Thursday, January 21, 2016

What is the literal meaning when Proctor says "We are only what we always were, but naked now. Aye! and the wind. God's icy wind, will blow."?

This is a great line.  Taking it literally, the idea of
being naked is one element present.  We are what we are and there is little to change
it.  Yet, our state of human beings is challenged when adverse conditions fall upon us.
 The idea of the naked human beings having to deal with "God's icy wind" brings to light
the idea that the bitterness intrinsic to such realities will visit and the implications
from this will be brutal.  The literal meaning is pain.  There will be much in way of
pain and discomfort from what will result.  The fact that this icy wind comes from God
is almost in the form of a delivering of judgment upon human beings for what has been
done.  It is difficult to not see the symbolism of Proctor, who will end up being
executed in complete defiance against what is happening in Salem, speaking about
judgment and deliverance.  The idea of "icy" also helps to bring out that the real
cruelty in Salem was not the accusations as much as the severed bonds, the connections
between human beings that were frozen with silence and cold
detachment.

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