Question

3. What difficulties has Mrs. Putnam been through? Whom does she blame these hardships on, and why does this reasoning make her a hypocrite? (consider the fact that's she's not very religious)

Answer 1

Answer and Explanation:

Hi. According to the context of your question, we can see that the question refers to the play "The Crucible" which portrays the trials of the Salem witches, where Mrs. Putman is one of the characters.

The hardship that Mrs. Putman went through was the loss of eight stillborn children. This left her devastated and although the death of babies was common at the time the story takes place, Mrs. Putman believes she was a victim of witchcraft. She blames this on Rebecca Nurse and accuses her of being the witch who brought about the babies' deaths. This shows what a hypocrite Mrs. Putman is, because she has known Rebecca for years. In addition, Rebecca delivers to many women in the region and these babies are born strong and healthy, not to mention that Rebecca delivered the only child of the MRs. Putnam who survived.