Guilt and deception

Question 1

“I came here like a bridegroom to his beloved, bearing gifts of high religion… and what I touched with my bright confidence, it died; and where I turned the eye of my great faith, blood flowed up”

Answer 1

• Hale

- Act 4

Question 2

‘Is the accuser always holy now? Were they born this morning as clean as God’s fingers? I’ll tell you what’s walking Salem—vengeance is walking Salem’

Answer 2

• Proctor
• Act 2
• Simile
• Personification
• John establishes the hypocrisy that exists between the victim and the accused. He points out that not everyone can be completely innocent. He also establishes that it is personal vengeance that is driving the actions of certain characters

Question 3

‘I have read my heart this three month, John. I have sins of my own to count. It needs a cold wife to prompt lechery. I counted myself so plain, so poorly made, no honest love could come to me! Suspicion kissed you when I did; I never knew how I should say my love’

Answer 3

• Elizabeth
• Act 4
• Metaphor
• Personification
• Elizabeth feels guilty about the way she has treated John, and partially blames herself for his affair.

Question 4

Man, remember, until an hour before the devil fell, God thought him beautiful in Heaven’

Answer 4

• Hale
• Act 2
• Allusion
• Biblical reference to how before Lucifer fell from heaven, God thought he was a beautiful angel when in reality, he rebelled against God and became corrupt, becoming Satan. Appearances can be deceiving

Question 5

‘There is blood on my head! Can you not see the blood on my head!!’

Answer 5

• Hale
• Act 4
• Hyperbole
• Hyperbole emphasises the extent of guilt Hale feels for wrongly accusing innocent people of witchcraft. He blames himself and feels personally responsible for these peoples’ deaths / incoming deaths

Question 6

‘Excellency, it is a natural lie to tell; I beg you, stop now before another is condemned!’

Answer 6

• Hale
• Act 3
• Hale has released that all the accusations of witchcraft are lies and he thinks the court system is also unfair as they only taking their words to use against them without evidence.

Question 7

‘I may shut my conscience to this no more – private vengeance is working through this testimony’

Answer 7

• Hale
• Act 3
• Hale realizes what he has been allowing to happen in the theocratical court, the guilt of this weighs on his conscience

Question 8

‘Hale is different now, drawn a little and there is a quality of deference even of guilt about his manor now’

Answer 8

• Interpolations
• Act 2
• Hale’s personality becomes more reframed when entering john Proctor’s house, he is more respectful to John which infers that he is open to hear what others have to say as well as seeking the truth before making a vital decision

Question 9

‘the magistrate sits in your heart that judges you’

Answer 9

• Elizabeth
• Act 2
• Metaphor
• Elizabeth acknowledges John’s guilt over his affair with Abigail (guilty conscience) and that he needs to forgive himself