The Crucible Quotes

She and all the girls run to one wall, shielding their eyes. And now, as though cornered, they let out a gigantic scream, and Mary, as though infected, opens her mouth and screams with them. Gradually Abigail and the girls leave off, until only Mary is left there, staring up at the "bird," screaming madly. All watch her, horrified by this evident fit.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. The stage directions give a graphic portrayal of how Abigail Williams provokes mass hysteria and sets up a chain reaction in the witch trials courtroom. She is pretending to see an imaginary demonic bird in the rafters.

You’re the Devil’s man!…I’ll not hang with you! I love God, I love God.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Proctor’s pleading with Mary Warren to tell the truth because "God damns all liars" falls on deaf ears and she finally breaks. Under pressure from Abby’s gang of girls and Danforth’s questioning, she cracks and screams this at Proctor. As she returns to the fold of the accusers and their pretense of seeing spirits, she scapegoats John as a devil worshipper to save herself. Mary is weak-willed, morally ambiguous and easily manipulated, especially by Abigail. Mary’s switch back to the side of the girls follows the remarkable "yellow bird" scene in which Abby convinces the courtroom that Mary is attacking her in the shape of a demonic bird. After Abby’s scheming, Mary falsely outing Proctor as the Devil’s disciple proves to be the final nail in his coffin. As with many other instances in the play, the division between who is good and who is evil it not clear-cut, with the sides often getting mixed up.

He come to me by night and every day to sign…My name, he want my name. "I’ll murder you," he says, "if my wife hangs! We must go and overthrow the court," he says!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. According to the stage directions, Mary Warren screams this out hysterically while pointing at John Proctor. She lies that he asked her to sign her name in the Devil’s book. She claims that Proctor forced her with threats of murder to change her testimony and "overthrow the court" in order to save his wife from hanging.

He wake me every night, his eyes were like coals and his fingers claw my neck, and I sign, I sign.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Mary Warren goes from being servant to the Proctors to their mortal enemy as she provides false testimony that John Proctor is working for the Devil. She throws her employer under the bus, telling the court that he forced her to sign the Devil’s book. She uses demonic imagery and simile – "eyes were like coals," "fingers claw my neck" – to describe how Proctor woke her up every night until he got her to sign.

Abby, Abby, I’ll never hurt you no more!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Mary Warren, as she sobs in court, declares her love for God and rushes to Abigail. In speaking her final line in the play to Abby, Mary acknowledges that the 17-year-old is now one of the most powerful people in Salem. Mary has changed sides again, returning back to Abby for her protection. The stage directions underline Abby’s power: "They all watch, as Abigail, out of her infinite charity, reaches out and draws the sobbing Mary to her, and then looks up to Danforth." As for Mary, she proves too weak and submissive and cowardly to stand up for what she knows is morally right. She is a symbol of evil triumphing over good.

DANFORTH (to Proctor): What are you? You are combined with anti-Christ, are you not? I have seen your power; you will not deny it! What say you, Mister?
HALE: Excellency – .
DANFORTH: I will have nothing from you, Mr. Hale!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Judge Danforth accuses Proctor of being in league with the Antichrist, after Mary Warren finally breaks and names John a witch who is working for the Devil. The court has descended into chaos at this point, with Danforth adding to the frenzied atmosphere. He shuts off Hale when he tries to intervene and bring some reason into the proceedings.

DANFORTH: Will you confess yourself befouled with Hell, or do you keep that black allegiance yet? What say you?
PROCTOR: I say – I say – God is dead!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Danforth attempts to coerce John Proctor into confessing that he is working with the Devil, and John makes the shocking reply that God is dead. This is a reference to the statement of controversial German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. But Proctor is not speaking in the literal sense. He is being sarcastic and ironic. He means that God isn’t in charge in Salem anymore and evil has taken over and the Devil reigns. John has lost faith in the Putitans’ God and their version of justice and morality. He is expressing his disgust at the corruption of the court and the so-called men of God who practice injustice, dishonesty and unfairness.

A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Danforth! For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I have quailed, and as you quail now when you know in all your black hearts that this be fraud – God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Proctor’s rageful final speech to Danforth as he is being arrested at the end of Act 3 uses powerful fire and Devil metaphors for the injustices happening in Salem. Wickedness, ignorance and the inaction of people who stand idly are burning down truth and justice in Salem, leaving a community in ruins. In speaking about Salem’s "filthy face," he is referring to those people who value pride and reputation above integrity and fail to do the right thing. The imagery symbolizes also the hellfire reserved for those who have sinned, including Danforth and Proctor himself. Proctor is telling Danforth that Lucifer is indeed at work in Salem. However, it is not the people accused of witchcraft who are carrying out the Devil’s work, but the corrupt court itself. Using a metaphor, Proctor damns Danforth and the judges for their "black hearts" in killing innocent people while knowing the accusations against them are lies. Proctor admits that he also is bound for hell for his wrongdoing, including failure to expose sooner the manipulations of his former mistress Abby. This passage is one of Miller’s most ferocious denunciations of the Salem authorities who jailed and executed innocent people, and the townspeople who stood by and did nothing to stop this.

You are pulling Heaven down and raising up a whore!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Proctor roars this at Danforth, accusing the court of going against the will of God and handing control of the trials to a whore like Abigail. He is saying that the discredited court has no moral legitimacy. One of the most powerful quotes in the play, it speaks to Abby’s power. But it also shows John’s honesty and courage in standing up to a corrupt legal and religious establishment, even at the cost of his life.

I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. After Proctor is arrested for witchcraft by Danforth at the end of Act 3, Hale angrily shouts his condemnation of the court proceedings and Salem justice. He abruptly leaves the courtroom and slams the door behind him to the fury of Danforth, who unsuccessfully tries to call him back. Hale’s decision to abandon the trials is because he sees what a total farce they have become. After watching innocent people condemned on the basis of lies, manipulation and no proper evidence, he doesn’t want to be associated with a corrupt court. By this decision he demonstrates integrity and his desire to do the right thing.

SARAH GOOD (rising in her rags): Oh, Majesty! Comin’, comin’! Tituba, he’s here, His Majesty’s come!…Oh, is it you, Marshal! I thought sure you be the Devil comin’ for us. Could I have a sip of cider for me goin’- away?
HERRICK (handing her the flask): And where are you off to, Sarah?
TITUBA (as Sarah drinks): We goin’ to Barbados, soon the Devil gits here with the feathers and the wings.
HERRICK: Oh? A happy voyage to you.
SARAH GOOD: A pair of bluebirds wingin’ southerly, the two of us! Oh, it be a grand transformation, Marshal! (She raises her flask to drink again.)

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 4. When Marshal Herrick arrives to the prison to move some prisoners, a delusional Sarah Good and Tituba mistake him for the Devil. They believe that Satan is coming to fly them to freedom and Tituba’s homeland of Barbados. Sarah uses an animal metaphor to compare the two of them to bluebirds. The good-natured Herrick, somewhat inebriated, gives Sarah a sip of cider from his flask. Miller includes this humorous episode at the beginning of the final act to provide comic relief in what is an intense and deadly serious play. But it shows too how there is no justice for disadvantaged people like the slave Tituba and the beggar Sarah Good, who provide easy targets to frame for witchcraft. Among the first women to be arrested, they have spent the longest time in jail and have now gone crazy and believe they are witches.

HERRICK: It’s the proper morning to fly into Hell.
TITUBA: Oh, it be no Hell in Barbados. Devil, him be pleasure-man in Barbados, him be singin’ and dancin’ in Barbados. It’s you folks – you riles him up ’round here; it be too cold ’round here for that Old Boy. He freeze his soul in Massachusetts, but in Barbados he just and sweet and – (A bellowing cow is heard, and Tituba leaps up and calls to the window): Aye, sir! That’s him, Sarah!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 4. The "nearly drunk" Marshal Herrick is speaking to Tituba and Sarah Good, who are in prison waiting to be hanged. The women are losing their sanity, thinking that the Devil is coming to take them to Barbados.

SARAH GOOD: I’m here, Majesty! (They hurriedly pick up their rags as Hopkins, a guard, enters.)
HOPKINS: The Deputy Governor’s arrived.
TITUBA (resisting him): No, he comin for me. I goin’ home!
HERRICK (pulling her to the door): That’s not Satan, just a poor old cow with a hatful of milk. Come along now, out with you.
TITUBA (calling to the window): Take me home, Devil! Take me home.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 4. A cow is heard lowing in the distance as Deputy Governor Danforth arrives to the prison. Prisoners Sarah Good and Tituba mistakingly think it’s the Devil come to whisk them off to Barbados. In this tragically funny scene in the play’s last act, Marshal Herrick is moving the women to another cell. Languishing in jail for months and awaiting execution, they have gone mad at this stage and are beginning to believe they are witches. The scene provides a shocking portrayal of the toll, both mental and physical, that the Salem witch hunts have taken on innocent people, especially the marginalized. It’s Salem “justice” at its ugliest.

There be so many cows wanderin’ the highroads, now their masters are in the jails, and much disagreement who they will belong to now. I know Mr. Parris be arguin’ with farmers all yesterday – there is great contention, sir, about the cows. Contention make him weep, sir; it were always a man that weep for contention.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 4. The turmoil in the community and breakdown in social order caused by the witch trials is graphically illustrated by Ezekiel Cheever’s comments to the judges about the abandoned cattle. The many cows wandering the town’s roads, their owners in jail, are symbolic of the chaos and hysteria that have destroyed Salem.

Excellency, I think they be aboard a ship. My daughter tells me how she heard them speaking of ships last week, and tonight I discover my – my strongbox is broke into…Thirty-one pound is gone. I am penniless.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 4. When rumors of rebellion against the court spread, Abigail Williams knows that it’s time for her to leave Salem. Here Reverend Parris tells Danforth how his niece broke into his safe, robbed him of all his money, and disappeared with another servant Mercy Lewis. In Abby’s last desperate act of self-preservation, she typically thinks only of herself. After her plan to win John Proctor backfires, she flees, leaving behind a trail of destruction and her former lover Proctor to hang.

The rumor here speaks rebellion in Andover…Andover have thrown out the court, they say, and will have no part of witchcraft. There be a faction here, feeding on that news, and I tell you true, sir, I fear there will be riot here.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 4. With the witch trials destroying so many lives, Salem has descended into chaos and conflict. Parris expresses his worries to Danforth of riots and rebellion breaking out. Using personification, he says that rumor "speaks" of resistance in Andover and the people throwing out the court. In a food metaphor, he describes how a group of dissenters in Salem is "feeding" on those reports.

Judge Hathorne – it were another sort that hanged till now. Rebecca Nurse is no Bridget that lived three year with Bishop before she married him. John Proctor is not Isaac Ward that drank his family to ruin. (To Danforth:) I would to God it were not so, Excellency, but these people have great weight yet in the town. Let Rebecca stand upon the gibbet and send up some righteous prayer, and I fear she’ll wake a vengeance on you.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 4. Parris warns the judges against continuing with the witch trial hangings. Up until now those executed were the less respected members of the community. But Parris cautions that hanging the virtuous Rebecca Nurse and well respected John Proctor could provoke a vengeance on the court. His warning sums up the growing hysteria and corruption of the witch hunt, with people lower down the social ladder the first to be accused, followed by those with more upstanding reputations.

It cannot be forgot, sir, that when I summoned the congregation for John Proctor’s excommunication there were hardly thirty people come to hear it. That speak a discontent, I think.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 4. Parris tells Danforth that barely thirty witnesses turned up for Proctor’s excommunication. This suggests that local people are not happy with so many in their community being arrested, accused of witchcraft and sentenced to death. This quote speaks to Proctor’s reputation as a highly respected landowner and farmer in Salem.

You misunderstand, sir; I cannot pardon these when twelve are already hanged for the same crime. It is not just.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 4. Danforth shows intransigence when Parris asks him to postpone the hangings and Hale calls for pardons for those who won’t confess. With great irony, Danforth says that after executing twelve already, pardoning the rest would not be just. This is his perverted idea of him being "fair." Danforth is not concerned about justice or that the accused waiting to be hanged may be innocent. He cares more about the damage that pardoning them would do to his reputation and that of the court. Throughout the witch trials Judge Danforth shows ruthlessness and is guilty of appalling abuse of judicial power.

I will not receive a single plea for pardon or postponement. Them that will not confess will hang. Twelve are already executed; the names of these seven are given out, and the village expects to see them die this morning. Postponement now speaks a floundering on my part; reprieve or pardon must cast doubt upon the guilt of them that died till now. While I speak God’s law, I will not crack its voice with whimpering. If retaliation is your fear, know this – I should hang ten thousand that dared to rise against the law, and an ocean of salt tears could not melt the resolution of all the statues. Now draw yourselves up like men and help me, as you are bound by Heaven to do.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 4. The unbending presiding Judge Danforth rules out any possibility of pardon or postponement in the witch trials cases. His tone is full of the power and control he exercises over the Salem court. His merciless justice is expressed in the metaphor: "an ocean of salt tears could not melt the resolution of all the statues." Danforth claims to speak for God, has ultimate power of life and death over people and is not shy to use it. After hanging twelve people already, he promises another seven hangings that day, and even boasts of hanging ten thousand if necessary. Pride and ego speak loudly in this speech, as he says postponement would show "floundering" or weakness on his part. He shows unwavering faith in his own infallibility and that of the court. He views himself as the instrument of divine justice, chosen by God to drive the Devil out of Salem and cleanse it of the evils of witchcraft. Postponement is personified in the passage as having the ability to speak.

Tonight, when I open my door to leave my house – a dagger clattered to the ground. Silence. You cannot hang this sort. There is danger for me. I dare not step outside at night!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 4. When Danforth insists that there will be no postponement of the hangings, Parris reveals how the Salem witch hysteria has left him fearing for his life. The man who played a key role in encouraging the hysteria tells of a dagger warning left outside his door, showing the discontent over the witch trials. Respectable citizens Rebecca Nurse and John Proctor are due to hang that day. Parris tells Danforth that he must not execute them, as he is afraid of the consequences that will follow for him.

HALE: Excellency, if you postpone a week and publish to the town that you are striving for their confessions, that speak mercy on your part, not faltering.
DANFORTH: Mr. Hale, as God have not empowered me like Joshua to stop this sun from rising, so I cannot withhold from them the perfection of their punishment.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 4. When Danforth is asked to delay the hangings, the Deputy Governor uses the language of religion in his reply to Reverend Hale. The passage is an allusion to the prophet Joshua who with God’s help stops the sun from rising. Hale is a man transformed who now wants to save lives instead of taking them unnecessarily. But the stubborn Danforth is not for turning.

Excellency, there are orphans wandering from house to house; abandoned cattle bellow on the highroads, the stink of rotting crops hangs everywhere, and no man knows when the harlots’ cry will end his life – and you wonder yet if rebellion’s spoke? Better you should marvel how they do not burn your province.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 4. Returned to Salem after a spiritual reawakening, Reverend Hale has undergone a radical change from accuser to sympathizer and fighter on behalf of the accused. He wants Danforth to put a stay on the hangings. He draws a graphic picture of Salem’s despair, devastation and disintegration of society, caused by the witch hunt hysteria. Abandoned orphans, wandering cattle, the stench of rotting crops, people in fear of the accusing finger – Salem is a community in ruins. Hale warns that continuing the hangings could provoke rebellion.

I come to do the Devil’s work. I come to counsel Christians they should belie themselves. There is blood on my head! Can you not see the blood on my head!!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 4. When Danforth asks Hale why he has returned to the court, he makes this sarcastic reply to the supervising judge. Using verbal irony, the clergyman says that he is doing the Devil’s work asking people to lie and confess to witchcraft to save their lives. The blood on Hale’s head is a metaphor for his feelings of guilt over the court condemning and hanging innocent people with his help. Now more outspoken and less respectful to the court, Hale is not the same enthusiastic witch-hunter who arrived to Salem with complete confidence in the justice system.
He is now more concerned with preserving life than with collaborating with the court to kill "witches." We see the strength of Hale’s moral integrity here.

HALE: Goody Proctor, I have gone this three month like our Lord into the wilderness. I have sought a Christian way, for damnation’s doubled on a minister who counsels men to lie.
HATHORNE: It is no lie, you cannot speak of lies.
HALE: It is a lie! They are innocent!
DANFORTH: I’ll hear no more of that!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 4. Reverend Hale has undergone a spiritual metamorphosis after spending some time away from the frenzied atmosphere of Salem’s witch hunts. The allusion to Christ’s 40 days and nights in the desert is used by Miller to portray Hale’s period of reflection away from the madness of Salem. Hale tells Elizabeth that he is counseling the accused witches to lie and confess to witchcraft, which is ironic for a clergyman. He wants her to persuade husband John to do just that to escape hanging. Hale is telling the court that he now believes the witchcraft accusations are a complete fraud. Judges Hathorne and Danforth refuse to accept that.

I came into this village like a bridegroom to his beloved, bearing gifts of high religion; the very crowns of holy law I brought, and what I touched with my bright confidence, it died; and where I turned the eye of my great faith, blood flowed up. Beware, Goody Proctor – cleave to no faith when faith brings blood. It is mistaken law that leads you to sacrifice.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 4. Using extended simile and metaphor, Hale likens his arrival in Salem to that of a proud groom bringing gifts to his beloved. But his good intentions and metaphorical "crowns of holy law" faith he proudly brought resulted in the loss of innocent lives. Hale is a much changed, humbler and guilt-ridden witch-hunter who now seeks redemption for his wrongdoing. He tells Elizabeth not to make the same mistake that he did. He warns against blind adherence to religious laws that demand the sacrifice of a person’s life. Hale wants Elizabeth to save her husband’s life by persuading him to confess to witchcraft.
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