This is a timeline of The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. All of the credits for the photos are included in the picture. Click on the picture, and the link should appear. Thank you for reading through it!
- Daishia Philpot
"Betty. Child. Dear child. Will you wake, will you open your eyes!"
Reverend Parris, the father of Betty, is concerned about her well-being after she falls into a coma. The Reverend has previously found a group of girls dancing naked in the woods, including Betty, his niece Abigail, and his slave Tituba.
"Now look you, child—I have no desire to punish you; that will come in its time. But if you trafficked with spirits in the forest, I must know it..."
Reverend Parris accuses Abigail and the other girls of conjuring spirits in the forest. In addition to this, he asks Abigail about her being fired from being the Proctor's servant. Abigail insists that she is innocent.
"Now, look you, Mister Parris; I have taken your part in all contention here, and I would continue; but I cannot if you hold back in this. There are hurtful, vengeful spirits layin' hands on these children."
The Putnams enter, telling Reverend Parris that they saw Betty fly. With all of the accusations, Ann Putnam is convinced that a witch murdered her seven children.
"You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!"
Once all of the adults have left the room, Abigail, Mary, and Mercy try waking up Betty. Betty suddenly awakens, accusing Abigail of not telling the whole truth about what conspired in the forest. Once Betty collapses again, Abigail warns the other two girls about telling the other townsfolk the truth.
"Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I'll ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind—we never touched, Abby."
John Proctor enters, and Abigail pleads for him to love her again. Proctor, however, is firm on making Abigail forget that anything ever happened between them.
"The psalm! The psalm—she cannot bear to hear the Lord's name!"
The heated conversation between Proctor and Abigail is cut short when Betty suddenly awakens again, covering her ears and screaming after hearing the word "Jehovah" from the psalm being recited outside.
"Abigail, it may be your cousin is dying—Did you call the Devil last night?"
"I never called him! Tituba called him!"
In the midst of the panic, renowned Reverend Hale is called to deal with the witch accusations. Upon inspecting Betty and questioning some of the townsfolk, Hale questions Abigail, who pins the blame on Reverend Parris' slave, Tituba.
"Why are you concealing? Have you sold yourself to Lucifer?"
"I never sold myself! I'm a good girl—I—I did drink of the kettle!—She made me do it! She made Betty do it!"
Abigail tries to maintain her innocence and blame Tituba for what happened. Reverend Hale questions Tituba, who admits to hearing the Devil and asks to be saved.
"But he say, You work for me, Tituba, and I make you free! I give you pretty dress to wear, and put you way high up in the air and you gone foy back to Barbados! And I say, You lie, Devil, you lie! And then he come one stormy night to me, and he say, Look! I have white people belong to me. And I look... And there was Goody Good."
After Reverend Hale prays over Tituba, she starts to tell everyone about what she has seen and heard from the Devil. She claims to have seen Sarah Good and Sarah Osburn with the Devil.
"I saw Mister Barton with the Devil!"
"I saw Goody Cobb with the Devil."
"I saw Goody Franklin with the Devil."
"I saw Goody Hopper with the Devil."
Wnating to join in on all of the accusations, Abigail admits to dancing in the forest for the Devil. She begins to scream out the names of those who have dealings with the Devil. At the same time, Betty wakes up, adding to the madness by screaming the names of those who are with the Devil along with Abigail.
"You will not judge me more, Elizabeth. I have good reason to think before I charge fraud on Abigail, and I will think on it. Let you look to your own improvement before you go to judge your husband any more. I have forgot Abigail, and..."
"And I."
Elizabeth Proctor tries to have a conversation with John about his affair with Abigail, but he tries to avoid it. He is angry that she is still suspicious about him, especially since he admitted that he was alone in a room with Abigail.
"I saved her life today!"
"I am accused?"
"You are somewhat mentioned. But I said I never see no sign you ever sent your spirit out to hurt no one, and seeing I do live so closely with you, they dismissed it."
Mary Warren returns to the Proctor home after having been in court, serving as a witness to those who are accused of witchcraft. John Proctor is angry with Mary since she disobeyed his order to not go to Salem, yet he calms down when he realizes that Elizabeth has been accused and Mary cleared her name.
"Theology, sir, is a fortress; no crack in a fortress may be accounted small."
"There be no love for Satan in this house."
Reverend Hale pays a visit to the Proctors, questioning them about their faith. He questions why they do not go to church regularly and why not all of their sons are baptized. He also asks them to recite the Ten Commandments, which they remember all but the one concerning adultery.
"I... I have no witness and cannot prove it, except my word be taken. But I know the children's sickness had naught to do with witchcraft."
"Naught to do...?"
"They were discovered by Mr. Parris sporting in the woods. They were startled, and took sick."
"Who told you this?"
"Abigail Williams."
John Proctor tells Reverend Hale that Abigail and the other girls are lying about their accusations. Hale is bewildered, as he himself examined the girls and they each confessed to it. Amidst this, Giles Corey enters, saying that his wife and Rebecca Nurse have been arrested.
"If she is innocent! Why do you never wonder if Parris be innocent, or Abigail? Is the accuser always holy now? Were they born this morning as clean as God's fingers? I'll tell you what's walking Salem—vengeance is walking Salem. We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law! This warrants vengeance; I will not give my wife to vengeance!"
Ezekiel Cheever arrives at the Proctor house with the intent of arresting Elizabeth. He asks to see the poppet Mary Warren gave her, and finds a needle in it. Earlier, Abigail was stabbed with a needle, so the needle in the poppet makes it appear as if Elizabeth stabbed Abigail. Mary is the one who made it and gave it to Elizabeth, yet no one believes her when she says she put the needle in it. Ultimately, Elizabeth is taken away, and John forces Mary to go into court to tell the truth in order to save Elizabeth.
"No, this is your wife pleading, your sniveling, envious wife! This is Rebecca's voice, Martha Corey's voice. You were no hypocrite!"
"I will prove you for the fraud you are!"
"And if they ask you why Abigail would ever do so murderous a deed, what will you tell them?"
"I will tell them why?"
"What will you tell? You will confess to fornication? In the court?"
"If you woll have it so, so I will tell it!"
John Proctor meets Abigail in the woods at night to confront her and stop her from keeping up with the act. She shows him the marks and bruises on her body, allegedly from those who have sent their spirits out to harm her. However, John does not buy it. He urges her to clear Elizabeth's name or else he will prove that she is lying. However, she does not back down, claiming him to be a hypocrite for turning against her.