Hale Tests Proctor on the Commandments, Explained：bear false witness

What's really going on

The visit looks like a religious examination and works like a trap. Hale asks the Proctors to recite the Ten Commandments, and when John recites them, one is missing: adultery. Elizabeth supplies it — "Adultery, John" — which tells Hale exactly where the fault lies. Hale has already pointed at it with a gentler phrase: "There is a softness in your record, sir." What makes the scene uneasy is that Hale is not hostile. He says he does not judge Goody Proctor and only wants to add to the court's godly wisdom. Yet the commandment John forgets is the one he has broken with Abigail, and everyone in the room can hear it. The trial has not begun, but the Proctors' marriage is already on the record.

Theme

このチャプターで学べること

• To bear false witness is to testify falsely.
• Thou shalt not is the old form of a solemn command.
• A softness in a record is a weakness a questioner can press.
• Adultery is stressed on its second syllable.

発音のポイント

• blame upon — Link the m of blame straight into upon.
• shalt not — The t in shalt is often dropped before not.
• Adultery — Stress the second syllable: a-DUL-tery.
• do think — The stressed do adds emphasis: I really do think so.