Many plot changing events occur in Act III of The Crucible. Select one of the following and explain what this event/scene reveals and why it is an important part of the plot. 1) Giles is arrested for contempt of court. 2) John confesses adultery with Abby.
3) Elizabeth lies to Gov. Danforth.
4) Abby and girls accuse Mary of bewitching them.
5) Mary turns on John Proctor and he is arrested.
6) Hale quits the court.
(The deadline to post to this blog is midnight Thursday, September 27, 2012)
17 comments:
In Act three, Elizabeth lies to Gov. Danforth. This is a very important part of the plot. This is the very first time she lied. This reveals that Elizabeth Proctor really does love John. She wanted to protect him, but she did not know John already confessed to adultery. This scene leads to what the judge/court sees Elizabeth as.
-BP 1st
When John confesses adultery with Abby he is revealing to the court the reason behind why Abby is accusing his wife as a witch. He is confessing himself to try to save his wife from a false accusation. This is an important event because it says John casted away his name and no man does that without it being the truth. He hopes that the corruption within the court will be seen as it is and wants real justice to come about.
Toward the end of Act Three, Mary Warren is accused as a witch by Abigail and her friends. This is a very crucial moment in the character of Mary Warren. This is where her final decision between doing what is right and what Abigail wants is voiced. Mary Warren turns on John Proctor because she falters at this moment, giving into to Abigail's "dissembling" ability. Not only is he no longer up for grabs for Abigail, he may even die for a complete lie.
John confesses to adultery with abigail to save his wife. John knows that the court will not over look this. John explains that a man will not ruin his name but he does by committing to it. He wants them to see what abigail is doing it. Elizabeth is abigails target. John is going to protect his wife at all cost.
Throughout the entire play we see Hale as someone who can't stand up for himself and falls at the hands of the government. At the end of Act III Hale quits the court though showing his realization that the court/government is wrong and he must stand up for what is right. This signifies how low of a situation this has become because even the submissive sheep stands up against this pretense.
Elizabeth lying to Governor Danforth is the climax of the play. At least three times, John swears that Elizabeth would never lie, does not have the ability to lie, and has not ever lied. The fact that she did lie in this scene shows that Elizabeth had the ability to because she cared about John, no matter how much she hated that he cheated on her. The uneasiness of her voice in this scence proves that she had never lied before because it hurt her to lie; lying would come easily to someone who made a habit out of it. (She sure did pick an inopportune time to pick up this bad habit.) After this happens, John is sentenced to be hanged; however, Abigail still does not get her way and will never get her way.
I think the part where Guiles Corey is arrested for contempt is a very important moment because it shows the complete injustice of the court and the judges involved. They arrest him for contempt because they believe him to be attepmting to "overthrow the court" by bringing fort evedence contrary to what the judges believe. It shows how the higher authorities of Salem's worst fears are to be seen as human and be brought down to a "commoner's" level.
C.A. 1st Block
When John confesses to adultery with Abby it is very crucial to the play because he is casting away his name. This reveals that he wants Abigail to be seen for what she really is and her motives behind why she would say that Elizabeth is a witch. John wants to set his wife free from the false accusations she is under.
When Hale quits the court it turns the plot majorly. He was the one who initially declared witches but now is trying to take it all back. He realizes the injustice being done by the town and will be no part of it. This shows that even believers and accusers are starting to realize that what they are doing is very wrong. It also shows how dynamic Hale's character is.
In Act III Elizabeth makes an important addition to the plot when she lies to the court about John never committing adultery. This is a very pivotal point in the story because it is the very first time Elizabeth has lied in her life even though she was just trying to save her beloved husband. However, her lie destroys any credibility John had left in Salem.
AR FIRST BLOCK-
An extremely crucial part of the plot was when John confessed adultery with Abby. The reason this is so important is because it shows that he was willing to do anything, even cast away his good name, to show the court and people of Salem that Abigail was a cruel and vengeful girl. It's also important because it's also where the court is going to finally be able to see an alterior motive for Abigail's call of witchcraft. John Proctor is only trying to free his wife and to show the court that Abigail has sinned, still sins, and will continue to sin. He only wants to show her for what she really is.
When Elizabeth lies to Gov. Danforth, it reveals how much she cares about her husband and his reputation. It says multiple times in the book that Elizabeth Proctor has and will never lie, but this one time, she stops what she believes to protect her husband. This is also important because at this point everyone believes that John has lied about having an affair with Abigail and now believe that he is doing witchcraft.
One event in Act III that changes the plot is when Abby and her friends accuse Mary Warren of bewitching them. This scene reveals that even though Abby had been caught, she was clever enough to worm her way out of the situation and dodge further accusations. This really says a lot about Abby's manipulative character. If this hadn't happened, Gov. Danforth would likely further question Abby and the other two, and eventually arrest them for false testimony, essentially ending the play.
One event in Act III that changes the plot is when Elizabeth decides to lie. John repeatedly says that she doesn't lie and has never lied. She only lies because she believes that she's protecting him but actually ends up condemning him because he already confessed to adultery.
One of the main events that changed the plot was when Elizabeth lied to Gov. Danforth. This event reveals how much Elizabeth truly loves her husband. It showed a different side of Elizabeth that we never saw before because she was never an affectionate person and she never lied. It was an important part of the plot because she wanted to save John. This ends with John's hanging. - Hope S.
I think the major plot changing event that happened in Act three was when Elizabeth lied for the very first time ever to Governor Danforth. This was the climax of the book. John stresses so many times that Elizabeth never lies, but when she does, she throws all John's credibility away. Poor Elizabeth was only trying to save her beloved husband and his good name. I personally think it was cruel for Danforth to put her in this situation. She was unknowing of the fact that John had already confessed and would definitely not lied and ruined John's credibility. All she wanted to do was save her husband and show that she loved him but had no clue of the consequences of saying this.
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