The Crucible Quotes

The towns’ people accused now are too well known and well respected to be witches. He begins lose faith in the court as the court proceeds to accuse more people. Most of the accusations made absurd. Reverend Hale himself cannot believe that such well respected towns’ people could be

At the end of Act II of The Crucible, Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth got taken on suspicion of being a witch. The poppit that their helper, Mary Warren gave her had a needle stuck in it in the same place that Abigail Williams had a needle stuck in her. Hale assumed that abigail stuck the needle in but still accused Elizabeth. Proctor wanted Mary Warren to explain to the court what happened and to explain the poppet. Mary Warren seems like she wanted to defend Elizabeth and explain the poppet, but she doesn’t want Abigail to accuse Proctor of the adultery he performed. In the heat of the moment, Proctor didn’t care about the potential accusation that could occur, he just wanted his wife to be proven innocent. When his wife was being taken away, Proctor said his well known words, starting with “Now Hell and Heaven grapple on our backs…” This quote sums up what has

During the year 1692, the town of Salem found itself faced with a new threat: witchcraft. According to Cotton Mather, the people believed that the devil had “tried all sorts of methods to overturn this poor plantation” (Baym and Steven 151) in order to disrupt the Pilgrims in America. Pilgrims believed that the devil had “made a dreadful knot of witches in the country… to do all sorts of mischief to the neighbors.” (Baym and Steven 151). Although Mather did not endorse this behavior, many others did, and thus the people of Salem executed the accused. However, in doing so, these Pilgrims forgot the teachings of Christ, specifically against killing others. Despite their good intentions, the Pilgrims went against their own biblical ideals with their use of execution.

Betty Parris’s considerable power throughout the first act is observed by her ability to single-handedly initiate chaos and hysteria within the town for her own personal benefit. This power is first witnessed following Susanna Walcott’s explanation concerning the possibility of a supernatural cause to Betty’s illness, leading Abigail to advise her Uncle about “the rumor of witchcraft [that] is all about: [She] thinks [he'd] best go down and deny it [himself]. The parlor’s packed with people, sir” (10). This is the first hint that others in the town believe in the presence and of the beginnings of the hysteria that follows. Betty started this rumor in the town by pretending to act sick so that she would not get punished for dancing in the woods.

I write this letter to address my concern about the charges against my wife, Elizabeth Proctor, who was recently taken away on the charges of Abigail Williams. I believe that my relationship is a genuine one, blessed by god himself. After more than ten years of a being happily married, I do not believe that some twelve year old child can accuse my wife of witchcraft when we have been faithful and loyal servants of God. What does a twelve year old know about work and play?

In the play of the crucible by Arthur Miller was about the witch trial in salem, massachute. A teenage girl named Abigail fell in love with a married guy named John Proctor. Abigail is doing everything to win John Proctor heart and be john proctor wife. Everything went wrong and she started to lie by accusing innocent people for being witches. Innocent people are getting hang up because of Abigail and her friends lies. The author's purpose of this play is to inform the audience about what happened during salem witch trials.

In Salem, the people found it necessary to use violence for getting rid of witches. The town’s people were highly suspicious of people; in order to find a suitable

The tendency for the Salem community to believe “that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between” (87) clearly mirrors the persecution of “communist sympathisers” in the McCarthy era, and Miller draws this parallel to emphasise the importance of acknowledging moral ambiguity. In addition, Miller also raises the issue of “social compliance”, a phenomenon that often occurs when there is fear brewing within a community. As demonstrated with the Puritans’ willingness to persecute villagers even without any evidence, “is the accuser always holy now?” (73), as well as the lack of characters who dared to question the legitimacy of the witch trials, Miller successfully highlights the catastrophic effects of conforming to a society driven by fear. Hence, the play is able to raise ideas that are relevant not only to the Salem witch trials and the McCarthy era, but also to many historical events that involved the persecution of a group of people without adequate

Parris is feared that Betty is not ok, and something horrible will happen to her. On page 9, Parris says, “...Oh,my God! God help me! (quaking with fear, mumbling to himself through his sobs, he goes to the bed and gently takes Betty’s hand.) Betty. Child. Dear child. Will you wake, will you open your eyes! Betty, little one...” To summarize this quote, he is asking Betty if she is going to wake up, and that he is very worried for her, because of what happened to her. Because of what Parris said, I believe he is a nice and caring guy, because he seems to have strong feelings for others. Honestly, I would react the same way, if someone I was close to suddenly stopped talking and was lying in bed for a long period of time.

When Mrs. Putnam is introduced for the first time, she is described as “a twisted soul of forty-five, a death-ridden woman, haunted by dreams”, which is not precisely what you would call an emboldening description. Through her aperture lines, we can facilely optically discern that Mrs. Putnam is a very manipulative and assertive woman, who believes in witchcraft, as she instantly believes that Betty’s quandary has been caused by witchcraft. As far as Mr. Putnam is concerned, albeit his introductive description states “a well-to-do, hard-handed landowner, near fifty”, it does not tell us much about him. However, his description in page 22, he is called “vindictive”, instantly revealing more about his

Denial. How can it be my house that is afflicted by the devil when there are worse people in the village?

Abigail is a victim of society because the court gave her power which influenced her to continue in her games instead of the court questioning and looking into her theories. The fact that she had an awful uncle who “may [not] pray to God without [his] golden candlesticks upon the altar” (Miller 62) and would only care about himself especially when people start questioning witchcraft because “for surely [his] enemies will, and they will ruin [him] with it” (10). Her actions were also influenced because of the lack of authority from parents because “[she] saw Indians smash [her] dear parents heads on the pillow next to [hers]” (19) and has had to live with her selfish uncle. Along having no guidance from parents and especially not from her self-absorbed uncle, Abigail was heartbroken because the love of

The Red Scare provides many ideas of witchcraft, as well as rumors or non-real statements. Rumors play a big part in any matter. Including in The Crucible, which is based on the Red Scare.

During early 1692, in Essex, Massachusetts, a group of girls began to practice “conjuration with sieves and keys, and peas, and nails, and horseshoes”. By February, the adults tried to put into words what was happening to their children: “odd postures,” “foolish, ridiculous speeches”. Local physician William Griggs warned Reverend Samuel Parris, father of two of these girls, that he suspected the “Evil Hand” or more specifically, “malefic witchcraft”. As a result of this bizarre occurrence, rumors and assumptions spread rapidly across the area of Salem Village. The legal system was unkempt and clearly unprepared for something so baffling. As a result, the trials were conducted aimlessly and disorderly, without consideration of the persecuted. Throughout countless records, evidence was slim and weak. This was just the beginning of what is known as the Salem Witch Trials. Due to an unorganized legal system, The Salem Witch Trials exposed Puritan society as unprepared, unlawful, and unethical.

9. What happened between Abigail and John Proctor prior to the opening of the play?