Rogers uses the girls’ characters to put across the historical events featured in the novel. The reader is often given two or more different views of the same event, this means that we do not have to see a biased or shortsighted view, and gives the reader greater understanding of the events in the text.
Rogers chooses to use four of the seven girls to tell the story, mainly because hearing form all seven girls in turn would be too confusing, not only to write, but also to read. We still gain a well-rounded picture from the four voices as they all have very different characteristics and language. They therefore have very different perceptions of the events going on around them; this means that the whole novel is focused on the girls and their experiences, Mr Wroe has no personal voice; the reader only learns about him through the girls’ interaction with him. Because the novel is written in the first person the reader is drawn into the events, and the dramatic beginning with no initial background of the sect, immediately gains the reader’s attention.
The different perspectives consist of Joanna, the deeply religious, Hannah the outsider, Leah the opportunist and Martha, the character who benefits most from the prophet and being a member of his household.
The first main event that we learn of is the moment when the prophet informs the Christian Israelite community in Ashton that, “The Lord has instructed me to take of your number, seven virgins for comfort and succour”. Leah is the first girl who speaks to us, and the reader can find a somewhat humorous side to the event. Leah’s language in this, her first time of talking to us, makes her seem younger than she is; as she tries, “not to giggle”, she takes the information, and reacts to it as though it were gossip. Leah writes in the present tense; this gives the reader insight into her feelings at the very moment that she felt them, rather than looking back detachedly on what she felt. It is from Leah that we gain the first view of Mr Wroe who is “powerful”, at this point we do not know just how powerful, but later events give more supporting evidence of this comment. Leah also shows the reader how religious the sect was; she is unsure as to whether or not they would “make us pray all day”. Also we learn of how women were treated, Leah is locked in her room and guarded, and the girls do not have a choice over whether to go to Southgate - their parents offer them to the prophet. Joanna gives us a very religious view of the calling of the virgins, and other people may have also felt the same as she did about Mr Wroe and the sect. Joanna shows us that at this time in history, women were not really involved in religion, particularly within the Christian Israelites; she is thankful that “this is the sign the women are not forgot”. The event of selection shows that the women were indeed not forgotten, but being women they were forced to attend, and some “had to be clasped and held secure”. The severity of the women’s reactions to this event was great, and Ann Taylor (one who was chosen), tried to kill herself because she did not wish to join the Prophet’s household.
Hannah sees this event differently to the others as she is an outsider, and unaccustomed to the rituals and beliefs of the Christian Israelites. However, both she and Leah show us that at this time, daughters were seen as a burden to their parents because they had to be married off and of course could not carry on the family name. Leah recognises that the girls’ parents would not “give the prophet a pretty daughter” who could easily be married, and Hannah feels as though she has been “handed over” to a crazy sect predicting the end of he world, with “less heart searching than they would undergo in parting with crust to a beggar”. Hannah is non-religious and also gives us a detached view of the prophet – whom she dislikes at first. She feels he’s rude and that the sect is primitive in their customs, particularly the elders who “resemble tribesman”. Hannah feels that she has been given “into the care of a lunatic band of would –be ancient Jews”.
Rogers also goes into some detail about how Wroe spread the word about the Christian Israelites to the surrounding areas of Ashton. He used the girls to draw attention by their strange dress and, Hannah shows the reader how much power and influence he had on people. Rogers probably could not have known whether he had a deep attractive voice or not but she would have known that many converts joined the Christian Israelites and it was his charismatic leadership that caused this. Rogers gave Wroe characteristics that she felt would fit this role and make him seem (as far as possible), as he probably would have been.
These views give us a good idea of what was involved at the beginning of this historical event. Although Wroe may have completely believed that what he was doing had religious significance, but we also see that his ideas, particularly around the seven virgins were verging on the surreal. Rogers uses this event to create literature by using both fact and fiction, bringing events in history into view and giving the reader a greater understanding of them.
Like Rogers, Miller focuses on certain characters, as there are many characters in ‘The Crucible’ some play a larger parts in disclosing the events than others. Abigail seems to begin the hysteria by leading the girls into the forest and causing Betty to become “frightened and then she fainted”. John Proctor, Tituba, and Rebecca Nurse give evidence of three different views on the threat and outcome of being arrested. Also Reverend John Hale, who changes his mind about the alleged witchcraft in Salem. The other characters also give the reader information about events throughout the play; they show the reader how people were affected by the event. Lives stopped with the number of people in prison; land was going to waste and people found excuses not to work. For example Mary Warren, who neglects her duties to the Proctors claiming that she is “an official of the court”. Reverend Parris has a breakdown, and there is doubt as to who owns what because so many were dead. This was dire for the people of Salem, as due to the time, their survival leaned on that which grew on the land. With everything neglected, people were worried; rumours of rioting were spread to help to discontinue the court’s dictatorship.
The three characters mentioned earlier as giving the reader an impression of the events, show three different reactions. Rebecca Nurse is very faithful to her religion, but will not become caught up in the hysteria; and when she herself is accused, she will not confess, “It is a lie; how may I damn myself? I cannot”. Rebecca Nurse is one of the most respected members of the community and her execution is part of the final crescendo in the play. Tituba takes a different viewpoint. She does not want to be punished or executed, and finds that pleading innocence only worsens her situation. She accepts the accusations and confesses, realising that lying would be the only escape, “I tell him I don’t desire to work for him”. Tituba may have been blamed for the girls’ behaviour because she was black, and a slave. An easy target for blame; black people were not socially accepted except as slaves, and were considered untrustworthy.
John Proctor is probably the central character in the play, particularly in the fourth act, in which he attempts confession, but cannot name his friends; he is loyal and won’t lie to hurt them. This shows a view that is more sensible and although he is executed, Proctor tries to stop the court by admitting to his adultery with Abigail. But what really causes him to decide to give his life is that when the judges make him sign his confession they will publicise it. Proctor is distressed by this as, “I have given you my soul; leave me my name!”
It is the girls who originally went into the forest that really reflect the hysteria in the town. As more people are accused, their displays become more and more elaborate, and with Abigail at their head, they did not know when to stop. Miller shows that these bored girls caused a lot of damage to the community and made history from what began as a fun night in the forest. Did the girls do this for attention? Is one question that arises from the play. At this time in history, women had a limited role in society. Before they were married, they worked as servants and afterward; all they had to look forward to as becoming was “Goody” when they did eventually marry. Their lives were mundane and so they took the game too far, not realising how serious the consequences would be.
The structure of ‘The Crucible’ is consistent through each of the four acts. They all begin fairly quietly and lead up to the crescendo at the end of the act. And in turn, each of the acts led up to the finale in the fourth act. Building up on a larger scale, although in a similar format to the separate acts.
Miller takes a very well known historical event and uses it to create literature, he does this by using fact as far as possible, but adding his own spin to it. There were probably far more real people than characters, but again (as in ‘Mr Wroe’s Virgins’) to cast them all would have been too weighty. So Miller uses a select few characters to put across the social significance of this event.
The type of language used by each author is relevant to the time in which they have set their text. The characters in ‘The Crucible’ have their own dialect and accent, and Miller tries to put this across by dropping the ‘g’ from words ending ‘ing’. Also in ‘The Crucible’, they split the sentence and place the subject either in the middle or the end of the sentence, and the subject and verb are used in the wrong order. For example, “Look you” or “Sit you down”. They confuse the past tense and use the word “were” instead of “was”, Proctor was angry but describes it was, “it were a temper”, one would usually say, “I was angry”, or “I had a temper” The characters too use the word “be” in place of “is”.
However the language that Rogers uses in ‘Mr Wroe’s Virgins’ is fairly biblical. It is more developed in sentence structure than that used in ‘The Crucible’, and this is mainly due to two reasons – the dominant theme in ‘Mr Wroe’s Virgins’ is religion and the language reflects this. The community was very church based and would have spoken in this manner as people tended to learn to read through the bible. Joanna is the most religious of the girls in ‘Mr Wroe’s Virgins’ and this is particularly evident in her speech; she considers herself a “handmaiden” and all of the girls were to call each other “sister”. This is also shown in Martha, she is taught to read by Joanna and she learns this from the bible. As she progresses towards becoming more ‘human’ she realises that she feels, “solid joys”, this is a phrase from a hymn, which she understands because of the way she feels, and also when she acknowledges her changing from a “stone” and now has “life”. Mr Wroe is evidently, very biblical, requesting the girls for “comfort and succour”, meaning: assistance and support in hard times. Most of the language is fairly similar to modern speech, with similar sentence structure but more ‘old fashioned’ usage.
Both writers use well-known historical events to create literature; and because they did not know all of the facts that went towards creating the particular historical event and so by adding their own touch of creativity they bring the events alive for the reader. Rogers knew most about Mr Wroe in terms of characterisation and historical background, however she does not focus on him. For the reader the novel revolves around the girls, but the girls’ lives revolve around Mr Wroe. Roger’s used her knowledge of Mr Wroe’s life, for example his predictions over cholera and the use of trains to build up the story, but only gives Wroe’s background in the Historical note. Miller also used knowledge of the witch trials to create his play with as much accuracy to many events as possible. The story of Abigail and John Proctor is true and although many people are not mentioned, due to the sheer number of them,
“The fate of each character is exactly that of the historical model, and there is no one in the drama who did not play a similar – and in some cases exactly the same – role in history.”
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