Summary Of The Crucible Act 2 Scene 1

The first scene of the second act is the shortest in length, but one of the largest in significance. In the beginning of the scene, the town is preparing for Reverend Brown’s sermon with eager anticipation. The religious fervour that Brady has been carefully nurturing and cultivating in the people of Hillsboro was to make a dramatic plateau at this sermon.

Act 2 – Scene I is also the first time that the slow unceasing progress of the religious fervour was, if only momentarily, stopped. After Rev. Brown’s extreme warlike prayer, Col. Brady steps in to stop Brown, and states “… It is possible to be overzealous, to destroy that which you hope to save.” This interruption of Browns’ prayer is the first crack in the foundation of their religious platform, and the first interruption of the increase of support. The support hadn’t fallen, but for the first time, it halted.
This short beginning of the scene provides a tiny bit of exposition for Hornbeck, but mainly serves to be a scene that you recall at the end of the book. The popularity of Brady and the solitude of Drummond is a start contrast to the end of the book where Brady is carried off, deceased, and reporters flock to Drummond. Their roles reverse, and hammer in that Drummond won the battle.

The last conversation of the scene between Brady and Drummond is one of the first hints that the relationship between the two is deeper than it would first appear. It hints that their relationship is more than just two rivals of different sides of the same coin. It reveals that there used to be a “mutuality of understanding and respect” and Brady calls him an “old friend”. When speaking to the reporters he also says that they were “on the same side of the fence”. This adds a dynamic more than just Evolution versus Religion – but man versus