Ann Putnam- Crucible and Real Life
By Jessica Griffin
Ann Putnam (Crucible)
In the play The Crucible
by Arthur Miller, Ann Putnam is a 45 year old woman who is married to Thomas Putnam. They have one child named Ruth who is 12 years old.
Mrs. Putnam had 7 unbaptized children who died shortly after birth. Ruth is their only surviving child and she has fallen into a state that prevents her from speaking or moving.
In The Crucible Mrs. Putnam seems to be very miss understood. She is haunted by nightmares and now her only child has fallen ill while her husband runs around picking fights over land. She has lived a hard life.
Ann Putnam in Real Life
The real Ann Putnam who played a large role in the Salem witch trials was actually the Putnam’s daughter, Ann Putnam JR., named after her mother. The Putnam’s had 10 children in real life (Brooks) and Ann JR. was their eldest.
Brooks also says that Mr. Putnam accused and testified against 43 people and Ann JR
. testified against 62. She also says that the Putnam family used the hysteria to gain themselves more land.
Ann JR. showed many symptoms. For example, barking like dogs, having seizures and being pinched by spirits. By the end of February the girls had been deemed bewitched and they blamed three women for torturing them: Tituba, Goody Osborne, and Goody Good (Brooks).
Ann blamed many people. Some of her most shocking accusations were against Martha Corey, four-year-old Dorcas Good, Rebecca Nurse and Salem’s former pastor George Burroughs. Her parents Thomas and Ann also got involved in accusing people. Most were enemies of the family (Ann Putnam JR., Discovery Education)
Mr. and Mrs. Putnam both died in 1699, says Brooks, this left Ann JR. to raise her other 9 siblings all by herself. She never got married and decided that because her parents couldn’t control her anymore she would confess. In 1706 she was the only afflicted girl to publicly apologize for her actions during the trials (Brooks).
Some of the Accused
Work Cited
-Salem Witch Trials- The People- Ann Putnam JR. 2013. Web. 01 January,
2014
-Brooks, Rebecca Beatrice. History of Massachusetts. Rebecca Beatrice Brooks, 2013. Web. 19 December, 2013