Video SparkNotes: Arthur Miller's The Crucible summary

Check out Arthur Miller's The Crucible Video SparkNote: Quick and easy The Crucible synopsis, analysis, and discussion of major characters and themes in the novel. For more The Crucible resources, go to www.sparknotes.com/lit/crucible.

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The Crucible is about
the Salem witch trials.

The play takes place in the town of Salem,
Massachusetts; in the spring of 1692.

We learned that before the events in
the play actually take place.

The town Minister, Reverend Parris,
caught a group of girls,

including his niece, Abigail, dancing in the woods.

The girls actually were trying to practice
witchcraft and

Abigail drank chicken blood as part of a charm,

to kill a woman named Elizabeth Proctor.

Abigail had an affair with Elizabeth Proctor's
husband, John.

And she wants Elizabeth dead.

But, because they got caught, Abigail
and the other girls worried that,

they're going to be punished for
practicing witchcraft.

So they start lying and accusing
other people of being witches,

to deflect blame from themselves.

That's how the Salem witch trials start.

Everyone they accuse, gets arrested
and many of those people are executed.

Act I

At the beginning of the play, Reverend
Parris is sitting with his daughter, Betty,

who's lying in bed unresponsive.

Parris is afraid that she's bewitched.

Because he found her in the main road
of the town, wandering around and

trying to fly, he sent for a witchcraft
expert named Reverend Hale,

and he is waiting for him to show up.

The night before, he caught Betty,
his niece, Abigail, and their friends:

Mercy, Mary and Ruth; dancing in the
forest. At least one of the girls was naked.

They had a witch's cauldron, and Reverend
Parris' slave from Barbados, Tituba

was speaking some kind of charm over
the cauldron.

What Parris doesn't know is that they
really were trying to practice witchcraft.

They tried to conjure the spirits of Ruth's
dead baby sisters, they tried to fly,

and they also drank chicken blood, as
part of a charm to kill Elizabeth Proctor.

Now, Parris is worried about Betty,
but he is also afraid that it'll come out

that the girls in his own house are
practicing witchcraft.

He knows it can ruin his reputation, and a
lot of people in the town already dislike him.

Several of these people are gathered downstairs
in his house as he sits with Betty.

But, he doesn't want to go down
to talk to them.

Thomas Putnam and his wife, Anne,
come in,

they start pressuring Parris to acknowledge
that there's witchcraft going on.

They're important people in the town,
and Parris needs their support.

But, he doesn't want to admit to witchcraft
in his own house.

Eventually, they persuade him to go
downstairs, and say a psalm to his parishioners.

Abigail, is still there with Betty, when
Mary Warren and Mercy,

the other girls who were trying to practice
witchraft, come in.

Abigail tells them all to keep their mouths
shout, and threatens to murder them,

in the middle of the night, if they don't.

John Proctor comes in, and when the other
girls leave, he and Abigail confront each other.

Abigail says all that happened in the forest
is that she and her friends were dancing.

And Parris caught them.

She flirts with John and says she's waiting
for him, this is were we learn that,

Abigail and John had an affair.
Abigail tells John she still loves him.

She blames Elizabeth for ending
their relationship.

John tells her not to talk about Elizabeth,
and he tells Abigail to forget him.

Betty screams when she hears the words
going up to Jesus in the psalm downstairs.

Parris and some of the town's people
run up to see her.

Rebecca Nurse is one of them.

She's basically the most saintly woman
in the village.

And she calms Betty down just by her presence.

The Putnam's are still there
insisting it's witchcraft,

and they get into an argument with John
Proctor and with a farmer named Giles Corey.

In which we see some of the tensions
in the town, mostly about claims to property.

Finally, Reverend Hale, the
witchcraft expert, arrives.

He starts questioning everybody,
and the answers make Abigail look bad.

So, Abigail blaims Tituba for everything.

Reverend Hale brings Tituba in and
accuses her of working for the devil.

Tituba can tell she's going to be hanged
if she tries to deny it.

So, she tells him what he wants to hear.

She says the devil comes to her and
tries to make her do things,

like kill Reverend Parris.

The Putnam start asking Tituba if she has
seen anyone else working with the devil.

They suggest some names of people
they don't like.

Tituba breaks down and starts naming
a bunch of people.

Then, Abigail picks it up. She sees that
if you just confess the witchcraft and,

start naming names, then, you'll be okay.
If you deny it,

they'll think that you're trying
to hide something.

That's how the witchcraft panic
in Salem starts.

All the people they accuse, get arrested.

Act II

Act II takes place eight days later at
John Proctor's house.

John and Elizabeth are trying to get along,
but there's tension between them.

He thinks Elizabeth won't forgive him for
his affair with Abigail.

Elizabeth tells him what is going
on with the witch trials.

Whoever is accused of being a witch, is brought
in front of Abigail and their friends,

If the girls fall to the ground, and act
like spirits are atacking them,

the accused person is sentenced to death.

Elizabeth wants John to go to the court
and say that Abigail is a fraud,

since Abigail told John that the
girls were just dancing.

John knows he should do this, but,
he's worried the court won't believe him.

He and Abigail were alone when they talked.

So, he can't prove what Abigail said.

It's Abigail's word against his,
and the court trusts Abigail now.

Mary Warren comes in, after a hard day in
court acting like spirits are atacking her.

She says Elizabeth's name was mentioned
in the court but she stood up for Elizabeth.

Elizabeth freaks out, she can tell that
Abigail is going to accuse her of witchcraft,

so, she'll be killed and Abigail
can marry John.

Elizabeth wants John to go and tell
Abigail he is not interested in her.

Reverend Hale rushes in, Elizabeth's
name has been mentioned in the court,

and he wants to find out more about them.

As he questions them, he can
sense some of their problems.

Giles Corey comes in to report that
his wife has been arrested.

Then, Ezequiel Chiever comes in to arrest
Elizabeth, because Abigail has accused her.

John Proctor fights it, but Elizabeth is
carried off in chains.

John Proctor tells Mary Warren to go in
and confess to save Elizabeth's life.

He realizes he is going to have to confess
publicly to adultery and be disgraced,

in order to discredit Abigail.

Act III

Francis Nurse, Giles Corey and John
Proctor go to the court and bring,

Mary Warren with them, the men all
have their wives locked up are condemned.

And they're determined to prove
that the proceedings are a fraud.

The Chief judge is Danforth, the deputy
governor of Massachusetts.

Reverend Hale is also one of the judges.

Francis Nurse presents a list of
ninety one people who sign their names,

declaring their good opinion of Rebecca
Nurse and Martha Corey.

Danforth takes the petition and orders
all ninety one people arrested.

Giles Corey presents an affidavit
afirming that Thomas Putnam convinced...

...his daughter to accuse a
man named George Jacobs.

Corey says someone told him that Putman
wants Jacob dead so he can buy his land.

Danforth demands to know what man told
Giles Corey this and he arrests Corey,

for contempt of court when
Corey refuses to say.

John Proctor brings in Mary Warren
with her signed deposition swearing that,

the girls have all been lying and faking.

He explains that Abigail was caught
dancing in the woods by Parris.

And she is now lying about it
deliberately to get people killed.

Danforth brings in Abigail
and the other girls.

Abigail denies the accusations.

Danforth asks Mary Warren to
fake it as she did in the courtroom.

But, without the other doing it,
she can't.

Abigail and the other girls
then act like,

Mary Warren is threatening
them, with her spirit.

John Proctor grabs Abigail by
the hair and calls her a whore.

Even though it will destroy his reputation
he declares to the court that...

...he and Abigail slept together.

To test John Proctor's claim, Danforth
summons Elizabeth Proctor and asks her,

if her husband is an adulterer.

She lies and says no because
she wants to protect him.

So, Danforth dismisses the charge.

Reverend Hale, however, starts to
believe Proctor.

Abigail goes back to her trick of
acting like Mary Warren is threatening her.

Until Mary Warren breaks down and
says that John Proctor works for satan.

And Abigail was telling the truth.
Proctor is arrested.

Reverend Hale, denounces the court
and leaves his place on it.

Act IV

Act IV takes place several
months later in the jail.

It's just before down on
the day that John Proctor,

Rebecca Nurse and ten others,
are to be hanged.

The trials have put Danforth and
Parris in a tough situation.

They've already hanged a lot of people,
so, they can't turn back.

So many of the villagers
are dead or in jail,

that cows wander through the streets,
and no one knows whom they belong to.

Abigail has stolen all of Revend Parris's
money and run away.

A fraction of the people has turned against
the trials and don't believe in them anymore.

This day will be a turning
point in the trials.

It's the first day that important people
with good reputations in the town,

are going to be hanged.

Reverend Hale tries to get them to
confess. He doesn't believe they're guilty,

but, he feels responsible for the trials

and thinks it would be
his fault if any of them die.

If they confess, he thinks
they won't be hanged.

Danforth and Parris would like
to see some confessions too.

Because, they would prove
that the trials were justified.

But, so far, no one would confess.

Danforth and Parris decide to let
Elizabeth talk to John Proctor,

to see if she can get him to confess.

Proctor's not sure what to do.

He doesn't see himself as a good man,
since he committed adultery.

And then was afraid at first to
speak against Abigail to stop the trials.

He thinks he would be faking if he
went to his death like a martyr.

Since he's bad, he might as well live
and try to help his family.

He calls in Danforth and admits
that he works for Satan.

But when Danforth asks him to name
some of Satan's other helpers,

he won't do it.

Hale and Parris would persuade Danforth
to accept the confession anyway.

But, when Danforth gives the confession
to Proctor to sign, he can't sign it.

He was able to lie and give up his soul,
but, if he signs it and then,

nailed it to the church door,
he is giving up his name.

Which is the last thing he has.

His children will suffer
from his disgrace.

So, he rips up the confession and he feels
like he's found some goodness in himself.

He's executed but he dies
happier than before.

The afterword of the play notes that the
power of theocracy governed by the church,

is essencialy broken after this.

For more information about the Crucible,
check out the Crucible SparkNote at...

...sparknotes.com.

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