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THE OTHER IN THE CRUCIBLE

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THESIS

The Crucible is a critique of how dominant groups present other groups/individuals as the Other in order to maintain existing hierarchies.

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A BINARY WORLDVIEW

What is the relationship between the pairs of words below?

Male / FemaleMaster / SlaveInsider / OutsiderWhite / BlackColoniser / NativeModern / PrimitiveCentre / Periphery

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ARISTOTLE

“The male is by nature more capable of leadership than the female, unless he is constituted in some way contrary to nature, and the elder and perfect [is by nature more capable of leadership] than the younger and imperfect.”

“But is there any one thus intended by nature to be a slave, and for whom such a condition is expedient and right, or rather is not all slavery a violation of nature? [. . .] There is no difficulty in answering this question, on grounds both of reason and of fact. For that some should rule and others be ruled is a thing not only necessary, but expedient; from the hour of their birth, some are marked out for subjection, others for rule.”

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APPLYING THE SOCRATIC METHOD

What does “male” mean?What does “female” mean?

What does “perfect” mean?What does “imperfect” mean?

What on earth does “by nature” mean?!

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THE CONCEPT OF THE OTHER

A concept used to define the self Self versus not-self

Exclusion/marginalisation Establishing hierarchy / order

Us Them

God Satan

White Black

Free Slaves

Puritan Heathen

American Foreign

Male Female

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THE OTHER IN AMERICAN HISTORY

Treatment of native Americans Early Puritans felt themselves Othered Black African slavery Communists in the 1950s

Any other examples?

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ARISTOTLE AGAIN

But that those who take the opposite view [that is, who hold the view that slavery is not natural] have in a certain way right on their side, may be easily seen. For the words slavery and slave are used in two senses. There is a slave or slavery by law as well as by nature. The law of which I speak is a sort of convention-- the law by which whatever is taken in war is supposed to belong to the victors. But this right many jurists impeach, as they would an orator who brought forward an unconstitutional measure: they detest the notion that, because one man has the power of doing violence and is superior in brute strength, another shall be his slave and subject.

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THE VALLADOLID CONTROVERSY

1550 Are native Americans human?

Resolution?

Yes No

God created Man in his image, so all humans should be equal.

As Aristole says, some people are “naturally” slaves

Indians can be converted to Christianity i.e. Christians are “like us”

The native Americans practice human sacrifice i.e. they are “not like us”

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THE CONQUEST OF THE AMERICAS

The NEW World No mention in the Bible No mention in existing knowledge Vast difference in climate, flora and fauna,

culture

= sense of instability/unrest

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UNREST IN SALEM

Question

Where is this unrest in The Crucible?

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UNREST IN SALEM

Town versus village Private feuds Repressed emotions in the young girls

Who are we as a community? Who am I? Loss of the old sense of purpose, even faith? What is truth? Who is speaking it? How can we judge what is true?

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UNREST IN THE CRUCIBLE (1)

The edge of the wilderness was close by. The American continent stretched endlessly west, and it was full of mystery for them. It stood, dark and threatening, over their shoulders night and day, for out of it Indian tribes marauded from time to time. . . .

The parochial snobbery of these people was partly responsible for their failure to convert the heathens. . . .

For these reasons . . . They carried about an air of innate resistance, even of persecution. (3)

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UNREST IN THE CRUCIBLE (2)

Aye, sir, he have been searchin’ his books since he left you, sir. But he bid me tell you, that you might look to unnatural things for the cause of it. (7)

Here is all the invisible world, caught, defined, and calculated. In these books the Devil stands stripped of all his brute disguises. (32)

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UNREST AND THE OTHER

Attempt to impose boundaries, rules, order Attempt to impose/maintain hierarchies Attempt to define self, community

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WHO/WHERE IS THE OTHER IN THE CRUCIBLE?

Race Gender Class Hierarchy Morality: innocent / guilty etc.

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OTHERING (1)

PARRIS Judge Hathorne – it were another sort that hanged till now. Rebecca Nurse is no Bridget that lived three year with Bishop before she married him. John Proctor is not Isaac Ward that drank his family to ruin. (102)

Questions

What is meant by “another sort”?

Why will the judges find it harder to convict people like Rebecca Nurse and John Proctor?

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OTHERING (3)

The boundary is unstable

DANFORTH Do you take it upon yourself to determine what this court shall believe and what it shall set aside? (69)

DANFORTH And do you know that near to four hundred are in the jails from Marblehead to Lynn, and upon my signature?[…]FRANCIS Excellency, I never thought to say it to such a weighty judge, but you are deceived. (70)

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OTHERING (3) CONT’D

DANFORTH There lurks nowhere in your heart, nor hidden in your spirit, any desire to undermine this court? (72)

HALE . . . Is every defence an attack upon the court? Can no one--? (75)

DANFORTH . . . Unless you doubt my probity? (81)

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OTHERING (3)

An attempt to gain power and/or deprive others of power

P 84

Question

What is the conflict here?What is Proctor trying to achieve?

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JUSTICE AND JUDGEMENT

Question

Does The Crucible encourage us to judge the following characters harshly? Parris Haworth Hale Abigail John Proctor Tituba

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THE TRAUMA OF THE DISCOVERY

Avatar as a reassuring “remake” of history? What is literature’s role in dealing with

“historical trauma”? What other instances of Othering can we

point to in today’s societies?

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RESOURCES

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-politics/

http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/distance_arc/las_casas/Aristotle-slavery.html