The Crucible [Table Read]
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Project Overview
Summary:
Written in 1953, The Crucible is a mirror Miller uses to reflect the anti-communist hysteria inspired by Senator Joseph McCarthy's "witch-hunts." in the United States. Within the text itself Miller contemplates the parallels, writing "Political opposition. . . is given an inhumane overlay, which then justifies the abrogation of all normally applied customs of civilized behavior. A political policy is equated with moral right, and opposition to it with diabolical malevolence.
Characters:
Reverend Parris
Betty Parris
Tituba
Abigail Williams
Susanna Walcott
Mrs. Ann Putnam
Mr. Thomas Putnam
Mercy Lewis
Mary Warren
John Proctor
Rebecca Nurse
Giles Corey
Reverend John Hale
Elizabeth Proctor
Francis Nurse
Ezekiel Cheever
Marshal Herrick
Judge Hathome
Deputy Governor Danforth
Sarah Good
Hopkins
Requirements:
Audios must have little to no background noise.
Discord is required.
Must be comfortable around cast members.
Project is only for fun.
Discord: https://discord.gg/vBc6S7GFzH
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A person who delivers a commentary accompanying a movie, broadcast, piece of music, etc.
"A small upper bedroom in the home of Reverend Samuel Parris Salem, Massachusetts, in the spring of the year 1692.
"Which is not to say that nothing broke into this strict somber way of life. When a new farmhouse was built, friends assembled to "raise the roof," and there would be special foods cooked and probably some potent cider passed around."
"The proof of their belief's value to them may be taken from the opposite character of the first Jamestown settlement, farther south in Virginia."
a person who delivers a commentary accompanying a movie, broadcast, piece of music, etc.
"There is a narrow window at the left. Through it's leaded panes the morning sunlight streams. A candle still burns near the bed which is at the right. A chest, a chair, and a small table, are the other furnishings."
"At the back a door opens on landing of the stairway to the ground floor. The room gives off an air of clean spareness. The roof rafters are exposed, and the wood colors are raw and unmellowed."
"That there were jokers, however, is indicated by the practice of appointing a two-man patrol whose duty was to "walk forth in the time of God's worship to take notice of such as either lye about the meeting house, without attending to the word and ordinances, or that lye at home or in the fields giving good account thereof, and to take the names of such persons, and present them to the magistrates, whereby they may be accordingly proceeded against."
a person who delivers a commentary accompanying a movie, broadcast, piece of music, etc.
"As the curtain rises, Reverend Parris is discovered kneeling beside the bed, evidently in prayer. His daughter, Betty Parris, aged ten, is lying on the bed inert."
"The edge of the wilderness was close by. The American continent stretched endlessly west, and it was full of mystery for and day, for out of it Indian tribes marauded from time to time, and Reverend Parris had parishioners who had lost relatives to these heathen."
"But the people of Salem in 1692 were not quite the dedicated folk that arrived on the Mayflower. A vast differentiation had taken place, and in their own time a revolution had unseated the royal government and substituted a junta which was moment in power."
a person who delivers a commentary accompanying a movie, broadcast, piece of music, etc.
"At the time of these events Parris was in his middle forties. In history he cut a villainous path, and there is very little good to be said for him."
"He believed he was being persecuted wherever he went, despite his best efforts to win people and God to his side."
"In meeting, he felt insulted if someone rose to shut the door without first asking his permission. He was a widower with no young adults, and until this strange crisis he, like the rest of Salem, never conceived that the children were anything but thankful."
a person who delivers a commentary accompanying a movie, broadcast, piece of music, etc.
"His house stood in the "town" --but we today would hardly call it a village. The meeting house was nearby, and from this point outward--toward the bay or inland there were a few small-windowed, dark houses snuggling against the raw Massachusetts winter."
"For these reasons, among others, they carried about an air of course, been persecuted in England."
"So now they and their church found it necessary to deny any other sect its freedom, lest their New Jerusalem be defiled and corrupted by wrong ways and deceitful ideas."
a person who delivers a commentary accompanying a movie, broadcast, piece of music, etc.
"No one can really know what their lives were like. They had no novelists--and would not have permitted anyone to read a novel if one were handy."
"Their creed forbade anything resembling a theater or "vain enjoyment." They did not celebrate Christmas, and a holiday from work meant only that they must concentrate even more upon prayer."
"We have inherited this belief, and it has helped and hurt us. It helped them with the discipline it gave them."
The minister of Salem’s church. Reverend Parris is a paranoid, power-hungry, yet oddly self-pitying figure. Many of the townsfolk, especially John Proctor, dislike him, and Parris is very concerned with building his position in the community.
"No--no. There be no unnatural cause here. Tell him I have sent for Reverend Hale of Beverly, and Mr. Hale will surely confirm that. Let him look to medicine and put out all thought of unnatural causes here."
"And what shall I say to them? That my daughter and my niece I discovered dancing like heathen in the forest?"
"Such a Christian that will not come to church but once in a month!"
"I think not, or you should surely know that Cain were an upright man, and yet he did kill Abel."
Now Mr. Hale's returned, there is hope, I think--for if he bring even one of these to God, that confession surely damns the others in the public eye, and none may doubt more that they are all linked to Hell. This way unconfessed and claiming innocence, doubts are multiplied, many honest people will weep for them, and our good purpose is lost in their tears.
Reverend Parris’s ten-year-old daughter. Betty falls into a strange stupor after Parris catches her and the other girls dancing in the forest with Tituba. Her illness and that of Ruth Putnam fuel the first rumors of witchcraft.
"I want my mama!"
"I'll fly to Mama. Let me fly!"
"You drank blood, Abby! You didn't tell him that!"
"You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!"
Reverend Parris’s black slave from Barbados. Tituba agrees to perform voodoo at Abigail’s request.
"I don't compact with no Devil!"
"No, no, don't hang Tituba! I tell him I don't desire to work for him, sir."
"I don't know, sir, but the Devil got him numerous witches."
"He say Mr. Parris must be kill! Mr. Parris no goodly man, Mr. Parris mean man and no gentle man, and he bid me rise out of my bed and cut your throat!"
Reverend Parris’s niece. Abigail was once the servant for the Proctor household, but Elizabeth Proctor fired her after she discovered that Abigail was having an affair with her husband, John Proctor. Abigail is smart, wily, a good liar, and vindictive when crossed.
"I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I come near! Or did I dream that? It's she put me out, you cannot pretend it were you, I saw your face when she put me out, and you loved me then and you do now!"
"I have a sense for heat, John, and yours has drawn me to my window, and I have seen you looking up, burning in your loneliness. Do you tell me you've never looked up at my window?"
"How do you call me child!"
"Oh, I marvel how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife be-"
"She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold sniveling woman and you bend to her! Let her turn you like a--"
"What will you tell? You will confess to fornication? In the court?"
"Never in this world! I know you John-- you are in this moment singing secret hallelujahs that your wife will hang!"
Susanna works for Doctor Griggs and is described by Miller as a little younger than Abigail and nervous. Eventually, she joins in with Abigail, Betty, Mercy, and Mary as the "afflicted girls" who accuse others of witchcraft.
"He bid me come and tell you, reverend sir, that he cannot discover no medicine for it in his books."
"Aye sir, he have been searchin' his books since he left you, sir. But he bid me tell you, that you might look to unnatural things for the cause of it."
"Aye sir. I pray for her."
Thomas Putnam’s wife. Ann Putnam has given birth to eight children, but only Ruth Putnam survived. The other seven died before they were a day old, and Ann is convinced that they were murdered by supernatural means.
"It is a marvel. It is surely a stroke of hell upon you."
"How high did she fly, how high?"
"I'd not call it sick; the Devil's touch is heavier than sick. It's death y'know, it's death drivin' into them, forked and hoofed."
"She ails as she must--she never waked this morning, but her eyes open and she walks, and hears naught, sees naught and cannot eat. Her soul is taken surely."
"He has indeed; and found a witch in Beverly last year, and let you remember that."
Thomas Putnam was a member of the Putnam family and a resident of Salem Village and a significant accuser in the notorious 1692 Salem witch trials. His father, Lt. Thomas Putnam Sr., was one of Salem's wealthiest residents. He was excluded from major inheritances by both his father and father-in-law.
"Ann! Tell Mr. Parris what you have done."
"Don't you understand it, sir? There is a murdering witch among us, bound to keep herself in the dark."
"Let your enemies make of it what they will, you cannot blink it more."
"You are not undone! Let you take hold here. Wait for no one to charge you--declare it yourself. You have discovered witchcraft--"
"Why aren't you home? Who's with Ruth?"
"I never heard you worried so on this society, Mr. Proctor. I do not think I saw you at Sabbath meeting since snow flew."
Mercy is a servant to the Putnam's and seems to be the particular caretaker of Ruth. She also appears friendly with Abigail Williams (which makes sense, as they were dancing in the woods together) and contemptuous of Mary Warren. Mercy is described by Miller as "a fat, sly, merciless [get it, get it, because her name is MERCY yet she shows no mercy]
"Your pardons. I only thought to see how Betty is."
"Her grandma come. She's improved a little, I think---she give a powerful sneeze before."
"I'd fear no more, Goody Putnam. It were a grand sneeze; another like it will shake her wits together, I'm sure."
The servant in the Proctor household and a member of Abigail’s group of girls. She is a timid girl, easily influenced by those around her, who tried unsuccessfully to expose the hoax and ultimately recanted her confession.
"What'll we do? The village is out! I just come from the farm; the whole country's talkin' witchcraft! They'll be callin' us witches, Abby!"
"Abby we've got to tell. Witchery's a hangin' error, a hangin' like they done in Boston two year ago! We must tell the truth, Abby! You'll only be whipped for dancin', and the other things!"
"I'll not be ordered to bed no more, Mr. Proctor! I am eighteen and a woman, however single!"
"I cannot charge murder on Abigail."
"She'll kill me for sayin' that! Abby'll charge lechery on you, Mr. Proctor!"
"I have known it, sir. She'll ruin you with it, I know she will."
A local farmer who lives just outside town; Elizabeth Proctor’s husband. A stern, harsh-tongued man, John hates hypocrisy. Nevertheless, he has a hidden sin—his affair with Abigail Williams—that proves his downfall. When the hysteria begins, he hesitates to expose Abigail as a fraud because he worries that his secret will be revealed and his good name ruined.
"Abby I never give you hope to wait for me."
"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."
"You'll speak nothin' of Elizabeth!"
"I think you're sad again. Are you?"
"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 warrant's vengeance I'll not give my wife to vengeance!"
"Good. Then her saintliness is done with. We will slide together in our pit; you will tell the court what you know.
"I will prove you for the fraud you are!"
"You mad, you murderous bitch!"
"She only pretended to faint, Your Excellency. They're all marvelous pretenders."
Francis Nurse’s wife. Rebecca is a wise, sensible, and upright woman, held in tremendous regard by most of the Salem community. However, she falls victim to hysteria when the Putnam's accuse her of witchcraft and she refuses to confess.
"Goody Ann! You sent a child to conjure up the dead?"
"Will it hurt the child, sir?"
"I think I'll go, then. I am too old for this."
"Let us hope for that. I go to God for you sir."
"I wish I knew."
Giles Corey is husband to Martha Corey and friends with John Proctor and Francis Nurse. A cantankerous old man who has no problem suing even his friends for perceived insults, Giles is described by Miller as "a crank and a nuisance, but withal a deeply innocent and brave man"
"I'm not sayin' she's touched the Devil, now, but I'd admire to know what books she reads and why she hides them. She'll not answer me, y' see."
"You're hearing lies, lies!"
"Hands off, damn you, let me go!"
"Out of my way, Herrick! I bring evidence--"
A young minister reputed to be an expert on witchcraft. Reverend Hale is called in to Salem to examine Parris’s daughter Betty. Hale is a committed Christian and hater of witchcraft. His critical mind and intelligence save him from falling into blind fervor. His arrival sets the hysteria in motion, although he later regrets his actions and attempts to save the lives of those accused.
"Ah! The stoppage of prayer--that is strange. I'll speak further on that with you."
"Now mark me, if the devil is in her you will witness some frightful wonders in this room, so please to keep your wits about you."
"What victory would the Devil have to win a soul already bad? It is the best the Devil wants, and who is better than the minister?"
John Proctor’s wife. Elizabeth fired Abigail when she discovered that her husband was having an affair with Abigail. Elizabeth is supremely virtuous, but often cold.
"John, if it were not Abigail that you must go to hurt, would you falter now? I think not."
"John you are not open with me. You saw her with a crowd, you said. Now you--"
"I do not judge you. The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you. I never thought you but a good man John--only somewhat bewildered."
"Pregnant! Are they mad? The woman's near sixty!"
"She wants me dead. I knew all week it would come to this!"
"Spoke or silent, a promise is surely made. And she may dote on it now--I am sure she does--and thinks to kill me, then take my place."
"It is her dearest hope, John, I know it. There be a thousand names; why does she call mine?"
"Then go and tell her she's a whore. Whatever promise she may sense--break it, John, break it."
"You'll tear it free--when you come to know that I will be your only wife, or no wife at all! She has an arrow in you yet, John Proctor and you know it well!"
A wealthy, influential man in Salem. Nurse is well respected by most people in Salem, but he is an enemy of Thomas Putnam and his wife.
"Aye, Cheever come and take her in his wagon. We've only now come from the jail, and they'll not even let us in to see them."
"Reverend Hale! Can you not speak to the Deputy Governor? I'm sure he mistakes these people--"
"For murder, she's charged! "For the marvelous and supernatural murder of Goody Putnam's babies." What am I to do, Mr. Hale"
A man from Salem who acts as clerk of the court during the witch trials. He is upright and determined to do his duty for justice.
"You know yourself I must do as I'm told. You surely know that, Giles. And I'd as lief you'd not be sending me to Hell. I like not the sound of it, I tell you; I like not the sound of it. Now believe me Proctor, how heavy be the law, all it's tonnage I do carry on my back tonight. I have a warrant for your wife."
"Mr. Proctor, I have little time. The court bid me search your house, but I like not to search a house. So will you hand me any poppets that your wife may keep here?"
"Why, this go hard with her, Proctor, this--I had my doubts, Proctor, I had my doubts, but here's calamity."
Herrick is the marshal for the court system in Salem, which is to say that he is the person sent to gather up prisoners, stop people from leaving the court and from attacking other people in the court, and lead convicted witches to be hanged.
"In God's name, John, I cannot help myself. I must chain them all. Now let you keep inside this house till I am gone!"
"Aye sir. If I may say it sir, I know this man all my life. It is a good man, sir."
"Excellency, I have signed seventy-two death warrants; 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."
A judge who presides, along with Danforth, over the witch trials.
"Now, Martha Corey, there is abundant evidence in our hands to show that you have given yourself to the reading of fortunes. Do you deny it?"
"Aye, she's the one."
"What lawyer drew this, Corey?"
At the time of the events in the play, Danforth is the Deputy Governor of the entire Province (of Massachusetts). Danforth oversees all of the court proceedings in the play as the highest legal authority.
"I pray you, Mr. Parris. 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?"
"Let me continue. I understand well, a husband's tenderness may drive him to extravagance in defense of a wife. Are you certain in your conscience, Mister, that your evidence is the truth?"
"I judge nothing. 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 struck 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?"
The first woman to be accused of witchcraft in Salem, Sarah Good
"A pair of bluebirds wingin' southerly, the two of us! Oh, it be a grand transformation, Marshal!"
"I'm here, Majesty!"
"Tell him I'm goin' , Tituba! Now you tell him Sarah Good is goin' too!"
A guard at the Salem jail who helps Herrick clear Tituba and Goody Good out of the room to make way for Danforth
"The Deputy Governor's arrived."
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