The Crucible – Study Notes
Setting
The play is set in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. A place, as Arthur Miller says in
his notes, perceived by the outside world as “a barbaric frontier inhabited by a
sect of fanatics who, nevertheless, were shipping out products of slowly
increasing quantity and value.”
What made Salem a place where such hysteria as a witch hunt could take root
and have such devastating results? Firstly, it was a place of strongly held values.
The inhabitants of Salem were descendants of settlers who had come to America
to flee religious persecution in England. Their views about social conduct and
religious worship were clear, and “they believed, in short, that they held in their
steady hands that candle that would light the world.”
However, for all their apparent values, there were the seeds of conflict within the
society of Salem. People were unhappy, frustrated, and the witch hunt presented
and opportunity to act on these frustrations: “Long held hatreds of neighbours
could now be openly expressed, and vengeance taken, despite the Bible’s
charitable injunctions. Land-lust which had been expressed before by constant
bickering over boundaries and deeds, could now be elevated to the arena of
morality; one could cry witch against one’s neighbour and feel perfectly justified
in the bargain. Old scores could be settled on a place of heavenly combat
between Lucifer and the Lord; suspicions and the envy of the miserable toward
the happy could and did burst out in the general revenge.”
The narrative
Act 1:
Act 1 orients us to some of the key conflicts and motivations for the conflicts,
portrays key attributes of the characters and sets up the complication for the
play.
Firstly, we are introduced to Parris, the minister for Salem, whose reaction to the
seemingly supernatural sickness of his daughter is one of fear. What will it mean
for his as minister if his own daughter seems possessed?
We meet also Abigail, and we quickly see her capacity to lie, to influence and
bully others, and her emotional frustrations which are at the root of her actions.
That she has a relationship with John Proctor, and that Proctor hasn’t been
entirely honest about it, is also made evident. Proctor dislikes Parris and what he
stands for.
The act finishes with Tituba, the slave being accused of witchcraft. She manages
to get out of the full consequences of this accusation by admitting she has met
the devil but not joined him, but that there are others who have. Abigail quickly
joins in the act of accusing others.
Act 2:
Act 2 centres around Proctor and his relationship with his wife Elizabeth and his
inner conflict and guilt about his relationship with Abigail. When Act 2 starts,
some days have passed since Act 1. Mary Warren, the servant of the Proctors, has
been in court and tells the Proctors that now 36 are in jail, accused of being
witches by Abigail and the other girls. Proctor knows that Abigail has admitted to
him in Act 1 that this were only “sport” and there was “no witchcraft.” His wife,
Elizabeth, urges him to tell the court this information, but Proctor hesitates
which starts and extended argument between Proctor and Elizabeth about the
relationship Proctor has had in the past with Abigail. Proctor is ashamed of what
he has done, is ashamed, probably, of how he still feels, is defensive about it, and
feels that Elizabeth has not forgiven him. The Act finishes with Cheever coming
to arrest Elizabeth – she has been accused by Abigail of having a poppet into
which she sticks a pin that tortures the body of Abigail.
Act 3:
Act 3 revolves around Proctor’s effort to convince the court that the accusations
of Abigail are lies. He takes with him, to court, Mary Warren, who he convinces to
testify that the fainting and hysteria of the girls is “pretence.” She begins to admit
this, but in the end gives in to the pressure of Abigail, and the consequence of
“callously lying, when you knew that people would hang by your evidence.” She
ends up enraptured with God, and accuses Proctor of being with the devil. In the
meantime Proctor has admitted to having a relationship with Abigail – tendering
this as a motivation for her actions. Elizabeth denies this relationship, sealing
Proctor’s fate as a liar.
Act 4:
In Act 4 we find Proctor in jail on the day of his execution. The judges Danforth
and Hathorne are desperate for Proctor to confess to being a witch. Some months
have passed now since the start of the play. The hysteria has passed, but people
are still in jail and have been executed. Abigail has vanished, stealing money, and
public opinion is beginning to turn. Thus the desperate need for the confession –
to prove that the process hasn’t been based on lies. This Act really emphasizes
Proctor’s struggle with his identity. He is unable to make the confession and save
his life because of his pride.
Characters
Proctor:
“I’ll plead no more! I see now your spirit twists around the single error of my life,
and I will never tear it free!”
“Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie
and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that
hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my
name!”
Abigail:
“How do you call me child!”
“And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the
other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will
bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.”
Elizabeth:
“You’ll tear it free – when you come to know that I will be your only wife, or no
wife at all! She has an arrow in you yet, John Proctor, and you know it well!”
Parris:
“I have fought for 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.”
Mary Warren:
“I – cannot tell how, but I did. I – I heard the other girls screaming, and you, Your
Honour, you seemed to believe them, and I – It were only sport in the beginning,
sir, but then the whole world cried spirits, spirits, and I – I promise you, Mr
Danforth, I only thought I saw them, but I did not.”
The Putnams:
“They were murdered, Mr Parris!”
“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!”
Themes of conflict
Pressure makes you enter into conflict:

Mary Warren
Envy and revenge makes you enter into conflict:


Abigail
Elizabeth
Shames makes you defensive and enter into conflict:

Proctor
The need to justify your actions makes you enter into conflict:




Hale
Parris
Hathorne
Danforth
The need for something to not be your fault makes you enter into conflict:

Putnams
Pride and identity makes you enter into conflict:


Proctor
Abigail
Related examples of conflict
Hysteria and McCarthyism – 1950s:
“During the post–World War II era of McCarthyism, many thousands of
Americans were accused of being Communists or communist sympathizers
and became the subject of aggressive investigations and questioning
before government or private-industry panels, committees and agencies.
The primary targets of such suspicions were government employees, those
in the entertainment industry, educators and union activists. Suspicions
were often given credence despite inconclusive or questionable evidence,
and the level of threat posed by a person's real or supposed leftist
associations or beliefs was often greatly exaggerated. Many people
suffered loss of employment, destruction of their careers, and even
imprisonment.” – from Wikipedia
Weapons of mass destruction:
Failure of Proctor to confess vs. failure of America to find weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq
The War on Terror:
What do strongly held values make us do when we think those values are being
attacked?
Quotes
Act 1
There are wheels within wheels in this village, and fires within fires! — Mrs.
Putnam
I have trouble enough without I come five mile to hear him preach only hellfire
and bloody damnation. Take it to heart, Mr. Parris. There are many others who
stay away from church these days because you hardly ever mention God any
more. — Proctor
I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my
heart! I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I
was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men! And now
you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I will not, I cannot! You loved me, John
Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet! — Abigail
I want to open myself! . . . 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; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His
hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw
Bridget Bishop with the Devil! — Abigail
Act 2
I’ll plead no more! I see now your spirit twists around the single error of my life,
and I will never tear it free! — 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. — Proctor
I have seen too many frightful proofs in court—the Devil is alive in Salem, and we
dare not quail to follow wherever the accusing finger points! — Hale
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! This warrant’s vengeance!
I’ll not give my wife to vengeance! — Proctor
Act 3
Do you take it upon yourself to determine what this court shall believe and what
it shall set aside? . . . .This is the highest court of the supreme government of this
province, do you know it? — Danforth
You must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be
counted against it, there be no road between. This is a sharp time, now, a precise
time—we live no longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good
and befuddled the world. Now, by God’s grace, the shining sun is up, and them
that fear not light will surely praise it. — Danforth
A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. I beg you,
sir, I beg you—see her what she is . . . She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s
grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and
there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore’s vengeance. — Proctor
A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my
face, and yours, Danforth! For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I
have quailed, and as you quail now when you know in all your black hearts that
this be fraud—God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn
together! — Proctor
Act 4 Quotes
It is mistaken law that leads you to sacrifice. Life, woman, life is God’s most
precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it . . ..it may
well be God damns a liar less than he that throws his life away for pride. — Hale
I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor. Not enough to weave a
banner with, but white enough to keep it from such dogs. Give them no tear!
Tears pleasure them! Show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it!
— Proctor
Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie
and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that
hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my
name! — Proctor