" Great Stones they lay upon his chest until he plead aye or nay. They say he give them two words."More weight," he says. And died" (Miller,59)
Elizabeth was explaining to Proctor the way that Giles Corey died. He did not want want to confess guilty of witch craft because he knew that he was innocent. To get him to confess the court started to pile great stones on top of his chest until he answered the court's questions. Giles was so brave and true to himself that he decided to die as an innocent man. I think that Corey was driven to this decision because he did not believe in any of the stupidity going on Salem. I also think that he did that because his wife Martha was also killed for not confessing to be a witch. I think that maybe Corey wanted to be true to his wife and to his wife and not lie about who he really was. If his wife was already gone, Corey probably did not want to go to jail and then back home to an empty house. Corey's decision was totally different than John Proctor's decision. Proctor decided that he would confess to doing the devil's work. Proctor is also a brave man, that decision did not change anything. The only reason he chose to confess was because he has kids and his wife had a baby on his way. His kids and wife are the reason why he took such a hard decision. This part of the play actually happened in real life. It is really upsetting to think that this would actually happen to an innocent man. http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SAL_BCOR.HTM
This link tells a little bit more about the story Of Giles Corey.
I have to think very hard to see if I would die for any convictions like Giles Corey did. I have never been put in to a situation, where my believes and my actions have been put to the test. The more I try to think about it the more that I contradict myself. I guess it all depends in the situation that I am stuck in. I can't truly say what if, because it has not happened. For now my believes tell me that life is more beautiful than death.
I was going to use the same quote as you! But since you already have it, I changed it. haha:) I think you're so right about why he didn't confess. He didn't want to pick a side, so he made his decision to stand up to everyone and die for what he believed in. His wife was probably all that he had in the world and since she died as being innocent, he decided to do the same thing.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way!! I've never been put in a situation like that either. I had no idea what to say for that part..... so I just said that I would die for my family and friends.