crucible quotes

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  • Created by: krishaani
  • Created on: 21-05-16 17:30

proctor - act 1

you're wicked yet aren't you! 

  • flirting - shows he thinks he knows her well - but he doesn't realise what she is capable of - he thinks that he can flirt and not have any consequence 

Did you consult the wardens before you called this minister..

  • Hysteria - Evidence the community had democratic principles for some community decisions
  • but this one has not been discussed
  • hysteria is being encouraged by the powers 

 

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proctor - act 3

Whore! Whore!

  • Key moment as he reveals he “has known” Abigail
  • which leads to Abigail take a risk
  • intimidate Danforth to try to avoid having to answer to the accusation
  • she starts the hysteria again among the girls which includes Mary
  • she is accused and who then accuses John and so he is imprisoned

A man will not cast away his good name. You surely know that

A man’s name – highlights how important this is to him and the risk he takes telling them all about the affair.

Characterisation – standing up for what he believes must be told 

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Elizabeth - act 2

frightened all my strength away

  • Weakness in health and cannot bring herself to be confrontational with Mary Warren

The Deputy Governor promise hangin’ if they’ll not confess, John. The town’s gone wild, I think.”

Hysteria describes how she and other more sensible people view the situation 

  • but also the fear she has that it has got out of hand. Explains the unfairness of the court’s justice.
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Elizabeth - act 3

“My husband is a good and righteous man”

  • The good in John,  she is honest and loyal -  trying to stand by her husband

He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him

  • show that Elizabeth has forgiven John of his adultery
  • John has finally after a lot of mistakes made the right moral decision- which has given him back his ''goodness''.
  • The word goodness has many different meanings. Its first meaning is the state or quality of being good. 
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Hale - Act 1

We cannot look to superstition in this. The Devil is precise

  • Power of religion Highlights how they had very clear markers to look for the devil
  • how seriously they took the reality of the devil.
  • shows that he is willing,at the start at least, to be careful in any accusations he 

Glory to God! It is broken! They are free!

  • Hysteria as he says this because the girls are all starting to accuse people. He is happy about this but it is ironic as it starts the tragedy that will unfold.

 

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Hale - Act 2 +3

Theology, sir, is a fortress; no crack in a fortress may be accounted small. - john 

  • Power of religion.
  • Any weakness in any person’s religious commitment could be considered an issue by others
  • there was no flexibility in what you could and could not believe.
  • A weakness (like John not going to church regularly or not baptising his child) would be considered a sign of turning away from God…and towards the other side i.e. the devil

But it does not follow that everyone accused is part of it.

  •  Danforth to open his eyes and mind to the possibility that some people may be innocent and have been accused 
  • Trying to lessen the hysteria.
  • Characterisation and connection with an audience.
  • An audience would want him to manage to do this and would be very much on his side in this Act
  • develop more of an awareness of what is going on and see him trapped by what he has been taught to believe and have faith in
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Hale - Act 4

I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court!

  • Finally he stands up for what he knows is the truth.
  • Individual against authority.
  • His final lines in this Act add to the hysteria as he shouts this after Proctor and the girls have also been shouting and bringing the Act to a climax.

I come to do the Devil’s work. I come to counsel Christians they should belie themselves.

  • Ironic as he is going against all he said he believed in at the start of the play.
  • He is more human and knows he is more fallible now – there is no rule book to guide him now that he can see how cruel and vindictive people can be in their accusations.He just wants people to live.God wants that too so he will do anything to help achieve that. even though it means persuading innocent Christians that God will forgive them for lying about being involved with the Devil. 
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Parris - act 1

Abigail, do you understand that I have many enemies?

  • His reputation matters to him and he knows that his “enemies” (i.e. those in the community who do not like his way, his manner or his arrogance)
  • will take full advantage of anything negative about him.
  • This sets the scene for the audience to know that there is a divide in the community already. 

I am not some preaching farmer..:I am a graduate of Harvard College.

  • Characterisation.
  • Arrogance – he sees his academic success as the only skill he needs to be a minister of God –
  • the compassion and love that some in the community (Rebecca, John) look for in their minister is not evident in anything Parris does. 
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Parris - act 3

Such a Christian that will not come to church but once in a month!

  • Accusing Proctor of being unChristian
  • he sees Proctor as an enemy and would like to see him “undone” and humiliated in public.
  • So, even the authority figures are taking their revenge on those they dislike or distrust without thought to the consequences.

I never saw any of them naked

  • abuse of power.
  • A lie as he tells Abi in Act 1 that he thought he saw someone naked running through the trees.
  • Desperate to keep any blame away from himself.
  • Abi knows he is lying - she would only do herself damage if she tells them this. People are protecting themselves now no matter what the real truth is. 
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Abigail - act 1

I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men!

  • The affair with John has opened her eyes to a life and a relationship with a man that she has never been taught about – now that she knows about mutual passion, love with John which makes all the things she has been taught a lie.
  • The adults must know these things go on but as children they would never be told these things as it would be unchristian and seen as evil/dirty/against God’s will etcetc 

She made me do it! She made Betty do it!

  • KEY moment. The start of the accusations and the hysteria
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Danforth - act 3

Mary Warren draw back your spirit out of them!

  • Clearly believes in the witching of Abigail by Mary; shows belief in Abigail and in evil spirits;
  • drawn in by Abigail’s and the girls’ HYSTERIA;
  • Demands she do this as if she has control and as if anything he asks must be done.

Do you know, Mr Proctor, that the entire contention of the state in these trials is that the voice of Heaven is speaking through the children?

  • Cannot believe that Proctor would question the girls and their accusations
  • ironic that the court and proceedings have been dominated
  • led by children who are so much more guilty than anyone can imagine. 
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Comments

Kip Miller

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crucible quotes helped me a lot to raise myself as a perfect man. I have been reading crucible quotes for many years and acting accordingly in my practical life. I think, anybody can get best nursing assignment help and turn his/her life very quickly by reading such quotes.

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