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Post by darylg07 on Oct 18, 2007 19:49:42 GMT -5
I think that there were multiple reasons behind the confessions that Abigail, Tituba, and Betty make at the end of Act I. In the beginning, they all make admit to witchcraft in order to save themselves from great punishment. However, after Hale continues to speak of his abilities to bring the girls back to holiness, Abigail realizes the power that this may bring her. Hale says to Tituba, "You are God's instrument put in our hands to discover the Devil's agents among us. You are selected, Tituba, you are chosen to help us cleanse our village, (Miller 46)." Abigail sees this as an opportunity to have great control over the citizens of Salem.
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Post by kiranp02 on Oct 18, 2007 20:35:59 GMT -5
We discussed in class today that Betty might have actually believed that she was taking part in some sort of evil ritual in the woods. When she was caught, the shock of this might have actually caused her to become physically sick. This lead me to believe that she might have truly believed that she was possessed. Because of this, I'm a little unsure if when she started to accuse people of witchcraft, on page 48, she was just playing along with the other girls, or if she truly thought this would make her "better."
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Post by colleens1 on Oct 18, 2007 21:18:33 GMT -5
I think that Abigail first confesses to witchcraft because she realizes she will avoid punishment by doing so. At first she only names people who are looked down upon in society and Betty follows along with her. When she realizes that people will listen to her, her and the girls start to name more prominent people in society. It spirals out of control and continues because it gives them power that they previously lacked as unmarried girls in a repressive Puritan society.
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Post by meredithc07 on Oct 18, 2007 22:12:41 GMT -5
I agree with what Colleen says about the girls confessing to avoid the repercussions of their actions and trying to gain power by naming prominent members of society. However, I believe Abigail takes everything a step further by naming Elizabeth Proctor. After reading Act II scene II, in which John Proctor rejects her advances, it becomes obvious that Abigail is out for revenge on his wife because he chooses her over Abby, which is not what she had expected when he came to see her. I think she was angered by Proctor’s rejection and chose to use her newfound power in Salem to take it out on his wife who is keeping him from her.
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Post by chrisd02 on Oct 19, 2007 7:04:55 GMT -5
The girls all confessed in the novel because they were outside the consensus during the meeting. They needed some way to join the consensus fast, otherwise they would be wipped. Since they live in such a repressive society confessing that they were involved in witchcraft allowed them to escape punishment for the moment. We see with tituba that she was able to escape her hanging since she confessed to witchcraft. She was then able to join the consensus and then she even started moving to the center of the consensus because she started blaming other people. Tituba and the girls quickly learn how to manipulate the consenus and are able to join right in it.
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Post by chrisr07 on Oct 19, 2007 8:30:36 GMT -5
In my opinion there's no possible way that the girls are actually witches and are being manipulated by the devil. Why images could have been conjured by their minds while in a state of fear, it seems more likely that they are faking vision to excuse themselves from blame and become more important to society. Thus propelling them into the rhetoric of consensus
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Post by devinc07 on Oct 19, 2007 8:52:50 GMT -5
We discussed in class that Betty's condition may have been caused by her state of shock, but based on her conversation with Abigail in Act 1, I think that she was refusing to talk because she knew what happened in the woods and was scared by it, so she did not want to be punished for it or have to tell on Abigail. She may have also been driven by guilt, because when Abigail tells Betty that Parris knows all that they did, Betty responds "You drank blood Abby! You didn't tell him that!" (19), which shows how she wanted Abby to confess, but she was also scared and confused by what they did in the forest.
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Post by nickb07 on Oct 19, 2007 10:02:51 GMT -5
I disagree; Betty's condition while most likely more psycological than physical, wasn't just a tactic employed by a scared little girl. I believe that Betty most likely was suffereing from hypochondrial symptoms. She probably had herself convinced that she was suffering from witch craft when the people around her brought it up. Both are quite possible, and it was most likely a combination of the two that caused her condition.
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Post by davep02 on Oct 21, 2007 17:13:03 GMT -5
I disagree because Betty was a very young girl. At her age, she most likely was shocked by Reverand Parris's appearance in the woods and then wanted to attract attention to herself like all children. Also, when the girls were accusing others of witchcraft she probably would not have been able to suddenly join in and say she saw George Jacob with the Devil had she been suffering from hypochondrial symptoms.
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