‘THE CRUCIBLE’ – ARTHUR MILLER
QUOTATIONS
ACT 1
Major Events
1. Reverend Parris discovers a group of girls dancing in the nearby forest, a
forbidden place. The girls involved are Abigail (17 years old), Tituba
(Parris’s slave from Barbados), Betty (Reverend Parris’s 10 year old
daughter, Mercy Lewis (who was running around naked) and Mary
Warren (was maintains that she was an onlooker). Dancing is forbidden
and is considered to be a sign of the witchcraft and the Devils work.
2. Betty is inert and lying on the bed refusing to wake up. She appears to be
in a state of shock and fears her father and the consequences of her
actions.
3. Reverend Parris leaves the room and the girls are by themselves. Betty
awakes and is hysterical and talks about flying (a sign of witchcraft) to
her mother who is dead. She starts for the window and gets one leg out.
Betty then tells Abigail that she saw her drinking blood as part of a charm
against Goody Proctor. The girls form a pact and agree to tell people that
they were merely dancing and that it was Tituba who conjured.
4. John Proctor enters and talks privately with Abigail. It is revealed that
they have had an affair but it is now over. Abigail appears to be
determined, if not obsessed, with the idea of rekindling their affair.
5. Reverend Hale from Beverly, an expert in the field of studying witchcraft,
the supernatural and the devils work, arrives in Salem. Through a process
of cross-examination/ interrogation he is able to make the women
confess in the following order: Tituba, “He [the Devil] say Mr Parris must
be kill”; Abigail, “I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I
danced for the Devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book”; Betty, “[rising from
the bed, a fever in her eyes, and picks up the chant] I saw George Jacobs
with the Devil! I saw Goody Howe with the devil”. Hale believes his job is
done, “Glory to God! It is broken, they are free”!
Quotes
Parris: (to Abigail) “I have fought here three long years to bend these stiff-necked
people to me, and now, just now when some good respect is rising for me in the
parish, you compromise my very character.” Pg20
Parris: A wide opinion's running in the parish that the Devil may be among us,
and I would satisfy them that they are wrong. Pgs 32-33
Parris: “There is a party in this church. I am not blind; there is a faction and a
party.” Pg35
Rebecca Nurse: "...I am twenty-six times a grandma, and I have seen them
through there silly seasons...they will run the devil bowlegged keeping up with
their mischief." Pg32
Rebecca Nurse: "A child’s spirit is like a child, you can never catch it by running
after it; you must stand still, and, for love, it will soon itself come back." Pg32
Giles: “Think on it now, it’s a deep thing, and dark as a pit” Pg36
Giles: “That’s god’s truth”. Pg36
Giles: “Martha, my wife. I have waked at night many a time and found her in a
corner, readin’ of a book. Now what do you make of that?” Pg43
Proctor: “What’s this mischief here?” Pg28
Proctor: “Ah, you’re wicked yet, aren’t y! You’ll be clapped in the stocks before
you’re twenty.” Pg28
Proctor: “Can you speak one minute without we land in hell again? I am sick of
hell!” Pg35
Proctor: “But I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again.” Pg29
Proctor: "I've heard you to be a sensible man, Mr Hale. I hope you'll leave some of
it in Salem." Pg41
Abigail: “Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth
Putnam’s dead sisters. And that is all.” Pg26
Abigail: "I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you." Pg26
Abigail: “I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down.” Pg27
Hale: "It's strange how I know you, but I suppose you look as such a good soul
should. We have all heard of your great charities in Beverly." Pg40
Hale: “If she is truly in the devils grip we may have to rip and tear her free.” Pg42
Mary Warren: "Witchery's a hangin' error, a hangin' like they done in Boston two
year ago!" Pg26
Mary Warren: “It’s a sin to conjure.” Pg27
Putnam: “How may we blame ourselves? I am one of nine sons; the Putnam seed
have peopled this province. And yet I have but one child left of eight – and now
she shrivels!” Pg33
Putnam: “She cannot bear to hear the Lord’s name, Mr. Hale; that’s a sure sign of
witchcraft afloat”. Pg41
Tituba: "I don't compact with no devil!" Pg46
Tituba: "He say Mr Parris must be kill! Mr Parris no goodly man, Mr Parris mean
man and no gentle man, and he bid me rise out of my bed and cut your throat!"
Pg48
Mercy: “It’s weirdish, I know not - she seems to walk like a dead one since last
night”. Pg25
Betty: “You drank blood, Abby! You didn’t tell him that!” Pg26
Betty: “You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill
Goody Proctor!” Pg26
ACT 2
Major Events
1. John Proctor arrives home late. His wife, Elizabeth, is suspicious. There is
clear tension between the two since John’s affair with Abigail seven
months earlier, he “aims to please Elizabeth” but she is still cold toward
John.
2. Elizabeth and John talk about the Salem trials. It is soon discovered that
their servant Mary Warren is an “official of the court” and despite John’s
strict instructions has gone into town to be a part of the court
proceedings. Mary has become willful and disobedient since being
empowered by the court.
3. Abigail and the girls who were caught dancing in the forest have become
powerful instruments of the court in identifying alleged witchcraft.
Elizabeth demands that John go into Salem and tell the court what Abigail
told him in private that the dancing in the forest “had naught to do with
witchcraft”. John is hesitant and unsure how to prove it without evidence.
4. Mary Warren returns and brings a “poppet” or doll. Elizabeth is
“perplexed” by the gift. Mary informs them, “thirty nine women have been
arrested”. She also tells Elizabeth that she was “named” in court. An
argument ensues between John and Mary and she is told to go to bed but
refuses, “I will not be ordered to bed no more”. After she finally goes,
Elizabeth realizes that Abigail is plotting to replace her.
5. Reverend Hale arrives to cross-examine the Proctor’s. He asks John why
he does not attend church regularly and why he has not baptized one of
his sons. Finally, he asks John to recite the 10 commandments. John
recites all but one commandment; thou shalt not commit “Adultery”. John’s
shame and guilt is obvious throughout and he cannot verbalize this
commandment. Hale asks both John and Elizabeth if they believe in
witchcraft. Whilst John carefully answers the question, Elizabeth refuses
to believe and be labeled a witch because she “is a good woman”.
6. Giles and Francis arrive and reveal that both of their wives have been
arrested. Rebecca Nurse, “the brick and mortar of the church” has been
charged with “the marvelous and supernatural murder of Goody Putnam’s
babies”. Giles Corey’s wife has been charged with witchcraft for “reading
books”.
7. Ezekiel Cheever arrives and Proctor is happy to see him. Proctor believes
that Cheever is a potential ally and someone he can confide in. It is soon
discovered that Cheever has turned from an “honest tailor” to “a clerk of
the court” who is serving warrants for arrest, one such warrant is for the
arrest of Goody Proctor.
8. Cheever has been ordered by the court to search the house, Specifically he
is looking for a “poppet”. He finds the poppet sitting on the mantle and a
search of the doll reveals a needle stuck in its belly, “’Tis hard proof”. It is
later revealed that Abigail while dining with Reverend Parris and other
court officials suddenly had a fit and fell to the floor in spasms. A two-inch
needle was found to be embedded in her belly. The poppet is soon found
to be belonging to Mary Warren but suspicion for Elizabeth is renewed
when she exclaims that Abigail “…is murder [and] must be ripped from
this world”.
9. Elizabeth is finally arrested and “chained” to the dismay and fury of John
who has to be restrained by three men “[PROCTOR is half braced, half
pushed into the room by two deputies and HERRICK.]” Pg73 Throughout,
“[…HALE, in a fever of guilt and uncertainty, turns from the door to avoid
the sight]” Pg73 and does not intervene. Proctor later calls him a
“coward”.
10. Proctor and Mary Warren are now left alone in the room and Proctor
demands that she will travel to the court with him the following day to tell
the magistrates the truth about the Poppet. Mary refuses “I cannot”,
fearing repercussions from Abigail, who has been an invisible terror
throughout Act Two. Mary warns Proctor that is she speaks Abigail will
charge “lechery” (referring to John’s offense of sexual desire for Abigail)
on him. Proctor “[with deep hatred of himself]” replies, “Good”.
Quotes
Elizabeth: “What keeps you so late? It’s almost dark”. Pg51
Elizabeth: “No, she walked into the house this afternoon; I found her sittin’ in the
corner like she come to visit”. Pg51
Elizabeth: “It is a mouse no more. I forbid her to go and she raises up her chin
like the daughter of a prince and says to me, ‘I must go to Salem, Goody Proctor; I
am an official of the court!’” Pg53
Elizabeth: “…And folks are brought before them, and if they scream and howl and
fall to the floor – the person’s clapped in the jail for bewitchin’ them”. Pg53
Elizabeth: “And tell him [Ezekiel Cheever] – what she said to you last week in her
uncle’s house. She said it had naught to do with witchcraft, did she not?” Pg54
Elizabeth: “She wants me dead, John, you know it”. Pg59
Elizabeth: “…She thinks to take my place, John.
Proctor: She cannot think it! [He knows it is true.]” Pg60
Elizabeth: “Then go and tell her she’s a whore. Whatever promise she may sense
– break it, John, break it”. Pg60
Elizabeth “[delicately]: Adultery, John”. Pg64
Elizabeth: “I cannot think the Devil may own a woman’s soul, Mr Hale, when she
keeps an upright way, as I have. I am a good woman, I know it…” Pg66
Elizabeth: “Why - ! The girl is murder! She must be ripped from this world!” Pg71
Proctor: “I mean to please you, Elizabeth”. Pg52
Proctor: “I am only wondering how I may prove what she told me, Elizabeth. If
the girl’s a saint now, I think it is not easy to prove she’s fraud, and the town
gone so silly. She told it to me in a room alone – I have no proof of it”. Pg54
Proctor: “Spare me! You forget nothin’ and forgive nothin’. Learn charity, woman.
I have gone tiptoe in this house all seven month since she is gone”. Pg55
Proctor: “Is it true? There be fourteen women arrested?
Mary Warren: “No, sir. There be thirty-nine now”. Pg56
Proctor: “It’s hard to think so pious a woman be secretly a Devil’s bitch after
seventy year of such good prayer”. Pg62
Proctor: “I like it not that Mr Parris should lay his hand upon my baby. I see no
light of God in that man. I’ll not conceal it”. Pg63
Proctor: “I’ll tell you what’s walking Salem – vengeance is walking Salem. We are
what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the
keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law…I’ll not give my
wife to vengeance!” Pg72
Proctor: “Pontius Pilate! God will not let you wash your hands of this!” Pg72
Proctor: “I will fall like an ocean on that court! Fear nothing, Elizabeth”. Pg72
Proctor: [to Hale] “You are a coward! Though you be ordained in God’s own
tears, you are a coward now!” Pg73
Proctor [hesitating, and with a deep hatred of himself]: “Good. Then her
saintliness is done with. [Mary backs from him.] We will slide together into our
pit; you will tell the court what you know”. Pg74
Mary Warren [with a stamp of her foot]: I’ll not be ordered to bed no more, Mr
Proctor! I am eighteen and a woman…” Pg59
Hale: “Nonsense! Mister, I have myself examined Tituba, Sarah Good, and
numerous others that have confessed to dealing with the Devil. They have
confessed it”. Pgs65-66
Proctor: “And why not, if they must hang for denyin’ it? There are them that will
swear to anything before they’ll hang; have you never thought of that”? Pg66
Hale: “You surely do not fly against the Gospel, the Gospel –
Elizabeth: Question Abigail Williams about the Gospel, not myself!” Pg67
Hale: “…let the third child be quickly baptized, and go you without fail each
Sunday in to Sabbath prayer; a keep a solemn, quiet way among you”. Pg67
Giles: “Now he goes to court and claims that from that day to this he cannot keep
a pig alive for more than four weeks because my Martha bewitch them with her
books”! Pg68
Giles: “And yet silent, minister? It is a fraud, you know it is fraud! What keeps
you, man?” Pg73
[There are other men’s voices against his. HALE, in a fever of guilt and
uncertainty, turns from the door to avoid the sight…] Pg73
Cheever: Why – [He draws out a long needle from the poppet] it is a needle!
Herrick, Herrick, it is a needle! Pg70
Cheever: [wide-eyed, trembling] …the Williams girl…She sat to dinner in
Reverand Parris’s house tonight, and without word nor warnin’ she falls to the
floor. Like a struck beast, he says, and screamed a scream a bull woiuld weep to
hear. And he goes to save her, and, stuck to inches in the flesh of her belly, he
draw a needle out”. Pg70