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Sparknotes Summary: The Crucible

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Sparknotes Summary: The Crucible 10:00

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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 learn that before the events in the play actually take place the town minister Reverend Parris caught a group of girls including niece Abigail dancing in the woods the girls actually were trying to practice Witchcraft and Abigail drink 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 in the other girls worried that they're going to be punished 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  at the beginning of the play Reverend Parris is sitting with his daughter Betty who's lying in bed responsive Paris is afraid that she's Bewitched because he found her on the main road of the Town wandering around and trying to fly he sent for a witchcraft expert name Reverend and he's 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 witches cauldron and Reverend parris's slave from Barbados to Tuba was speaking some kind of charm Over The Cauldron Paris doesn't know is that they really were trying to practice witchcraft they tried to conjure the spirits of roots dead baby sisters they tried to fly and they also drink chicken blood as what charm to kill Elizabeth Proctor but he's also afraid we'll come out that the girls in his own house or practicing witchcraft he knows it could ruin is reputation and a lot of people in the town already just like 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 in his wife and come in they start pressuring Paris to acknowledge that there's witchcraft going on there important people in the town and Paris 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 song with his parishioners Abigail is still there with Betty when Ray Warren in Mercy the other girls who are trying to practice witchcraft come in Abigail tells them all to keep their mouths shut and threatens to murder them in the middle of the night if they don't 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 in Paris caught them she flirts with John and says she's waiting for him this is where we learned that Abigail and John had an affair Abigail tells John she still loves him she blames Elizabeth for ending the John tells her not to talk about Elizabeth and he tells Abigail to forget him but he starts screaming when she hears the words going up to Jesus in the song downstairs Paris and some of the townspeople 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 Putnams are still they're insisting it's Witchcraft and they get into an argument with John Proctor and what the farmer named Giles Corey in which we see some of the tensions in the town mostly about when is the property finally Reverend Hale the Witchcraft expert arrives he starts questioning everybody and the answers make Abigail look bad so Abigail tattoo before everything in and accuses her of working for the devil Tituba can tell if she's going to be hanged if she tries to deny it so she tells them 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 seen anyone else working with the Devil they suggest some names of people they don't like to Tuba breaks down and starts naming a bunch of people then Abigail picks it up she sees that if you just confess to Witchcraft and start name names you'll be okay if you deny it don't think you're trying to hide something that's how the Witchcraft panic in Salem starts all the people they accuse get arrested bet to take place 8 days later at John Proctor's House John and Elizabeth are trying to get along but there's tension between them Elizabeth won't forgive him for his affair with Abigail Elizabeth tells him what's going on with the witch trials whoever is accused of being a witch is brought in front of Abigail and her friends if the girls fall to the ground and act like Spirits are attacking them the accused person is sentenced to death  Elizabeth wants John to go to the court and say that Abigail is a since I Bell 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 prove what I begat said it's Abigail's word against his and the Court Trust Abigail now Mary Warren comes in after a hard day in court acting like Spirits are attacking her she says Elizabeth 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 have Hilton Mary John Elizabeth wants John to go and tell Abigail he's not interested in her name has been mentioned in the court wants to find out more about them as he questions them he can send some of their problems Giles Corey comes in to report that his wife has been arrested then Ezekiel cheever listen 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 you confess to save Elizabeth life he realizes he's going to have to confess publicly to adultery and be disgraced in order to discredit Abigail 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 or condemned and their determines proof what's the proceedings are a fraud the Chief Judges Danforth the Deputy Governor of Massachusetts Reverend Hale is also one of the judges Francis the list of who won people who sign their names declaring their good opinion of Rebecca nurse and Martha Corey Danforth takes the petition in orders all 91 people arrested  Giles represents an affidavit affirming that Thomas Putnam convinced his daughter to accuse a man named George Jacobs Corey says someone told him that Putnam wants Jacobs dead so he can buy land Danforth demands to know what man told Giles Corey this and he arrest Corey for contempt of court When Corey refuses to say John Proctor what's her signed up as ition swearing that the girls have all been lying and faking he explains that Abigail was caught dancing in the Woods by Paris and she's not lying about it deliberately to get people killed Danforth brings in Abigail in the other girls Abigail denies the accusations Danforth asks Mary Warren to fake it like she did in the courtroom but without the others sing it she can't Abigail in the other girls then act like Mary Warren is threatening them with their Spirit John Proctor Abigail by the hair and calls her a w**** what will destroys reputation he declares to the court that he and Abigail slept together to test John Proctor's claim Danforth Simon's Elizabeth Proctor and asked her if husband does an adulterer she lies and says no because she wants to protect them so Danforth dismisses the charge Reverend Hale however starts to believe Proctor Abigail goes back to a trick of acting like Mary Warren is threatening her until Mary Warren breaks down and said 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 4 takes place several months later in the jail It's Just Before Dawn the day that John Proctor Rebecca nurse and 10 others are to be hanged  the trials have put Danforth in Paris in a tough situation they've already hang out 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 Reverend parris's Money and Run what faction of the townspeople have 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 reputation going to town or 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 will be his fault if any of them died if they confess he thinks they won't be hanged Danforth and Paris would like to see some confessions too because they would prove that the trials were Justified but so star no one will confess Danforth and Paris decide to let Elizabeth talk to John Proctor to see if she can get him to confess  Proctor's not sure what to do doesn't see himself as a good man since he committed adultery and then was afraid at first to speak out 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 and to name some of Satan's our helpers he won't do it hail in Paris 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 a lit to the church door he's 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 lower of theocracy government by the church is essentially broken after this  for more information about The Crucible check out The Crucible SparkNotes sparknotes.com

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Sparknotes Summary: The Crucible

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