Act I, Scene 1 Questions and Answers

1. What do we learn in the opening narrative that is important to the events that follow?
2. What happened in the woods the night before Act One -begins?
3. How did the events come to light, and what was the effect on Betty and Ruth?
4. Why is the town so stirred up by these events?
5. What is Reverend Parris first reaction to the crisis?
6. What reason does Ann Putnam have to be resentful?
7. What reason does Thomas Putnam have to be resentful?
8. Why do the girls argue about whether or not to tell the truth?
9. How does Abigail eventually get her way?
10. What is a crucible?
Answers
1. We learn that Parris thinks everyone is out to get him and that he has a need to be in control. We also learn
that the citizens of Salem mind each others business and are unforgiving.
2. Several teenage girls of Salem were in the woods dancing, some of them naked. Tituba was trying to contact
the dead, and Abigail was trying to put a curse on Elizabeth Proctor.
3. The girls were caught by Reverend Parris, and the shock caused Betty and Ruth to fall ill.
4. The town is stirred up because the girls cannot be healed, and they suspect witchcraft.
5. Parris first reaction is to save his own name and reputation.
6. Ann Putnam suspects someone has been killing her babies in childbirth.
7. Thomas Putnam resents the fact that his candidate for minister of Salem was not elected.
8. To admit the truth means severe punishment for dancing and conjuring; to be found guilty of witchcraft
means -hanging.
9. Abigail forces the others not to tell the truth through intimidation and threats.
10. A crucible is a container in which metals are burned at high temperatures to burn off impurities; it is also
defined as a severe test or trial.
Act I, Scene 2 Questions and Answers
1. Why was Abigail dismissed from her job at the Proctors house?
2. What does Abby tell Proctor about the events in the woods?
3. How have Proctors feelings toward Abby changed?
4. When does Betty cry out?
5. How is this cry interpreted?
6. How is Betty finally calmed?
7. How does Rebecca explain the events in the woods?
8. Why would anyone resent the Nurses?
9. Why does Proctor dislike Parris?
10. Why does Parris dislike Proctor?
Answers
1. Abigail was dismissed from her job when Elizabeth discovered her affair with John.
2. Abby tells Proctor that they were merely dancing and that there was no witchcraft involved.
3. Proctor has put the affair behind him and no longer welcomes Abbys advances.
4. Betty cries out when she hears the name of the Lord sung downstairs.
5. The cry is interpreted as another sign of witchcraft. If Betty is possessed by a demonic spirit, she cannot bear
to hear the name of the Lord.
6. Rebecca Nurse seems to calm Betty merely by her presence.
7. Rebecca feels the events in the woods were merely expressions of adolescent foolishness.
8. The Nurses have been involved in a land war with their neighbors and were among those who kept Putnams
candidate for minister out of office in Salem.
9. Proctor despises what he sees as Parris outrageous hypocrisy and greed.
10. Parris resents Proctor for arguing against paying him more money.

Act I, Scene 3 Questions and Answers

1. Why is Hale invited to Salem from Boston?
2. Has Hale ever found a witch?
3. What is significant about the timing of Hales entrance?
4. What do we learn about Rebecca Nurse from Hale?
5. What does Giles mention to Hale about Proctor?
6. What does Giles mention about his wife?
7. What are Rebecca and Johns roles in the proceedings?
8. What does Abigail do when questioned?
9. How is Tituba treated when she finally concocts a conversation with the devil and names a Salem woman as
a witch?
10. What does Abby do when she sees this reaction?
Answers
1. Hale is a noted authority on witchcraft.
2. Hale once thought he had found a witch, but thorough investigation revealed that there was a natural
explanation for the questionable behavior.
3. Hale enters immediately after the conversation that reveals the conflicts among the residents of Salem.
4. We learn that Rebeccas good reputation is widely known.
5. Giles tells Hale that Proctor does not believe in witches.
6. Giles tells Hale that his wife reads books and that when she is reading them, he cannot pray.
7. Both Rebecca and John refuse to be involved in the witch-hunt.
8. Abigail pins the blame on Tituba.
9. Tituba is greatly encouraged and treated like a hero.
10. Abby seeks the same kind of attention and begins naming names herself.

Act II, Scene 1 Questions and Answers

1. What is the significance of Johns re-seasoning the soup?
2. What is the relationship between John and Elizabeth like?
3. What new position does Mary Warren now hold?
4. Who is in charge of this court?
5. What action has the court taken?
6. What will happen if the accused do not confess?
7. How has Marys personality changed since her involvement in the court?
8. What issue does Elizabeth continue to hound her husband about?
9. What does Elizabeths lack of mercy and understanding foreshadow?

10. Why does John hesitate to go to the court and reveal Abigails fraud?

Answers
1. The unseasoned soup is a symbol of the Proctors flavorless marriage.
2. The relationship between John and Elizabeth is tense and strained.
3. Mary is now an official in the newly formed court.
4. The court consists of four judges sent from Boston.
5. The court has accused 14 Salemites of witchcraft.
6. If the accused do not confess, they will be hanged.
7. Mary used to be timid and shy, but is now openly defiant of her employer.
8. Elizabeth cannot forgive Johns indiscretion with Abigail.
9. Elizabeths behavior towards John foreshadows the later actions of the court.
10. John hesitates because he does not like to be ordered by Elizabeth and because he fears he will not be
believed, since there are no other witnesses to Abbys confession.
Act II, Scene 2 Questions and Answers
1. What does Mary Warren give Elizabeth?
2. What is Elizabeths reaction to the gift?
3. How many people have now been arrested?
4. What will happen to those who do not confess?
5. Who has confessed?
6. What does this mean for the others?
7. What would spare Sarah Good from hanging?
8. What shocking news does Mary offer regarding Elizabeth?
9. What cause does Elizabeth immediately suspect?
10. Now that Elizabeth is accused, does John go quickly to the court to clear her name?
Answers
1. Mary gives Elizabeth a poppet, or doll, that she had sewn that day in court.
2. Elizabeth is surprised. A doll is an odd gift to give a grown woman.
3. A total of 39 people have now been arrested.
4. Those who do not confess will be hanged.
5. Sarah Good has confessed.
6. Now that one person has confessed, the charges against the others are more believable.
7. Sarah is pregnant, and the court will spare her unborn child.
8. Mary reveals that Elizabeth has been accused of witchcraft.
9. Elizabeth suspects the accusation was an attempt by Abigail to eventually marry John.
10. Even though Elizabeth has been accused, John hesitates to go to the court. He agrees to go only after being
coerced by his wife.
Act II, Scene 3 Questions and Answers
Study Questions
1. Why does Hale appear at the Proctor house?
2. Why would Johns Christian character be in question?
3. What reason does John first give for not going to church regularly?
4. What reason does John finally admit to for his behavior?
5. Why is Johns not going to church significant to the play?
6. What does Hale request the Proctors do to show their faith?
7. Are the Proctors successful in fulfilling this request?
8. Why is this particular commandment significant?
9. What news briefly shakes Hales belief in the court system?
10. What is his ultimate conclusion about the system at the end of this scene?
Answers
1. Hale travels to the Proctor house to question them on their Christian character.
2. Johns faith is in question because he does not attend church regularly and has not had his third son baptized.
3. John explains that Elizabeth has been sick and he has stayed home to care for her.
4. John admits his animosity toward Reverend Parris.
5. It shows his failure to conform to the rules of the society and to participate in the community.
6. The Proctors are asked to repeat the commandments.
7. John can name nine commandments but forgets the commandment against adultery.
8. Johns adultery with Abigail makes this particular commandment significant.
9. Hales belief in the system is briefly shaken by the accusation of Rebecca Nurse.
10. Hale still believes that the innocent will be pardoned and justice will prevail.
Act II, Scene 4 Questions and Answers
Study Questions
1. What orders do Cheever and Herrick have at the Proctor house?
2. What has happened to Abigail?
3. Why is this related to the poppet?
4. Did Elizabeth keep poppets in her house?
5. What is found in the poppet?
6. How did the needle get there?
7. Do the authorities believe Marys admission?
8. What does John do with the warrant for Elizabeths arrest?
9. What does Proctor believe is motivating the court at this point?
10. What does Mary warn will happen if Proctor attempts to interfere with the court?
Answers

Study Questions
1. What is the significance of lighting described in the stage directions?
2. Who is being charged as Act Three begins?
3. What possible motive does Giles Corey offer for the accusations against his wife and others?
4. How are these charges received?
5. Why does Giles feel guilty?
6. What do Proctor and Mary Warren bring with them as -evidence?
7. How does Judge Danforth measure his worth?
8. What does Parris do when Proctor attempts to make his case?
9. What is happening to Hale at this point?
10. How is Marys statement that the accusations are mere pretense received.
Study Questions
1. What news does Danforth give John Proctor about his wife?
2. Why did the court not believe this assertion at first?
3. What does Proctor tell Danforth about his doubts?
4. What offer is made to Proctor by Danforth?
5. What happens to the people who signed the deposition upholding the three women?
6. What does Giles Corey charge in his deposition againstThomas Putnam?
7. How does Putnam answer, and who is believed?
8. What does Mary Warrens deposition claim?
9. What does Hale suggest after the deposition is read?
10. Why does Danforth not allow Proctor to obtain a lawyer?
Study Questions
1. What does Abigail do when confronted with Marys accusation of pretense?
2. What behavior of Abbys does Proctor bring to the judges attention?
3. Why does he choose to reveal these things?
4. What is Reverend Parris reaction to these charges against his niece?
5. How is Mary asked to prove that the girls were lying?
6. How does Abigail respond to Marys assertions that the girls were all lying?
7. What does Proctor finally call Abigail?
8. Who is brought in to back up this accusation, and what does she do?
9. How does Mary finally respond to Abbys behavior?
10. What...
Study Questions
1. What are Tituba and Sarah Good discussing as the act opens?
2. How does Tituba describe the devil in Barbados?
3. What has happened that has made Parris so anxious?
4. What happened in Andover?
5. Why is Parris afraid to hang John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse the next morning?
6. Why is Parris more frightened to hang Proctor and Nurse than anyone else?
7. Why does Parris request a postponement of the hangings?
8. What does Hale request instead of postponement?
9. Why does Danforth refuse Hales request?
10. What has Hale been advising those condemned to do?
Study Questions
1. What does Hale plead with Elizabeth to do?
2. Why does Hale believe a lie would not be a sin in this case?
3. Why is Hale so adamant in his attempts to convince Elizabeth?
4. Have any of the other prisoners confessed?
5. What reason does John give for not confessing?
6. What further reason keeps John from confessing?
7. What has John decided to do before he sees Elizabeth?
8. What does Elizabeth advise him to do?
9. How has Elizabeth changed?
10. What reason does John have for not telling the truth and going to his death?
Study Questions
1. Why is Rebecca Nurse brought in to witness Proctors confession?
2. Why does Proctor refuse to name the names of other witches?
3. Why does Proctor refuse to give Danforth the paper with his signature on it?
4. What is the climax of the play?
5. What does Proctor do with the signed confession?
6. How has Proctor earned his death?
7. How does Elizabeth react to his choice of death?
8. When does Proctor claim his good name?
9. What reaction does Rebecca Nurse have to John Proctors confession?
10. Does Rebecca Nurse confess?
Why did Arthur Miller write The Crucible?
Arthur Miller is an American playwright who wrote The Crucible in 1952. Thus, the play was written on the
heels of World War II, which ended in 1945, and was written during a time in which the...
In The Crucible, what are some quotes that show Abigail Williams is selfish and manipulative?
Abigail is extremely selfish. She looks out for her own needs only. She says to her friends in Act I: Let either of
you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will...
What are some examples of hysteria in The Crucible?
Hysteria was a major factor in the many accusations of witchcraft that occurred throughout The Crucible. It
helps to understand what hysteria is--an overwhelming fear and excitement that...
What is the conflict between John Proctor and Reverend Parris in The Crucible?
Proctor feels that Parris is selfishly abusing the power of his position in Salem. Parris complains that his salary
is too small and insists that he be given firewood. Proctor feels that Parris has...

Set in Salem, Massachusetts, during the witch-hunts of 1692 but full of allusions to Senator Joseph McCarthy
and the House Committee on Un-American Activities persecutions of the 1950s, Arthur Millers The Crucible
is a masterful play that ultimately transcends both historical contexts with its message of resistance to tyranny.
The play focuses on the moral struggles of John Proctor, a New England farmer, who is sucked into a witch-
hunt that rages through his Puritan society. By deftly juxtaposing the religious paranoia that permeates a
Fundamentalist community suddenly convinced that the devil is loose in its village with the less lofty but more
powerful forces of human greed, envy, and revenge, Miller exposes the core of hypocrisy that is cloaked by the
guise of authority.

The play opens in the attic bedroom of the Reverend Samuel Parris, minister of Salem, the night after Parris
surprised his daughter Betty, his beautiful and sensual niece Abigail, and a number of other girls from Salem
village dancing in the woods (a forbidden act). Parris all too quickly assumes that the girls have been bewitched,
and soon Parris bedroom is packed with Salemites convinced that witchcraft is afoot. As the act closes, the
logic and sense of Proctors doubts are overwhelmed by hysteria as Abigail and Betty launch the witch-hunt by
screaming out the names of those who have supposedly consorted with the devil. They initially name, for the
most part, those of the community who are vulnerable, and they name names in order to escape punishment.
This pattern of accusation and betrayal has a close resemblance to McCarthys anti-communist tactics.

The remainder of the play pits Salems authority structure, as typified by Deputy Governor Danforth with his
smug self-righteousness, against its helpless individual victims. Since the accuser is always holy, the
innocentProctor, Proctors wife Elizabeth, and the saintly Rebecca Nursehave no defense. It is clear that
the accusations have nothing to do with witchcraft but are the result of long-standing animosities. Abigail, who
has had a sexual relationship with Proctor, wants Proctor for herself, and so Elizabeth is named a witch. The
 plays climax comes as Proctor, who has long struggled with the guilt over his infidelity and with his
powerlessness to assert his innocence in the face of an implacable and tyrannous authority, realizes that he
cannot destroy his true identity by signing a false confession: Because it is my name! Because I cannot have
another in my life! The plays final image of an innocent Proctor going to his unjust hanging was to be
uncannily echoed three years after the play was written when Miller was called before the House Committee on
Un-American Activities and convicted of contempt of Congress

Discuss the significance of the title of the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller. (P.U. 2004)
Arthur Miller uses the title of his play The Crucible as a Metaphor constantly throughout the text. A
crucible is a container used to heat metals at a high temperature so the metal can be cast, often using intense
pressure to do so. Crucibles are often also used to remove impurities from a substance, so that only the pure
matter remains. The relevance of the title is apparent in many of the themes and issues of the play, and is
demonstrated through striking imagery and the actions of characters that Miller portrays to us.

The relevance of the plays title becomes evident during the first act, as we gradually piece together the
information concerning the girls dancing. The kettle viewed by Reverend Parris, a argumentative and
unreasonable man in his middle forties, mirrors a crucible. We are told that the girls had made a brew that
contained a little frog and blood. This concoction was viewed by the characters involved as a potent, fearsome
mixture and this signifies the beginning of the Salem tragedy. It seems that from this brew a more sinister
force is released, or metaphorically speaking, the impurities are released due to the aid of a crucible.

The dancing and the contents of the little pot seem to fuel the rumours, lies and tragedy of Salem.
Suspicion soon engulfs the community and the little privacy that once existed suddenly shatters. Privacy was
quickly interpreted to mean that people had some terrible fault to hide and there was an intense pressure for
neighbours to reveal each others sins. Here is evidence of how the plays title is reflected in the actions and
words of the characters.

In fact, Reverend Parris makes an ironic comment that is closely linked with the The Crucible:

nd Parris: Why, Rebecca, we may open up the boil of all our troubles today because

d the witchcraft investigation provokes the burning down and destruction of the

ity. Here The Crucible is once again used metaphorically to illustrate characters

he use of such words as boil and burning down are directly linked with the image

ble at work.

The witch trials are also metaphorically a crucible for peoples grudges, and their seeking of revenge. The
play shows us also how people can give into their fear and superstition. Salem quickly turns into a melting pot
of suspicion and vengeance with nearly everyone trying to pull power out of the pot. The witch trials provided
an avenue to bring hostilities out into the open in a theocratic society that had little opportunity for speaking
out.

The trials are not really about witchcraft. Abigail Williams, a strikingly pretty seventeen-year-old orphan,
admits to John Proctor, a well-respected farmer in his mid thirties, how the witchery is a hoax:

ail: We were dancing in the woods last night and my uncle leaped out on us. She took fright, is all.

Furthermore, the relationship between Abigail and Proctor is highlighted using imagery connected to the
concept of a crucible. The relationship, based more on lust than love, is one that Proctor dearly regrets and that
constantly plays on his conscience. Heat and fire can be used as symbols that are strongly connected with a
crucible, and Miller uses this symbolism cleverly:

bigail: you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I came near!

And later,

Abigail: I have a sense for heat, John and I have seen you burning in your loneliness.

The relationship can be likened to the concept of a crucible because it represents the high temperatures
and reactions that take place in a crucible. The relationship between Abigail and John is shown in great
contrast with his wife Elizabeth, a cold and unforgiving woman. The relationship between John and Elizabeth
is cold, distant and tense, with no passion or fire. However, despite his feelings of passion for Abigail, Proctor
realises that he must not succumb to them again. This decision effectively ends their relationship and
extinguishes the heat between them.
 Fire and heat is used as a symbol once again in Act Three. The Crucible metaphor is illustrated in the play
when Judge Danforth, a strict judge with a strong belief in authority, says to Proctor,

rth: We burn a hot fire here; it melts down all concealment.

The court scenes were times of tension, intensity, pressure and conflicts between powerful authorities
refusing to realise they have signed away innocent lives on the strength of a lie. Also things are permanently
and physically changed in a crucible, when they are turned from one thing into another. This is reflected in the
play by the fact that many characters in the play are exposed to high pressures during the trial. This pushes
many characters to the limits of reason and changes them mentally, physically and spiritually.

Another parallel between the word crucible and the play is the fact that a meaning of the word crucible is a
severe test or trial. When John Proctor is convicted of witchery he wrestles with his conscience about whether
he should confess or be hanged. His internal conflict between the opportunity to protect himself at the expense
of others weighs heavily on his mind, but he chooses the ultimate sacrifice his life. He asks his wife towards
the end of The Crucible:

or: Would you give them such as lie? You would not; if tongs of fire were singeing you, you would not.

This makes it evident that Proctor recognises his own shortcomings and once again conjures the image of
fire that is closely related to a crucible. Miller also uses the text to make connections between Salem and Hell.

or: A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! . And we will burn, we will burn
together!

Here Miller makes the ultimate connection between the plays title The Crucible and the society he is
portraying. The intense heat and pressure of Hell is also present in a crucible, and both can be associated with
the hysteria and suspicion of the people in Salem during the witch trials.

The obvious relevance of The Crucible can be found at the very core of the text. A crucible can be used to
separate and discard impurities the in a substance in effect, that was the essence of the Salem witch trials. In
an attempt to separate the good from the bad, many respectable and virtuous people were hung due to the
mass hysteria and pressure caused by The Crucible of the times.

By reflecting his plays powerful and effective title throughout the text, Miller prompts his audience to
apply his metaphor to other situations in history. It was most certainly Millers own experiences during the
communist hunt of the 1950s that provoked him to write this play. Miller saw the parallels between the
McCarthy era and the Salem witch hunts for what they really were a crucible. Severe trials held in an attempt
to separate the good from the evil, the pure from the tainted. Through his text, he shows the frailty and
vulnerability of human nature by showing how hypocrisy and hysteria can lead to times of suspicion and
instability. He leaves us, his audience, to make our own judgement about similar periods in history and to ask
ourselves the question Is it possible, or even predictable, that this situation will ever occur again?

Lytton Strachey as a biographer

The biographer Lytton Strachey belonged to the Bloomsbury Group. He inaugurated the new era of
biographical writing at the close of World War I. In his preface, Strachey enunciated the two fold principle of
selection and scrutiny which was to mark all his work.

Strachey proposed a briefness which excludes everything that is superfluous and nothing that is significant. The
completion of this mission made Strachey the greatness of modern biographers.

Strachey has certainly revolutionized the art of writing a biography. Before him, the biographer used to neglect
like a hagiographer the darker side of their heroes because they generally used to idealize their heroes by
representing them as angels of virtue. Strachey was the first to realize that in order to give a complete and
human portrait.

Strachey did not hesitate to include in his biographies the failings, jokes and whims of his heroes. He believed
that a biographer must have a psychological insight into his character.

A biographer must neither suppress vital facts nor obscure those aspects of his character which help us visualize
his true picture as he lived. Instead of giving abstractness, Strachey indeed gave a creature of flesh and blood.

Strachey has suggested that the biographies must be primarily a form of literary art capable of giving the
pleasure. In biography, it is not so much the subject as the treatment of the subject that really matters.

Strachey suggested that the biographies of eminent men should not be immediately written after their death
because their relatives and friends are naturally reluctant to disclose the relevant confidential details. Thus he
was of the opinion that:
First class biographies can only be written long after the heros death.

Strachey had a gift of irony which has hardly been equaled in literature by anyone since the eighteenth century
masters.

Strachey has made biography a literary medium. His biographical style has the appeal of a fine work of art.

Strachey has brought us face to face with men and women, who are nonetheless fallible human beings and not
infallible saints or gods. We watch them live, think, and quarrel like us. Sometimes they behave meanly and
foolishly and sometimes nobly and wisely.

Stracheys objectives were to make biography an unmistakable channel for the truthful transmission of
personality; to write it as the most authentic footnote to history; to make it a vivid and complete story; to make
it a source of inner satisfaction to the reader. In most of his experiments in biography Strachey certainly
succeeded in attaining them. Stracheys achievement in biography was indeed a challenge to dullness and
incompetence.

Charles Richard Sander says:

Throughout his career Strachey protested against the lengthy, formless, badly written biographies
produced by the Victorians. He insisted that the spirit of the biographer should be free and that he
should write from a definite point of view, should select and include only the essential materials of a
subject, should give to a work good structure and excellence of style.

His intensely personal sketches shocked many critics but delighted many readers. M. Forster says:

Strachey helped sweep away the ponderous Victorian approach to the writing to biography, replacing it
with a witty and with impressionistic style that was widely imitated and studied at the University of
Cambridge.

Instead of using the conventional method of detailed chronological narration, Lytton Strachey carefully selected
his tact to present Eminent Victorians.

These deliberations suffice to signify that Strachey is the greatest biographer of the Victorian age.

A Critical Analysis of Florence Nightingale (From Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey)

A Critical Analysis of Florence Nightingale:

Lytton Strachey

The present text is a part of the famous book Eminent Victorians (1918) written by Lytton Strachey. Strachey was one of
the influential members of Bloomsbury Group, a loosely associated group of English writers, intellectuals, philosophers
and artists who shared and propagated a common view of life in the early 20th century England. They stood apart
from the conventional norms, bourgeois values and Victorian morality and adopted a more liberal way of life with a
focus on personal relationships and individual pleasure. As a member of this society, Lytton Strachey, a biographer and
literary critic, took an unconventional attitude to writing biography. He revolutionized and even deconstructed the
concept as well as technique of writing biography in Eminent Victorians. In November 1912 he wrote to Virginia Woolf
that their Victorian predecessors "seem to me a set of mouth bungled hypocrites." He demystified several Victorian
icons like Cardinal Manning, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Arnold and General Gordon who were standing on the ivory
tower of glory. He stripped them of their aura associated with them to present a realistic picture of their life with
psychological realism. In the present essay on Florence Nightingale, founder of modern nursing system, he shatters the
romantic and ideal concept of her life. He deflates the aura of this soft, delicate, angelic lady known as the lady with
the lamp with divine mercy and grace as he says, But the truth was different, suggesting that the real woman behind
the popular imagination was quite different in real life. Strachey begins his essay with a shocking remark upon Miss.
Nightingale: She moved under the stress of an impetus which finds no place in popular imagination. A demon
possessed her (P.119). Later in the course of his writing Strachey clarifies its meaning.

The Lady with the Lamp

The essay is divided in five parts each of which deals with different aspects of her life from different
perspectives. The first passage focuses more upon Florence Nightingales inward life, her character and mind. This
passage also depicts the earlier stages of her life when she was preparing herself to choose the profession of a
nurse. Born of a well-to-do family, Florence Nightingale was brought up with all the advantages of aristocratic life. While
her sisters and cousins were busy in dinner-parties, dances and finding suitable partner for marriage, her craving was
quite different. Strachey writes, She would think of nothing but how to satisfy that singular craving of hers to be doing
something (p.121). Her lovers had been to her an added burden and a mockery (P.123). She was able brush aside all
the allurements and temptations of life with disdain and loathing. Thus she suppressed, according to Strachey, the
most powerful and the profoundest of all the instincts of humanity (p.123). But the suppression of this powerful
instinct transformed her into a megalomaniac, autocratic, dominating lady with a strong and persisting desire of doing
something. This also gave her energy to face and overcome numerous difficulties in her profession as nursing was
regarded as a peculiarly disreputable (p.121) profession at that time.

The second passage describes Florences activities in the Army hospital at Scutari. Upon arriving at Scutari she
found the hospital in a deplorable condition without the basic facilities needed for the patients (p.120). She used her
own resources and connections to provide them with the basic facilities. Her sympathy and affection touched the hearts
of the patients and infused new hopes into those who had lost their hopes in life. Sometimes her efforts rescued those
who had been considered as beyond curable by the doctor. Soon she became an idol mong the patients. Strachey
writes: A passionate idolatry among the men: they kissed her shadow as it passed(p.137). But there was other side of
this delicate angelic lady which was known to the surgeons and other staff working under her instruction in the Scutari
Hospital. Strachey writes: Beneath her cool and calm demeanour lurked fierce and passionate firesthe high
deliberation in the scope of the capacious brow, the sign of power in the dominating curve of the thin nose, and the
traces of a harsh and dangerous temper something peevish,something mocking, and yet something precise the small
and delicate mouth (p.137). This is with her fierce dominating nature she brought order out of chaos with strict method
and stern discipline. After all days restraints and reserve, she poured out all her pent up energies in writing letters and
which she filled with recommendations, suggestion and criticism at night. She also used her suppressed energies to find
the faults of her officials and criticise them with fierce sarcasm and ridicule. Strachey writes: her pen, in the virulence
of its volubility, would rush on to the discussion of individuals, to the denunciation of an incompetent surgeon or the
ridicule of self-sufficient nurse. Her sarcasm searched the ranks of the officials with the deadly and unsparing precision
of a machine gun (p.139). Strachey also mentioned that she respected none. Even her vituperation descended upon
her most well-wisher friend Sidney Herbert with whom she was once engaged in temporary quarrel. After gaining much
popularity Miss Nightingale returned to England.

The third passage deals with her activity in England. Though she returned in a shattered state of health, she
refused to take rest as a demonic frenzy had seized her. She had the plan of reforming the military hospitals and their
sanitary system. But she had to face the difficulties posed before her by her opponent like Dr. Andrew Smith, the head
of the Army Medical Department and Lord. Panmure. But she with her restless and indomitable spirit ultimately
triumphed over them. But the labour and effort needed was enormous and it affected her health. But she refused to
take rest. Even she was thinking of reforming Army Medical system in India. Strachey writes, Her desire for work could
now be scarcely distinguished from mania (p.158). When one of her well-wisher and friend Dr. Sutherland urged her to
take rest, she replied, I am lying without my head, without my claws, and you all peck at me (p.158).

In the fourth passage, Strachey sardonically portrays her adventure in the philosophic and spiritual realm after her
flawless victory in the physical world of action. Strachey writes:

She sighed for more worlds to conquer more, and yet more. She looked about her what was there left? Of
course! Philosophy! After the world of action, the world of thought (p.169). She found many defects in the workings
and teachings of the church and tended to correct it with her suggestions. Her Suggestions for Thought to the Searchers
after Truth among the Artisans of England (1860) unravels the difficulties connected with such matters as Belief in
God, the plan of Creation, the origin of Evil etc. Strachey sardonically comments on her conception of God: her
conception of God was certainly not orthodox. She felt towards Him as she might have felt towards a glorified sanitary
engineershe seems hardly to distinguish between the Deity and the Drains(p.171). His biting satire on Miss.
Nightingale does not end with this. He continues that if one reads few pages of her book he will get the impression that
Miss Nightingale has got the Almighty too into her clutches, and that, if He is not careful, she will kill Him with
overwork. (p.171) But she was more comfortable in analysing and dissecting facts than in constructing abstract
coherent system of thought. She was an empiricist who believed in what she saw. For her there was no such thing as
infection as she had not seen it. But she noticed the good effect of fresh air upon her patients. Thats why she always
insisted that the patients bedrooms should be well-ventilated. But according to Strachey it was purely empirical
doctrine and thus it led to some unfortunate results (p.172). Though she was unaware of the hot weather in India, she
recommended that windows must be kept open all the year round in the hospitals. This almost shocked the
authorities in India who opposed this decision. But she stood firm in her position.

The final passage depicts the last years of her life. In this period, she, according to Strachey, was gradually being
transformed from the thin, angular woman, with her haughty eye and her aerid mouth (p.177) to a rounded fat lady
smiling all day long. Strachey writes, The brain which had been steeled at Scutari was indeed, literally, growing soft

General Charles George Gordon

General Charles George Gordon was destined for a military career from childhood. His father, an army officer,
sent him to Woolwich Academy, after which he was expected to join the Royal Artillery. His commission was
delayed, however, after his high-spirited temperament twice got him into trouble. He eventually joined the
Royal Engineers instead, and behaved with great gallantry at the battle of Balaclava, during the Crimean War.
After this he spent two years on the Russian-Turkish border, helping to ensure that the terms of the treaty of
Paris were upheld. Gordon then made a name for himself in China, where the British were in occupation.

Gordon was placed in control of an army that won back large amounts of land that had been captured by rebels.
After this, Gordon spent some years in obscurity, before taking on another overseas mission, this time in the
Sudan, where he worked for six years trying to bring order to a vast and uncharted territory. His final mission
was again in Sudan, where he was sent officially to supervise a withdrawal from Khartoum, but Strachey makes
it clear that Gordon was not suited to the role the British government expected him to fulfill. He was a bold
adventurer who chafed at bureaucratic or political restrictions, and he was not skilled in the kind of complex
situation in which he was placed, which called for cool judgment and an ability to clearly assess the facts of a
situation.

In Stracheys view, Gordon was an impulsive, eccentric romantic, with a bent for mysticism and a fervent belief
that he should always follow the will of God. When he was at Khartoum, he decided that since the British..