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The Crucible

The Crucible

Characters Abigail Williams Ann Putnam Betty Parris Elizabeth Proctor Ezekiel Cheever Francis Nurse Giles Herrick John Proctor Judge Danforth Judge Hathorne Martha Corey Mary Warren Mercy Lewis Rebecca Nurse Reverend John Hale Reverend Parris Ruth Putnam Thomas Putnam Tituba

Analysis of Characters Abigail Williams Abigail is seen as the villain of the play and is the most declivous as she creates a hysteria of witchery in the town of Salem. Abigail’s motives in her manipulative nature are all for one reason that is evident in the play, to get revenge on Elizabeth Proctor, the wife of her lover, John Proctor. Elizabeth Proctor Elizabeth Proctor is a faithful woman who shows her dedication to her marriage to John Proctor by standing by him through his adultery. Unfortunately she gets tangled into the accusations of witchcraft as Abigail accuses Elizabeth to get her hung. Elizabeth is seen as a trusty and good woman throughout the book who gets involved in a wrong situation at a wrong time. John Proctor John is a good man deep down but has one very fatal flaw. He allowed his lust for young Abigail Williams to take over his good nature and commit the fatal sin of adultery. The adultery then lead to the accusation of his wife Elizabeth’s involvement in witch craft. John Proctor confesses of his adultery to the court after the trials get out of hand but he realizes it too late when nothing good comes of it and is then arrested and accused of being a witch. At the end of the play John Proctor is put to death as he refuses to confess to witchery and decides to die with the integrity of admitting to his wrong doings. Judge Danforth Judge Danforth seeks power throughout the book and finds himself in a crisis at the end when he realizes that the trials are out of hand and that too many innocent people have died. Judge Danforth has control in the situations of being judge in the Salem Trials. Reverend John Hale Reverend John Hale in the beginning of the play is brought into chaos and various accusations that he is compelled to believe everything that is brought to his attention. Later into the play when John Proctor and Marry Warren tell the court of Abigail and the girls lies he is convinced that they are telling the truth and that all along the girls had been lying. Hale becomes a broken man that was once confident and strong after he has no more power to do anything in the trials as they are now in Danforth’s hands. Reverend Parris Throughout the Crucible Reverend Parris only looks out for himself. His characteristics show him as selfish and only ever concerned of making his position in the town. He seeks for approval from the settlers and is highly concerned of his appearance to others.

Plot of Act 1, 2, 3, & 4 Act I The play starts with Reverend Parris who is with his daughter Betty who is unconscious in her bed. Parris is talking with Abigail Williams, his niece and other girls who he saw participating in strange activities in the forest. Abigail says that Tituba, who is Parris’ slave that came from Barbados, was the one who was leading the strange activities. When Parris saw them in the woods he came to see them and startled the girls, in doing so Betty fainted and still had not recovered. No one knows what was going on in the woods and none of the girls will admit to what they were doing, but it is rumoured around Salem that they were involved in witchcraft. John Proctor comes to Parris’ home and sees Abigail there where she tries to seduce him while they are alone. This reveals to the readers that Abigail and John Proctor have had some sort of affair previous to this event. Parris calls Reverend John Hale to come to Salem to see Betty and try to solve what is going on in Salem. Reverend Hale is an expert in witchery and the phenomena of it all. When he arrives in Salem he goes to see Betty and starts questioning Abigail. She soon accuses Tituba of being a witch; Tituba who is afraid of death admits to being possessed by the devil and accuses Osbourn and Sarah Good of witchcraft. Betty awakes and says she has also been bewitched, Betty and Abigail say a list of people who they say they have seen with the devil.

Act II Elizabeth Proctor talks to her husband John Proctor and finds out if he is late for dinner because of going to visit Salem. Elizabeth tells John that their housemaid, Marry Warren, has been there the whole day, even though she had forbid her from going. John becomes angry and then finds out that Mary has been named as one of the officials of the court in the witch trials. Elizabeth pleads that John tell the court that Abigail is lying and so are all the other girls. John says he cannot prove to the court though because what she told him was in private. Elizabeth becomes upset because John had not mentioned earlier that they were alone, John finds her to be accusing him of starting his affair with Abigail once again. Elizabeth and John then argue. Marry Warren then returns and John is enraged that Marry has been in Salem all day, she tells him that she will be gone every day for however long the trials take because she is now an official of the court. Mary hands Elizabeth a poppet that she says she made while she was in court. Mary informs Elizabeth and John that there are thirty nine people, who are in jail, and that Elizabeth’s name was mentioned in the court that day but that Mary had defended her and it was dismissed. Elizabeth tells John of her worry that Abigail will accuse her and have her executed so she can get to John. Reverend Hale comes to visit the Proctor’s house and questions them of their faith to god and the church. John Proctor tells Reverend Hale that Abigail admitted to him that the witchcraft was all a hoax, Reverend Hale asks John to testify in the court. Francis Nurse and Giles Cory come to the Proctor’s household, and tell them that both of their wives have been arrested for witchcraft. Ezekiel Cheever and Herrick arrive at the Proctor’s with a warrant for Elizabeth Proctor’s arrest. Ezekiel Cheever sees the poppet in the home and finds a needle inside of it, he tells Elizabeth and John that while eating Abigail was stabbed with a needle and that she accused Elizabeth of doing so. Mary comes down and tells Revered Hale that she had made that poppet in court today and put the needle there to store it. Ezekiel Cheever and Herrick take Elizabeth away and everyone leaves the Proctor household. When everyone is gone John tells Mary that she must go to the court tomorrow and testify against Abigail. Mary cries that she cannot do so and that Abigail will turn against her.

Act III Judge Hathorne is questioning Martha Corey about accusations of witchcraft. Giles Cory comes into the court and tells them that Thomas Putnam is only trying to get his land in accusing his wife. Giles is taken out of the room and Judge Hathorne scolds him for storming into his court room, but Giles says that Hathorne isn’t a Boston judge yet so he has no right to ask him that question. Reverend Parris, Francis Nurse, Cheever, and Governor Danforth enter the room. Giles Cory says that he owns six hundred acres of land that Thomas Putnam has wanted for some time. Francis Nurse then tells the court that the girls are pretending and all that they are saying is false. Marry Warren and John Proctor then enter and tell them of what he knows. Danforth orders all of the girls into the room and questions them all. Mary tells Danforth that she believed she saw the spirits at first but knows that they were none. Abigail and the other girls try to ruin what Marry has to say about them and begin to scream and say that Mary is bewitching them, making them cold, and trying to hurt them. John Proctor accuses Abigail of being a whore and tells the court of his affair with her. Abigail denies what John has to say and they decide to send of Elizabeth to ask her questions if John is a good guy and if he has ever been unfaithful. Elizabeth does not know that John has confessed of his adultery though and tells the court that he has always been good to her and has never been unfaithful. John insists that the affair did happen and the girls then begin to pretend to see a big bird that has been sent by Mary to attack them. Mary decides to save herself from being accused of witchcraft and tells the court that John has been in league with the devil and told her she must testify. John Proctor is then arrested for witchcraft and Reverend Hale leaves the court flustered and done with the trials.

Act IV John Proctor has been chained in jail isolated from everyone else. Reverend Parris starts to worry because John Proctor was respected and liked by many people in Salem. Parris tells his fears of the trials to Danforth, Cheever, and Hathorne and also tells them that Mercy Lewis and Abigail stole thirty one pounds and boarded a ship in the night. Reverend Hale enters who is now a broken down man rather than the once strong man we saw in act 1. He spends most of his time now with prisoners telling them to confess so they can save their lives. Elizabeth is sent to John to try to convince him to confess to being a witch so he is able to live. Elizabeth and John talk and she forgives him and they reaffirm their love to one another. John Proctor decides to confess to the witchcraft and tells Hathorne. John signs the confession but once he signs it he tears it up remembering that Danforth will hang it on to the church, which he worries will taint his name. John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse are led to the gallows to be hung.

Themes

Power/Control Throughout The Crucible many characters strive for power and control. Abigail, one of the main characters who want control takes over Salem as she has the ability to accuse whoever she wants. Abigail after not being able to have John Proctor feels out of control and wants the power to make him hers again. This is when Abigail gets the power to accuse Elizabeth Proctor and try to get her killed so she can have John to herself. The girls also involved with Abigail also have control and power in Salem, but not as much as Abigail.

Trickery Trickery lies in Salem during the first accusations of witchery. As girls are about to get in dangerous trouble after being accused to witchery the girls come up with plans of trickery to save themselves and get revenge on the ones that they do not like. As the town goes wild with witchery, the tricking of settlers in Salem goes wild too. An example of trickery could be seen when Marry Warren goes to court to tell them that the girls are lying. The trickery is seen when the girls now accused of lying by Mary pretend to see a bird that is trying to hurt them that represents Mary. The girls use this trickery to dismiss Mary’s accusations against them.

Hysteria Hysteria plays a huge role in The Crucible. Hysteria is what tears the community apart. Hysteria is what changes the view of the characters of the people they know, who they believed once to have been moral people. The hysteria allows the characters to resent each other openly and get revenge. An example of how hysteria is seen in The Crucible is Abigail who accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft to get rid of her for the sake of her and Elizabeth’s husband John Proctor. The benefits from the hysteria are inevitable and that is why it thrives in Salem.

Reputation The reputation in Salem was very important. The settlers of Salem fear that the sins that their family, friends, and associates make will taint their own names. Many of the actions of the characters are based on their reputations. Reverend Parris is an example of how he was more concerned about his reputation in Act 1 when his daughter Betty was accused of being involved of witchcraft that was due to her coma. Historical Relevance Arthur Miller developed his characters to meet the needs of his play. He in no way represented the real. He fused certain characters together, changed the ages of characters, and decreased the number of people involved. However, the judicial sentences that were given to the characters were indeed the real life given sentences. Arthur Miller changed the way the settler’s dialects were giving all the characters in his book the same class and using speech patterns of the King James Bible to attain historical perspective.

Little Facts The Crucible is a 1953 play by Arthur Miller. It was first performed at the Martin Beck Theater on Broadway on January 22nd 1953. The production won the 1953 Best Play Tony Award.

Adaptations The Crucible was adapted for film twice, once by Jean-Paul Sartre who made the 1957 film Les Sorcieres de Salem. The second time was by Arthur Miller himself, in the 1996 film, The Crucible. Arthur Miller’s adaptation made him win the Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay. The play has also been adapted into an opera by Robert Ward, The Crucible which was performed in 1961 and received the Pulitzer Prize.

McCarthyism and it’s relation to the Salem Witch Trials During the 1940’s and the 1950’s America grew concerned about the growth of communism in China and Eastern Europe. A senator, Joseph McCarthy made an accusation that there were more than two hundred people in the United States government that were car carrying communists. Joseph McCarthy’s accusations were untrue, but it caused a hunt in America for hidden communists. People who were accused were tried in court, some had their passports taken from them, and others were jailed for not giving names of other communists. The trials of people would destroy their careers and their reputations. Arthur Miller witnessed McCarthyism take over America and it caused him to decide to adapt the Salem Witch Trials and combine it with an adaptation of McCarthyism and create The Crucible.

Hunts still present in America Hunts are still present in America in the 20th century. In 1993 the law of no gays allowed in the military was formed. After the law was created hunts for gays in the military became known as people searched for gays to get them out of the military. Barak Obama has tried to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy as hunts for gays in the military died down and talk about repealing the law has started to have been talked about.