Francis Nurse Presents the Petition, Explained：put-upon

What's really going on

The scene is about who controls the record. Francis Nurse's petition is an attempt to put ninety-one respected names on the side of the accused; Danforth's response, "Is every defense an attack upon the court?", turns the petition itself into a crime and reveals that the court cannot tolerate being questioned. When Giles Corey charges Putnam with killing his neighbors for their land, he has the logic of the case exactly right — Jacobs's property would be forfeit if he hangs — but Danforth only wants procedure: "But proof, sir, proof." Giles has proof, yet he will not name the informant, because that man "will lay in jail." So the scene stages the play's central bind: names are the weapon, and one honest man's refusal to give a name is treated as contempt.

Theme

このチャプターで学べること

• To know your rights is to refuse to be shortchanged.
• Put-upon means always made to do more for others.
• Contempt of court is a charge, not just a feeling.
• A rhetorical question can put the court on the defensive.

発音のポイント

• all my life — Practice linking all my into one smooth run.
• attack upon — Practice linking the end of attack straight into upon.
• know my rights — Practice the weak form of my so rights carries the stress.
• lay in jail — Practice running lay in jail together without a break.