Rebecca Nurse
Through times of suffering and pain, the importance of believing in oneself and staying true to one’s beliefs can make the difference between a small mistake, and a catastrophe. In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the people of Salem are going through a time of panic and hysteria, because anyone can be accused of witchery. Some use this to their advantage, and accuse people for revenge, greed, or fame; others attempt to cease the madness and bring the truth about the Salem witch trials, and how they are false; some even wanted no part in what was happening around them. As portrayed in The Crucible, the Salem witch Trials forcefully involved innocent people, like Rebecca Nurse, who wanted to have nothing to do with the …show more content…
Proof of her innocence is shown in the beginning of the play when Mary Warren screamed, “We must tell the truth, Abbey” (1.175). This quote follows a conversation between the girls that were involved that spoke of what they had done. It helps to show that Abigail and her friends were lying about the witchcraft. Mary was attempting to convince Abigail to confess; however, she was threatened into silence. If the witchcraft in the beginning of the play was a lie, then the other accusations of witchcraft were also lies. One of the many accusations that followed was mocked by Reverend Hale. It stated that Rebecca Nurse was charged, “For the marvelous and supernatural murder of Goody Putnam’s babies” (2.201). This charge was impossible to prove and completely illogical. One reason that Rebecca Nurse was allowed to be convicted of witchery was because of the hysteria surrounding the Salem witch trials, and the belief system that ruled over Salem itself. Another known reason is that Nurse was known to be pious, and she would do nothing to tarnish that claim. Especially for something like witchery, because it went against all of Rebecca’s beliefs and …show more content…
Goody Nurse did not want the witch trials to come to Salem at all, because she believe that the trials would cause a disturbance, and it did. This lackluster about the witch situation is shown when she warned Parris, “Mr. Parris, I think you’d best send Reverend Hale back as soon as he come. This will set us all to arguin’ again in the society…” “There is prodigious danger in the seeking of loose spirits” (1.180). Nurse cautioned Parris about the dangers that would be brought with Hale when he began the witch trials. She already knew that with investigation came suspicion, and suspicion could tear through the few threads that held Salem together. However, as the narrator stateed before Rebecca warned Parris about Hale, “...the systematic campaign against Rebecca…” (1.178). The Putnams and other families were displeased with the success of the Nurse clan. Thus, they began to chip away at the once invincible Rebecca, until they could accuse her. The Putnams signed complaints, and threw false fits so that they could ruin Nurse and her