The Crucible Flashcards
Act 1, Abigail about Elizabeth
‘It’s a bitter woman, a lying, cold, snivelling woman, and I will not work for such a woman!’
Act 1, Parris to Abigail
‘You compromise my very character.’
Act 1, Abigail to some girls about her parent’s death
‘I saw Indians smash my dear parents’ heads on the pillow next to mine’
Act 1, Rebecca Nurse, warning Parris, foreshadowing
‘There is prodigious danger in the seeking of loose spirits.’
Act 2, Mary Warren to Proctor, stroppy
‘I’ll not be ordered to bed no more, Mr Proctor. I am eighteen and a woman, however single!’
Act 2, Hale to Proctor about his inability to recite the commandments
‘Theology, sir, is a fortress; no crack in a fortress may be accounted small.’
Act 2, Hale to Proctor on the validity of witchcraft claims
‘Man, remember, until an hour before the Devil fell, God thought him beautiful in heaven.’
Act 2, Proctor about the power of the children
‘the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom
Act 3, Danforth to Proctor about what will happen when he says his piece, reference to title
‘We burn a hot fire here; it melts down all concealment’
Act 3, Danforth to Francis on the position of the court
‘A person is either with this court or he must be counted against it.’
Act 3, Danforth to Hale on the opinion people have of the court, irony
‘No uncorrupted man may fear this court’
Act 3, Danforth on his use of evidence
‘Witchcraft is … by its nature, an invisible crime.’
Act 3, Proctor on the ridiculousness of the court
‘There might also be a dragon with five legs in my house, but no one has ever seen it.’
Act 3, Proctor on the legitimacy of his claims against Abigail
‘A man will not cast away his good name.’
‘I have rung the doom of my good name’
Act 4, Hale to Danforth on his regrets and his purpose
‘I come to do the devil’s work. I come to council Christian’s they should belie themselves.’
Act 4, Hale about his impact on the town
‘the very crowns of holy law I brought, and what I touched with my bright confidence, it died.’
‘Life, woman, is God’s most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it.’
Act 3, Proctor about the court
‘You are pulling heaven down and raising up a whore!’
Act 3, Proctor giving up on reason and denouncing the court
‘I say - God is dead!’
