by letting her know that she is well connected to Salem and her protector, God.
4 (column b) “No more! I should have roared you down when first you told me your suspicion. But I wilted, and, like a Christian, I confessed. Confessed! Some dream I had must have mistaken you for God that day” (55/52).
Speaker: Proctor
Audience: Elizabeth
Context: Proctor is talking to his wife, Elizabeth about her suspicion with the affair with Abigail. They are at their house at the time.
Content: Proctor was telling Elizabeth to stop judging him for having an affair with Abigail. He had already confessed to her what happened just like a good fellow “Christian”.
Significance: Proctor feels extremely guilty about being with Abigail and is attempting to forget about the situation. He is in desperation for Elizabeth to forgive him for his actions yet, she cannot seem to release her feelings. Proctor is being heartless about her forgiveness and she cannot get rid of the thundering emotion of disloyalty. One very important object that they seem to overlook is the idea that Abigail has power over both of them.
Rhetorical strategies: Proctor uses great diction to reveal his feelings by using the words roared and wilted. These are both very strong words with a very defiant definition. Roared shows how he wanted to utterly express his sentiment towards Elizabeth. And Wilted represents how he lost his hope to say anything to Elizabeth about her suspicion.
11(column b) “I have known her, sir. I have known her” (110/102).
Speaker: Proctor
Audience: Danforth
Context: While Proctor is in court he calls Abigail a whore which brings up an compile of questioning for Abigail and him. Proctor then admits to having an affair with Abigail to save his wife but she denies it.
Content: Proctor is admitting to the affair by announcing that he has known her in a deeper way than.
Significance: Proctor attempts to save his wife by sacrificing his reputation. To admit to adultery is a terrible crime and he was brave enough to allow that to happen. By doing this it reveals how deeply he cares about his wife, Elizabeth and wants her forgiveness. No man in Salem will ever do such a thing. In Salem, there are only two ways someone can gain a reputation and that is through abiding by the rules and having strong moral uprightness. Proctor exposes his affair which causes him to have a bad reputation and by being honest it represents his strong moral uprightness.
Rhetorical Strategies: Proctor uses pathos to persuade Danforth that he had an affair with Abigail. He does through an emotion of guiltiness and disappointment towards himself. By using this appeal it justifies his actions to a great extent.
6(column b) “John – grant me this. You have a faulty understanding of young girls. There is a promise made in any bed…” (61/58).
Speaker: Elizabeth Proctor
Audience: John Proctor
Context: Elizabeth is speaking to Proctor about how she believes that Abigail wants her dead based on what Mary Warren has told them about the court that day. She is very confident in what she believes is true and Proctor keeps denying feeling guilty even though he knows deep down it is true
Content: A promise is made in bed with you sleep with a young girl. Their feelings are much stronger.
Significance: The fact that Elizabeth indicates that Abigail’s hate towards her is stimulated through the affection she believed to have gained by sleeping with her husband reveals how young girls think of a man after having sexual intercourse. Abigail believes that by Elizabeth being dead she will have Proctor. Proctor cannot seem to wrap his head around this idea and it just comes to show how he cannot forgive himself for what he has done even though his wife has already.
Rhetorical Strategies: Through pathos, Elizabeth is trying to convince her husband that Abigail is no good. She is coming up with a logical reason as to why Abigail may want her dead. She brings up the idea that when you sleep with a young girl there is a promise committed to them that presents that the man is in love with them.
5 (column b) “I never knew it before. I never knew anything before…But then – then she sits there, denying and denying, and I feel a misty coldness climbin’ up my back, and the skin on my skull begin to creep, and I feel a clamp around my neck and I cannot breathe air…” (57/54).
Speaker: Mary Warren
Audience: Elizabeth Proctor and John Proctor
Context: Mary Warren is telling Elizabeth and John Proctor about an imaginary feeling bestowed upon her through Sarah Good.
Content: Marry Warren felt Sarah Goods “spirits” attacking her in court while she was being questioned.
Significance: What Mary Warren was feeling at the time was all in her head. She was imagining things through terror and delusions. This just comes to show how the people of Salem are easily influenced by the court to believe actions that appear to be acts that comply with witchcraft. All the accusations made in court were based on emotion and to no degree by a reasonable point. This just leads to more people being accused of things they have not done because they are fearful of the court.
Rhetorical Strategies: This a non sequitur because Mary Warren is coming to a conclusion with an illogical reason to why she felt a misty coldness climbing up her back. There is no physical evidence that she could present that proves that Sarah Good is the one that is committing these terrible acts. Mary Warren is just causing more problems then there is already.
14 (column b) “They say he gives them but two words. ‘More weight,’ he says. And died” (135/125).
Speaker: Elizabeth Proctor
Audience: John Proctor
Context: Elizabeth is talking to John Proctor about them confessing to the court. Proctor brings up Giles an ask what happened to him. She tells him that they “pressed” him and does not quite get it at first and then she explains it in greater depth
Content: Giles did not give any names but instead was brave enough to tell them to basically kill him by adding more weight to the stones that were being pressed against his chest
Significance: Giles was tough to allow them to continue to add weight just to save his land. He believed that what he was being asked to do was wrong and that is why he refused to do so. In a way when Elizabeth tells John Proctor this it allows him to have some sort of influence to be strong and fight for what he believes in.
Rhetorical Strategies: This represents a logical fallacy of straw man because the court oversimplified Giles punishment by adding more weight to his chest when he did not tell the court what they wanted to hear.
8(column b) “All innocent and Christian people are happy for the courts in Salem! These people are gloomy for it” (94/87).
Speaker: Parris
Audience: Hale
Context: Proctor brings a long list of names signed by farmers, members of the church to prove that the women accused of witchcraft are innocent. Harris decides to declare that what is doing is an attack on the court. But, Hale argues that not every defense is trying to attack the court.
Content: Any innocent Christian will agree with the court since it represents God
Significance: Parris is basically stating that Proctor, Giles, and Rebecca Nurse are not with the court thus in opposition to God. The court believed that if you are really innocent you would be of the same mind with what they thought to be true because the court was all based on God. Moreover, Parris is taking God’s name in vain by using it as a way to cover up what his Betty and Abigail have done. This comes to show how Parris is willing to sustain fatal punishments on Salem just to protect his status.
Rhetorical strategies: It is pretty ironic that Parris decides to disprove something that he and the audience know is true. He attempts to question the long list even though he knows that people who are accused of witchcraft have done no crime but he wants to falsify their innocence