The Crucible Quotes

We burn a hot fire here; it melts down all concealment.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Danforth warning to John Proctor relates to the title of the play. A crucible is a container in which metals may be melted. Danforth is using it here as a metaphor for burning away any lies and deceit in order to reveal the truth. This line is dramatic irony, because the audience knows that the court, far from getting to the truth, condemns the innocent. We also have an example of foreshadowing here, because Danforth actually does burn away Proctor’s concealment of his affair with Abigail.

He plow on Sunday…I think it be evidence, John. I am an official of the court, I cannot keep it.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 2. Here John Proctor’s practice of his Christian faith is called into question. Ezekiel Cheever, the tailor turned clerk of the witch trials court, attempts to undermine Proctor’s credibility. He provides the court with "evidence" that Proctor has been seen plowing his fields on Sunday. The Puritans of Salem don’t tolerate people who disrespect the sabboth in this way. Puritan society demanded that people follow the teachings of the Bible and not work on the sabbath or Lord’s day. This passage is an allusion to God’s Fourth Commandment, from the Book of Exodus: "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy."

PROCTOR: I – I have once or twice plowed on Sunday. I have three children, sir, and until last year my land give little.
GILES: You’ll find other Christians that do plow on Sunday if the truth be known.
HALE: Your Honor, I cannot think you may judge the man on such evidence.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 2. When Cheever attacks John Proctor for failing to observe the Bible teaching by working on the sabbath day, Proctor admits that he has "once or twice" plowed on Sunday because he had children to feed. Giles Corey and Reverend Hale come to John’s defense, suggesting that this doesn’t prove he isn’t a true Christian. This passage is an allusion to God’s teaching about the sabbath in the Book of Exodus: "Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work."

I tell you straight, Mister – I have seen marvels in this court. I have seen people choked before my eyes by spirits; I have seen them stuck by pins and slashed by daggers. I have until this moment not the slightest reason to suspect that the children may be deceiving me. Do you understand my meaning?

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Danforth shows his bias as a judge when he declares his belief in the children and their stories about people being in league with the Devil. He is speaking to Proctor, who has come to court to present evidence as to the innocence and good character of his wife and other accused women. Danforth’s guilty until proven innocent approach to law leaves little opportunity for people to convince him otherwise and find true justice. We also see an example of dramatic irony, since the audience knows that Abigail and the girls are lying to the court and the "marvels" they have presented are false.

PARRIS: Do you read the Gospel, Mr. Proctor?
PROCTOR: I read the Gospel.
PARRIS: I think not, or you should surely know that Cain were an upright man, and yet he did kill Abel.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Proctor has been trying to persuade the court to consider the upright reputations of the people being accused of witchcraft. But Reverend Parris tries to undermine John’s argument with an allusion to the Bible story of brothers Cain and Abel. Cain may have been an honorable man, but that didn’t stop him from committing the terrible deed of killing his brother. Parris is making the case that even seemingly good people who lead a blameless life are capable of doing evil.

But if she say she is pregnant, then she must be! That woman will never lie, Mr. Danforth.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Here John Proctor responds to Judge Danforth’s skepticism about Elizabeth’s claim that she is pregnant. This would earn her a reprieve from hanging at least until her baby is born. John assures Danforth that his wife never lies. His words turn out to be ironic, because Elizabeth will lie to the court about John’s cheating with Abigail in order to protect his reputation.

He’s come to overthrow this court, Your Honor!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. With the climate of intolerance in Salem, it is next to impossible to mount any defense to accusations of witchcraft. John Proctor tries to present a petition signed by 91 prominent citizens testifying that the accused women are not witches. But Reverend Parris moves to block this by accusing Proctor of trying to overthrow the court. Parris is motivated by the considerable personal animosity between him and Proctor.

Will you read this first, sir? It’s a sort of testament. The people signing it declare their good opinion of Rebecca, and my wife, and Martha Corey…these are all landholding farmers, members of the church, sir – they’ve known the women many years and never saw no sign they had dealing with the Devil.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. John Proctor presents to Judge Danforth a petition testifying to the good character of Rebecca Nurse, Elizabeth Proctor and Martha Corey. It is signed by 91 prominent people from Salem, who say that the accused women are not witches.

PARRIS: This is a clear attack upon the court!
HALE: Is every defense an attack upon the court? Can no one – ?
PARRIS: All innocent and Christian people are happy for the courts in Salem!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Puritan intolerance is on full view in the witch trials courtroom, where any defense or appeal to reason on behalf of the accused is labeled an "attack upon the court." Ninety-one people have signed a petition that the accused Rebecca Nurse, Elizabeth Proctor and Martha Corey are not witches. But Parris insists that all 91 should be hauled into court and questioned. When Hale speaks up as the voice of reason, Parris make the highly ironic comment that all innocent people are happy with the courts in Salem. The audience knows that the women charged with witchcraft are innocent and have been accused as the result of the wicked and personal motives of other people. Parris’s attempt to stop evidence for the defense being presented has echoes in the way Senator Joe McCarthy saw resistance to his crusade against left-wing individuals as being un-American.

Mr. Cheever, have warrants drawn for all of these – arrest for examination.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. The system of justice in Salem is weighed heavily against the accused, as seen by this decision of Judge Danforth. An attempt is made to present a petition signed by 91 landholding farmers and members of the church declaring that three accused women are not witches. Instead of accepting it as evidence, Danforth orders Cheever to have the entire 91 arrested for questioning. Justice is a scarce commodity in Salem.

FRANCIS NURSE: I have brought trouble on these people. I have – .
DANFORTH: No, old man, you have not hurt these people if they are of good conscience.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Francis Nurse laments that he has brought trouble on the 91 petitioners who stated that his wife Rebecca, Elizabeth Proctor and Martha Corey are innocent of witchcraft. The 91 are being arrested so they can questioned by the court. Judge Danforth’s response that those "of good conscience" need have no fear as they will not be hurt is ironic. Innocent people have been accused of being witches and forced to confess to crimes they did not commit in order to save their lives.

But you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between. This is a sharp time, now, a precise time – we live no longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world. Now, by God’s grace, the shining sun is up, and them that fear not light will surely praise it. I hope you be one of those.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Danforth, in this courtroom speech to Francis Nurse, comes across as rigid, authoritarian, intolerant and a symbol of the absolute nature of Salem’s justice. He uses the metaphor of "no road between" to emphasize that you are either for the court or counted against it. Driven by an extreme ideology, he views the court and himself as being on the right side of the war between good and evil. They are essentially doing God’s work. In an extended metaphor he compares himself to the shining sun come to light up the dusky afternoon when evil was indistinguishable from good and confused the world. Danforth is self-deluded into believing that he is doing God’s will condemning and hanging innocent people. The irony is that the court is not being guided by God’s grace in a fight against evil. It is the corrupt court judges in collaboration with the lying Abigail and her troop of girls that are the true evil in Salem. Intoxicated by his own power, Danforth fails to see any of this.

Do that which is good, and no harm shall come to thee.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. John Proctor give this advise to Mary Warren, quoting what the angel Raphael said to the boy Tobias. This is an allusion to a story from the Book of Tobit, one of the books of the Apocrypha, which form part of the Catholic Bible but are omitted from the Protestant. The story tells of two Israelite families, that of the blind Tobit in Nineveh and of the abandoned Sarah in Ecbatana who is plagued by a demon. The archangel Raphael helps Tobit defeat the demon. There is a tragic irony in what Proctor advises Mary. The audience knows that good people are being arrested and accused, while evil continues and those doing harm are free to point fingers at the innocent.

My proof is there! If Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property – that’s law! And there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy so great a piece. This man is killing his neighbors for their land!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Giles Corey interrupts the court proceedings shouting that Thomas Putnam is getting his daughter to accuse neighbors of witchcraft. This is so that the wealthy Putnam can buy their abandoned land, Giles reveals. He hands in a deposition as "proof." This quote shows the greed of landowner and opportunist Putnam who vindictively has people falsely accused in order to gain their property. It also speaks to his desire for power.

The proof is there! I have it from an honest man who heard Putnam say it! The day his daughter cried out on Jacobs, he said she’d given him a fair gift of land.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Giles Corey tells the court that Thomas Putnam is exploiting the witch trials in order to acquire vacant land of the accused at a good price. Putnam was overheard by an "honest man" saying that his daughter Ruth accused George Jacob of witchery in order to give her father a "fair gift" of land. In his hunger for more land and power, it seems there is little Thomas Putnam won’t stoop to, including having people falsely accused and hanged for witchcraft.

GILES: He’ll lay in jail if I give his name!
HATHORNE: This is contempt of the court, Mr. Danforth!
DANFORTH: You will surely tell us the name.
GILES: I will not give you no name. I mentioned my wife’s name once and I’ll burn in hell long enough for that. I stand mute.
DANFORTH: In that case, I have no choice but to arrest you for contempt of this court, do you know that?

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. The court pressures Giles Corey to provide the name of a man who heard Thomas Putnam admit to getting his daughter to accuse neighbors of witchcraft in order to acquire their land. Giles shows his integrity and refuses, saying how he mentioned his wife had read strange books and she was imprisoned for witchcraft. Judge Hawthorne accuses Giles of contempt and Judge Danforth threatens him with arrest. There are parallels with the McCarthyism Red Scare era, when people were similarly accused on the basis of flimsy evidence and pressured to name the names of other communists.

HALE: There is a prodigious fear of this court in the country.
DANFORTH: Reproach me not with the fear in the country; there is fear in the country because there is a moving plot to topple Christ in the country!
HALE: But it does not follow that everyone accused is part of it.
DANFORTH: No uncorrupted man may fear this court, Mr. Hale! None! (To Giles): You are under arrest in contempt of this court.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. There are echoes of McCarthyism in this exchange between the top judge in the Salem witch trials court Danforth and Reverend John Hale. Hale speaks of the climate of fear create by a court that has imprisoned and hanged so many innocent people for the crime of witchcraft. But Danforth, with great irony, insists that no innocent person may fear the court. The truth is that many innocents have been condemned by his court of so-called justice. Just as Danforth fears a "plot to topple Christ in the country," Senator Joe McCarthy believed that communists wanted to topple democracy in the United States.

Remember the angel, what he say to the boy. Hold to it, now; there is your rock.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. John Proctor uses the metaphor of a rock to advise Mary Warren to be strong. He asks her to remember that archangel Raphael advised Tobit and his son Tobias to "Do that which is good, and no harm will come to thee." He is alluding to the story from the Book of Tobit, one of the books of the Apocrypha. It tells of how Tobias fell in love with Sarah, a woman plagued by a demon that killed each of her seven previous husbands. With the help of Raphael the demon is exorcised and Tobias and Sarah marry.

I am a minister of the Lord, and I dare not take a life without there be a proof so immaculate no slightest qualm of conscience may doubt it.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Having signed seventy-two death warrants in the Salem witch trials, Reverend Hale makes this comment to Danforth. The irony is that the "proof so immaculate" relied on by the court to decide guilt is the unsubstantiated word of one person against another. Hale, in agonizing over the "qualm of conscience" he feels with each case, is expressing his first real moments of doubt about what is happening in Salem. This foreshadows how the witchcraft expert will soon be full of concerns about Salem justice, believing eventually that he has "blood on my head."

DANFORTH: Mr. Hale, you surely do not doubt my justice.
HALE: I have this morning signed away the soul of Rebecca Nurse, Your Honor. I’ll not conceal it, my hand shakes yet as with a wound! I pray you, sir, this argument let lawyers present to you.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. As Danforth’s merciless brand of justice for the witchcraft accused relentlessly moves forward, doubts about its fairness begin to creep in for Reverend Hale. He is particularly concerned about the charges against one of Salem’s upstanding elderly citizens Rebecca Nurse. He appeals to Danforth to allow defense evidence to be heard on her behalf. Using a dramatic simile, he speaks of how his hand shook as if it was wounded when he signed her death warrant.

In an ordinary crime, how does one defend the accused? One calls up witnesses to prove his innocence. But witchcraft is ipso facto, on its face and by its nature, an invisible crime, is it not? Therefore, who may possibly be witness to it? The witch and the victim. None other. Now we cannot hope the witch will accuse herself; granted? Therefore, we must rely upon her victims – and they do testify, the children certainly do testify. As for the witches, none will deny that we are most eager for all their confessions. Therefore, what is left for a lawyer to bring out? I think I have made my point. Have I not?

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Danforth presents his warped and perverted version of justice. In the judge’s court there is no presumption of innocence. He speaks of having to prove innocence rather than guilt. So the burden of proof is not on the prosecution but on the accused person. The corrupt Danforth goes a step further to make it virtually impossible to defend against the charge of witchcraft. He dismisses the value of a defense lawyer. The only witnesses of this "invisible crime" are the witch and victim, he says. As the witch won’t accuse herself, the court must rely on the victims, in this case the testifying children. In his speech Danforth has aleady made up his mind that Abby’s gang of girls are victims of witchcraft. He doesn’t, like an impartial judge would, consider whether they are testifying truthfully or telling lies, which they are. Danforth’s law means that if you are accused of being a witch, then you are one hundred per cent one.

I cannot lie no more. I am with God, I am with God.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Mary Warren finds her courage and integrity, when she decides to tell the truth to the court and risk the anger of Abigail and the girls. A deposition on her behalf is presented to the judges by Proctor, in which Mary swears that she saw neither spirits nor the Devil, despite her and the girls testified that they had. The irony is that Mary uses much the same words at the end of the act when she reverses her testimony again and returns to the lies of the other girls: "I love God, I bless God." Mary is a girl who is weak, fickle and easily manipulated.
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