Name: Plot Summary of The Crucible by Arthur Miller in Under 10 Minutes
Uploaded: 2024-09-06T15:30:37.000Z
Duration: 9 min 18 s
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Relative clauses (Restrictive vs. nonrestrictive)

Welcome to Salem, a society governed by priests who rule in God's name and still believe in the powers of witchcraft and hocus pocus.

We start off with the distraught Reverend Paris, weeping and praying in a bedroom.

His ten-year-old daughter, Betty Paris, lies motionless on the bed.

Reverend Paris's orphaned niece, 17-year-old Abigail Williams, enters the room with Susanna Wolcott, the servant of the local town doctor, Dr Griggs.

Unfortunately, Dr Griggs can't find a cure for her illness.

He even suggests witchcraft as the cause of Betty's illness.

Reverend Paris strongly denies this and sends for an expert on the subject of witchcraft, Reverend Hale, to confirm that Betty has not been bewitched.

Meanwhile, Reverend Paris asks Abigail what happened last night when he caught her dancing with Betty in the woods.

Abigail says that they just danced and the shock of being discovered made Betty faint.

I mean, everybody loves a little midnight dance in the woods, right?

But the fainting, are we sure Betty is just embarrassed and there isn't any witchcraft going on?

Mercy Lewis and Mary Warren, two servants from the village, enter the room.

They are both who suddenly rushes to the window.

To everyone's horror, Betty yells out that Abigail drank blood in the woods as a charm to kill John Proctor's wife, Elizabeth.

Later, we'll find out that Abigail used to be Elizabeth's servant before she was fired for having an affair with as planned to investigate whether Betty has been bewitched.

To save themselves, Tituba, Reverend Paris's slave, along with Abigail and Betty hysterically accuse other people of bewitching them.

Cut to John and Elizabeth Proctor's house, five miles from the village.

Mary has gone and returned from the local courthouse, where a few judges from Boston have come to investigate all these claims of witchcraft.

Mary hands Elizabeth a small rag doll, which she sewed while sitting in court.

Mary also tells them that she saved Elizabeth from being arrested.

The townsfolk are starting to accuse anyone and everyone of being a witch.

But who would want to accuse poor old Elizabeth Proctor?

Well, Elizabeth correctly guesses that it was Abigail who accused her, probably in an attempt to steal John away, all for herself.

Ezekiel Cheever, a clerk of the Court of Salem, arrives.

After a few minutes of snooping around, Cheever discovers a needle in the stomach of Elizabeth's doll.

He arrests Elizabeth, explaining that Reverend Paris discovered a needle stuck in Abigail's belly that night.

Abigail had accused Elizabeth's spirit of pushing in the needle.

As Elizabeth is taken away, John furiously demands that Mary will accompany him to court and tell them the truth, as if we even know what the truth is at this point.

The prosecutor, Judge Hawthorne, is questioning Martha Corey.

Giles, Martha's husband, can't bear to watch his wife be slandered, and is forced into an empty room next to the courtroom.

Judge Hawthorne, Danforth, Frances Nurse, John Proctor and Mary soon enter the room.

Mary is the first to denounce witchcraft, claiming that all the accusations made were false.

Then Giles states that Thomas Putnam accused George Jacobs of witchcraft to gain more land, because convicted witches would have to give up all of their property.

Are the real motives behind all of this paranoia finally being revealed?

However, Giles refuses to give the name of his source and is arrested for withholding information.

It's safe to say that the jail cells were filling up fast at this point.

Meanwhile at the trial, Abigail denies Mary's assertions that they were lying, and uses some impressive acting skills to pretend that Mary has actually begun to bewitch her.

Outraged at Abigail's antics, John reveals that their secret affair is the real reason that Abigail keeps trying to get Elizabeth out of the way.

However, without telling Elizabeth about John's testimony, Danforth asks Elizabeth why she fired Abigail.

Concerned for her husband's affair, Danforth is forced to dismiss John's testimony.

Abigail draws on her acting training again, as she and the other girls claim that Mary's spirit is attacking them in the form of a yellow bird.

When Danforth sentences Mary to be hanged, she switches sides and accuses John of being evil.

It was John's affair that got them all this mess in the first place.

Despairing and furious, John announces that God is dead.

That doesn't fly with the townspeople, and before he knows it, John too is arrested and taken to jail.

By now, Reverend Hale also thinks Abigail is lying.

He is shocked at the injustice and angrily leaves the court.

As the play comes to its final act, we find ourselves inside the Salem jail.

Danforth is annoyed that Herrick, the jailer, has been letting Reverend Hale pray with the prisoners.

Suddenly, Reverend Paris enters, looking frightened.

Apparently, Abigail has vanished and has taken all the Reverend's money with her.

She was probably worried about the riots against the witch trials in nearby towns reaching Salem.

After all, she was the one who accused others of witchcraft.

To persuade John to confess and escape being hanged, Danforth summons Elizabeth.

Elizabeth says that it is his decision whether to confess or not.

Eventually, John decides that he will, even though the confession of his witchcraft is a lie.

Danforth enters John's cell and asks John to incriminate any others who were also practicing witchcraft.

Danforth reluctantly stops questioning John.

He gives John the written testimony and asks him to sign it.

But John refuses to hand over the paper, demanding to know why his repentance must be made public.

How can he make his signed confession public when it is a lie?

As Danforth orders John to be hanged, Reverend Paris desperately asks Elizabeth to change John's mind.

Elizabeth ignores Reverend Paris's requests.

She can finally see that John is valuing honesty above his reputation, and she refuses to take that away from him.

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Plot Summary of The Crucible by Arthur Miller in Under 10 Minutes

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