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Analysis and Summary of The Crucible by Arthur Miller
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Analysis of the characters, setting, motifs, symbols, style in The Crucible. Including a summary and in-depth questions about the plot.
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Socratic Seminar Anne van den Wassenberg V5EThe Crucible
Summary
In the Puritan New England town of Salem, Massachusetts, a group of girls
goes dancing in the forest with a black slave named Tituba. While dancing,
they are caught by the local minister, Reverend Parris. One of the girls,
Parris’s daughter Betty, falls into a coma-like state. A crowd gathers in the
Parris home while rumors of witchcraft fill the town. Having sent for
Reverend Hale, an expert on witchcraft, Parris questions Abigail Williams,
the girls’ ringleader, about the events that took place in the forest. Abigail,
who is Parris’s niece and ward, admits to doing nothing beyond “dancing.”
While Parris tries to calm the crowd that has gathered in his home, Abigail
talks to some of the other girls, telling them not to admit to anything. John
Proctor, a local farmer, then enters and talks to Abigail alone.
Unbeknownst to anyone else in the town, while working in Proctor’s home
the previous year she engaged in an affair with him, which led to her being
fired by his wife, Elizabeth. Abigail still desires Proctor, but he fends her off
and tells her to end her foolishness with the girls.
Betty wakes up and begins screaming. Much of the crowd rushes upstairs
and gathers in her bedroom, arguing over whether she is bewitched. A
separate argument between Proctor, Parris, the argumentative Giles
Corey, and the wealthy Thomas Putnam soon ensues. This dispute centers
on money and land deeds, and it suggests that deep fault lines run
through the Salem community. As the men argue, Reverend Hale arrives
and examines Betty, while Proctor departs. Hale quizzes Abigail about the
girls’ activities in the forest, grows suspicious of her behavior, and
demands to speak to Tituba. After Parris and Hale interrogate her for a
brief time, Tituba confesses to communing with the devil, and she
hysterically accuses various townsfolk of consorting with the devil.
Suddenly, Abigail joins her, confessing to having seen the devil conspiring
and cavorting with other townspeople. Betty joins them in naming witches,
and the crowd is thrown into an uproar.
A week later, alone in their farmhouse outside of town, John and Elizabeth
Proctor discuss the ongoing trials and the escalating number of townsfolk
who have been accused of being witches. Elizabeth urges her husband to
denounce Abigail as a fraud; he refuses, and she becomes jealous,
accusing him of still harboring feelings for her. Mary Warren, their servant
and one of Abigail’s circle, returns from Salem with news that Elizabeth
has been accused of witchcraft, but the court did not pursue the
accusation. Mary is sent up to bed, and John and Elizabeth continue their
argument, only to be interrupted by a visit from Reverend Hale. While they
discuss matters, Giles Corey and Francis Nurse come to the Proctor home
with news that their wives have been arrested. Officers of the court
suddenly arrive and arrest Elizabeth. After they have taken her, Proctor
browbeats Mary, insisting that she must go to Salem and expose Abigail
and the other girls as frauds.
, Socratic Seminar Anne van den Wassenberg V5E
The next day, Proctor brings Mary to court and tells Judge Danforth that
she will testify that the girls are lying. Danforth is suspicious of Proctor’s
motives and tells Proctor, truthfully, that Elizabeth is pregnant and will be
spared for a time. Proctor persists in his charge, convincing Danforth to
allow Mary to testify. Mary tells the court that the girls are lying. When the
girls are brought in, they turn the tables by accusing Mary of bewitching
them. Furious, Proctor confesses his affair with Abigail and accuses her of
being motivated by jealousy of his wife. To test Proctor’s claim, Danforth
summons Elizabeth and asks her if Proctor has been unfaithful to her.
Despite her natural honesty, she lies to protect Proctor’s honor, and
Danforth denounces Proctor as a liar. Meanwhile, Abigail and the girls
again pretend that Mary is bewitching them, and Mary breaks down and
accuses Proctor of being a witch. Proctor rages against her and against the
court. He is arrested, and Hale quits the proceedings.
The summer passes and autumn arrives. The witch trials have caused
unrest in neighboring towns, and Danforth grows nervous. Abigail has run
away, taking all of Parris’s money with her. Hale, who has lost faith in the
court, begs the accused witches to confess falsely in order to save their
lives, but they refuse. Danforth, however, has an idea: he asks Elizabeth to
talk John into confessing, and she agrees. Conflicted, but desiring to live,
John agrees to confess, and the officers of the court rejoice. But he refuses
to incriminate anyone else, and when the court insists that the confession
must be made public, Proctor grows angry, tears it up, and retracts his
admission of guilt. Despite Hale’s desperate pleas, Proctor goes to the
gallows with the others, and the witch trials reach their awful conclusion.
Characters
– Abigail Williams; main character, niece of Parris. She has an affair
with John Procter and is the ringleader of a group of girls. It is partly
because of her that the citizens believed Salem was bewitched.
– Betty; The daughter of Parris. She gets into a coma after dancing in
the woods, that when everyone started accusing witchcraft.
– Tituba; a woman of color. She was a slave and took the girls to go
dancing in the woods. She was the first to accuse people of
consorting with the devil, which started the whole mess.
– John Procter: He is a local farmer who had an affair with Abigail while
she worked for him. He is married to Elizabeth and has three
children
– Mary Warren; Servant of John Procter and one of Abigail’s circle. She
tries to help John to expose the girls, however when they started
accusing her she switched teams because she didn’t want to be
killed.
– Reverend Hale; witch-hunter
– Judge Danforth
Questions
2) Did the girls really see the Devil or witches?
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