The Crucible
Background
Allegory
Characters, Timeline, Language, Power
The Salem Witch Trials
What do you know
about them?
“The Crucible” based on real events
Miller based “The Crucible” on actual historical
events:
• These took place in Salem, in the province of
Massachusetts, in 1692.
• A small puritan community lived in Salem.
– (nb a “theocracy” – no separation between church and state)
• All the main characters are based on real
historical figures.
– (John and Elizabeth Proctor; Rev Samuel Parris; Rev John Hale; Abigail Williams)
Main Events in Salem in 1691-2
• A number of young girls, led initially by Betty
Parris and Abigail Williams, started a series of
claims of witchcraft against adults. These were
believed by others to be true.
• All the trials were instigated by an accusation
made against a suspect. Specially convened
courts investigated.
• This resulted in around 150 imprisonments, 19
hangings and one death by pressing.
Why do you think it happened?
• Puritans had to struggle hard to survive, and
were fearful of “Satan” and witches
• convicts encouraged it, because the property
of a witch was taken and sold at public auction
• position of women in the community was very
powerless
Act 1 Plot
• Revered Parris prays beside the bed of Betty, his daughter, who
some sort of trance. We learn from Abigail that the girls have been
dancing (naked) in the woods. Ann and Thomas Putnam arrive and
claim that it is witchcraft. Abigail warns the other girls to agree to a
story to avoid the accusation of witchcraft.
• Abigail’s affair with John Proctor is revealed
• Betty cries out, hearing the name Jesus sung
• Rebecca Nurse warns everyone not to be frightened into believing
claims of witchcraft
• Reverend Hale arrives and questions Betty and Abigail and appears
suspicious. Abigail stages a denouncement of women whom she
claims she has seen with the Devil and the other girls join in.
Act 1 Plot
• Revered Parris prays beside the bed of Betty, his daughter, who
some sort of trance. We learn from Abigail that the girls have been
dancing (naked) in the woods. Ann and Thomas Putnam arrive and
claim that it is witchcraft. Abigail warns the other girls to agree to a
story to avoid the accusation of witchcraft.
• Abigail’s affair with John Proctor is revealed
• Betty cries out, hearing the name Jesus sung
• Rebecca Nurse warns everyone not to be frightened into believing
claims of witchcraft
• Reverend Hale arrives and questions Betty and Abigail and appears
suspicious. Abigail stages a denouncement of women whom she
claims she has seen with the Devil and the other girls join in.
Timeline
The Crucible takes place between the spring and
autumn of 1692. It is in four acts, each of which is
really a long scene focusing on one key moment.
Each is set in a different location.
Act
Date
Setting
One
Spring 1692
The upstairs bedroom in Reverend Parris’s house
Two
Eight days later
The living room of John Proctor’s house
Three
Some weeks later (in
summer)
The vestry room of the Salem meeting house
(now used as part of the court for the trial)
Four
The fall (autumn)
The jail in Salem
Characters
Main Characters
Supporting Characters
Minor Characters
John Proctor
Thomas Putnam
Betty Parris
Elizabeth Proctor
Ann Putnam
Tituba
Reverend Samuel Parris
Rebecca Nurse
Mercy Lewis
Reverend John Hale
Mary Warren
Susanna Walcott
Abigail Williams
Giles Corey
Francis Nurse
Judge Hathorne
Marshall Herrick
Deputy Governor Danforth
Hopkins
Ezekiel Cheever
Sarah Good
Main characters – central to the story of the play are are to some extend developed to
have conflicting feelings and motives, and to face moral and spiritual dilemmas.
Supporting characters – have similar conflicting motivations and also face dilemmas,
but these are explored with less depth and have less impact to the play.
Minor characters have smaller parts to play in the drama.
Characters
Characters
Characters
Characters
Characters
Characters
Characters
Find evidence (quotes) from the early stages of
the play that illustrate the qualities of:
• Parris (harsh, unpleasant, fearful, bitter)
• Abigail (manipulative, lustful)
• Proctor (straight talking, honest, ….)
Act Two: Plot
• Watch Act Two (BBC 1980 – from 38 mins 55)
Act Two: Plot
• Either mind map or bullet point the main
events in Act Two
Act Two: Plot
• John and Elizabeth argue about the affair
Act Two: Plot
• John and Elizabeth argue about the affair
• There are now active witch trials in Salem. Mary arrives from
court, and gives a poppet to Elizabeth.
Act Two: Plot
• John and Elizabeth argue about the affair
• There are now active witch trials in Salem. Mary arrives from
court, and gives a poppet to Elizabeth.
• Hale arrives and questions the Proctors about their
knowledge of the scriptures and attendance at church.
Elizabeth is named as a suspect.
Act Two: Plot
• John and Elizabeth argue about the affair
• There are now active witch trials in Salem. Mary arrives from
court, and gives a poppet to Elizabeth.
• Hale arrives and questions the Proctors about their
knowledge of the scriptures and attendance at church.
Elizabeth is named as a suspect.
• Giles Corey and Francis Nurse report their wives’ arrests.
Act Two: Plot
• John and Elizabeth argue about the affair
• There are now active witch trials in Salem. Mary arrives from
court, and gives a poppet to Elizabeth.
• Hale arrives and questions the Proctors about their
knowledge of the scriptures and attendance at church.
Elizabeth is named as a suspect.
• Giles Corey and Francis Nurse report their wives’ arrests.
• Cheever arrives with a warrant – John tears it up.
Act Two: Plot
• John and Elizabeth argue about the affair
• There are now active witch trials in Salem. Mary arrives from
court, and gives a poppet to Elizabeth.
• Hale arrives and questions the Proctors about their
knowledge of the scriptures and attendance at church.
Elizabeth is named as a suspect.
• Giles Corey and Francis Nurse report their wives’ arrests.
• Cheever arrives with a warrant – John tears it up.
• Elizabeth is taken away. Proctor leads Giles and Francis in a
vow to fight the growing madness.
Act Two: Questions 1-10
1) How much time has passed since the end of Act One?
2) Describe what Elizabeth is doing, off-stage, when John comes home.
3) Why does John put extra salt in the stew?
4) What has John been doing during the day?
5) How does John mean to 'please' Elizabeth?
6) What was Mary Warren's explanation for leaving the house and going into
Salem that day?
7) Why does Elizabeth think that John should go to Ezekiel Cheever?
8) What makes her suspicious about John's behaviour?
9) Why does John regret that he told Elizabeth about his affair with Abigail?
10) What news does Mary Warren bring from town?
Act Two: Questions 11 -18
• 11) What had Mary Warren to do with the accusing of Goody Osburn?
• 12) What makes the Reverend Hale suspicious that John and Elizabeth are
not good Christians?
• 13) John cannot remember the commandment about adultery. Explain the
stage direction 'as though a secret arrow had pained his heart'.
• 14) What is Hale's reaction when John tells him that Abigail and the girls
had 'naught to do with witchcraft'.
• 15) What is Ezekiel Cheever's task on this particular night?
• 16) What happened to Abigail while she was at dinner?
• 17) What is Mary's explanation for the poppet having a needle stuck in it?
• 18) What does Proctor particularly object to about the way the women are
arrested and held?
The End of Act 2
At this point in the play there is a great deal of confusion. The only characters
in the play who realise what is actually happening are the Proctors and
Abigail. This is highly ironic as Abigail is now thinking of a way to hurt
Elizabeth. The other characters are involved but confusion reigns:
-Hale is confused by the Proctor's seemingly good nature and still believes the
girls are telling the truth.
- The Putnams are exploiting the confusion in order to settle old scores.
-The judges firmly believe in the testimony of the girls and have allowed
themselves to be tricked.
-The townsfolk are divided between wanting to stop the arrests and fearing
the power of the court and the church.
-Mary Warren is so confused as to believe she is actually doing good work in
the court.
Quotations
Finish adding to your quotations on the main characters:
Main characters
Reverend Samuel Parris
Abigail Williams
John Proctor
Elizabeth Proctor
Reverend John Hale
Act 3
Watch Act 3 (Act 3 is located at 1 hour 19 minutes into the play.)
The film is located in:
-> Managed Apps; Media; English; Curricular; The Crucible 1980; The Crucible BBC 1980
There is a fault in the BBC production at the foot of p79.
Pick this up in the audio dramatization at 1 hour 12 mins until 1 hour 21 (page87) when Abigail ‘feels’ the cold
wind.
Act 3
1. Describe what the audience sees and hears when the scene
begins.
2. Why have Giles Corey and Francis Nurse come to intervene in
the court proceedings?
3. Why has John Proctor brought Mary Warren in the court?
4. What is Parris’ opinion of John Proctor’s actions?
5. How does Mary Warren explain her behaviour and that of
Abigail and the other girls?
6. What does Proctor say is his reason for coming to the court?
Dramatic Irony
This occurs when the audience knows more than one
or several of the characters onstage, a condition which
pushes audience attention onto the future because it
creates anticipation about what is going to happen
when the truth comes out.
This anticipation is known as ironic tension and it is
bracketed by a scene or moment of revelation (the
moment the audience is given information of which a
character is unaware) and recognition (when the
character discovers what the audience has already
known).
Dramatic Irony continued
Dramatic irony comes in two flavours
- suspense, which can be used to inspire fear in the
audience, and
- comic, in which a misunderstanding is ‘milked’ to
produce humour.
Act 3 continued Abigail
In Act 3, the audience expect Elizabeth to tell the truth
about John Proctor’s affair with Abigail, because we
know she is an honest and good Christian woman.
However, she does the opposite and lies to save her
husband’s good name.
Hale is described as ‘sensible man’ by John Proctor, yet
he is responsible for the hysteria and madness that
follows his investigations.
The Language of the Play
• The language spoken
by the characters in
the play is intended to
give us the feeling of a
society which is
different from ours in
time and manners.
The Language of the Play
The Language of the Play
Miller uses double negatives and inverted
sentence structures in his version of the
language.
John Proctor says, “I never said no such
thing” (p.25), [double negative]
Giles Corey tells Danforth , “I will not give
you no name” (p.78) [double negative]
also “I never saw no spirits.”
In Act IV, Danforth tells Elizabeth, “we come
not for your life” (p.105) [inverted
sentence structure]
In this way, Miller’s use of Latinate
grammatical forms emphasises the ideas of
denial and innocence in the play.
In Latin, the verb usually comes at the end of the
sentence: e.g. “Up the stairs she climbed.” If the word
order in The Crucible is unusual, it is because we have
now moved away from this way of constructing
sentences.
The Language of the Play
• The vocabulary and syntax
given to characters in the
play are highly dependent
on the language of the
King James (‘Authorised’)
version of the bible.
The Language of the Play
• Elizabeth describes the
effect of Abigail with an
image from the Old
Testament: “Abigail brings
the other girls into court,
and where she walks, the
crowd will part like the
sea for Israel.”
Language
Act 3 Plot
- Can you finish the sentences?
•Mary Corey defends herself against accusations of being a witch made by ............... .
Giles Corey claims that they are making false claims in order to ............................
•Francis Nurse claims that the girls testimonies are ............................
•John Proctor brings ............................ into court.
•Proctor submits a document signed by ......................, testifying to the good names of
.................................
•Corey is arrested because ..................................... to support his claim that the
Putnams’ daughter is crying false witness.
•Hale begins to doubt the truth of the accusations, and urges Danforth to listen to
Mary Warren’s deposition. Danforth ................................
•Cheever brings Abigail and the other girls in from the court. Hathorne suggests that
Mary .............................................. but she cannot.
•Proctor admits his .................... and so Danforth orders Parris to fetch .................. . If
Elisabeth admits to knowing of the ......................, then Danforth will charge .................
Act 3 Plot
- Can you finish the sentences?
•Martha Corey defends herself against accusations of being a witch made by the
Putnams . Giles Corey claims that they are making false claims in order to gain land.
•Francis Nurse claims that the girls testimonies are all false.
•John Proctor brings Mary Warren into court.
•Proctor submits a document signed by 91 citizens, testifying to the good names of the
condemned women.
•Corey is arrested because he won’t reveal a witness to support his claim that the
Putnams’ daughter is crying false witness.
•Hale begins to doubt the truth of the accusations, and urges Danforth to listen to
Mary Warren’s deposition. Danforth questions her.
•Cheever brings Abigail and the other girls in from the court. Hathorne suggests that
Mary pretend to faint as she had done before, but she cannot.
•Proctor admits his affair with Abigail, and so Danforth orders Parris to fetch Elizabeth.
If Elizabeth admits to knowing of the affair, then Danforth will charge Abigail.
Act 3 Plot
- Can you finish the sentences?
•Elizabeth is questioned with her back toward Proctor so they cannot communicate.
Trying to protect his ....................., she says .............................................
•Abigail, then the other girls, pretend ......................................... Mary Warren begs the
adults to see that ..................................
•............ accuses Proctor of being the Devil’s man.
•.............. quits the court in disgust.
Act 3 Plot
- Can you finish the sentences?
•Elizabeth is questioned with her back toward Proctor so they cannot communicate.
Trying to protect his reputation, she says her husband never had an affair.
•Abigail, then the other girls, pretend to see demons and visions. Mary Warren begs
the adults to see that the girls are lying.
•Mary accuses Proctor of being the Devil’s man.
•Hale quits the court in disgust.
Act 3 – twisted logic
The first lines of the act are a seemingly simple exchange:
HATHORNE’S VOICE:
Now Martha Corey, there is abundant evidence in
our hands to show that you have given yourself to the
reading of fortunes. Do you deny it?
MARTHA COREY’S VOICE: I am innocent to a witch. I know not what a witch is.
HATHORNE’S VOICE:
How do you know, then, that you are not a witch?
Act 3 – What is wrong here?
The first lines of the act are a seemingly simple exchange:
HATHORNE’S VOICE:
Now Martha Corey, there is abundant evidence in our hands to show
that you have given yourself to the reading of fortunes. Do you deny it?
MARTHA COREY’S VOICE: I am innocent to a witch. I know not what a witch is.
HATHORNE’S VOICE:
How do you know, then, that you are not a witch?
Miller is presenting us with an example of the kind of twisted logic that confused many simple
women in Salem into confessing things that were untrue. It is the sort of reasoning that is used to
trap people, not to discover the truth.
Act 3 twisted logic?
Danforth’s speech on page 90 is an example of how the
prosecutors used twisted logic to ensure that the accused did
not have a fair hearing.
Danforth argues that using witchcraft is an ‘invisible’ crime: the
witch will not confess, so the only admissible evidence can
come from the victims. That is more or less the same as saying
that the court will only listen to one side of every argument.
Furthermore, the court is ‘most eager for all their confessions’
so it is keen to find witches rather than keep an open mind and
search for the truth.
Stage Directions
Notice how Miller’s
detailed directions
for actions create
dramatic moments.
Here, young girls on
the verge of being
shown to be frauds
utterly take control
from serious, senior
judges, sweeping
away their authority
with hysterical play
acting.
Why is Act 3 important?
We are shown how the trials are damaging
the Salem community, and old feuds are
coming to the fore
The judges are reluctant to admit they
could have been mistaken about the girls
We see fear and confusion everywhere are
nobody is safe.
We can see Reverend Hale’s growing
doubts about the trials.
Why is Act 3 important?
Miller sets up several moments in Act
Three when we think Danforth might come
to see that the witch hunt is based on lies.
Identify these. Say what happens that
allows the trials to continue.
KEY QUOTATION
Do you know, Mr
Proctor, that the
entire contention of
the state in these
trials is that the
voice of Heaven is
speaking through
the children?
(Danforth, p81)
Building dramatic tension
Miller sets up several moments in Act
Three when we think Danforth might come
to see that the witch hunt is based on lies.
Identify these. Say what happens that
allows the trials to continue.
•Danforth agreeing to listen to Proctor and
his friends
•Proctor telling Danforth that the girls
were caught dancing in the woods, and
Danforth questioning Parris about this.
•Proctor’s painful confession
Notice how Danforth’s reactions build
dramatic tension in this section.
The Witch Trials
The Trials – who gains power?
Themes
Consider the themes below. Rate them according to how important they are in The
Crucible (think about how much The Crucible has explored them so far). Put them
onto paper and rate them in a diamond shape – most important at the top, and least
important at the bottom.
Individual v authority
intolerance
hysteria
reputation
gaining empowerment
sin and guilt
self-interest
purification
integrity
loyalty
courage
envy
corruption of justice
Themes
Intolerance (individual v authority)
Integrity – truth v lies – corruption purification
Reputation
Theme - Purification
• A crucible is a container in which metals and
other materials are heated so as to separate
the pure metals from waste and impurities.
The crucible in the title is a metaphor for the
tow of Salem and the period of the witch-hunt
hysteria. In this ‘fire’, some victims survive the
temptations and fears and emerge as better
and stronger people.
Act 4 Plot
1. Sarah Good and Tituba are removed from a filthy
cell by a drunken Marshall Herrick
2. Hale is comforting many condemned prisoners in
the jail. Parris says that Abigail and Mercy Lewis
have vanished, taking his savings.
3. Rebecca and John Proctor are due to be hanged.
Parris wants Danforth to delay the executions, but
Danforth refuses.
Act 4 Plot
4. Reverend Hale has been begging prisoners to
confess and save their lives.
5. Elizabeth and John Proctor meet. John asks his
wife what she would think if he confessed to false
allegations to escape hanging. Rebecca Nurse
refuses to confess.
6. Proctor changes his mind and refuses to have his
confession displayed. Elizabeth watches his
execution from the cell window.
John Proctor: qualities
Key Moments
Act 1 Key Moments
1.
Abigail and John are
alone together and their
affair is revealed.
ABIGAIL “Give me a word John.
A soft word.”
PROCTOR “No, no, Abby. That’s
done with.”
Act 2 Key Moments
1.
We witness the tension between John and
Elizabeth Proctor
“an everlasting funeral marches round your heart ... I
come into a court when I come into this house!”
2.
Reverend Hale questions Proctor.
“Adultery, John.”
3.
The poppet – a needle is found in the poppet
given to Elizabeth by Mary, and Abigail
apparently had a needle “stuck into her belly-”
4.
John’s speech at the end.
“Aye, naked! And the wind, god’s icy wind, will blow!”
Act 3 Key Moments
1.
John Proctor declares
Abigail to be a ‘whore’.
2.
Danforth brings Elizabeth
in and Elizabeth lies.
PROCTOR “Elizabeth, I have
confessed it!”
The play’s turning point occurs
in this scene.
Act 4 Key Moments
1. We see Proctor’s inner conflict
and his decision to stand by his
beliefs and tear up his
confession.
“I do think I see some shred of
goodness in John Proctor.”
(p116)
2. Elizabeth refuses to try to
change Proctor’s mind.
“He have his goodness now.
God forbid I take it from him!”
What is the significance of the title of the play?