For murder, she’s charged! (Mockingly quoting the warrant:) "For the marvelous and supernatural murder of Goody Putnam’s babies." What am I to do, Mr. Hale?
– Arthur Miller
The Crucible, Act 2. A deeply upset Francis Nurse announces that his wife Rebecca has been charged with the unbelievable crime of the "supernatural murder" of Ann Putnam’s babies. The seven babies died on the day they were born and Mrs. Putnam became obsessed with finding who "murdered" them. She also resented the fact that all of Rebecca’s eleven children lived and only one of here did. Add to that the historic land disputes between the Nurse and Putnam families, and it becomes clear that motives of jealousy and vengeance are behind the Putnams instigating these charges. The accusations against Rebecca Nurse parallel the way Senator Joe McCarthy accused people of being communists without any substantial proof. In the McCarthy era false accusations based on the flimsiest of evidence was leveled against innocent Americans.