Crucible Dos

1) Betty: "You drank blood, Abby! You didn't tell him that!"
Abigail: "Betty, you never say that again! You will never--"
Betty: "You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!" (Miller, 19).

Here is the first evidence we have of anyone actually partaking in unnatural practices. I think Abigail is going t be a witch, for obvious reasons. Witches often were very adulterous beings in lore. We find out in this reading that Abigail had relations with John Proctor and now wants to kill his wife to have him to herself. Abigail and Mercy seem like the two witches we know of for sure, at this point. They both were in league with each other, and Mary Warren as well, even though she only saw their practices but did not partake in them. Thus we have the stereotypical triad of witches (a la Macbeth and Hocus Pocus?).

2) "I [Rebecca] think she'll wake when she tires of it. A child's spirit is like a child, you can never catch it by running after it; you must stand still, and, for love, it will soon itself come back" (26).

Rebecca Nurse is the only sane person in this entire society! Most likely we can attribute this to her age, but still. Everyone else screams, "Witchcraft!" at any sign of difference. Rebecca is the only person to look at a situation rationally. To every outrageous claim, she gives a logical answer that nobody else could think of. Here, she's chalking up Ruth's behavior to any child's playful mischief. When questioned as to why Ruth has not eaten yet, she responds, "Perhaps she is not hungered yet" (27). It's obvious, but in this type of setting, not something you would expect. I really like Rebecca.