The Crucible
a play by Arthur Miller
What is The Crucible?

The Crucible is a fictional retelling of
events in American history surrounding
the Salem witch trials of the seventeenth
century.
Historical Background
In June, 1692, in Salem, Massachusetts, a group
of girls came down with a mysterious illness.
 In Puritan New England, frightening or startling
incidents such as these were often attributed to
Satan and his followers, and these illnesses
sparked fears of witchcraft.
 It was not long before the girls—and then other
Salem residents—began to accuse fellow
villagers of casting spells and performing other
rituals associated with witchcraft.

How the Salem Witch Trials Began
Betty Parris, the daughter of Salem minister
Reverend Samuel Parris, became sick. She
suffered from seizures, hallucinations, and other
strange symptoms.
 Other girls came down with similar symptoms.
 Tituba, the Parris’s South American slave, was
the first to be charged with witchcraft.
 Old grudges, jealousies, and desires caused
people to begin accusing one another of
witchcraft.

The State Becomes Involved
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
Sir Williams Phips, the governor of Massachusetts,
created a new court to oversee the Salem witchcraft
cases.
William Stoughton, an enthusiastic witch-hunter, was
made chief justice of this court. Stoughton allowed
testimony not usually permitted as evidence.
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
He allowed spectral evidence against those accused (people
could testify that they had communicated with the accused
through dreams and visions, including spiritual “visits” from
those accused).
He allowed private conversations between accusers and judges
to be used as evidence against those accused.
A Town Torn Apart
Within a few weeks, dozens of people were in
jail.
 By September, 1692:
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19 men and women—and 2 dogs—were convicted of
witchcraft and hanged at Gallows Hill near Salem;
1 man was pressed to death for refusing to submit to
a trial on witchcraft charges;
hundreds of others had been accused of witchcraft;
many of those accused spent day after day in jail
without trials.
Who Was Killed?
All types of townspeople were put to death for
witchcraft.
 Although most of the women first charged with
witchcraft had shaky reputations, several highly
regarded members of the community—including
Rebecca Nurse—were soon executed.
 The most controversial person to be executed
was George Burroughs, a former Salem minister.

The Trials End
By the fall of 1692, people began to doubt
the validity of the witchcraft charges.
 Educated people in Salem began to use
their influence to end the witch-hunts.
 Increase Mather argued that it “were
better that ten suspected witches should
escape than one innocent person should
be condemned” and he urged the court to
exclude spectral evidence.

The Trials End (cont.)
One of the judges, Samuel Sewall, made a
public apology.
 Reverend Parris admitted to errors in judgment.
 Governor Phips blamed William Stoughton for
the execution of innocent people.


Though he had had such a large role in trying,
convicting, and executing Salem citizens, William
Stoughton became the next governor of
Massachusetts.
Witchcraft “Tests”

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Defendants afflicted with seizures or “spells” were asked
to touch accused persons to see if their touch, as was
generally assumed of the touch of witches, would stop
their contortions.
Judges examined the bodies of accused people for
evidence of “witches’ marks” (moles, warts, freckles, or
birthmarks upon which a witch’s familiar might suck).
“Swimming a witch”: A person accused of witchcraft
was thrown into a lake or river. It was believed that
water rejected servants of the devil and that if a
suspected person floated and refused to sink when
placed in water it was proof of guilt. If the victim floated,
she was killed as a witch; if she sank, she drowned.
Witches were not supposed to be able to say the Lord’s
prayer correctly.
Fact vs. Fiction:
Differences between the play and history
The general events in The Crucible correspond
to what happened in Salem in 1692, but Miller’s
characters are often composites (he combines
aspects of different people to create single
characters).
 Many of the accusations of witchcraft in the play
are driven by the affair between farmer,
husband, and father John Proctor and the
minister's teenage niece, Abigail Williams. In real
life, Abigail was probably about eleven at the
time of the accusations and Proctor was over
sixty, which makes this relationship unlikely.

Fact vs. Fiction:
Differences between the play and history
(cont.)

Miller’s decision to set sexual jealousy at the
root of the witchcraft hysteria constitutes a
dramatic contrivance (events made up to
strengthen the impact of the story).

Miller said, “The play is not reportage of any
kind….[n]obody can start to write a tragedy and hope
to make it reportage….What I was doing was writing
a fictional story about an important theme.”
The Author: Arthur Miller
Miller was born in New York City in 1915.
 He wrote Death of a Salesman in 1949;
the play won the Pulitzer Prize.
 Many critics believe Miller understands the
fundamental nature of people in the U.S.
 Miller researched the Salem witch trials
while in college.
 He wrote The Crucible as a response to
the Red Scare of the 1950s.

Cast of Characters

John Proctor is a local farmer who lives outside
of town and is married to Elizabeth Proctor.
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John is stern and hates hypocrisy. His secret sin—
which becomes his downfall—is his affair with Abigail
Williams.
John initially hesitates to call Abigail a fraud and a liar
because he doesn’t want his affair to become public
knowledge; that would result in him losing his good
reputation in the community.
Cast of Characters (cont.)

Elizabeth Proctor is John Proctor’s wife.
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Elizabeth is honorable, but often seems detached or
unfeeling.
Abigail Williams is John Proctor’s former lover
and Reverend Parris’s niece.
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Abigail was once a servant for the Proctors, but
Elizabeth fired her when she found out about the
relationship between Abigail and her husband.
Abigail is smart, vindictive, and a good liar.
Cast of Characters (cont.)

Mary Warren is John and Elizabeth
Proctor’s servant.
 Mary
is one of Abigail’s group of girls.
 Mary is timid and easily influenced by those
around her.
Cast of Characters (cont.)

Reverend Parris is the minister of Salem’s
church.
 Parris catches his daughter and other girls
dancing in the woods with Tituba, his slave.
 Parris is suspicious of people; he is powerhungry and concerned with his position in the
community.
 Parris is disliked by many people, including
John Proctor.
Cast of Characters (cont.)

Betty Parris is Reverend Parris’s ten-year-old
daughter.
 Betty falls into a trance after she and other
local girls are caught dancing with Tituba in
the woods.
 Betty’s and Ruth Putnam’s illnesses start the
first rumors of witchcraft in Salem.
 Tituba is Reverend Parris’s slave from Barbados.
 Tituba agrees to perform voodoo when Abigail
asks her to.
Cast of Characters (cont.)

Reverend John Hale is a young minister
who is supposedly an expert on witchcraft.
 Hale
is asked to come to Salem to talk to
Parris’s daughter Betty. He is a committed
Christian and witch-hater.
 Hale is critical and intelligent; he later regrets
the things he did during the witchcraft trials
and tries to save those who were accused.
Cast of Characters (cont.)

Judge Danforth is the deputy governor of
Massachusetts and the presiding judge
over the witch trials.
 In
the beginning, Danforth is convinced he is
doing the right thing by getting rid of evil in
the community. However, his motivations
change during the course of the play.
Cast of Characters (cont.)

Francis Nurse is a wealthy, influential
Salem citizen.
 Francis
is respected by most people, but is
disliked by Thomas Putnam and his wife.

Rebecca Nurse is Francis Nurse’s wife.
 Rebecca
is wise and sensible, and people in
the community look up to her.
 Rebecca is accused of witchcraft by the
Putnams and she refuses to confess.
Cast of Characters (cont.)

Thomas Putnam is a wealthy, influential Salem
citizen.
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Putnam holds a grudge against Francis Nurse.
Putnam uses the witch trials to increase his own
wealth by accusing people of witchcraft, then buying
their land.
Ann Putnam is Thomas Putnam’s wife.

Though she has given birth to eight children, only one
(Ruth) survived. The other seven died before they
were a day old. Ann is convinced her children were
murdered by supernatural means.
Cast of Characters (cont.)

Ruth Putnam is Thomas and Anne’s only
surviving child.
 Ruth
falls into a stupor, like Betty Parris, after
Reverend Parris catches her and the other
girls dancing in the woods.
Cast of Characters (cont.)

Giles Corey is an elderly farmer in Salem.
 Giles
is famous for filing lawsuits against other
Salem citizens.
 Giles’s wife, Martha, is accused of witchcraft.
 Giles is eventually held is contempt of court
and is pressed to death with large stones.

Martha Corey is Giles Corey’s wife.
 Martha’s
reading habits lead to her arrest and
conviction for witchcraft.
Cast of Characters (cont.)

Ezekiel Cheever is a Salem citizen who
acts as the clerk of court during the witch
trials. He is determined to do his duty.
 Judge Hathorne presides over the witch
trials with Danforth.
 Herrick is Salem’s marshal.
 Mercy Lewis is Thomas Putnam’s servant
and belongs to Abigail’s group of girls.
Themes, ideas, questions in
The Crucible

Look for the following as we read the play:
Intolerance and superstition can lead to persecution.
 Mass hysteria can tear a community apart.
 People will go to great lengths to preserve their
reputations.
 Personal agenda vs. social responsibility: which
should be more important?
 Social problems are a result of human failings.
 Societies often suppress individual freedom to
maintain social order.
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Themes, ideas, questions in
The Crucible
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True or false: America has a tendency to “witchhunt.”
Can we guarantee fair trials for accused persons?
Is it true that separation of church and state is
imperative in order to safeguard justice?
People tend to be rigid in their thinking (they think in
“black and white”).
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Why can this be problematic?
How do we determine if individuals are “good” or “evil”?