Rebecca Nurse: A Character Study

Character Sketch: Rebecca Nurse

I found the information disclosed about Rebecca Nurse in the Salem court records to be very consistent with her character in The Crucible. She seemed well revered among members of the community. The play as well as the film makes it clear that Rebecca thought the actual act of accusing a witch was the devils work, rather than being accused. She saw through the lies the girls told, and was very candid about her feelings on the matter.

One thing I did learn about in the verbatim transcripts was the kind of physical the accused women received. There is a note made about a piece of skin found between the pudendum and the anus of Rebecca. For a Puritan woman of Rebecca's age this must have been incredibly hard to suffer. I wish that this disgusting detail would have been in the film if only to vilify the witch hunters to a greater extent.

Watching the video and putting a face (albeit an actresses face) to the woman I was reading about in the transcripts inspired a greater feeling of sympathy for the woman. She wasn't somebody I was reading about in a history book, she was a real person, with a face. She was a frail old 70 year old, who carried herself with grace and dignity. In the beginning she is more of a wise onlooker, shaking her head in disdain at the maniacal townsfolk who are so quick to accuse and condemn any woman branded as a witch.

Another credit to the amount of status Rebecca held among the members of the community was the fact that it seemed as though several of the girls were hesitant to accuse her. Rebecca was a good and devout elderly woman. The manner in which she carried herself while being driven to the gallows was heartbreaking. Rebecca held her head high and met the eyes of her friends and loved ones in the crowd. Seeing the noose dropped around her neck and watching the coarse rope tug and her thin wrinkled skin nearly brought me to tears. This powerful image was not portrayed in the transcripts.

Rebecca Nurse did not plead guilty to the charges of witchcraft, though she had the same option all of the accused citizens of Salem had. She could have confessed to dealings with the devil, and she could have lived. That would not be like Rebecca Nurse, though. Rather than take the easy way out she held fast to her faith and was unwittingly inducted into martyrdom by the hysterical jury that sentenced her to death.