EAE3U - The Crucible

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!

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!

-Abigail to Proctor

• Said when they were alone just them two in the Parris household after everyone left (except for Betty, who is supposedly unconscious on her bed)

• About their affair

• Abigail has no sense of closure, she wants it to be a real relationship and replace Elizabeth

• Proctor feels bad and wants to put an end to it even though he still is attracted to 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! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!

-Abigail to Hale, Parris, Giles, others

• Said this after Tituba confessed to witchcraft

• Abigail didn’t want to admit anything prior

• Starts naming random people to get the blame off herself (absolve)

• After her, Betty and the other girls do the same hysterical cry blaming other women

You must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between. This is a sharp time, now, a precise time—we live no longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world. Now, by God’s grace, the shining sun is up, and them that fear not light will surely praise it.

-Danforth

• Emphasizing that Salem is a righteous and completely against “evil”

• Other authorities weren’t too sure about the witch trials (had one foot in)

• Everything and everyone belongs to either God or the Devil

• Since it’s a theocracy, if you’re against the court, you’re basically against God

A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. 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. . . .

-Proctor

• Confesses to the affair w Abigail

• Exposing Abigail as a fraud

• Trying to get Abigail to confess to pretending to be bewitched in court

• Trying to get Danforth to be on his side, not the girls’

• Wants to court to know that Abigail wants Elizabeth dead and wants to replace her

• Proctor desire for justice overpowered his desire to keep a good reputation

Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!

-Proctor to Danforth, Hathorne, Parris, Hale

• After he signed the confession and did not want to hand the paper to Danforth

• Said he lost everything about him and doesn’t want to lose his identity

• Feels extremely guilty for lying

• Would not be able to live with himself if he knew he fled execution and the others died

• The other accused (Rebecca, Martha, etc) did not want to lie on confession and would rather die

• Doesn’t want to dishonor the other prisoners

• Illustrates his obsession with wanting keep a good reputation

We vote by name in this society, not by acreage.

-Proctor to Putnam

• Said after Putnam tells Parris to condemn someone in Salem for witchcraft

• Shows how Proctor is man for justice and against corruption

• Reminding Putnam that his wealth does not make him more powerful than anybody else

I labor the earth from dawn of day to blink of night, and I tell you true, when I look to heaven and see my money glaring at his elbows—it hurts my prayer, sir, it hurts my prayer. I think, sometimes, the man dreams cathedrals, not clapboard meetin’ houses.

-Proctor to Hale

• Proctor was questioned by Hale in his home about his Christianity (elizabeth too don’t go to church)

• Proctor explains how Parris is too focused on the Devil and he doesn’t like his preachings

• “money glaring at his elbows” signifies how rich Parris is and everybody overlooks how greedy he is

• Proctor works hard all day and gets much less money than Parris

• Resents Parris’s superior attitude, especially since Proctor helped build the church

If Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property—that’s law! And there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy so great a piece.

-Giles Corey to the court

• Giles accuses Putnam of accusing a random person so that he can get his proprety

• Putnam made his daughter accuse Jacobs for witchcraft

• Highlights Putnam’s obsession with land ownership (greed)

• Putnam had a land war with The Nurses, and Rebecca was also accused and hanged

Oh, Elizabeth, your justice would freeze beer!

-Proctor to Elizabeth

• Said during a fight about telling the court about Abigail

• Is calling her a “cold” woman bc she still doesn’t trust him 7 months after the affair

• Beer takes a very cold temp to freeze, so thats why her justice is so cold it could freeze beer

• Proctor lied said Abigail denied witchcraft rumors bc he didn’t want Elizabeth to know they were alone

• Reveals the truth when he says the court won’t believe him bc nobody witnessed the conversation

• “it needs a cold wife to prompt lechery.” -Elizabeth (in act IV)

Mr. Hale, as God has not empowered me like Joshua to stop this sun from rising, so I cannot withhold from them the perfection of their punishment.

-Danforth to Hale and Parris

• Parris was asking to postpone Proctor and Rebecca’s executions after Abigail and Mercy run away (making everyone doubt the whole trial)

• Bible: God stops the sun in order for Joshua to fight more against his enemy

• Implying that Danforth is using the theocracy as a way to justify these people’s deaths (the executions are God’s will therefore perfect, so he won’t stand in the way of them)

Why do you never wonder if Parris be innocent, or Abigail? Is the accuser always holy now?

-Proctor to Hale

• Why Hale believes the accuser, never the accused

• Questioning Hale’s judgment and righteousness

• Proctor suggesting that Abigail is falsely accusing Elizabeth

• Since Abigail’s accusations against others protect her from accusations from others, she has free rein to manipulate the court’s trust for personal vengeance

Quail not before God’s judgment in this, for it may well be God damns a liar less than he that throws his life away for pride.

-Hale to Elizabeth

• Hale feels guilty for Proctor’s emprisonment bc he believed Abigail’s lies

• Hale thinks it’s okay to lie to save his life bc “life is God’s most precious gift”

• Trying to convince Elizabeth to talk to Proctor into writing confession

Let God blame me, not you, not you, Rebecca! I’ll not have you judging me any more!

-Mrs. Putnam to Rebecca

• Says after Mrs. Putnam confesses that she sent her daughter Ruth to practice witchcraft with Tituba

• She thinks that nobody can judge her but God after she confesses publicly

• Doesn’t end up getting imprisoned or hanged so clearly no one did judge her

• Shows Mrs. Putnam’s hypocrisy bc she had no problem accusing Tituba and wanting her to hang (tit didn’t die tho!) but not herself

Abigail brings the other girls into the court, and where she walks the crowd will part like the sea for Israel.

-Elizabeth about Abigail

• “Part the sea for Israel” the Salem people are glorifying Abigail so much like Moses

• They see her a saviour protecting them from all the demonic witchcraft going on in Salem

• Proctor being reluctant to tell the court about Abigail and the other girls because everyone sees them as a saint

I should have roared you down when first you told me your suspicion. But I wilted, and, like a Christian, I confessed. Confessed! Some dream I had must have mistaken you for God that day.

-Proctor to Elizabeth

• Resents Elizabeth’s suscipion for his infidelity even though she was correct

• He expected her to forgive him after he confessed

• Elizabeth doesnt want to judge Proctor, but she still suspects him of dishonesty after he lied about being alone with Abigail

• Proctor thinks that Elizabeth can’t see past his affair, so he regrets confessing to her instead of to God

• He implies that his confession means he should be immune from guilt or suspicion because his honesty implies goodness. This logic also fuels characters like Abigail to confess as a means of proving purity.

There is blood on my head! Can you not see the blood on my head!!

-Hale to Danforth

• Said when Danforth asks Hale why he chose to return to Salem

• Witch trials a direct result of his irresponsibility

• By putting faith in the girls’ accusations instead of looking for evidence, Hale misused his power.