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Outline The Plot Of The Crucible Discussing The Main Characters & Their Purpose Within The Play. Comment Upon How Arthur Miller Makes The Events Of 1692 A Commentary On Happenings In His Own Time. Arthur Miller wrote the play “The Crucible” in 1952, against the background of the cold war and McCarthyism. The Play focuses around the life of the main character John Proctor and the events of the 1962 Salem witch trials. The Crucible opens in the house of the rev. Samuel Parris, the power-hungry minister of Salem village. The previous night he came across a group of girls dancing in the forest with his Barbadian slave Tituba. One of the girls was his daughter Betty who has now fallen into a coma–like state and caused rumours of witchcraft to spread about the village. Parris is terrified of the effect that this may have on his reputation and so calls upon Reverend Hale, an expert in witchcraft. A crowd soon begins to gather in Parris’ home and Abigail Williams, Parris’s niece and the girls’ ringleader is questioned about what took place in the forest, she admits only to doing harmless “dancing”. Later she tells the other girls not to admit to anything. One of the men in the crowd is John Procter a local farmer, he talks to Abigail alone and we find out that unbeknownst to anyone else in the town the pair had a affair whilst she was working in his home the previous year, which led to her being fired by his wife, Elizabeth. Abigail still desires John but he fights back and tells her “to wipe it out of her mind”. When Reverend Hale arrives Abigail blames Tituba, to save herself, and he then forces the terrified slave to confess that she made a pact with the devil. She then names two other witches and says that one had a plot to kill Parris. Abigail sees a way to escape punishment, so joins in the accusations, supported by the now fully conscious Betty. A week later, the witch-hunt is in full cry. John has tried to stay out of proceedings by working on his farm but has heard alarming details from his servant, Mary Warren, about the goings on in court and the hysteria that takes place. We find out that Elizabeth’s name has come up in court. Hale arrives and is going around testing the faith of the villagers, and is dissatisfied with the Proctors record of church attendance, he asks John to repeat his list of commandments but he fails to remember “thou shalt not commit adultery”.
Approximate Word count = 1689
Approximate Pages = 6.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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