Problems with the Puritans
This excerpt, taken from Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, seemed to relate very well to the present topics we are discussing in class. Writers are beginning to acknowledge the presence of evil as a way to ‘keep society in line’. Just as people today grapple with all the negatives that the world seems to hand to us, this play highlights how important evil became in the Puritan society after the introduction of witchcraft. As stated above, evil has always been present, but it becomes more obvious sometimes than others.
Certain religions find oppurtunites every moment to blame it on the devil, and they were and still are firm believers in harsh punishment for ‘frivolous’ behavior such as dancing (god forbid! what are you thinking?) and forms of public affection (because it’s obviously more appropriate to ignore the feelings you have for somebody…but learning the Wasserman brush-off could keep you out of trouble!!!). One such group of people would be the Puritans and this qoutation really illustrated how serious the slighest presence of evil was in their daily lives. When the local girls started imitating ‘witchy’ behavior, it was almost like the equivalent to the end of the world. As we discussed today, the Puritans left England not expecting to come back, so discovering that there was witchcraft and crazy things happening to people was probably more than a little bit creepy.
by the way, doesn’t that visual just some everything up?
