A reason that Mr. Putnam seems to hold a grudge against
the Nurse family is one that he shares with his wife. Rebecca Nurse has chastised Mrs.
Putnam for "seeking loose spirits" and sending her daughter to Tituba to conjure the
spirits of Mrs. Putnam's seven dead babies. Now, she encourages Reverend Parris to send
Mr. Hale back home when he arrives and just rely on "good prayer" to help the ailing
Betty Parris and Ruth Putnam. Rebecca says that they should "go to God for the cause
of" their troubles and "blame [them]selves" instead. At these words, Mr. Putnam quickly
angers, saying,
How may we blame ourselves? I am one of nine
sons; the Putnam seed have peopled this province. And yet I have but one child left of
eight -- and now she
shrivels!
The Putnams see
their terrible luck as a sign that the Devil is at work in Salem. To be sure, it would
be incredibly painful and frustrating to lose so many children, especially when the
Nurses have "never los[t] a child, nor grandchild neither" and they have buried all but
one. The terrible injustice of the Putnams' losses have encouraged their grudge against
and suspicion of the Nurses.
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