The Crucible Act Summaries Latest 2023 Rated A

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The Crucible Act Summaries Latest 2023 Rated A Act One ✔✔Act one focuses on the introduction and history of the characters, setting and the plot of the play. It is centered in Salem Massachuset... ts, 1692. The play opens with a scene located in a room of Reverend Samuel Parris' home where one can see Parris kneeling on the bed while his daughter, Betty, lies on the bed, ill in appearance. Tituba, their Barbados slave, is there as well, fearful of the outcome of poor Betty. Parris asks that she leave as we make apparent of Abigail Williams, his niece and young Susanna Walcott. Susanna acts a messenger to Doctor Griggs, who Parris hopes is able to track and find a solution to the illness that had struck Betty. Susanna brings nothing but bad news, as she admits to the Doctor being unable to find a cure for his daughter, adding on that there could have been an unnatural cause to her illness. Parris makes nothing of it and asks that she leaves. Out of suspicion, Parris begins to re-examine Abigail and an event in which had taken place a night before. Abigail and a few of the girls, including Betty, daughter to Putnam Ruth, and slave Tituba had been seen by Parris dancing around a bon fire in which Tituba had been raising her hands in front of. Parris claimed to have seen them singing and dancing around the fire and may have seen one doing so, but naked. With this, in relevance to the illness, Parris questions Abigail on what they were doing and asks that she admits to anything that may have resulted in Betty's illness. He hopes that if it did have something to do with unnatural causes, such as witchcraft, that Abigail admits to it before those against Parris hear of it first and ruin him, but Abigail only admits to the dancing and singing. Then, Parris begins to question her on her leave from the Proctors (John and Elizabeth Proctor) which in reply, Abigail admits to the wife hating her for not wanting to be her slave. Mr and Mrs. Putnam then arrive, searching for Tituba, as they claim that she is able to contact the dead, in hope that they can use her to contact their dead children. This then has Abigail admitting to Tituba and Ruth, daughter to Mr and Mrs. Putnam, conjuring the spirits that night of the song and dance. Parris then heads downstairs in hopes to praise the people waiting for him, where one notices that Betty is able to move and speak, while crying and whaling asking for her mother. Betty then reveals that Abigail had drank blood in order to put a cursed charm that would have killed Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail threatens to hurt Betty and the other girls if they admit to something other than the story she provided. By now, John Proctor is also introduced into the play, as the farmer who both has a conflict with Mr. Putnam as well as a conflict with Abigail Williams. Mr. Putnam and John Proctor are seen disputing over land that was not properly distributed. It is also evident in this act that John had committed adultery, as he had cheated on his wife, Elizabeth, with Abigail who seems to wish that he were still in for the ride. Rebecca Nurse is also introduced in this act as a humble wife to Francis Nurse who is treated highly, which much respect. Giles Corey is also introduced in this act who reveals that John Proctor does not believe in witches. Reverend Hale is lastly introduced as he comes in to examine Betty and her illness, which by then is seen that the Putnam's have come for a similar request, in hopes that afterward, Reverend Hale could come and examine their daughter as well. Reverend Hale begins to question Abigail on the night of song and dance, which then leads to Abigail admitting that Tituba had been conjuring spirits, calling the Devil and asking that Abigail drink blood. This then leads to Tituba's emotions of distraught and betrayal at Abigail's accusations. Tituba then admits to having the devil come to her, which then gets Tituba to accusing Sarah Good of being seen with the Devil - directly admitting Sarah to be a witch. Because of this declaration, Hale asked that she admits to anyone else that she had seen with the Devil, which allows Abigail the benefit of naming people, true or not. This then affects Betty, who rises, and begins to join Abigail in naming guilty, but more likely innocent people. The curtain then falls. Act Two ✔✔Act two takes place about a week later in the common room of the Proctor home. The act begins with Elizabeth and John Proctor having a late night conversation. It seemed that Mary Warren, their servant, had left for Salem against John's wishes, as she is now an official in the court. It appears that witchcraft has become a bigger concept in the town of Salem and has been a discussion that many are now being accused of being involved with. Here, John makes clear that the idea behind Abigail and the girls being accused of witchcraft was all a fraud, that Betty had only been frightened by her father which is why she is now in the state that she is in. Elizabeth questions this as she begins to realize that John had lied to her, realizing that at first, John admitted to hearing this from Abigail after seeing her in a crowd, but now he admits to seeing her alone. Before further discussion, Mary Warren appears to have returned, bringing news of the events that happened in court. Stories stir as Mary cries that "The Devil is loose in Salem" which gets to Mr. Proctor threatening her, only to realize that she had saved her wife that day, as she had been mentioned in an accusation of possible witchcraft. Mary Warren mentions that she told nothing but good of Elizabeth and that the court had believed her on account that she is so close with the Proctor family. With this, Elizabeth begins to realize who had struck this accusation upon her, and asks that John Proctor approach Abigail and confront her for being a *****. Also, before the departure of Mary Warren, Elizabeth receives a poppet from Mary in which she had made for her, hoping to enlighten Elizabeth. Then, Reverend Hale arrives for a visit and begins to question the two on their Christianity. He asks that John recites the Ten Commandments, which then leads to Mr. Proctor ironically forgetting the commandment that states to not commit adultery. After further discussions, John then reveals the story about Mr. Parris frightening the girls during their song and dance, which the Reverend asks that he testifies to in court. John says that if he has to go into court to testify, he will. Giles and Francis arrive then, coming in frantically to reveal that their wives had been taken by the court. Rebecca, wife to Francis had been accused of murdering the Putnam children while Martha, wife to Giles, was accused of bewitching Walcott's ability to maintain pigs. Then Ezekiel Cheever arrives to search the house and take away Elizabeth if any proof is found. Coincidentally, the evidence he is looking for is the doll that Mary had given her. It appeared that Abigail had been "indirectly attacked" in a certain area in which relates to a needle that had been found underneath the dress of the poppet. Although Elizabeth denies any accusation of her being involved with the poppet and Abigail, she decides to allow the men to take her away. After the departure, John speaks with Mary asking her to testify against the accusations of Abigail on Elizabeth, who denies this demand. John then threatens her to make peace as she continue to cries that she cannot. The curtain then falls. Act Three ✔✔Act three takes place in the General Court, which is a vestry room of the Salem Meeting House. The act begins with Judge Hathorne, who at the moment is seen questioning Martha Corey. Hathorne begins to question Martha on any involvement she may have with withcraft, which leads her husband, Giles, to step in and declare that this accusation is false. It is true, that Giles thought it to be unfamiliar for his wife to be reading books, but that her reading had no involvement with any form of witchcraft. He then accuses Thomas Putnam of "reaching out for land" and that any of his accusations on Giles' wife is all a fraud. Then it is revealed that Rebecca Nurse had been condemned that morning. And with the arrival of Mr. Proctor came an accusation by Parris that he had come filled with mischievous and thrives to overthrow the court. John is then put into questioning, both on his beliefs in Christianity and his wife Elizabeth. John admits to not going to church every Sunday and that he does plow for some of those days, which leads to Danforth, another in power, seeing this as proof for his guilt. Danforth then reveals to John that his wife is pregnant, which is why she will be held for another month to naturally prove that she is. If so, she can be given more time to live, but if not, she will be condemned. Parris then steps forth, bringing up a paper in which were signed by people who had made good testimonies on the three wives. Due to this, Danforth then asks that they all be brought in to be questioned on their testimony, which went against Parris' wishes. Back to the discussion on Giles and his accusation of Mr. Putnam, Giles proves Putnam's guilt by admitting to have had source from an honest man who had heard Putnam say that the day his daughter cries out to Jacobs will be the day he receives a fair gift of land. Because of this, they ask that Giles reveals who his source had been, but Giles refuses as he does not wish to put his source in jail. This then leads to Giles being arrested and removed from the court. They then focus back on the Proctor case. After Mr. Proctor reads the deposition, Mary Warren is then asked to come for questioning. They begin to question Mary on her works, who then admits to everything being a fraud. As a test to this declaration, Mary is asked to re-perform her fake fainting that she had done when telling the story of seeing spirits. Mary, frightened, does her best, but is unable to perform. This leads her to admitting that she may have only seen spirits, but in the end realizes that indeed it is false, pretend, and that she did not see any. They then begin to question Abigail, seeing if maybe she will admit that the spirits had only been an illusion. This then leads to Abigail's performance on spirits, acting as though one had been bewitched by Mary, trying to attack Abigail. With this, Proctor proclaims that they had all been pretending and confronts Abigail for being a *****. Elizabeth is then brought up as confirmation to Proctor's accusation but she is unable to answer, leaving her to be put away. Abigail then continues her act, screaming once Hale accuses her of being bewitched. She screams and cries that there is a bird trying to get her and that the bird had come from Mary's power. Mary reacts to this and asks Abigail to stop, as she has nothing to do with it, hoping that Abigail will stop this before Mary receives punishment. This then gets the rest of the girls into the same act as Abigail, who begin to follow her movements and repeat what Mary says. This then leads to Mary declaring Mr. Proctor to be the Devil's man and Mary hysterically admitting to have been visited by Mr. Proctor, asking to sign the devil's book. By the end of it, Proctor and Giles are sent to jail for the accusations and Hale declares to quit, denouncing the proceedings. The curtain then falls. Act Four ✔✔This is the final act in the play. By now it is fall and the scene takes place in Salem jail. The act begins with discussion between Sarah Good, Herrick and Tituba, who claim that they are going to visit the Devil in Barbados. The conversation then moves to Herrick and Danforth, who through discussion reveal that Hale had returned to help bring people into confessing their involvement with witchcraft. Hale believes he should counsel the Christians into confessing. Then, Parris arrives, who reveals that both his niece, Abigail and Mercy had both vanished, leaving possibly aboard a ship, never to return. This then leads them to discuss the town's relevance to Andover. They then begin to discuss the hanging of Rebecca Nurse and John Proctor, whose convictions are seen differing from the rest as they both have a great weight in the town in comparison to the others. This then has Parris asking Danforth to postpone the hangings, which also brings Hale to admitting he needs more time to work with them into confessing. However, Danforth refuses to postpone them, saying that God has not empowered him enough to withhold from their punishments. Hale and Danforth then go to Elizabeth for questioning; requesting that she prevails upon her husband to confess to their guilt. She refuses to do since she knows she cannot argue with him, which then leads her to asking to speak with her husband. The two discuss the child, and the death of Giles, who had been pressed with stones for neither agreeing nor denying his indictment. John then admits to wanting to confess to keep his name and remain an honest man. This then leads to Elizabeth turning emotional, admitting to John being a good man after forgiving Elizabeth for prompting lechery on him. John then declares confession for his life, but after being asked if he had ever seen anyone with the Devil, John denies the question. Danforth then asks that John signs the record that he has done so, which John refuses. John is very fond of reputation and finds his name to be very important. He refuses to sign the paper to keep the innocence of his name, so that he can never be taken away from who he really is. Proctor then tears the paper, leading to them bringing him to his hanging death. Elizabeth runs and watches this event, in which she realizes it to be his goodness that she wishes to not take from him. The curtain then falls. The story ends. Themes, Motifs, Symbols ✔✔Theocracy and Intolerance, Hysteria, Reputation, The Crucible, Empowerment, Accusations and Confessions. Exam Themes ✔✔Fear and Suspicion can spread to destroy society. People can commit horrible misdeeds in the name of virtue. Those who claim to be good may in fact be hypocrites. It is more noble to die with integrity than to compromise one's identity in order to live. [Show More]

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