Keenan
The Crucible
Quotations
Explain the significance of the following Quotations
1. Uncle, we did dance; let you tell them I confessed it--and I'll be whipped if I must be.
But they're speakin' of witchcraft. Betty's not witched. (Abigail Act 1)
2. Oh, Abigail, what proper payment for my charity! Now I am undone. (Parris Act 1)
3. 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! (Abigail Act 1)
4. There are wheels within wheels in this village, and fires within fires! (Mrs. Putnam Act
1)
5. I am not used to this poverty; I left a thrifty business in the Barbados to serve the Lord.
(Parris Act 1)
6. . . . while there were no witches then, there are Communists and capitalists now, and in
each camp there is certain proof that spies of each side are at work undermining the other.
(Miller Act 1)
7. Sex, sin, and the Devil were early linked, and so they continued to be in Salem, and are
today. (Miller Act 1)
8. Parris ... Taking some books: My, they're heavy! Hale, setting down his books: They
must be; they are weighted with authority. (Act 1)
9. She'd dare not call out such a farmer's wife but there be monstrous profit in it. She
thinks to take my place, John. (Elizabeth Act 2)
10. Adultery, John. (Elizabeth Act 2)
11. There are them that will swear to anything before they'll hang; have you never
thought of that? (Proctor Act 2)
12. Believe me, Mr. Nurse, if Rebecca Nurse be tainted, then nothing's left to stop the
whole green world from burning. (Hale Act 2)
13. Now believe me, Proctor, how heavy be the law, all its tonnage I do carry on my back
tonight. (Cheever Act 2)
14. I'll tell you what's walking Salem--vengeance is walking Salem. (Proctor Act 2)
15. Abby'll charge lechery on you, Mr. Proctor! (Mary Act 2)
16. It is a providence, and no great change; we are only what we always were, but naked
now. (Proctor Act 2)
17. Beware this man, Your Excellency, this man is mischief. (Parris Act 3)
18. It were pretense, sir. (Mary Act 3)
19. That woman will never lie, Mr. Danforth. (Proctor Act 3)
20. Is every defense an attack upon the court? (Hale Act 3)
21. Do that which is good, and no harm shall come to thee. (Proctor Act 3)
22. This man is killing his neighbors for their land! (Giles Act 3)
23. Let you beware, Mr. Danforth. Think you to be so mighty that the power of Hell may
not turn your wits? Beware of it! (Abigail Act 3)
24. But it is a whore's vengeance, and you must see it; I set myself entirely in your hands.
I know you must see it now. (Proctor Act 3)
25. I say--I say--God is dead! (Proctor Act 3)
26. I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court! (Hale Act 3)
27. I think, sometimes, the man has a mad look these days. (Hawthorne Act 4)
28. I think it be the cows, sir. (Cheever Act 4)
29. You cannot hang this sort. There is danger for me. I dare not step outside at night!
(Parris Act 4)
30. You misunderstand, sir; I cannot pardon these when twelve are already hanged for the
same crime. It is not just. (Danforth Act 4)
31. Life, woman, life is God's most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may
justify the taking of it. (Hale Act 4)
32. . . . for it may well be God damns a liar less than he that throws his life away for
pride. (Hale Act 4)
33. My honesty is broke, Elizabeth; I am no good man. (Proctor Act 4)
34. God in Heaven, what is John Proctor, what is John Proctor? (Proctor Act 4)