She is a former faculty member of the Humanist Institute. Rebecca Nurse (February 21, 1621–July 19, 1692) was a victim of the notorious Salem witch trials, hanged as a witch at 71 years of age.
| Rebecca Towne Nurse (or Nourse) | |
|---|---|
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Occupation | Housewife |
| Known for | Convicted of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials |
| Spouse | Francis Nurse (or Nourse) |
Why did Rebecca Nurse get accused?
Why did Rebecca Nurse get accused? Because Rebecca Nurse assisted in the birth of Ann Putnam's children, she became a likely scapegoat when Rebecca's children did not survive. The accusation that Rebecca Nurse was a witch was sealed when Ann Putnam pointed out that none of Rebecca's children had died.
What was Rebecca Nurse accused of?
Rebecca Nurse is tried, convicted, and hanged for the crime of witchcraft. Specifically, Rebecca Nurse is accused of the supernatural deaths of Anne Putnum's children. She had been one of the midwives of Goody Putnum's when her children had died. But none of Rebecca's children nor grandchildren had died in infancy.
What is Rebecca Nurse motivation in the Crucible?
Rebecca's motivation? Rebecca is a leader of the community and a mentor to the women. She is strong, committed, and practices the religion that her community revolves around. Her motivation of character is to be and to be seen a Godly woman.
What is the function of circulating nurse?
What Are the Responsibilities of Circulating Nurses?
- Support and Mobility. A circulating nurse is responsible for managing nursing care in the operating room. ...
- Error Prevention. The circulating nurse’s observer role allows her to watch for possible errors during the procedure, such as possible contamination of an instrument.
- Advocacy. ...
- A Variety of Tasks. ...
See more
What did Rebecca Nurse do in Act 1?
What Does Rebecca Nurse Do in The Crucible? Rebecca's first action upon entering the stage in Act 1 is to soothe Betty Parris with her very presence (Act 1, p. 24). Rebecca cautions everyone onstage against putting too much stock in “silly girls” and their fancies (p.
Did Rebecca Nurse have a husband?
Among her seven siblings were Mary (later Easty) and Sarah (later Cloyce). The Townes lived on a farm along the river in Northfields, near the home of George Jacobs, who would himself be executed for witchcraft in 1692. Rebecca married Francis Nurse, a “tray-maker,” in Salem in the mid-1640s.
What happens to Rebecca Nurse in The Crucible?
And yet, in Arthur Miller's tragic play, sweet Rebecca Nurse is one of the last victims of the Salem Witch Trials. Nurse's unfortunate end coincides with the curtain that closes this play, even though we never see it happen. The scene in which she and John Proctor head to the gallows is heartbreaking.
What did Rebecca Nurse get accused of?
Rebecca Nurse, a sick and elderly woman of seventy-years old, stood for examination before the court on charges of practicing witchcraft on March 24, 1692.
Why was Giles Corey pressed to death?
His entry for 19 September 1692 reads: “Monday; Sept-19th 1692. Abt noon, at Salem, Giles Corey was pressed to death for standing mute Much pains was used with him two days one after another by ye court & Capt. Gardner of Nantucket who had been his acquaintance: but all in vain.
What did Rebecca do to Betty?
What did Rebecca do to Betty? She tried to wake her up and calm her down. She succeeded.
How old was Rebecca Nurse when died?
71 years (1621–1692)Rebecca Nurse / Age at death
How old is Rebecca Nurse in The Crucible?
age 71In Arthur Miller's “The Crucible,” the playwright notes that “gentleness exudes from” a sick, elderly woman named Rebecca Nurse. At age 71, Nurse became the oldest woman killed at the Salem witch trials of 1692 and 1693.
What kind of person was Rebecca Nurse?
Francis Nurse's wife. Rebecca is a wise, sensible, and upright woman, held in tremendous regard by most of the Salem community. However, she falls victim to hysteria when the Putnams accuse her of witchcraft and she refuses to confess.
What was Rebecca Nurse's reputation?
She was a real person living in Salem, MA, during the 17th century. She was hanged on July 19, 1692, for witchcraft. The nurse had a reputation for being a very Christian woman, and because of that, it is believed that her execution helped bring an end to the witch trials.
When was Rebecca Nurse excommunicated?
Nurse, in her 70s at the time of the trials, was a stalwart figure in the church of both Salem Village and Salem Town, and considered a living saint by Puritan standards. But by July 1692, this frail woman would be found guilty of witchcraft, hanged and excommunicated from her church.
What is Rebecca Nurse afraid of?
Rebecca's voice of reason turns to a voice of warning as she tells her neighbors, ''There is prodigious danger in the seeking of loose spirits. I fear it, I fear it. '' Her fear is completely justified. If only those assembled had listened to her!
Who is Rebecca Nurse married to in the crucible?
Francis NurseShe was the wife of Francis Nurse, had several children and grandchildren, and was a well-respected member of the community. She was tried and convicted in the spring and summer of 1692 and executed on July 19.
Who is Rebecca Nurse in The Crucible?
Rebecca Nurse Francis Nurse's wife. Rebecca is a wise, sensible, and upright woman, held in tremendous regard by most of the Salem community. However, she falls victim to hysteria when the Putnams accuse her of witchcraft and she refuses to confess.
How old is Rebecca Nurse in The Crucible?
age 71In Arthur Miller's “The Crucible,” the playwright notes that “gentleness exudes from” a sick, elderly woman named Rebecca Nurse. At age 71, Nurse became the oldest woman killed at the Salem witch trials of 1692 and 1693.
How many children and grandchildren does Rebecca Nurse have?
Putnam lost seven children as infants, while Rebecca has 11 living children and 26 grandchildren.
Character Introduction: Meet Rebecca Nurse
Rebecca is an older woman (especially for the times) and not physically strong."Rebecca Nurse, seventy-two, enters. She is white-haired, leaning up...
What Does Rebecca Nurse Do in The Crucible?
Rebecca's first action upon entering the stage in Act 1 is to soothe Betty Parris with her very presence (Act 1, p. 24). Rebecca cautions everyone...
Rebecca Nurse Character Analysis
In this next section, I'll go into more detail about possible motivations behind Rebecca's actions. Often these'll be related to an overarching the...
Rebecca Nurse Quotes from The Crucible
To end this guide, I've chosen three Rebecca Nurse quotations to analyze and discuss.“I have eleven children, and I am twenty-six times a grandma,...
What does Rebecca Nurse represent in the crucible?
Rebecca Nurse represents good character and a good reputation in the play. She avoids the hysteria gripping many others in the town.
Is Rebecca Nurse a tragic hero?
Yes, Rebecca Nurse can be seen as a tragic hero as she is executed by the town despite committing no crime. Her excellent character and reputation...
What was Rebecca Nurse blamed for?
In the play, Rebecca Nurse was accused of witchcraft in which she killed seven of Ann Putnam's babies. She had been Ann Putnam's midwife.
Who was Rebecca Nurse?
She was fully exonerated less than twenty years later. She was the wife of Francis Nurse, with several children and grandchildren, and a well-respected member of the community.
Where was Rebecca Nurse born?
The daughter of William (c. 1598–1672) and Joanna a Towne (c. 1595/99–1682) ( née Blessing), Rebecca Nurse was born in Great Yarmouth, England in 1621. Born February 13, 1621, her baptism is recorded as February 21, 1621. Her family emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, settling in Salem, although most of the Towne family would eventually move ...
Who was Rebecca Nurse married to?
Sometime around 1644, she married Francis Nurse (or Nourse; 1618–1695), who was also born in England. Her husband was a "tray maker" by trade, who likely made many other wooden household items. Due to the rarity of such household goods, such artisans were esteemed. They raised their family in Salem Town (modern day Salem, Massachusetts ). The couple had eight children: four daughters and four sons. Their names were John Nurse (born 1645), Rebecca Nurse (born 1647), Samuel Nurse (born 1649), Elizabeth Nurse (born 1655 or 1656), Mary Nurse (born 1657 – 28 June 1749), Francis Nurse (born 1660 or 1661), Sarah Nurse (born 1662) and Benjamin Nurse (born in 1665 or 1666). In 1672, Francis Nurse served as Salem's Constable. It was later written that Rebecca had "acquired a reputation for exemplary piety that was virtually unchallenged in the community," making her one of the "unlikely" persons to be accused of witchcraft .
What did the jury ask Rebecca to explain?
The jury asked Rebecca to explain her remark that another accused witch, Deliverance Hobbs, was "of her company", the implication being that they had both signed a pact with the Devil.
Why is Rebecca Nurse important?
Though she has the least stage time of any of the major characters, Rebecca is important because of the moral ideals she represents.
Why did the Putnams resent the Nurses?
Answer: The Putnams resent that the Nurses interfered with Thomas Putnam's candidate for minister of Salem. Others may resent Francis's rise from land-renter to land-owner and Rebecca's being too saintly for her own good, as when she absents herself from Hale's witchcraft investigation in Act 1.
What is the justification Hale can come up with when Rebecca is accused of witchcraft?
When Rebecca is accused of witchcraft (a decidedly ungodly crime), the only justification Hale can come up with is that God has been fooled by seeming purity before: “Man, remember, until an hour before the Devil fell, God thought him beautiful in Heaven.” (Act 2, p.
Why is Ann Putnam so resentful?
There might also be some resentment from Ann Putnam due to her high infant mortality rate vs. Rebecca’s many children and grandchildren, but it’s only briefly touched upon in the play. It's not clear if Rebecca's fertility in the face of Ann Putnam's dead children is the reason why Rebecca is ultimately accused of murdering Ann Putnam’s children (Act 2, p. 67), or if that’s just a side-effect of the politics between the Putnam and Nurse families. What is clear, though, is that the only person Rebecca is sarcastic to in The Crucible is Ann Putnam:
What is Rebecca's first action upon entering the stage in Act 1?
Rebecca's first action upon entering the stage in Act 1 is to soothe Betty Parris with her very presence (Act 1, p. 24). Rebecca cautions everyone onstage against putting too much stock in “silly girls” and their fancies (p. 25), warns against seeking answers in the supernatural (p. 25-26), and eventually leaves when it becomes apparent her advice is going to be ignored (p. 37).
Where does Rebecca appear in The Crucible?
Rebecca only appears in Acts 1 and 4 of The Crucible (although she is mentioned in the other two acts by other characters). In Act 1, Rebecca shows up partway through the hullaballoo at Parris’s house, then leaves before Hale gets to the business of questioning Betty.
Why does Rebecca's arrest cause people to feel doubt?
Rebecca's arrest causes people to feel doubt because of her power and authority in the town. As Parris worriedly tells Judges Hathorne and Danforth, “Let Rebecca stand upon the gibbet and send up some righteous prayer, and I fear she’ll wake a vengeance upon you” (Act 4, p. 118).
Rebecca Nurse
Who is Rebecca Nurse in the Crucible? She was a real person living in Salem, MA, during the 17th century. She was hanged on July 19, 1692, for witchcraft. The nurse had a reputation for being a very Christian woman, and because of that, it is believed that her execution helped bring an end to the witch trials.
Who is Rebecca Nurse in The Crucible?
Rebecca Nurse, the crucible, is seen as the saintly, grandmotherly character in the play. Her character stands in stark contrast to the characters of the hysterical young girls and the sinister and angry Putnam. Rebecca is married to the wealthy and respected Francis Nurse.
Rebecca Nurse: Trial and Verdict
Ann Putnam‘s and Rebecca Nurse‘s fates are intimately interconnected in The Crucible. Rebecca was Ann‘s midwife for all eight of her pregnancies. Seven of those eight babies died.
Who was Rebecca Nurse?
In mid-March, Ann Putnam Jr. first claimed to see a specter of an old woman sitting in her grandmother’s chair. With encouragement from others in the Putnam household, she came to the name Rebecca Nurse.
Where was Rebecca Nurse buried?
Rebecca Nurse was executed on July 19, 1692 on Proctor’s Ledge at Gallows Hill. It is believed that her family came and collected her body that evening, taking her home to be buried in an unmarked grave on the homestead.
How many acres of the Francis Nurse farm are there?
When John Jr. died in 1668, his widow Elizabeth inherited the property. She remarried, to Reverend James Allen of Boston. The Nurses “leased-to-buy” the 300-acre farm in 1678 from Reverend Allen. Today, 27 acres remain of the original 300. Francis Nurse died in 1695.
When did Francis Nurse die?
Francis Nurse died in 1695. The house stayed in the Nurse family until 1784 and was then bought by a descendant of the second generation of the Putnam family. In 1885, the highlight of a family reunion was the unveiling of a memorial stone in tribute to Rebecca Nurse, engraved with a poem written especially for the occasion by John Greenleaf Whittier (a direct descendant of the executed Susannah Martin). In 1926, the house was acquired and restored by the Rebecca Nurse Memorial Association. Since 1981, the property has been owned by the Danvers Alarm List Company.
Was Nurse ill in bed?
Nurse was ill in bed. She expressed pity for the afflicted and commented that she believed some of the accused were innocent. Her visitors explained that she, too, had been accused. Nurse was filled with incredulity and amazement.
Who were the four people who visited Nurse?
A “committee” of four visited Nurse around the third week of March: Israel Porter (often in dispute with the Putnams); his wife Elizabeth (who was the sister of Judge John Hathorne); Daniel Andrews (a bricklayer who worked on the Corwin house in Salem Town, who was also the brother-in-law of George Jacobs Jr.); and Peter Cloyce, the husband of Rebecca’s sister Sarah.
Was Nurse guilty of Deliverance Hobbs?
Nurse was found not guilty. The afflicted in the room reacted wildly. The outburst was enough to concern the magistrates and jury foreman. In particular, Chief Justice William Stoughton was not satisfied with the verdict. He wondered what Nurse had meant when, after Deliverance Hobbs was brought into the courtroom to testify against her, Rebecca had asked, “But she’s one of us!”? Did she mean a witch like us? Nurse was brought back into the courtroom and asked: what had she meant?
Who is Rebecca Nurse?
She is the saintly character of the play. Whereas John Proctor has many flaws, Rebecca seems angelic. She is a nurturing soul, as seen when she tries to comfort the sick and the fearful in Act One. She is a grandmother who exhibits compassion throughout the play.
What does Rebecca Nurse say to John Proctor?
She would rather hang than lie. She comforts John Proctor as they are both led to the gallows. “Let you fear nothing! Another judgment waits us all!”
Who is the tragic victim of The Crucible?
Rebecca Nurse puts a face to the accusations and it is one that you cannot ignore. Can you imagine your grandmother being called out as a witch or a communist? If John Proctor is the tragic hero, Rebecca Nurse is the tragic victim of "The Crucible."
Who is the grandmother in The Crucible?
Updated April 19, 2018. If there is one character in "The Crucible" that everyone can love and sympathize with, it is Rebecca Nurse. She could be anyone's grandmother, the woman you would never speak foul of or intend to hurt in any way. And yet, in Arthur Miller 's tragic play, sweet Rebecca Nurse is one of the last victims ...
Is Rebecca Nurse bitter?
Yet, Rebecca Nurse merely blames her faltering on a lack of breakfast. Even at the brink of execution, she exhibits not a trace of bitterness, but only the sincerest humility. Of all the characters from "The Crucible," Rebecca Nurse is the most benevolent. Her death increases the tragedy of the play. Cite this Article. Format.
Who was Rebecca Nurse married to?
Around 1645, she married Francis Nurse, also born in England. Her husband was a "tray maker" by trade, who likely made many other wooden household items. Due to the rarity of such household goods, artisans of that medium were considered esteemed. Nurse and her family lived on a vast homestead which was part of a 300-acre (1.2 km2) grant given to Townsend Bishop in 1636. Francis originally rented it and then gradually paid it off throughout his lifetime. Together, the couple bore eight children: four daughters and four sons. Their names were Rebecca Nurse (born 1642), Sarah Nurse (born 1644), John Nurse (born 1645), Samuel Nurse (born 1649), Mary Nurse (1653 - 28 June 1749), Elizabeth Nurse (born 1656), Francis Nurse (born 1660/1661), and Benjamin Nurse (born in 1665/1666). Nurse frequently attended church and her family was well respected in Salem Village; Francis was often asked to be an unofficial judge to help settle matters around the village. In 1672, Francis served as Salem's Constable. It was later written that Rebecca had "acquired a reputation for exemplary piety that was virtually unchallenged in the community," making her one of the first "unlikely" persons to be accused of witchcraft.
Why was Nurse's homestead considered esteemed?
Due to the rarity of such household goods, artisans of that medium were considered esteemed. Nurse and her family lived on a vast homestead which was part of a 300-acre (1.2 km2) grant given to Townsend Bishop in 1636. Francis originally rented it and then gradually paid it off throughout his lifetime.
Who were the sisters of Nurse?
Her family settled in Salem Village in 1640. She had one older sister, Susan (baptized 26 Oct 1625 – died 29 Jul 1630) and two younger sisters, Mary Easty (baptized 24 Aug 1634) and Sarah Cloyce (born ca. 1642), both of whom were also accused of witchcraft. She also had four brothers: John (baptized 16 Feb 1622/23), Edmund (baptized Jun 1628), Jacob (baptized 11 Mar 1631/32) and Joseph (born abt 1639).
Overview
Rebecca Nurse (February 13, 1621 – July 19, 1692) was a woman who was accused of witchcraft and executed by hanging in New England during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. She was fully exonerated less than twenty years later.
She was the wife of Francis Nurse, had several children and grandchildren, and was a well-respected member of the community. She was tried and convicted i…
Early life
The daughter of William (c. 1598–1672) and Joanna a Towne (c. 1595/99–1682) (née Blessing), Rebecca Nurse was born in Great Yarmouth, England in 1621. Born February 13, 1621, her baptism is recorded as February 21, 1621. Her family emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, settling in Salem, although most of the Towne family would eventually move inland to Topsfield. Rebecca had three sisters, Susan (baptized October 26, 1625; died July 29, 1630), Mary (baptized August …
Accusation and trial
On March 23, 1692, a warrant was issued for her arrest based upon accusations made by Edward and John Putnam. Upon hearing of the accusations, the frail 71-year-old Nurse, often described as an invalid, said, "I am innocent as the child unborn, but surely, what sin hath God found out in me unrepented of, that He should lay such an affliction on me in my old age."
A public outcry greeted the accusations made against her, as she was considered to be a woma…
Death and aftermath
Many people described Nurse as "the woman of self-dignity", due to her collected behavior on the gallows. As was the custom, after she was hanged, her body was buried in a shallow grave near the execution spot. They were considered unfit for a Christian burial in a churchyard. According to oral tradition, Nurse's family secretly returned after dark and dug up her body, which they int…
In popular culture
Nurse's trial was featured in an episode of the CBS radio program "CBS Is There," which aired on July 28, 1947.
Rebecca Nurse is a central character in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible. In the original Broadway production in 1953 she was played by Jean Adair, who died shortly afterwards. This work was adapted for films in 1957 and 1996; Nurse w…
Notable descendants
Rebecca Nurse is the ancestor of several notable people, including Mitt Romney, Zach Braff, and Lucille Ball.
Further reading
Gagnon, Daniel A., A Salem Witch: The Trial, Execution, and Exoneration of Rebecca Nurse. Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2021.
Upham, Charles (1980). Salem Witchcraft. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 2 vv., v. 1 p. 80, v. 2 pp. 56–71, 111, 136, 268, 270–89, 290, 292, 480, 483.
External links
• Descendants of William Towne
• Salem Witch Trials- Rebecca Nurse
• Rebecca Nurse Homestead
• The Towne Family Association