Crucible+Study+Guide



=Study Guide for //The Crucible// by Arthur Miller=


 * Plot Summary**

The setting is the 17th Century Salem, Massachusetts Witch Trials. It is a play produced in four acts:

In Act I, we are introduced to the Rev. Samuel Parris praying for his daughter Betty who was affected after practicing witchcraft with Tituba, their Black slave. The girls of the town, led by Abigail have all participated in the ritual. They get together and Abigail threatens the others if they admit to what they did. It is implied that Abigail and the farmer John Proctor have had an affair. Proctor rejects Abigail. A witch-hunt starts with the introduction of a specialist, Rev. John Hale. Goody Good and Goody Osburn are accused by Tituba and confess. The girls act bewitched and start accusing others of witchcraft.

Act II is days after the false accusations. Court proceedings are overseen by visiting Deputy Governor Danforth. Fourteen people have been put in jail for witchcraft. Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, has not forgiven him for the affair but wants him to testify against the girls. Their servant, Mary Warren, has been accusing with the girls but defending Elizabeth from being accused. Abigail ends up accusing and getting Elizabeth arrested. Proctor wants Mary Warren to testify about the false accusations. He tries to get Abigail to stop by blackmailing to tell about the affair. Abigail deludes herself to think that he is pretending to reject her.

Act III takes place in the Salem meeting house in front of the court. Many innocent people face the unjustness, including Proctor with Mary Warren pleading for Elizabeth. Abigail and the girls deny all charges against them, then acting possessed they accuse Mary Warren. Proctor accuses Abigail of the adultery. When Elizabeth is asked to confirm, she lies to save Proctor’s reputation. Mary Warren breaks down under the attack from the girls and accuses Proctor of witchcraft. Danforth charges him. Rev. Hale suspects foul play in the court proceedings.

The final act is at the end of the trials. Many are in jail waiting to be hung. Hale tries to get them to admit falsely to being witches to save their lives. Elizabeth convinces Proctor to lie so that he will not hang. At the last minute, he tears up his confession. It is inevitable that Proctor will hang. There is a small reconciliation between Proctor and his wife through these final actions.

. ..
 * Characters**
 * Protagonist:** John Proctor
 * Antagonist:** Abigail Williams
 * John Proctor**: Honest farmer forced to defend his wife and himself against witchcraft charges. While his wife was ill, he succumbed to temptation and was intimate with Abigail Williams, a beautiful but malevolent 17-year-old. Although Proctor later rejects Abigail and admits his wrongdoing to his wife, Abigail continues to pursue him.


 * Elizabeth Proctor**: John Proctor’s loyal and upright wife. She comes to realize that she may have been partly at fault for her husband's unfaithfulness because she was not always as warm and loving as she could have been.


 * Rev. Samuel Parris**: Salem's current minister. A faction in his congregation is attempting to replace him. He at first attempts to silence rumors of witchcraft because his own daughter, Betty, and his niece, Abigail Williams, were involved in conjuring rites. However, he later vigorously supports the witch trials when he sees that they will work to his advantage.


 * Betty Parris**: Daughter of the Rev. Parris. At the beginning of the play, she lies in a stupor supposedly caused by witchcraft.


 * Abigail Williams**: Seventeen-year-old orphan whose parents were killed by Indians. She lives with her uncle, the Rev. Parris, and his daughter, Betty. In a conjuring rite in the forest, where Abigail and other girls dance wildly around a cauldron, Abigail drinks rooster blood in attempt to summon spirits to kill Elizabeth Proctor. Mrs. Proctor had fired Abigail from her job as a servant at the Proctor farm because Abigail seduced her husband.


 * Tituba**: Slave of the Rev. Parris. The minister brought her to Salem from Barbados, where she learned occult practices. She presides at a conjuring session involving teenage and adolescent girls from Salem.


 * John and Ann Putnam**: Wealthy husband and wife who use the witchcraft frenzy implicate rivals and enemies.


 * Rev. John Hale:** Expert in detecting spirits. Well educated, he takes pride in his knowledge of the occult, but he is fair-minded. Although he first believes townspeople may be practicing witchcraft, he later defends accused persons, in particular Mr. and Mrs. Proctor.


 * Rebecca Nurse:** Charitable Salem resident whom Ann Putnam accuses of witchcraft.


 * Mary Warren**: Eighteen-year-old servant of the Proctors who took part in the conjuring rite in the forest. She first agrees to testify against Abigail and the others. But, under pressure from her peers and the court, she renounces her testimony and sides with Abigail.


 * Deputy Governor John Danforth**: Presiding judge who conducts the witchcraft hearings and trials. He admits spectral evidence (testimony of witnesses who believe they saw townspeople in the presence of the devil) but refuses to accept a deposition presented by John Proctor. The deposition, signed by Mary Warren, is intended as evidence that could lead to the exoneration of Elizabeth Proctor and others.


 * John Hathorne**: Associate Judge.


 * Giles Corey:** Innocent citizen accused of witchcraft after he attempts to defend his wife, Martha, and expose scheming John Putnam. A courageous 83-year-old who defies the court, he is pressed to death with heavy stones. Martha Corey is hanged.


 * Mercy Lewis**: Teenage servant of the Proctors who took part in the conjuring rite in the forest.


 * Susanna Walcott**: Teenager who took part in the rite in the forest.

. .. .. The action takes place between spring and autumn in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the town of Salem and the surrounding countryside. Salem was a theocracy in which the Christian moral law, as interpreted by the Puritan settlers of the town, was supreme. .. .. Arthur Miller based his play on historical accounts of the Salem witch trials of 1692. According to those accounts, more than 150 people were accused of witchcraft and jailed. Twenty of them were executed. Nineteen were hanged on Gallows Hill near Salem and one was pressed to death with heavy stones laid on his chest. To suit the dramatic design of The Crucible, Miller altered some of the facts. For example, he changed the ages of some Salem residents and merged others into a single character. During the actual trials, William Stoughton was the presiding judge, assisted by nine associate judges. In the play, there are only two judges. Thomas Danforth, of Boston, an associate judge in the actual trials, becomes the presiding judge. Thomas Hathorne, of Salem, an associate judge in the actual trials, is the associate judge in the play. Hathorne was an ancestor of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the 19th Century author of two outstanding works on old Salem: The Scarlet Letter, a novel, and “Young Goodman Brown,” a short story. Hawthorne inserted a “w” into his surname to disassociate himself from Judge Hathorne. Belief in evil forces such as witches, warlocks, and diabolical spirits was widespread in America and Europe during and before the 17th Century. .. .. The Crucible is a tragic stage play based on accounts of the Salem Witch trials of 1692. When it was first performed, it was presented as an allegory for Senator Joseph R. McCarthy's notorious "Red Scare" hearings that accused many innocent Americans of being subversive communists. .. .. Arthur Miller published The Crucible in 1953, and debuted it that year at the Martin Beck Theater in New York City. He wrote the play in part to renounce the unfair tactics of congressional committees investigating Americans suspected of subversive behavior. The House Un-American Activities Committee, established in 1938, began holding hearings in the late 1940's to identify Americans with communist sympathies, focusing on Hollywood actors, directors, and writers. Witnesses who refused to identify acquaintances exhibiting suspicious behavior were blacklisted, a penalty that ruined reputations and made it difficult for many in the film industry to get work. When Senator Joseph R. McCarthy began conducting his own investigation in the U.S. Senate in the 1950's, he accused hundreds of innocent people of having communist ties, using tactics not unlike those used in the Salem witch trials. For example, instead of asking a witness “Are you a communist?” he was more likely to ask “Are you still a communist?” The insertion of the word still made it impossible for a witness to answer yes or no to the question while maintaining his innocence. In response to McCarthy’s unfair tactics, journalists coined the term McCarthyism to describe the use of groundless evidence and accusations in public inquiries. Miller himself appeared before Congress in 1956 but refused to provide the names of persons under suspicion. He was found guilty of contempt, but he appealed the verdict and was exonerated. .. .. (1) The forest is a primordial archetype of the kind identified by psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961). It represents darkness and evil inside the human soul. (2) The boiling cauldron appears to represent the wild emotions of the girls. (3) The poppet (puppet) used to incriminate Mrs.Proctor represents the superstition and stupidity that incite the zealots of Salem--and zealots of any other place and time. (4) The witch trials symbolize injustice springing from intolerance, fanaticism, mass hysteria, and desire for revenge. (5) The heavy stones used in the pressing death of Giles Corey symbolize the weight of the sins committed by the Salem accusers. (6) The pregnancy of Mrs. Proctor appears to represent hope that the next generation of Salem residents will be righteous, truth-telling people, like John Proctor, the condemned father of the soon-to-be-born child. .. ..
 * Sarah Good**: Poor, homeless woman accused of witchcraft.
 * Setting**
 * Source:** The Salem Witch Trials
 * Type of Work**
 * Year of Publication and Link With McCarthyism**
 * Symbols**
 * Themes**
 * Theme 1 Look for the devil within.** While the witch-hunters and the judges search for the workers of evil in Salem, they train all their energies on what is outside of them–for example, reported sightings of malicious spirits, a doll with a pin in it, suspicious books, offensive neighbors, sick children. However, they fail to examine the real source of evil, the perversity in their own beating hearts. In The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare wrote: “A goodly apple rotten at the heart. / O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath.” In 1692 Salem, there were many goodly apples rotten at the heart.


 * Theme 2 Group pressure is powerful.** The adolescent and teenage girls who took part in the conjuring rite in the forest all lie and pretend to be victims of witchcraft in order to remain in good standing with their peers. Even Mary Warren, the one girl who tries to tell truth, falls victim to group pressure and, in the end, joins the other girls in their chicanery.


 * Theme 3 Revenge is a deadly game.** Several characters–including Abigail Williams and Mr. And Mrs. Putnam–seek revenge against their enemies by accusing them of witchcraft. As a result, the enemies–all innocent–go to the gallows.

. ... .. The climax of a play or another narrative work, such as a short story or a novel, can be defined as (1) the turning point at which the conflict begins to resolve itself for better or worse, or as (2) the final and most exciting event in a series of events. The climax of The Crucible occurs, according to the first definition, when the court finds John Proctor guilty after he admits that he had been intimate with Abigail Williams. According to the second definition, the climax occurs when John Proctor decides it is more important to tell the truth than to save his life with a lie. So he tears up his false confession to witchcraft and gives himself over for hanging. .. .. .......Puritanism began in England in the 1500's when reformers attempted to purify the Protestant Church of England of the elaborate ceremonies, rituals, and hierarchical structure it carried over from Roman Catholicism. For the Puritans, the pure word of the Bible, presented in part through inspired preaching, took precedence while direct revelation from the Holy Spirit superseded reason. Puritan ministers were generally well educated. .......Puritanism agreed with Calvinism that human beings inherited a sinful condition and that certain men and women were destined to be saved through the suffering and death of Christ. But the Puritans also believed that if a member of their community underwent a conversion experience–in which the Holy Spirit caused the member to focus on piety and instead of sin, that member had evidence that he or she was singled out for salvation. Consequently, the conversion experience was an important aspect of Puritanism. To foster conversion and maintain a covenant with God, Puritans lived a strict moral life. .......Several thousand Puritans came to America, settling in Virginia and the Massachusetts Bay Colony, to establish and practice their religious without interference from religious or political opponents who insisted on preserving church hierarchy. In New England in 1648, they adopted the Cambridge Platform, a document authorizing self-government for local Puritan congregations and thus purifying Puritanism of a hierarchical structure. This brand of Puritanism was known as Congregationalism. This form of self-government helped lay the foundation for American democracy. However, because of their strict moral code, the Puritans were ever on the lookout for satanic influence and, unfortunately, sometimes saw evil where none existed. One of the forms in which evil manifested itself, the Puritans believed, was witchcraft.
 * Theme 4 The will of the people can be unjust and uncivilized**. Democracy follows the will of the people. However, the people are not always right. In fact, as The Crucible shows, the will of the people can be the will of injustice and barbarity.
 * Climax**
 * Puritanism**


 * Literary Concepts**


 * Satire**: Miller’s view on the Salem witch trials is very cynical. Although his tone is serious, there is an underlying sense that Miller is pointing out the absurdity of historical acts. Miller is also reflecting that sense of absurdity in the events of the 1950’s.


 * Allegory**: There is a belief that this work is a political allegory. Because of his involvement of the times, Miller meant the play to reflect the current events – McCarthy’s communism “Red” witch-hunt. The students should be able to understand that the play is about something more than the historical representation of the Salem Witch Trials.


 * Social and Historical Context:** As explained above, all of these are tied together. The play is more than just the conventions of this form of writing. Miller has packed in a message within the literary work.


 * Tragedy:** The students should understand that the play is a form of tragedy, a drama with serious events that has an unhappy ending. Beyond the writing convention of tragedy, the actual events that Miller depicts are also tragic.


 * Characterization:** As with play conventions, there is a cast of characters. Students should understand how the characters are depicted through playwriting – through their emotions, their actions, and their reactions to other characters.

.. Listed in Alphabetical Order** .. Bishop, Bridget Burroughs, George Carrier, Martha Corey, Giles Corey, Martha Eastey, Mary Good, Sarah Howe, Elizabeth Jacobs, George, Sr Martin, Susannah Nurse, Rebecca Parker, Alice Parker, Mary Proctor, John Pudeator, Ann Redd, Wilmott Scott, Margaret Wardwell, Samuel Wildes, Sarah Willard, John
 * Names of Executed Salem Residents