The Crucible

A witch hunt as a mirror

The Crucible is Arthur Miller's 1953 play about the Salem witch trials of 1692, when a group of girls in a Puritan village in Massachusetts accused their neighbors of witchcraft and the court hanged the accused who would not confess. It opened on Broadway in January 1953 and won the Tony Award for Best Play. Miller wrote it during the anti-communist hearings of the early 1950s, when the House Un-American Activities Committee pressed witnesses to name others as communists. In 1956 Miller himself was called before the committee. He refused to name names and was convicted of contempt of Congress, a conviction later overturned.

The play is based on real people and court records, but Miller changes facts for drama. The real Abigail Williams was eleven or twelve and John Proctor was about sixty. Miller makes Abigail seventeen and Proctor in his thirties, and invents an affair between them. He combines several judges into two and reduces the number of accusing girls. He explains these choices in a note at the start of the play, and adds long prose passages about the history and the characters.

A crucible is a vessel for melting metal at high heat, and also a severe test. In the play, the trials test each character's conscience under pressure.

The main characters:

• John Proctor, a farmer, independent and blunt, who carries guilt over an affair.
• Elizabeth Proctor, his wife, honest and reserved.
• Abigail Williams, seventeen, the minister's niece, who once worked for the Proctors.
• Reverend Samuel Parris, the minister of Salem, anxious about his position.
• Reverend John Hale, a minister from Beverly who comes as an expert on witchcraft.
• Deputy Governor Danforth and Judge Hathorne, the judges.
• Mary Warren, the Proctors' servant, one of the girls.
• Tituba, Parris's slave from Barbados.
• Rebecca Nurse, an old woman respected for her goodness, and Giles Corey, an old farmer who loves lawsuits.
• Thomas and Ann Putnam, wealthy, bitter landowners.

The main themes are hysteria and fear, reputation and the good name, the abuse of authority, conscience, and the way private grudges use public panic.

Act 1: the girls in the woods

In the spring of 1692, Reverend Parris's ten-year-old daughter, Betty, lies in bed and will not wake. The night before, Parris found a group of girls dancing in the forest with Tituba. One was naked. Rumors of witchcraft are spreading, and Parris is afraid for his reputation.

Parris questions his niece Abigail. She admits they danced but denies witchcraft. Parris asks why Elizabeth Proctor dismissed her from service and why she will not sit near Abigail in church. Abigail calls Elizabeth a cold, lying woman.

Ann and Thomas Putnam arrive. Their daughter Ruth is also sick. Ann has lost seven babies at birth, and she admits she sent Ruth to Tituba to conjure the dead babies' spirits and find out who killed them. Left alone with the girls, Abigail threatens them. If any of them says anything beyond the dancing, she will come in the night and harm them.

John Proctor enters. Abigail flirts with him. The audience learns that they had an affair while she worked in his house, which is why Elizabeth sent her away. Abigail still wants him and says he loves her. He says it is over and he will cut off his hand before he reaches for her again.

Older villagers come in and quarrel. Rebecca Nurse, the most respected woman in town, says the children will recover and warns against looking for spirits. The men argue about land, firewood and Parris's salary. Proctor says Parris preaches nothing but hellfire.

Reverend Hale arrives with heavy books on the devil. He questions Abigail, who blames Tituba. Tituba is threatened with whipping and hanging. Under pressure and leading questions, she confesses that the devil came to her, and she names two village women, Sarah Good and Goody Osburn. Abigail sees how this works and joins in, crying out that she wants the light of God and naming more women. Betty sits up and adds names. Hale is delighted. The witch hunt has begun.

Act 2: the poppet

Eight days later, in the Proctor farmhouse, John and Elizabeth are polite and tense. He is trying to win back her trust, and she cannot fully forgive him. News comes from town: a court has been set up, and fourteen people are in jail. Anyone who confesses lives. Anyone who denies it hangs.

Elizabeth urges John to go to Salem and tell the court that Abigail told him the dancing had nothing to do with witchcraft. He hesitates, because he was alone with Abigail when she said it, and so it is his word against hers. Elizabeth suspects he still has feelings for Abigail.

Mary Warren, their servant, returns from the court, where she is now an official witness. She gives Elizabeth a small rag doll, a poppet, that she sewed in court. She also says Elizabeth's name was mentioned, but Mary defended her.

Hale visits to test the household's faith. Proctor can name only nine of the Ten Commandments. The one he forgets is adultery. Elizabeth supplies it. Proctor tells Hale that Abigail admitted the girls were only playing. Then Giles Corey and Francis Nurse arrive. Their wives have been arrested. Rebecca Nurse is charged with murdering the Putnam babies by witchcraft.

The court clerk, Ezekiel Cheever, arrives with a warrant for Elizabeth. Abigail had a fit at dinner, and a needle was found stuck in her belly. She claimed Elizabeth's spirit put it there. Cheever finds the poppet, and in it a needle. Mary admits she made the poppet and stuck the needle in herself, with Abigail sitting next to her. The officers take Elizabeth anyway. Proctor tells Mary she will tell the court the truth.

Act 3: the court

In the meeting house, Giles Corey interrupts the court. He claims Thomas Putnam is using the trials to grab land, since the property of convicted witches can be bought cheaply. He has a witness, but refuses to name him, and Danforth arrests Giles for contempt.

Proctor brings Mary Warren to say the girls are pretending. Danforth tells Proctor that Elizabeth says she is pregnant. She will not hang until the child is born. Proctor will not drop the charge, because the other wives are still in danger. He presents a petition signed by ninety-one people vouching for Rebecca Nurse, Martha Corey and Elizabeth. Danforth orders all the signers questioned.

Mary says she only pretended to faint, but she cannot do it on command when the court asks. Abigail and the other girls then claim a cold wind is coming from Mary. Desperate, Proctor confesses that he slept with Abigail. He calls her a whore and says she wants Elizabeth dead to take her place.

Danforth tests the claim by calling Elizabeth, who has never told a lie. Proctor and Abigail must turn their backs. Asked whether her husband is a lecher, Elizabeth, trying to protect his good name, says no. Proctor cries out that he has confessed it. It is too late.

Hale now believes Proctor and begins to doubt the court. The girls scream that Mary has turned into a yellow bird and is attacking them. They mimic every word she says. Mary breaks. She turns on Proctor and accuses him of being the devil's man. Proctor is arrested. He cries that God is dead and that the judges and he will burn together. Hale denounces the proceedings and quits the court.