Directions:
Working in groups of three, you will analyze the following quotes for motivation, characterization, thematic
connections, literature as a reflection of society, Puritanism, etc. Then you will write your analyses on the
displayed posters. For the second half, you will switch to a different poster and continue the commentary on a
different character.
PARRIS
1. Parris: “Let Rebecca stand upon the gibbet and send up some righteous prayer, and I fear she’ll wake a
vengeance… with failing heart, Rebecca will not confess?” (118, 119)
2. Parris: "My niece, sir, my niece - I believe she has vanished....She told me she would stay a night with
Mercy Lewis....Mercy told him [Mr. Lewis] she would sleep in my house for a night....I think they be
aboard a ship... my strongbox is broke into....Thirty-one pound is gone. I am penniless." (117)
3. Parris: “Proctor, the village must have proof that --“ (131)
DANFORTH
4. Danforth: "Postponement now speaks a floundering on my part; reprieve or pardon must cast doubt upon
the guilt of them that died till now. While I speak God's law, I will not crack its voice with whimpering.
If retaliation is your fear, know this - I should hang ten thousand that dared to rise against the law."
(119)
5. Danforth: “You misunderstand, sir; I cannot pardon these when twelve are already hanged for the same
crime. It is not just.” (119)
6. Danforth: “Courage, man, courage – let her witness your good example that she may come to God
herself. Now hear it, Goody Nurse!” (129)
HALE
7. Hale: “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.” (122)
8. Hale: "Excellency, there are orphans wandering from house to house; abandoned cattle bellow on the
highroads, the stink of rotting crops hangs everywhere, and no man knows when the harlot's cry will end
his life - and you wonder yet if rebellion's spoke?" (121)
9. Hale: “What profit him to bleed? Shall the dust praise him? Shall the worms declare his truth? Go to
him, take his shame away!” (134)
ELIZABETH
10. Elizabeth: “I cannot judge you, John” (125)
11. Elizabeth: “I have sins of my own to count. It needs a cold wife to prompt lechery.” (126)
12. Elizabeth: “You have been tortured? …John: “Aye.” Pause. She will not let herself be drowned in the
sea that threatens her. (124)
13. Elizabeth: "He [Proctor] have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him! (134)
PROCTOR (I)
14. [Proctor] is another man, bearded, filthy, his eyes misty as though webs had overgrown them. He halts
inside the doorway, his eye caught by the sight of Elizabeth. The emotion flowing between them prevents
anyone from speaking for an instant…Proctor walks to her, halts. It is a thought they stood in a spinning
world. It is beyond sorrow, above it. (123)
15. Proctor: “I cannot mount the gibbet like a saint. It is a fraud. I am not that man. My honesty is broke,
Elizabeth; I am no good man. Nothing’s spoiled by giving them this lie that were not rotten long
before.” (126)
16. Proctor: “I have confessed myself! Is there no good penitence but it be public?” (132)
PROCTOR (II)
17. Proctor: “I have three children – how may I teach them to walk like men in the world, and I sold my
friends?” (132)
18. 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 my name!” (133)
19. Proctor now lays the paper down and signs his name…Proctor has just finished signing when Danforth
reaches for the paper. But Proctor snatches it up, and now a wild terror is rising in him, and a
boundless anger. (131)