Year of Wonders and The Crucible: Theme charts PDF

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a comparison of quotes in YOW and the crucible ...

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THE CRUCIBLE AND YEAR OF WONDERS

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Response to crisis The Crucible ‘suspicions which were to feed the coming madness’ ‘long- held hatred of neighbours could now be openly expressed, and vengeance taken’ (p.17) ‘old scores could be settled’ (p.17) ‘she is a twisted soul of forty- five, a death ridden woman, haunted by dreams’ (p.21) (description) Parris: ‘We cannot leap to witchcraft. They will howl me out of Salem for such corruption in my house’; self- preservation (p.22) ‘his vindictive nature was demonstrated long before the witchcraft began’; Thomas Putnam, his response is to take advantage of the situation (p.22) Abigail: ‘Not I Sir- Tituba and Ruth’- deflects blame (p.24) Abigail: ‘ I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning’; (p.26); self- protection, no morals, is fearful herself ‘systematic campaign against Rebecca’ –(p.31); was with Putnam; his response is to accuse others Mary Warren: ‘I remembered everything she done to me’ (p.57) Hale: ‘This is a strange time’ (p.62) John Proctor: ‘Common vengeance writes the law!’ (p.72) Giles: ‘This man is killing his neighbours for their land’ (p.87) Mary Warren: ‘I’ll not hang with you! I love God.’ (p.104)

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Year of Wonders Page 3 I used to love this season. The reflective opening words of the novel alert us to the fact that time has passed, that things have changed and not necessarily for the better. The crisis has passed but things are not as good as they used to be. Page 3 And those of us who are left walk around as if we’re half asleep. We are all so tired Page 4 You cannot read, Anna. To be sure, I can Rector. Mrs Mompellion taught me. Anna is very intelligent yet is uneducated. She tries to teach herself to read using the inscriptions on gravestones but it is Elinor who teaches her to read the scriptures. One of the good things which comes out of the plague is the growth of Anna. Her education is a big part of this. P6 Breakdown of the order of society – the scent of rotting apples P6 After all we have been through together, it’s just not possible to pass with a polite, Good night t’ye’. And yet I haven’t the strength for more. P7 Brooks presents us with certain personality types before the crisis – Bont – loved a pot better than he loved his children P8 Anna and the community are not unused to dealing with crisis – mining community however ‘I’ve tended so many bodies, people I have loved and people I barely knew” Mompellion is ultimately in despair Page 9 And now it is Elinor Mompellion’s Michael who sits all day in the dark, with shutters closed. Page 15 Another positive to come out of the plague is the growth of Anna. When referring to her experiences, she says she was a woman who faced more terrors than many warrior and for this reason she is able to stand up to Elizabeth Bradford. Something she would never have had the courage to do. Page 16 The Bradford family choose to save themselves and flee the village when the plague breaks out. This leaves their staff without an income and in some cases without a home. They also miss the opportunity to be useful to the village. This indirectly leads to the death of Maggie Cantwell in ‘So soon to be dust’. When Elizabeth asks Mompellion for help he reminds her that there were many people here with needs this past year, needs that you and your family were in a position to have satisfied. And yet you were not…here. Page 23 Anna: Later, there were those who would say it had been the Devil. This is in reference to George Viccars coming to Eyam. It emphasises that people of the village looked to a superstitious explanation rather than one of logic when the plague broke out. Page 42 Viccars: I know the signs of this wretched illness. Just get you gone from here, for the love of your babes. Page 43 Viccars: Get thee gone from here! Page 44 Viccars: Burn it all! For the love of God, burn it! Viccars’ first response after contracting the plague is one of selflessness. While dying he only thinks of protecting others. Page 44 Anna: naturally he took charge. As the plague beings to manifest, Mompellion’s first response is to lead the people. Page 49, “Mr Viccars told me to burn his work for fear of spreading his contagion.” Mr Viccars

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sacrifices his own beautiful work to stop the spread of plague seeds. Even though he said so in a state of “delirium”, Brooks shows some individuals are willing to make sacrifices for the good of the community. Page 50, “I could not get Anys’s ‘George’ or her scarlet gown, out of my mind.” Anna is completely shocked by the revelation that Anys and George once laid together. She begins to question the connection they once shared. Page 60, “everyone capable of leaving the city is doing so.” The man from London recounts that many people are fleeing the city in response to the Plague, out of fear of contracting the disease. Page 60, “People go through the streets like drunkards, weaving from this side to that so as to avoid passing too close to any other pedestrian.” The fear of Plague is so strong thatindividuals resort to almost comedic behaviour to avoid contagion. Page 60, “the great orbs are all on the move… the city is emptying so fast that there is little worthwhile society to be had.” The universe is working its effects onto the town. After a critical event, it is fate that the society will breakdown due to the mass hysteria, death and loss of order. Page 60-61, “in London, I encountered an angry mob, brandishing hoes and pitchforks, denying entry to their village inn to any who were travelling from London.” Londoners result to anger and fear in protecting the city from the Plague. Page 62, “Corpses are tipped in, afforded no more respect than one would give a dead dog.” The events in London demonstrates that all humanity and dignity is lost after a crisis because individuals have lost their sense of rationality and begin to behave like animals. Page 63 “my brothers in face are the lesser men.” Mr Mompellion’s response when the man from London says many other rectors have fled their towns. The rector disapproves of this selfish behaviour because he believes that leaders have an obligation to selflessly protect their people instead of fleeing when a crisis occurs. Page 48 (Anys), “delivering two scandalizing thoughts in a single utterance.” She does not change her behaviours and attitudes to fit into the religious society in which she lives. Page 53, “As I lifted the cup, I remembered, with embarrassment, how as a child I had joined with others to mock Anys Gowdie.” Anna regrets bullying Anys in school because she now sees that Anys is a kind and generous person, who didn’t deserve it. This shows that Anna is moral because she does not go along with the town’s attitude and feels shame for ever doing so. Page 54, Anys – “I’m not made to be any man’s chattel…my freedom. I will not lightly surrender it.” Anys is free from the constraints of a marriage and is an autonomous being. Through this, Brooks gives her dignity for being a woman alone in a world dominated by men. “Why do you let yourself love an infant so? I warned you, did I not, to school your heart against this?” page 77 Aphra has learnt to shield herself from the pain of her three deceased children and has stopped herself from loving another. “His death led to an emptiness that I resolved to fil” page 66 Despite also grieving for George Viccars, Anna’s response to his death is to shield her children from sadness and grief is selfless “The damp after the heat brought the fleas

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beyond infestation…the fleas feasted on my tender children” page 73 The initial response to the plague was blaming the rats, however the “plague seeds” were most likely brought by the fleas carried by the rats. “God save you and this village…tell your neighbours to call upon me no more” Page 76 Some people’s response was to flee eg. The Bradfords. To place blame- Mary Hadfield, in grief, blames Mem Gowdie for the death of her family. ‘Your malice has brought plague on my man, and my mother, and my boys’. (Page 89) After Mem is found to be innocent, the mob turns on Anys, desperate to blame someone for their grievance ‘It’s her, that’s the witch’, ‘...consorted with devils spawn who brought the Plague here!’ (Page 91) After Urith Gordon calls ‘witch’, there is no question to the factuality of the accusation (except by Anna), yet is acted upon immediately. In the havoc of the situation, the people are simply following each other, with no sense of logic or reason. ‘The mob surged towards Anys’ (Page 92) Anna resists the mob mentality, telling them that if they ‘throw her down there, they will be murderers’ (Page 90) Despite her great loss and suffering she is strong in her beliefs and is not easily persuaded. ‘Don’t be a fool! Who amongst us here hasn’t put their mouth to a lamb unbreathing?’ (Page 91) Anys Gowdie accepts her fate as she does not let herself become a victim. ‘She laughed’, ‘laughed as if she could not control herself’ (Page 93) Mompellion shows leadership and seeks to use God’s guidance to lead the village. He persuades the villagers that ‘no one should leave or enter the village'. Mompellion inspires the village to stay and he refers to the plague as a ‘gift’ and a ‘casket of gold’ (p.102). He urges his listeners to emulate Christ’s example and be guided by the love of their fellow humans. The Bradfords are driven by self-interest as they refuse to accept their duty and leadership rather, they leave Eyam. Their response to the crisis is to avoid it and run away. In doing so, they abandon their servants, leaving most of them without a home. The Bradfords disregard their social obligations and they demonstrate how some people respond to a crisis, which is to run. They are more concerned about their own safety. ‘And you think I care for the opinion of a few sweaty miners and their snotty – nosed brats?’ (page 114) “My life and the lives of my family are of more consequence to me than some possible risk to strangers” – pg 112

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When the Bradfords are leaving, the People of the town see it as their opportunity to leave with them in hopes of finding somewhere to stay because they have been left homeless. ‘There were tearful scenes at the last when those who had nowhere to go fell on their knees by the Bradford carriage, grabbing at the hems of the ladies’ travelling mantles and kissing the toe of the colonel’s boot’ – pg 116

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Anna faces a smaller crisis later on in the chapter. She is forced to be a midwife without having any prior knowledge. Anna has become fearful from past experiences (her mother’s labour) which also clouds her judgement during the labour. Pg 130- Mompellion: “This play plague will make

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heroes of us all, whether we will or no.” A crisis is often a turning point for individuals and will force ordinary people to do extra- ordinary things. Brand (a servant of the Bradford’s) initially ran but “his own goodness drew him back” (pg 129) Lost everything yet still returns, becomes hero like, a child yet is able to help Maggie, drag her back into the village for help People with nothing were able to help the Bradford’s servants and give them a home.

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Brooks’s specific verb choice when describing Brand, who is described as (all on pg 127) “blundering towards us” “spattered” “toiled” highlights the difficulty he faced.

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QUESTION RELIGION (Anna questions God’s planunfair that bad things happen to good people) This series of rhetorical questions is never answered thoroughly throughout the novel, but leaves the audience to asking these questions (pg 135) “Why should this good woman lie here in such extremity, when a man like my father lived to waste his reason in drunkenness?” “Why did he raise us up out of clay, to acquire good and expedient skills, and then send us back so soon to be dust when we yet has useful years before us?” “Why, I wondered, was God so much more prodigal with his creation?” The consuming of poppies in order to ‘secure a few sweet dreams’ (page 138) and to be ‘blissfully rested’ (page 142) ‘clinging to the last wisps of my drugged serenity’ (page 139) the ‘poppy induced serenity’ (page 142) ‘rector would deal with the business that accompanied dying, while his wife and I managed the matters of those left alive’ (page 140) ‘they do made monsters of us all’ (page 141) ‘This pain he gave himself must have been the agony of Hellfire’ (page 144) – Richard Talbot singing the flesh where a plague sore was located in an effort to relieve himself and get rid of the sore. ‘I was desperate, and I was deranged’ ‘I violated my own body with a fir iron’ ‘pored through books…looking for the names of plants said to be strengthening for any of the many body parts the plague seemed to attack’ (page 157) In times of great suffering and pain some find that they need to resort themselves to unnatural remedies in order to feel relief. Both Anna and Elinor admitted to the use of poppies in order to enter a ‘sweet dream’, or become ‘blissfully rested’. Some individuals become ‘monsters’ under the pressures laid upon them. With the old and elderly left alive they have to take the jobs many young members in the town used to complete. This is an underlying message that they wish for it to be over and for those who sick to finally pass. The piece also presents that when individuals are ashamed or are in a place of immense struggle, they are found to violate their own bodies in an aim to find relief. In the final moments of the chapter both Anna and Elinor agree to work together to support individuals who are still left alive in Eyam, their response after thought were to not be selfish but to try and provide others with remedies and cures to survive Anna’s father takes advantage of the weak and sick

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for his own personal gain. Page 200: “Aye! It’s past time that villain was dealt with!”—the way the crowd respond to the discovery of Christopher Unwin. Page 204: “I learned that he begged in vain for mercy and howled like a trapped animal when the dagger cleft his flesh.”—when Joss is faced with death he responds by begging for mercy.

“what new foolishness is this?” page 213 – Anna speaking to Lottie Mowbray – she has responded to the plague by taking wild, extreme measures The village acting in their own ways about the plague. Jane Martin – “’a bawdy jade who could scarce keep her legs closed” page 218. John Gordon becoming insane. – “but it was John Gordon’s fear that lead him upon the queerest path.” Page 218 Anna and Mompellion keeping their heads and trying to reason with many families and get them to understand that there is nothing they can do for the plague and to stop paying for superstitions. – “I will not have this creed spread here.” Page 221 Mowbray’s doing crazy things with their children – holding their baby over a “pot of piss” page 213

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Effects of Isolation The Crucible ‘in unity still lay the best promise of safety’ (p.14) ‘the edge of wilderness was close by’ (p.14)

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Year of Wonders Page 11 Our village is a thin thread of dwellings spooling east and west of the church. Eyam is small and relatively isolated (p 11). Page 25 Anna: Like most in this village, I had no occasion to travel farther than the market town seven miles distant. Eyam is relatively isolated from the other villages and towns. Page 26 Anna: Mr. Viccars…brought the wide world with him. Anna is intrigued by Viccars tales of the Orient, Dutch and Mussulmen etc. However, there is an irony about this. Though he brought with him a wealth of knowledge about the outside world, he also was the person who brought the plague to Eyam. pg 37 for there is no school even for the boys in a village such as ours. There is a lack of opportunity, disadvantaged not only by the isolated nature of the location of Eyam but by their lack of education. Page 47, “Since there were no kin, his funeral rites would be simple and swift.” George was a lodger at Anna’s home and therefore did not have family in Eyam. The townspeople may simply ‘glide’ over the news of his death and will not show true sympathy or compassion. Even though they all know about his death, they are unlikely to all truly mourn for it. Page 48, “It takes a kind of courage to care so little for what people whisper.” It is uncommon for an individual to not care about what others say about them, especially in such an isolated community. Anys Gowdie is unfazed by the gossip about her. Page 49, “Mr Viccars’ death spread, as news does here.” News spreads fast in small communities and everyone knows about everyone’s business. Page 53, “it was naught more to either of us than a meal to hungry traveller.” Brooks demonstrates that in small and isolated communities, individuals still have innate human tendencies that cannot be suppressed. Anys and George’s intimate moment was one of lust and passion. Page 55, “dark and light, that was how I had been taught to view the world.” Those who don’t fit into one of two ideals are typically considered sinners.

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For example, even though Anys Gowdie helps the town in many ways (“a few women who would do without her in the birthing room”), she is still “branded a sinner” due to her “fornication and blasphemy”. Despite being a very intelligent woman, the society attempt to quash her deviation and ambivalence. Page 56, “the only mating fit for remark at the Hancock table is when the tups get put to the ewes!” This is a very conservative society where many topics were forbidden to be spoken of. Page 59, “he was a style of gentleman we did not much see in our small village, his periwig so large and elaborate…” The citizens of Eyam are not used to such elaborate dress and really only know what they see in their small town. “Sometimes I wonder why we shut ourselves up in these churches?” page 68 ‘Peace from Bakewell refused to come near our village or accept from us any persons for arrest’ (p.98). (p.104): ‘let the boundaries of this village become our whole world. Let none enter and leave while this Plague lasts.’ The boundary stones is emblematic of the confined village in which they live in as a result of their quarantine. It is where stock enters and leaves the village. The people of Eyam rarely left the town. Therefore, in some ways, their ‘oath’ to stay in Eyam didn’t have a great impact on them. ‘It is hard to say why the oath weighed upon me, for it was perhaps only half a dozen times a year that I ventured beyond the limits in which we had now confined ourselves’ (page 117) As a result of the plague Anna has nothing left as her children and husband are dead. She has nowhere to go. I would stay because I had small will to live – and nowhere else to go” – pg 115 Despite Eyam being in a very open surrounding, the people have become trapped because of their ‘voluntary besiegement.’“And so the rest of us set about learning to live in the wide green prison of our own election” – pg 117 The town is completely isolated and the people of Eyam made the decision to stay in the town. Therefore, to a certain degree, they are trapped. “Now I just stood and looke...