Wednesday, 17 August 2016
Monday, 15 August 2016
Theme practice - The Crucible
Think of theme as being a philosophy or outlook or idea or message
Echoes between the play and 1950s America
· People were being pointed at for being something they weren’t
· Punishment of the innocent
· Many would shift the blame
· Lises were indistinguishable from the truth
· Caused mass hysteria and fear
· People began to not trust one another
· When blamed people would name others to get out of trouble
· Constantly being told lies
· The system was corrupt in the 1950s America just like in the play. Writing the play was a way to show how unfair the decisions and accusations were in real life.
Hysteria
· Defined as:
o Uncontrollable emotion
o Abnormal behaviour and is caused by uncontrollable excitement (good or bad)
o Over the top emotions
· Hysteria is an uncontrollable emotion that tears apart communities
· Hysteria causes mistrust amongst people
· Hysteria causes people to make poor decisions because they are blinded by what is happening in the moment
· Hysteria most often leads to dramatic and negative decisions
· Hysteria make you handle situations differently and often leads to negative outcomes
· Eg
o Abigail created hysteria
o Marry Warren – state of hysteria
o People of Salem in a state of hysteria
Justice and corruption
· Defined as:
o Justice: Authority exercised in the maintenance of right
o Corruption: moral deterioration, use of corrupt practices especially bribery or fraud
· Corruption of an individual who is in a position of power can lead to false justice and lack of morals. It causes others to question the morality of the system/society/the courts.
· Eg
o Judge Danfoth was corrupt because he knew he was hanging innocent people but he didn’t care about real justice. He just cared about his reputation. He ignored his own morals.
o Danforth – corrupt
o Hale – Just
o The courts – corrupt
o Thomas Putnam – corrupt
o Hathorne – Corurpt
o Abigail – corrupt
o Proctor – just
Fear
· Defined as:
o Panic or distress cause by a sense of impending danger
· Fear makes people lie to avoid consequences
· Fear makes people run away from problems or causes them to be blinded by their fears
· Fear makes people afraid of making decisions that could affect them
· Fear forces a person to question themselves
· Fear of the future manipulates the choices we make in the present
· Eg:
o Proctor
o The villagers
o Putnams
o Tituba
o The girls
Intolerance
· Tolerance is defined as:
o Disposed to tolerate others and their acts/opinions
o Displaying tolerance
o Intolerant is the opposite
· Brings together and divides communities – unhealthy communities
· Is rarely a virtue and often leads to disaster
· Unable to share opinions in a safe way – people will look at you differently.
· Not accepting of one’s views or beliefs can cause rivalry, rejection and tension in a community
Reputation
· Defined as:
o What is generally said or believed about someone’s character eg. They’re a crook or honest.
· If a person thinks an important decision will affect their reputation it can cloud their judgement.
· A person with a good reputation will lie to save their name
· The truth can damage a reputation so some people will do anything in their power to maintain control so the truth won’t come out
· People are willing to hide the truth in order to maintain a good reputation
· Eg
o Proctor
o Danforth
o Parris
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