The Whole Picture
Read ACT 4 of The Crucible. Keep in mind the following pre-reading questions as you read:
- How does Rev. Parris receive poetic justice (The rewarding of virtue/good and the punishment of vice/wrongdoing, often in an especially appropriate or ironic manner)?
- How have Elizabeth Proctor and Rev. Hale changed since the beginning of the play?
- What moral dilemma (the choice between equally unpleasant options or morally ambiguous options) do John Proctor, Giles Cory and Rebecca Nurse face, and how does each respond? What motivates each person in the decision?
Once you are done with the play, you can plot the plot. Let's take a look at classic plot structure shown through Freytag's pyramid and how it can be applied to The Crucible:
Now click on each heading below to see a summary of the plot of The Crucible.
Exposition
The main characters are brought together, and the sides of the conflict are drawn with Parris, Hale, and the girls on one side and the Proctors, Corys, and Nurses on the other. The setting is 1692 in Salem, and specifically we see the minister's home. The subjects of the play are revealed as guilt, accusation, corruption, hypocrisy, and intolerance. The main conflict of play—truth vs. lies—is revealed.
Complications and Rising Action
These are the main complications of the play. They also happen to show the rising action, as the play ends with the climax.
- Betty falls "ill" to avoid her father's punishment for dancing in the woods with Abigail and the other girls.
- Parris calls in Hale thereby giving credence to the possibility of witchcraft.
- Abigail calls Tituba, a witch, and in turn Tituba accuses others to save herself, thereby setting up the situation where the accusers are protected and the accused have no defense but to accuse others.
- Abigail sets her plan to eliminate Elizabeth in motion, and Elizabeth is arrested.
- Proctor, Cory, and Nurse launch a defense in the court to save their wives, but it is turned against them.
- John and Abigail's affair is revealed.
- Proctor, Nurse, and Cory are arrested as Abigail's power over the court is strengthened.
- Hale returns to try to get the accused to "confess".
- Proctor confesses and recants.
Climax
This occurs in the scene where John struggles with lying to save himself, but finally cannot give up his name by lying to protect his body.
Falling Action
There is no falling action in the play; it ends at the moment of climax when Proctor is taken away to hang.
Resolution
Ironically, the resolution is apparent before the climax when it is revealed that Abigail and Mercy have run off with all of Parris's money. By then the court knows the whole thing was a fabrication, but they choose to protect their pride and power by continuing the charade and forcing Proctor's confession.
