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The Crucible IB Study Guide

BASIC INFORMATION & PLOT SUMMARY

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible revolves around the Salem Witch Trials that happened in the late
1600s. It revolves around two main characters, Abigail Williams and John Proctor. People in the
town are accused of witchery, and trials begin to determine if the accusations are true. Unrest
overcomes the town and nobody is safe from these accusations except for the accusers.
Eventually people start standing up to Abigail Williams’ accusations, and because these
accusations bear no proof and are pure hearsay, the witch trials conclude, but not before John
Proctor is asked to confess, refuses and is taken to the stocks.
ACT I – Rising Action: Betty Parris does not wake up, Abigail and John Proctor meet and he tells
her they can no longer be together, Hale comes to Salem, Abigail and the girls want to “open
themselves” and accuse people of witchcraft.
ACT II – More Rising Action: The witch trials begin, Hale visits the Proctors, John forgets the
seventh commandment, Elizabeth is taken away, Proctor makes Mary Warren confess that
everything is pretense.
ACT III—Climax: The main trial. John Proctor presents a deposition, Mary Warren tells the court
everything was pretense, Abigail sees “a bird” symbolizing the devil, Mary Warren goes back to
the girls’ side, John Proctor confesses to adultery, Elizabeth Proctor is brought in to question
whether that is true and she lies, Hale denounces the proceedings and the court.
ACT IV—Denouement/Conclusion: Salem trials cause unrest in other towns, Abigail runs away,
John Proctor is asked to confess, Elizabeth goes to talk with him, saying she will not judge him.
John confesses but will not sign his name, and is later taken to be hanged.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PLAY

The Crucible is an allegorical play.

An allegory is a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons and actions in a
narrative are equated with meanings that lie outside the narrative. An allegorical narrative,
therefore, has two meanings—a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.
The play is allegorical to McCarthyism, which happened in the United States in the 1950s. Like
in the witch trials, accusations of people being communist were based on hearsay and many
suffered as a result

The Crucible is a social drama.

A social drama is directly social and political in orientation—it focuses on man in his social
and political context.
With Miller’s portrayal of John Proctor, we see a man in such an element. John Proctor is
surrounded by people who believe Abigail Williams’ accusations of witchery, and he is the voice
of reason in this play. Proctor struggles to show the Salem community the truth, yet they do not
believe him.

The Crucible is a tragedy

A tragedy is a consequence of a man’s total urge to evaluate himself justly, his destruction in
the attempt posits a wrong or an evil in his environment.
The essence of The Crucible is conflict, which tends to arise from human failings, which result in
a lack of responsibility to oneself and one’s society. If we take a look at John Proctor’s character,
three fundamentals of tragedy are fulfilled—
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1.) Through a tortuous process of self-examination, an individual arrives at a new

realization of himself and his relationship to the world at large—John Proctor, who is
Abigail’s main target, is the voice of reason in the town, and struggles to show them that
none of Abigail’s accusations are true. In the process, his wife is also accused, and he
ultimately feels the duty to protect himself, his family, and the whole town from Abigail.
2.) The individual discovers in the necessity of making a decision in the face of
insurmountable odds—The decision that John has to make is not simple. In the end, he
has to choose to make a false confession to witchery to save his life, his wife and his
family, or to stick to the truth and be taken to the stocks.
3.) Although the movement toward self-recognition leads to destruction, an affirmation of
life is ultimately propounded—John’s destruction is that he falsely confesses to
witchery, but realizes he cannot do so without moral issues. So he ends up NOT
confessing to witchery and is hanged. However, we see that Elizabeth and the rest of the
community, including Judge Hathorne, Reverend Parris, etc, realize the repercussion of
their actions in believing Abigail’s accusations, and we can infer that the community
will try to right their wrongs.

CHARACTERIZATION

John Proctor
Character traits: very morally upright, honest, proud, cares about reputation, impulsive
In the play, is the/a…tragic hero
Fatal flaw: Lust for Abigail Williams (being human and succumbing to temptation). It led to
an affair, to Abigail’s jealousy of Elizabeth Proctor, and ultimately to the whole witch trial
ordeal.
Ultimately… he publicly confesses he had an affair with Abigail, leading to his arrest. But in
the end, he cares more about personal integrity thanpublic reputation. He wants to save his
name for personal reasons rather than public ones. He denounces the witch trials and refuses
to provide a false confession to witchery, not wanting to dishonor himself. This integrity,
perhaps will bring him to heaven and cancel out his sin of adultery. (Note: Proctor forgets
adultery when asked to recite the Seven Commandments)

Abigail Williams
Character traits: manipulative, jealous, lustful (for sex and for power)
In the play, is the/a… villain
Background: Abigail is an orphan, and is unmarried. She therefore does not sit high on social
ranking.
Further information: Abigail tells lies and accuses people in the town of witchery. She
manipulates her friends to do the same. Her motivation for this is simple: jealousy and desire
for revenge on Elizabeth Proctor. She takes advantage of her power and sends 19 people to
death.
Ultimately, she realizes that she will not have this power forever, and when people begin
doubting the accuracy of the accusations, she runs away, further driving speculation that she
was a liar.

Elizabeth Proctor
Character traits: soft-spoken, forgiving, simple, honest
In the play, is the…wife of John Proctor
Further information: Elizabeth, who has a family with John Proctor, seems to have forgiven
him for his sin of adultery. She, however, fired Abigail Williams from their home. Proctor
says that she “never tells a lie,” however, to save her husband in court, she lies that he has
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never had sexual relations with Abigail, though he had already confessed it.
Ultimately, when asked to get Proctor to confess, she does not pressure him to make a false
confession, saying, “I will not judge you, John.” She believes her husband is good man, with
morals and values. When he is hanged, she says of him, “He have his goodness now. God
forbid I take it from him!”

Reverend Hale
Character traits: tight-skinned, intellectual, does everything by the books
In the play, he turns into a voice of reason. He is the only one who transforms into someone
who believes that Proctor and Mary Warren are telling the truth. He is also the only person
from outside of Salem, and the only apparent “official” on the topic.
More information: Hale was asked to come in to inspect Parris’ daughter, and enters the town
with an air of knowledge. During the climax in Act III, he sides with those who denounce the
witch trials. However, he is too late, and this shatters his psyche. As his belief in witchcraft
falters, so does his faith in the law.
Ultimately, Hale has the audience’s sympathy but not their respect. He is the one in the end
who tries to convince the accused to lie to save their lives. Hale recognizes the evil of the
witch trials but he does not defy them like Proctor does. Because he lived his whole life
believing in the law, and in books, he does not know how to stand up for such beliefs. He
seems to believe that life is the most precious gift, and it is worth sacrificing human integrity
to keep on living.

Other Important Characters include:

Mary Warren, who is the only one of the girls to confess that the witch trials were a sham. She
makes such a confession with John Proctor but then, due to pressure from Abigail, returns to the
girls’ side.

Reverend Parris, who is hated by John Proctor for being a frivolous minister. His daughter, Betty
Parris, is the first one we are introduced to who is affected by “witchery.”

Tituba, an African woman who is accused for witchery simply because she is black.

Rebecca Nurse, who also does not confess to witchery. Like John Procter, she has integrity and is
not willing to sacrifice it just to live.

THEMES

Hysteria
Perhaps one of the most important themes in the play, hysteria played a huge part in the witch
trials. It has more power than logic and affected the people of Salem in that they believed that
their neighbors and friends, who they previously thought of as citizens in good standing, are
conspiring with the devil. Hysteria plays a part in the citizens of Salem expressing repressed
sentiments and grudges.
The major case of this is Abigail Williams, who desires revenge on Elizabeth Proctor and
wants her dead so she can be with John Proctor. Others that thrive on hysteria are Reverend
Parris (on John Proctor) and Thomas Putnam (on Rebecca Nurse, because she “killed” his
babies). In the end, however, hysteria dies down and logic prevails… the citizens of Salem
realize that the witch trials were not justified.

Intolerance
Because religion plays a big part in The Crucible, intolerance is a major theme. There is
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intolerance in everything that is not a part of the bible and of the religion. Sins are not
condemned—therefore Proctor feels the need to hide the adultery he committed. Conspiring
with the devil, however is a much greater sin, and Proctor realizes this and refuses to make a
false accusation. Danforth says in Act III that “a person is either with this court or he must be
counted against it.” This shows that the society is black and white. One is either with God or
with the Devil, a witch or not a witch, innocent or guilty.

Reputation
Especially with regard to John Proctor, reputation is very important in Salem. Abigail
Williams basically acts on reputation when accusing people of acting with Satan. She accuses
those who are unkempt, and from there progresses on to people like Elizabeth Proctor and
Rebecca Nurse. John Proctor struggles to protect his reputation in the beginning, refusing to
admit to adultery and instead trying to denounce the court using Mary Warren’s confession
that everything was pretense. At the end, however, he cares more about his reputation with
God than with the public, and therefore refuses to sign a false confession to save his own life.
He says to Danforth, “I have given you my soul (by confessing to witchcraft); leave me my
name!” (Act IV)

SETTING
Physical—
Salem, Massachussetts, 1629.
Social—
Deals with heresay and false accusations
Hysteria in the town leads to repercussions such as death
Witch Trials stand for 1950s McCarthyism

DRAMATIC ART
• There is a lot of explanation in the text, especially in Act I. Miller provides his readers with
background information on each character, on Salem, and on the time period. He talks about
each character’s characteristics, the beliefs of the time period, etc. While watching the play,
however, audiences will not be able to see this.
• The staging for the play is important, with regard to time period costumes and props.
However, Miller does not give as extensive stage direction as other playwrights do. He does,
though, give instructions for the set, saying where things are, and where characters enter and
exit from.
• One important staging scene is that of Elizabeth and John Proctor. Elizabeth is not supposed
to see John or look at John—and because of this tells a lie for the first time, leading to a
major development in the play.
• We must note that there is a deleted scene in Act II, where an interaction between Abigail
and John Proctor occurs, revealing that they had an affair and that the reason Abigail is
doing all of this is because of him, to get revenge on Elizabeth. It was taken out perhaps for
this very reason—that it revealed too much of the story.

KEY QUOTES

Abigail: I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! I
never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these
Christian women and their covenanted men! And now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I
will not, I cannot! You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet! (Act I)
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Abigail: I want to open myself! . . . I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I
danced for the Devil; I saw him, I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw
Sarah Good with the Devil! (Act I)

Danforth: You must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted
against it, there be no road between. (Act III)

John Proctor: I beg you, sir, I beg you—see her what she is . . . She thinks to dance with me on
my wife’s grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there
is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore’s vengeance… (Act III)

Abigail: Let you beware, Mr. Danforth. Think you to be so mighty that the power of Hell may not
turn your wits? Beware of it! (Act III)

Mary Warren: I promise you, Mr Danforth, I only thought I saw them but I did not (Act III)

Elizabeth Proctor: I am not your judge, I cannot be. Do as you will, do as you will! (Act IV)

Elizabeth Proctor: John, it come to naught that I should forgive you, if you’ll not forgive yourself.
It is not my soul, John, it is yours. (Act IV)

John Proctor: Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life!...I have given
you my soul; leave me my name!(Act IV)

Elizabeth Proctor: He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him! (Act IV)