All 11 Uses of
condemn
in
The Crucible
- The Church, sharp-eyed as it must be when gods long dead are brought to life, condemned these orgies as witchcraft and interpreted them rightly, as a resurgence of the Dionysiac forces it had crushed long before.
Act 1 (definition 1)condemned = strongly criticized
- PROCTOR: Why'd you let her? You heard me forbid her to go to Salem any more!
ELIZABETH: I couldn't stop her.
PROCTOR, holding back a full condemnation of her: It is a fault, it is a fault, Elizabeth—you're the mistress here, not Mary Warren.
Act 2 (definition 1) *condemnation = complete disapproval
- MARY WARREN: Aye, but then Judge Hathorne say, “Recite for us your commandments!”—leaning avidly toward them—and of all the ten she could not say a single one. She never knew no commandments, and they had her in a flat lie!
PROCTOR: And so condemned her?
Act 2 (definition 2)condemned = found legally guilty
- MARY WARREN, now a little strained, seeing his stubborn doubt: Why, they must when she condemned herself.
Act 2 (definition 2)condemned = proved guilty
- It is my wife you be condemning now.
Act 3 (definition 2)condemning = sentencing to legal punishment
- HALE: His wife's Rebecca that were condemned this morning.
Act 3 (definition 2)condemned = found legally guilty
- DANFORTH: And seventy-two condemned to hang by that signature?
Act 3 (definition 2) *condemned = sentenced (assigned legal punishment)
- HALE: Excellency, it is a natural lie to tell; I beg you, stop now before another is condemned! I may shut my conscience to it no more—private vengeance is working through this testimony!
Act 3 (definition 2)condemned = sentenced to legal punishment
- Excellency, she is condemned a witch.
Act 4 (definition 2)condemned = found guilty (of being)
- It is the law, for he could not be condemned a wizard without he answer the indictment, aye or nay.
Act 4 (definition 2)
- Danforth, now sensing trouble, glances at John and goes to the table, and picks up a sheet—the list of condemned.
Act 4 (definition 2)condemned = people found guilty and assigned legal punishment
Definitions:
-
(1) (condemn as in: She condemned their plan) express strong criticism
-
(2) (condemn as in: was condemned to life in prison) force into an undesired activity or situation -- such as to legally sentence someone to punishment
or:
find guilty -- especially in court (and sometimes to death)
or:
provide the means of finding guilty