American American Beginnings: Beginnings:

The Puritans The Puritans and and

Introduction Introduction to to The The

CrucibleCrucible

Comunicación y Gerencia

Theocracy

A form of government in which a state is governed by a god or by officials claiming divine sanction (permission)

• The government claims to rule on behalf of god• religious law = state law; there is no separation between the two•We will see theocracy at work in The Crucible:

•If one breaks a law, one is going against God and must be punished!!•Governors are accountable to God to protect and reward virtue and to punish wrongdoers

Why were there Puritans?• Dissension began in

England because both the Catholic Church and the Church of England were seen as corrupt.

• Many were influenced by “reformists” Martin Luther and John Calvin

• These people wanted to purify the church, not separate from it like the Pilgrims did

• Remember: PURITANSPURIFY!

OK, so there were Puritans. So what?

• Puritans were one of the first groups to arrive in America (after the Pilgrims).

• They came because of the religious persecution they experienced in England– Example: William Prynne: ears cut off, face

branded with hot iron

• They established themselves first in Massachusetts Bay Colony

A group of Puritans persuaded King James to grant them an area of land between the Massachusetts Bay and Charles River in North America.

The main party of 700 people left Southampton in April 1630. The party included John Winthrop, Simon and Anne Bradstreet. During the 1630s over 20,000 people emigrated to Massachusetts Bay.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Religious beliefs• Christ = ruler of heaven and earth. No

man, not even a king, could claim supremacy.

• Man’s duty = to do God’s will on earth and be rewarded with future happiness

• Worship should be plain and simple… no frills!

• Strict enforcement of rules: no dancing, no theater, no creative expression, no accumulation of worldly things, no working on Sabbath day!

Religious beliefs• Satan = present and active on earth• Misfortunes were attributable to the devil – when

bad things happened (drought, crop failure, division within church congregations, infant death), people blamed the devil, which means they blamed something supernatural that couldn’t be seen

• This fear of the supernatural can be to blame for the widespread accusations of witchcraft – these beliefs made it easy to become paranoid that the devil was at work through everyone and everything

Puritan Literature

Purpose for Literature:

provide spiritual insight and instruction

– Mostly sermons, theological studies, and hymns

Style of literature:

• Puritan Style - plain writing style with a clear statement

• Characterized by short words, direct statements, and references to ordinary, everyday objects

• Simple, Spiritual, Straightforward

Types of Puritan Literature

• Some narrative accounts such as histories, biographies, and autobiographies.

• Some poems, journals and diaries, but their aim was primarily for serious self-examination

• Did not produce fiction nor drama because they regarded both as sinful.

Lasting Effects of Puritan Beliefs

• Emphasis on Simplicity in Worship

• Public Education• High Moral Standards• Democratic Political

Principles• Puritan Ethic –

Believed good was accomplished through hard work, self-reliance, and self-discipline. Influenced industrialism and efficiency.

Harvard University

The Salem Witch Trials

• Began in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692• A group of girls began displaying strange

behaviors such as seizures, screaming, and trances. No natural causes could be discovered… so Satan must have invaded Salem through witches!

• The girls were pressured to reveal who was controlling them. One person named was Tituba, a slave who confessed that many other women of the community were involved.

The Salem Witch Trials cont’d

• When Martha Corey, a prominent member of society was accused, the hysteria in the community spread even further.

• Over 150 were arrested and imprisoned.

• Nineteen were hanged, one was crushed to death under stones, and at least four died in prison awaiting trial.

McCarthyism: the Salem Trials repeated???

• Arthur Miller noticed striking similarities between the Salem Witch Trials and the mass hysteria that took over America in the 1950s when Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed that communists had infiltrated the State Department (1950).

• Thousands of people were accused of being communists, especially government employees, educators, activists, and those in the entertainment business

Allegory

MAKE SURE YOU RECORD THIS DEFINITION!!

• Allegory:– A narrative work in which the characters,

setting, and plot are used as symbols and work together to teach a moral lesson.

ALLEGORY cont’d

• If a text is ALLEGORICAL, it can be read on at least two levels. It has BOTH a literal meaning and a figurative or symbolic meaning.– Literal meaning: The Crucible is literally a

drama about the Salem Witch Trials.– Figurative/symbolic meaning: The Crucible can

be read symbolically as a commentary on the “witchhunt” for communists during the 1950s era of McCarthyism.

The Crucible characters

Protagonist:

the central character in a literary work around whom the main conflict revolves; the character who promotes the action

John Proctor

Elizabeth Proctor:

John Proctor’s wife

She knows about John’s affair with their previous “maid,” Abigail, and fired her.

She has remained loyal to her husband.

Abigail Williams

•The girl who starts it all!•She is a 17-year-old orphan.•She had an affair with John Proctor and still wants him.•Because she got fired following her affair, she has moved in with her uncle, Reverend Parris, and can’t get a job elsewhere as a maid.

She is scheming, devious, and attention-seeking.

Reverend Parris:- Abigail’s uncle; father to Betty

Parris, age 10, who is in a trance at the beginning of the play.

- An outsider who firstacted as a reverendin Barbados.- Concerned mainly With his reputation, keeping his

job, and money. - Many members of the Salem

community are against him and want him out!

•He owns the slave, Tituba, who is from Barbados and is practiced in what we would call “voodoo.”

THINGS TO LOOK FOR AND THINK ABOUT:

• Reputation – including honor and the importance of keeping one’s good name

• Hysteria – how does the conflict escalate?

• Justice vs. revenge

• Intolerance

• How does this play warn us about the effects of intolerance, revenge, and hysteria??

Journal- 2/7/12

When you’re finished with your quiz, complete your DGP and then the journal for the day:

Have you ever been falsely accused? What were your feelings? How did you prove your innocence?

Mass Hysteria

A condition affecting a group of persons, characterized by excitement/anxiety, irrational behavior or beliefs or inexplicable symptoms of illness.

Modern Examples: H1N1, Aids, Doomsday 2012

Journal- 2/8/12

In your own words…define moral impurity. What do you think that means? What evidence have you seen of this so far in The Crucible?