This is your next blog response assignment. It will count as one homework grade.
1. Please view the following clips from the 1996 film version of The Crucible and select one that you would like to write about. Underneath each is the page number that it can be found in the play, along with a brief description.
2. Respond to the clip by answering the following question:
What does the passage mean? Focus on individual words and/or phrases. How does it serve to develop or enlarge the character or characters speaking it? Please focus on the text and not so much on the film-related aspects of the scene.
Your response should be no more than three sentences. Please indicate which clip you've chosen (#1, 2, etc). Keep in mind that some clips skip or omit a few words or phrases, but overall the scenes retain most if not all of the text.
The deadline for this assignment is Friday, 11/18 at 11 PM.
1.) This combines Hale's two speeches on pgs. 38 and 39.
2.) This is Proctor's speech after ripping up the arrest warrant. (pg. 77)
3.) Danforth declares "a person is either with this court or he is against it." (Pg. 94)
4.) Hale: "Life is God's most sacred gift" (pg. 132)
5.) Proctor asks his wife's forgiveness. (pg. 136)
6.) Proctor's "It is my name!" speech. (pg. 143)
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
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In Clip #3, Danforth means that the people of Salem must either be in favor of the court's actions, or be completely opposed altogether. He attempts to further divide them into groups relating to the extremes.
ReplyDeleteThe meaning of the passage in clip #4 (pg.94) is to explain the feelings of the people of Salem that a person is either for God or the Devil, there is no in between. When Danforth says, "we live no longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world," he is saying that they no longer have to deal with evil mixing with good because they are going to cease it before it happens. This passage develops the character of Danforth because it clearly shows his feelings toward good and evil, and represents the overall attitude of the others against witch craft in Salem village.
ReplyDelete3) When Danforth exclaims that a person is, "either with this court or against it, there be no road between", the reader comes to a realization that justice will not take place during the "trials". This striking statement made by the chief judge shows the prevalent bias and single mindedness that exist throughout the community. If one is with the court, then he or she is with god; if one questions the court, then he or she is with the devil and is automatically condemned to hang.
ReplyDeleteIn clip #3, Danforth exclaims that the people of Salem must decide one way or another whether they are with the court completely, and therefore with God and an honest person. Or against the court, where they will be associated with evil and most likely condemned to death. In these trials there is no half way, the people must decide where their beliefs lie.
ReplyDeleteThis passage shows the complexity of the trials and how there in no room for compromise with in the courts. Danforth declares "that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there is not road between" implying that, according to Danforth, these cases have only supporters or those against them. The idea that a person must be with or against the court, and not able to be in between, shows the complex nature of the court system and it's supporters.
ReplyDeleteThe main purpose of the sixth clip is to show Proctor's final stand for what's moral and just. He means to convey the sense of despair that he feels at the figurative death of truth and justice. Proctor's morality is upheld by this scene.
ReplyDeleteIn scene #6, proctor refuses to sign his name on a warrant that claims to his witchcraft. Proctor had considerable pride even after he committed lechery. That pride was the main reason for Proctor not sparing his own life. His name was more important than his life, and he would not have another in his lifetime, so he was not willing to sin again to spare his life.
ReplyDeleteIn this passage, Proctor displays the imbalance in the power in the court. Proctor also shows the pride in his own name by not signing his name to “lie and sign myself to lies” (143). The meaning of this passage additionally is to show the injustice of the court as Proctor does no sign his name because his belief that almighty God is the only one that he needs to confess to; not the court.
ReplyDeleteIn #6, Proctor is not willing to dirty over his name in a written document. He is willing to die, but, since he is lying about being a witch, Proctor doesn't want to soil his name with that. He has a legacy that he doesn't want to be completely ruined by a written document.
ReplyDelete(Clip 6, p.143) Proctor redeems himself in this scene when offered the opportunity to make a public confession of his guilt and live, although he almost concedes. His immense pride and fear of public opinion compel him to withhold his adultery from the court in the past, but he now wants to save his name, for personal and religious, rather than public, reasons. Proctor has come to a true understanding of what a fine reputation means and that it necessitates that he tell the truth, not lie in order to "save" himself, as he rages “I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” thus enabling him to die, heroically, with his goodness intact.
ReplyDeleteThe meaning of Danforth's speech on page 94 is that everyone must have an opinion on the witchcraft matter."There be no road between" means that the people of Salem must either agree or disagree with God, and with one single thought of doubt, they would immediately become against God and the court. This speech shows Danforth's strong opinion that witches exist and that witchcraft is wrong.
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ReplyDeleteWhat Danforth says "either with this court or against it, there be no road between" means that there is no denying to the court and Danforth's judgement because if people deny his decision, then people are regarded to be against the God. As the development of the story, innocent people want to say for their innocence, but they are all regarded as against God and with the Devil in the other word. What he says directly influence the ending of the story which many people hang because they are not confessed themselves.
3. Danforth states that “a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it," indicating that anyone who opposes the court is undermining Puritan jurisprudence, rather than merely advocating a contrary position. With this, he justifies the countless arrests and accusations made, asserting that anyone who fails to believe in witches or who is indifferent to witchcraft is against the court, and therefore against God’s will. “The dusky afternoon” is the grey area of this indifference between right and wrong that Danforth rejects as an inferior compromise, rather than a clear embrace of the virtuous “right way” as determined by the Puritan judges.
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ReplyDeleteWhen Proctor proclaims, "Because it is my name!," in response to Danforth asking him why he will not give him the signed declaration implicating Proctor's work with the devil, it shows how he will not allow his name to be soiled. After everything he has been through, being suspected and ordered to be executed on the accounts of witchcraft, all he wants to do is save his name. His name is all he has left, and he dies in order to preserve it, demonstrating a strong and noble act to not only save his own honor, but the lives of innocent townspeople.
In the third passage, Danforth claims that "a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it." This shows both that everyone not with the court is automatically suspicious, and confirms that the accusers are indeed considered holy. Danforth's speech makes it clear that he wont believe any claim against the credibility of the girls.
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