"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, and Reverend Parris had parishioners who had lost relatives to these heathen" (Miller 5).
What role does this "edge of the wilderness" play in the lives of the characters so far?
19 comments:
So far is seems as though the "edge of the wilderness" plays the role of "general evilness" to the people. Everything evil is in the woods, witch meetings, Indians, and many other things. The woods were a dark, threatening, evil place that the people wanted nothing to do with. Everything beyond the "edge of the wilderness."
The wilderness is like the unknown and darkness, therefore it is like Satan in their lives.
I think the edge of the wilderness means the edge of their religion or belief. This is demostrated through the Proctors. They live out on a farm, on the edge of town, and seem to be slipping out of Puritan belief. Just like they realize there is a whole lot more to the US than just their town, they realize that they are not the only religion. This frightens them a lot, because light in the first quote, they want to spread their belief. But it is hard to spread and illuminate what is completely dark.
In think that the forest represents that edge of unknown that is always before us. We don't know what will happen in the future and that is kind of like the darkness of the forest. It is mysterious and unknown. I think that Reverend Parris and the community are turning toward the devil for the souce of their problem because they have no idea of what is happening. It is easiest to turn to the darkest thing for assistence.
The edge of the wilderness is kind of like a threshold between good and evil. The wilderness is a dark, scary, foreboding place. On the other side, everything is familiar and bathed in light. The wilderness represents evil, while the “tame” side represents good. The Puritans have tried to keep their followers in the light.by constantly preaching the dangers of wandering off into the unknown. (I connect this to Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.)
The wilderness (evil and sin) is very enticing because it is new, unexplored, and exciting. This mystery seems to draw the girls (Abigail, Mercy, Mary Warren) participating in the witch hunt into the “wilderness” in act 1. I can expect that many others will cross over the line, during the rest of the play. And, back to phsycology, there is safety in numbers. As more and more people step over into the wilderness, it will be much easier for others to follow.
I think that the people are finding it difficult to hold onto their faith in such a "remote" location. I think that by surrounding themselves with only people of "like" faith, their faith becomes mundane and more of something to be endured rather than to be embraced. I have to say, if I listened to Parris' sermons every week, I would feel the same way. The people see the world around them as hectic and evil, and as a result from their simplistic religion/religious community, they feel intimidated and unsure of their beliefs. So the method of teaching religion in the community actually has a reverse effect on the people. I think that this can also be traced to the peoples' fascination of witchcraft. Even though they are aware that they should have caution about witchcraft, the pull of the mysterious unknown sparks their curiosity more.
Hope that made sense. :)
I think the edge of the wilderness represents peoples personal Hell and the unknown. The wilderness creates an image of Hell in peoples mind because it is different and unknown and that scares people. Also, the edge of the wilderness seems to represent savages and a world with out religion which in a sense helps the Puritans cause.
The edge of the wilderness symbolizes the unkown, and the fear of not knowning what is beyond that point. It's the fine line between what they consider to be good and evil in Salem. For example because the girls were dancing in the woods,that were considered evil, what they were doing was evil. This probally wouldn't have been the case if the girls had gatthered in the middle of town, beside the drinking blood part. Even today we are afraid of the uknown, now it seemss silly to us that they were so afraid of a forest, but even still we don't go walking off alone into the forest, because we can't secure our safety. It is the same line of thinking when you are introdued to new ideas. When something new and different comes along, you don't just jump right in, even though some of us like to think that, you prepare yourself first. In the Puritain soceity they just weren't ready to take that extra step in exepting a new idea, and I think that is what Miller want's us tous to see when he uses the woods as an evil force of the society.
As I wrote on the 4th hour class blog, reading your responses makes me quite excited to show you "The Village" (the wilderness in the film represents many of the same topics you're discussing here). Like Julia, I think that the wilderness reveals our natural response to repression--rebellion. More specifically, I see the wilderness in "The Crucible" symbolizing seduction; as Abigail attempts to seduce Proctor into loving her, the entire town is somewhat seduced by the excitement of witches and trials, and perhaps the wildly alluring "unknown" of the wilderness represents this temptation.
I agree with the point that it symbolizes seduction, and how people can become so emersed in things that make no sense at all later on. Also, I think that the unknown represents hell. But then again, this could all change once the "unknown" is discovered to be something completely harmless.
i think the "edge of the wilderness" is kind of the fine line between the good and evil. Evil is portrayed as bad, gloomy, or anything along those lines. The forest was dark, gloomy, and a scary place. Also the Indians were in the forest and they killed people. So from the edge of the wilderness and on was how evil was represented and the good was up until that point.
Humans have always innately feared the unknown. We are always fearful of what we do not know. So instead of accepting the unknown as what it is, we label it and try to make some sense out of it. Instead of admitting that there is an entire world we know nothing about, we find some sort of explanation for it. In this particular case, Salem has labeled the edge of wilderness as everything savage and unholy. They conceal their fear of the forest with a mask of evil so they don't have to worry about what might lay beyond their town.
I agree with what Endsley said in that the edge of the wilderness could represent where the evil begins, or hell, and where the good ends. The edge is the unexpected because if you are in the dark, gloomy forest you have fear, but also have no idea what is going to come next I think that some of the people in the town of Salem don't know what to think of all the speak of witchcraft and they don't know what to expect.
I like what Annika says about the wilderness being the end of their religion. I hadn't thought of that.
I also think that the wilderness represents the rebellion in all of them, and the unknown. It is represented in this way largely through Abigail and all the others that go to the woods to practice "witchcraft" in the dead of night, so I guess that also makes sense that it would be the end of the religion.
It is the untamed part of life, the part that, unlike the village, is waiting to be molded into whatever settles there.
Oooo I don't even know where that came from but I like it. Think about it. Every place has kind of taken on the mood of whatever surrounds it. The village is strictly Puritan, then there's the Proctor's farm. There's the wild woods. And there's even more than that. There's the whole world. Even today, places in Europe are ancient and that screams out at you. Centennial is a stone cold suburb. Downtown, everywhere, has been molded by people to be what it is.
OKAY, got really off topic right there, but yes, just think about it.
The edge of wilderness plays the role of all that is bad, and all that is allying with satan. Seeing as how the dancing took place in the forest. THe forest is dark, and misunderstood, which is why most people fear it. It it human nature to fear that which they do not understand.
The edge of the wilderness represents everything hostile and unknown in their lives. This evil wilderness is prepared to stanch any who venture from the Puritan way of life, which keeps everyone safe. And so no one chooses to venture near for fear of death, and the loss of their eternal soul if demons lived there, ready to devour it.
I think,like everyone else, that the edge of the wilderness represents evil. But italso represents secrecy and with the secrecy, freedom. The girls could not have danced in the village so they went into the forest, the unknown, to do what they wanted. This not much different from the Puritans who went to the unknown New World to do what they wanted.
The "edge of the wilderness" is the evil and potential witchcraft that is circulating the town of Salem. The girls who dance and chant with Tituba are stepping into the "wilderness" because of their curiosity. This rebellion is derived from the strict Puritan ways. The adults are suffering from this unknown because they themselves are trying to comprehend it, and their children are being effected by the evil.
I think that the edge of the wilderness means the edge of their faith. They all seem to believe in the same thing because of how they were brought up, but also because it's either their way or the highway. But I agree with Julia in that they are still very curious and facinated with witchcraft even though it is a bad thing to even speak about, according to them. They are on the edge of going against their own beliefs and religion to see things differently. The wilderness is unknown and sometimes scary. No one knows if they should go in or stay clear. If they go in, they are at the mercy of giving up everything and everyone they once knew, or they can stay clear and go against all they believe.
I have to agree with Laine.
The only evil so far has really happened in the woods, namely the dancing for witchcraft episode.
This passage just happens to go further in describing the horrors within, to include Indians, who are the 'heathen' that Parris has lost folk to.
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