Year of Wonders and The Crucible

[rosecookiie]

I'm writing a practice comparative on this prompt, but I am having trouble formulating three ideas, and three topic sentences to support them.
'Compare the way the two texts explore the cruelty and brutality that ordinary people are capable of
Here is what I have so far:
In times of fear and crisis people often succumb to cruel behaviours
- Lynching of Anys Gowdie
- Accusations against Rebecca Nurse

Cruelty and brutality hidden behind closed doors
-Mompellion and Elinor's complicated relationship
- John Proctor's infidelity

I was thinking about discussing the hypocrisy that lies within the Salem court, and the cruelty they display in forcing those accused to lie or be killed. However, am not sure how to link this with Year of Wonders, and what theme/idea this would fall under in relation to the prompt.

[zozocheesey]

Maybe in relation to the topic - ordinary people capable of cruelty and brutality, discuss the violent mob of Maggie and Brand when they go through Bakewell village - link this with the hysteria exhibited by the girls in the beginning of the cruicle in the accusations (seeing people with the devil)

[TSEtuition]

I'm writing a practice comparative on this prompt, but I am having trouble formulating three ideas, and three topic sentences to support them.
'Compare the way the two texts explore the cruelty and brutality that ordinary people are capable of
Here is what I have so far:
In times of fear and crisis people often succumb to cruel behaviours
- Lynching of Anys Gowdie
- Accusations against Rebecca Nurse

Cruelty and brutality hidden behind closed doors
-Mompellion and Elinor's complicated relationship
- John Proctor's infidelity

I was thinking about discussing the hypocrisy that lies within the Salem court, and the cruelty they display in forcing those accused to lie or be killed. However, am not sure how to link this with Year of Wonders, and what theme/idea this would fall under in relation to the prompt.

Hi rosecookiie,

The two paragraphs you've got look good thus far. I think you're on the right track with thinking about the hypocrisy of the Salem mob. I'd suggest you expand that line of thinking to include the role that religion and faith play in the characters' cruelty and brutality. Both Eyam and Salem are governed by a theocracy - how did that exacerbate or intensify the cruelty/brutality? How did their faith influence the way they perceived suffering/justice/mercy, and why does it seem to make them less compassionate towards each other?

Hope that helps! ~Shirlaine from TSEtuition

[TheCommando]

Hi rosecookiie,

The two paragraphs you've got look good thus far. I think you're on the right track with thinking about the hypocrisy of the Salem mob. I'd suggest you expand that line of thinking to include the role that religion and faith play in the characters' cruelty and brutality. Both Eyam and Salem are governed by a theocracy - how did that exacerbate or intensify the cruelty/brutality? How did their faith influence the way they perceived suffering/justice/mercy, and why does it seem to make them less compassionate towards each other?

Hope that helps! ~Shirlaine from TSEtuition

Just wondering, but how does faith influence the way they perceive justice etc

[atar.notes.user]

Hey there,
I came up with this plan so far

Compare the way the two texts explore the cruelty and brutality that ordinary people are capable of

1) Violence- Physically and mentally (focus of YOW in this para)
-lynching
-Joss bont using his physical strength to take advantage during the sombre time
-you can use the quote 'safe distance from one another' to manouver into the emotional/mental violence displayed in TC
-TC --> accusations b/w characters and Mary Warren suffering mentally (confessing/shaking uncontrollably from stress, etc)

2)Morals (focus of TC in this para)
-Judges expelling any moral values by assiging so many innocent individuals to be hanged (with insufficient proof)
-'good' people confessing just for the sake of saving themselves
-you might be able to use John Proctor as a stepping stone here and say he didnt compromise his values
-YOW --> Mompellion and Eleanor abstaining from sexual intimacy (focus more on Eleanor)

3) How each town responded to the cruel actions of the ordinary people
-YOW --> brought them closer together
-you can use how they were all huddled together in the church as evidence
-TC --> further divided them
-used theology to their advantage (literally just killed anyone who didnt agree with them lol)

My third para is a bit rusty I think, still hope it helps!

[TheCommando]

I'm writing a practice comparative on this prompt, but I am having trouble formulating three ideas, and three topic sentences to support them.
'Compare the way the two texts explore the cruelty and brutality that ordinary people are capable of
Here is what I have so far:
In times of fear and crisis people often succumb to cruel behaviours
- Lynching of Anys Gowdie
- Accusations against Rebecca Nurse

Cruelty and brutality hidden behind closed doors
-Mompellion and Elinor's complicated relationship
- John Proctor's infidelity

I was thinking about discussing the hypocrisy that lies within the Salem court, and the cruelty they display in forcing those accused to lie or be killed. However, am not sure how to link this with Year of Wonders, and what theme/idea this would fall under in relation to the prompt.

What do u mean about the hyprocrisy of the salem courts

Your third paragrah could be about the selfish cruelty that occurs in tikes of crisis
Such as John gordons Flagellations, Aphra  using peoples desperete nature to sell them false charms buy pretending to be the ghost of Anys Gowdie, Josiah taking advatange of Eyam having no grave digger yet desperately need one

The way Abigail and the girls manipulate the courts that results in the loss of many innocent lives

[TheCommando]

-you can use the quote 'safe distance from one another' to manouver into the emotional/mental violence displayed in TC

Hey just wonder How would u do that
Can u show it in an example maybe

[atar.notes.user]

Hey just wonder How would u do that
Can u show it in an example maybe

When mompellion says for the community to be at a safe distance from each other to not catch the plague, although he meant physical distance, it can be interpretted as mentally. Ever since after that sermon, the town started going thru many mishaps esp regarding their friendships. They kept a safe distance as in friendships were somewhat 'paused', etc.

idk if it'll work well with this prompt but its good for any of the 'unity' and 'crisis' prompts
just my take on it though

[TSEtuition]

Just wondering, but how does faith influence the way they perceive justice etc

Hi TheCommando,

A theocracy is concerned, first and foremost, with doing the will of God, rather than doing what is best for the people or representing the people (which is what a democracy should ideally do). When the will of God is the primary concern of a system of governance, it affects everything that the system does, from writing laws (eg. everyone should go to church), to prescribing social behaviours (eg. swearing is an offence) to pursuing justice (eg sinners must be punished by death). In a Puritan theocracy, sin (also something that depends on your religious perspective) is seen as so offensive to God that it must be punished severely, and the belief that the devil causes you to sin leads people to believe that it must be excised from you completely (since devil causes sin, then the devil must have influenced you somehow, therefore you can have no redemption until the all trace of the devil, ie sin, has been removed from you). This kind of justice is not really based on whether or not you did something wrong, and what kind of punishment you ought to receive based on the seriousness of your crime, but rather the pursuit of righteousness and the salvation of your soul. In both texts we see this happening - wrongdoing (witchcraft, for example, or stealing) is seen as an offence to God rather than an offence to people, and the way people dealt with this offending against God is to take revenge on behalf of God, rather than dole out fair punishment based on how badly you've affected/hurt other people.

Hope that helps! ~Shirlaine from TSEtuition

[atar.notes.user]

what does 'Until an hour before the devil fell, God thought him beautiful in heaven?' mean in TC?

[lyoko]

what does 'Until an hour before the devil fell, God thought him beautiful in heaven?' mean in TC?

This quote could be interpreted as those in TC may appear to be 'good' however it is only when their true nature is reveal that one should judge them. Such as Abigail. She appears to be a 'victim' in front of the Salem Courts, however we all know that she was one of the girls who began the whole hysteria.