The Interogation of Proctor

[kiranp02]

I found it rather odd that, in the beginning of Act II (63), when Hale came to Proctor's house to inform them that Elizabeth's name had been mentioned by "the court", all of his questions were directed towards Proctor. It wasn't as if Elizabeth was not available to be questioned, she was in the room with Proctor at the time. If she ass the one accused of witchcraft, why wasn't she interrogated? If he truly believed that Elizabeth could be a witch, why wasn't she asked to recite the Commandments instead of her husband?

I'd be interested to hear other people's insight into this topic.

[catherinem07]

Proctor was being really protective of his wife. He was standing up for her to mitigate his own guilt. Plus, she is a woman and we all know that women were expected to be subserviant and ignorant.

[alliet07]

To add on to what Catherine was saying, durring the Puritan era the views of women directly mirrored their husbands. Similarly to Bradstreet the way a woman would speak the rehtoric of consensus was through being obediant and quiet. Opinions of women were not taken in to consideration. Hence many of the women acused of being witches were the ones that broke out of the consensus.

[darylg07]

I think that the one of the reasons Proctor was asked to recite the Commandments was to prove that their household was not very holy. If they were able to prove that the Proctors were not very pious, it would be more believeable that witchcraft was already present in there home. This is evident when Hale states, "I thought, sir, to put some questions as to the Christian character of this house, (Miller 64)." From this conversation, Hale gains leverage in the case against Elizabeth.

[alysonm7]

Also, to tie in to Daryl's point, not all of Proctor's three kids were baptized. This would be more support that the Proctors do not have a holy household.