Sunday, August 19, 2012

In which act of Arthur Miller's The Crucible does Reverend Parris care about his name?

I probably could make the argument that Reverend Parris cares about his name and his name's reputation throughout the entire play.  But if I had to pick one act that shows Parris very worried about his name and reputation, I would pick Act One.  


There is a sequence early on in Act One where Parris and Abigail Williams are discussing what is wrong with Betty.  Abigail tells Parris that the girls were dancing and nothing more.  Parris isn't convinced though, and really starts grilling Abigail about witchcraft and conjuring spirits.  


The reason that Parris is questioning Abigail so strongly is that he knows that there are people in Salem that don't want him to be minister anymore.  



Parris: There is a faction that is sworn to drive me from my pulpit. Do you understand that?



Parris is worried that his enemies will use the girls' forest activity against him.  It might work, too, since Betty was there, and she is his daughter.  Plus, Abigail was there, and she is his niece.  The family association would blacken his name.  



Parris: Now then, in the midst of such disruption, my own household is discovered to be the very center of some obscene practice. . . Now tell me true, Abigail. And I pray you feel the weight of truth upon you, for now my ministry's at stake. . . Abigail, I have sought here three long years to bend these stiff-necked people to me, and now, just now when some good respect is rising for me in the parish, you compromise my very character.


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