John Proctor wants to forget about his affair with Abigail but it still hinders his relationship with his wife and is now threatening her life, so now John's resentmeant against Abigail and the 'witch hunt' is stronger than ever.
"Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods, nor make unto thee any graven image. Thou shalt not take the name of he Lord's in vain; thou shalt not have other gods before me. With some hesitation: Thou shalt remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy. Pause. Then: Thou halt shalt honor thy father and mother. Thou shalt not bear false witness. He is stuck. He counts back on his fingers, knowing one is missing. Thou shall not mae unto thee any graven image. —Adultery, John." pg 63-64
This is from the scene when Mr. Hale comes to the Proctor's home since Elizabeth has been acused of doing witchcraft upon Abigail through a doll.
By having John cite the 10 commandment Mr. Hale is testing John's 'holiness' and belief in god, since that will undoubtebly be looked into by the court.
I find that whole scene ironic because John Proctor couldn't remember the last commandment which as adultery, and he has commited adultery with Abigail. What makes the situation even more ironic is that his wife, Elizabeth had to say the commandmet for him. Their relationship is rocky at the best of times after John's affair and Elizabeth is constantly suspicious
of her husband; holding the affair above his head causing his guilt to deepen and fester.
Level Question:
What could be one of the recurring themes for this scene in the play?
A theme could be: Lack of trust and too much trust can lead to chaos.
ReplyDeleteEveryone in Salem has lost trust among each other therefore have started to suspect that some people could be witches.They have started to question many of the actions that others have made.
Elizabeth also has lack of trust towards her husband, therefore leading to problems in their relationship.
The people have been giving too much trust to Abigail and the girls by believing everything they say. That has resulted in many people being put to jail and some being hung even if they are innocent.
The them could be lack of trust and lying because these are the two many reason why the town of Salem is in chaos. First Abigail has lie her way from not telling the truth and blaming over people for using witchcraft. Then Elizabeth doesn't have any trust for her husband because of him being unfaithful to her and this cause there relationship to go thought a downward spiral. Then Abigail has the girl trusting her by making them not say anything in what happen in the forest and blaming other people to take the blame.
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