The Crucible

Major Character List:

Francis Nurse: He was the head of the Nurse family and was a respected man in town. He tried to stop
the trials by aiding John Proctor.

Rebecca Nurse: She is a very kind women who is the midwife to the Putnam's. They feel she is a witch
because seven out of eight of their children died at birth.

Reverend Parris: He is the local Minister. He discovers the girls dancing. He is mainly responsible for the
witch trials. He is a materialistic man, places gold candlesticks in the church.

Betty Parris: She is Reverend Parris' daughter, is caught dancing and pretends to see spirits.

Tituba: She is Parris' Negro slave who teaches the girls about spirits.

Abigail Williams: She is the niece of Parris and a very emotionally strong person. She scares people into
doing what she wants them to do. She leads the girls in the accusations. She accuses Elizabeth Proctor
because she( Abigail) had an affair with John Proctor and feels he still has feelings for her. Without
Elizabeth in the picture she feels they can have a relationship together.

The Putnams: Attributed the death of seven of their children to Rebecca Nurse . They are wealthy land
owners, holds many grudges in the town.

Mary Warren: She works for the Proctor's. She gives the puppet to Mrs. Proctor, which leads to her
accusation of being a witch. She was going to testify against the girls but then in the end she accuses
John of being a witch.

John Proctor: He opposes the expenditures of Reverend Parris in the church. He is well-known and
respected in the town. He had an affair with Abigail, but after Elizabeth is accused by her, he no longer
has feelings for her and realizes how many feelings he has for her.

Elizabeth Proctor: She discovers that John is having an affair, but forgives him. She is incapable of lying.

Reverend John Hale: He is the minister who is called in to investigate the witch trials. At first he believes
them, but later he returns to the town to try and stop the trials.

Deputy Governor Danforth: He is the judge at the witch trials. He is dedicated to removing all witches.
He rules by the law and will not allow exceptions or anyone to try to undermine his court.
Quick/Fast Summary:

The play takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during the 17th century and is based on a true event. The
fact that the story takes place during the 17th century is important as the community needed to be
superstitious and gullible in order for this incident to actually happen. Also, the event needed to be in a
Puritan society wherein an aversion to witches existed. People in the twentieth and even the nineteenth
centuries would be too skeptical about the supernatural to believe the girls. Also, they would be likely to
dismiss the act of dancing in the forest as just a little game.

As the play begins, the audience learns that some girls were caught dancing naked in the woods by
Reverend Parris. Apparently they had conjured up spirits and this led to the accusations of the girls as
witches. In order to escape punishment, they accuse other women of the town of being witches. This
leads to trials of these women with the girls as the jury.

John Proctor is having an affair with Abigail and Elizabeth Proctor knows of the affair. In order to get
Elizabeth out of the picture, Abigail accuses Elizabeth Proctor of being a witch. A doll is found in the
Proctor's house and this is overwhelming evidence that she is a witch.

Deputy Governor Danforth is the judge. He believes the girls are telling the truth. Meanwhile they are
accusing the women whom they do not like. Reverend Hale is called in as an expert witness. He at first
believes that the women are witches, but then he denies it and tries to help the accused.

Proctor gets Mary Warren to testify against the girls. When Mary Warren enters the court room, Abigail
and the other girls start to scream that she is sending her spirit upon them. Mary then afraid, accuses
John Proctor of sending his spirit out upon her.

John is now accused of being in league with the devil. He discusses the possibility of lying in order to
save his life. Danforth wants him to sign a confession. This way it will show the townspeople that the
witch trials are valid. John does not want to sign the confession because he doesn't want to incriminate
his friends. He is then put to death, but retains his good name and pride.

Act One Summary:

Act one begins with Reverend Parris praying over his daughter, Betty Parris, who lies unconscious on her
bed. Through conversations between Reverend Parris and his niece Abigail Williams, and between
several girls, the audience learns that these girls, including Abigail and Betty, were engaged in occultic
activities in the forest lead by Tituba, Parris’ slave from Barbados. Parris caught them and jumped from a
bush startling the girls. Betty fainted and had not recovered. During this session, Abigail drank chicken
blood to kill Elizabeth Proctor. She tells the girls that she will kill anyone who mutters a word about what
happened. The townspeople do not know exactly what the girls were doing but there are rumors of
witchcraft.

John Proctor enters the room where Betty lies faint. Abigail is still in there and she tries to seduce him.
Proctor is a farmer who has had an affair with Abigail a while ago, but now he wants to forget it.
Reverend John Hale is summoned to look upon Betty and research the incident. He is an expert in
occultic phenomena and he is eager to show his knowledge. He questions Abigail who accuses Tituba as
being a witch. Tituba, afraid of being hanged, confesses faith in God and accuses Goody Good and
Goody Osborne of witchcraft. Abigail and Betty, who has woken up, claim to have been bewitched and
confess faith in God. They name several other people whom they claim they saw with the Devil.

Review:

The play begins by introducing the lifestyle in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 and the main characters.
The Puritans were an extremely pious group of people who believed that it was important to stifle all
natural human desires and any form of individuality was condemned. Supernatural powers were used to
hold people in line and spread fear within the town. People in the town allowed their fear of witches
and the devil to interfere with their rational thinking. Women were expected to obey men and
sublimate any of their own needs.

The Puritans were very religious and the church was very important in their daily life. Most people were
scared of modern things as they felt that any form of change could destroy the church. They believed in
the devil and that you could make pacts with him. It was a horrible sin to lie.

John Proctor, is a rational man with a brusque manner who, like Giles Corey, has no qualms about
expressing his opinion. He had to deal with the fact that he had an affair with Abigail and broke the trust
between Elizabeth and him. He sinned, and the people of the town would have condemned him, if they
knew.

Abigaila is portrayed as a vicious young woman who will do and say anything to keep herself out of
trouble. She has no qualms of lying and cheating and eagerly pushes for having the witch trials.

The themes of revenge and fear are introduced. The girls and the accusers named people whom they
did not like and wanted to harm them. Fear of the devil allowed the witch trials to materialize..

Act Two Summary:

Act two begins eight days after the discussion at Parris’ house. Between act one and act two, Deputy
Governor Dansforth came to Salem to oversee the court proceedings. Fourteen people have been
arrested for witchcraft, and there is talk of hanging. Elizabeth Proctor asks John to go to the court and
testify against Abigail and the other girls. John doesn’t want to get involved. There is tension between
Elizabeth and John since Elizabeth has not forgiven John for the affair.

Marry Warren enters. She was in court testifying against the townspeople. She gives Elizabeth a doll
which she has made in court. In the middle of their discussion, Hale enters to question John and
Elizabeth, suspicious of witchcraft.
Later, Giles Corey and Francis Nurse enter to seek advice after both their wives had been arrested. Next,
the marshal arrives with a warrant for Elizabeth’s arrest. Elizabeth was accused by Abigail for stabbing
Abigail with a needle through a doll. John Proctor protests but Elizabeth is taken away in chains. Proctor
demands that Mary should go to court and testify against the girls. He vows that he will fight the
proceedings, even if it means confessing his own adultery.

Review:

Act II presents the Proctor household and the tension that exists between John and his wife Elizabeth.
John doesn't seem to be able to act rationally as he is ridden with guilt over his affair with Abigail. This
tension has caused Mary, their household servant, to lose her servile attitude towards John and his wife
and she attend the trials even though she was told no to go town.

Reverend Hale at first believes the girls' accusations but eventually sees the evil in the court. This
happens especially after Elizabeth is accused of being a witch and taken into custody.