quotes

• "There be no blush about my name...[Elizabeth Proctor] hates me, uncle, she must, for I would not be her slave. It's a bitter woman, a lying, cold, sniveling woman, and I will not work for such a woman!"

  Abigail snaps this line at her uncle, the Reverend Parris, early in the first act of the play. Parris has questioned her about the rumors going around Salem that she somehow behaved improperly while employed as a maid at the Proctors' farm. Abigail denies she has done anything wrong and blames Elizabeth entirely. Readers will soon learn that Abigail did have an affair with John Proctor, but this moment shows how much Abigail hates Elizabeth Proctor as well as her willingness to lie.
• "I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart. I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men! And now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I will not, I cannot! You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!"

  Halfway through the first act, Arthur Miller gives us a brief scene of John Proctor and Abigail together, revealing they have had a sexual affair. Abigail is still in love with John, and wants to believe that he is still in love with her (even after he says he is not). The actions Abigail takes against Elizabeth are the result of her obsession.
• "I want to open myself!...I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him, I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!"

  This outburst arrives at the end of Act I, after Tituba, Rev. Parris's slave, has confessed to witchcraft. Abigail sees Tituba's false confession as a way out of her own dilemma: if she also admits she's a witch, she will be forgiven for casting charms in the woods with Tituba and her friends. Thus, she falsely confesses to witchcraft. Abigail's so-called confession begins the long series of events that will lead to Abigail condemning both the Proctors to death.
• "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."

  In the first act, John encounters Abigail on her own at her uncle's house, a rare opportunity for them to talk together without anyone else around (except for Betty, who is supposedly unconscious on her bed). Here, John admits that he remembers his time with Abigail fondly, but that they'll never be together again. In fact, he tells her to forget it ever happened.
• "Spare me! You forget nothin' and forgive nothin'. Learn charity, woman. I have gone tiptoe in this house all seven month since she is gone. I have not moved from there to there without I think to please you, and still an everlasting funeral marches around your heart. I cannot speak but I am doubted, every moment judged for lies, as though I come into a court when I come into this house!"

  In the beginning of the second act, Miller shows the Proctors at home, revealing that John's affair with Abigail is still causing a great deal of tension in their house. John pleads with Elizabeth to soften her stance and be kinder to him. This exchange foreshadows their final scene in the play, when she shares that she has realized she had been too harsh to him.
• "But if she say she is pregnant, then she must be! That woman will never lie, Mr. Danforth."

  In Act 3, the action moves to the courthouse, where Deputy Governor Danforth is presiding over the trials of residents of Salem accused of witchcraft. Elizabeth has been accused by Abigail, but Danforth reveals that she's told the court she is pregnant. Danforth is skeptical, but John is overjoyed, telling Danforth that she would never lie. This moment sets up the action of the rest of the scene, in which Elizabeth lies to protect John's reputation.
• "A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. I beg you, sir, I beg you - see her what she is...She thinks to dance with me on my wife's grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a *****'s vengeance..."

  In Act 3, John approaches Danforth in hopes of proving, through his servant Mary's testimony, that Abigail is lying about witchcraft. When Abigail begins to call on God to help her, John loses his temper and confesses to Danforth that he had an affair with her. He explains the affair is the reason Abigail is after his wife's life. John Proctor is willing to throw aside his good name to save his wife.
• "You are pulling Heaven down and raising up a *****!"

  John closes out Act 3 by yelling this at Danforth, who has allowed Abigail to seize control of the trials again. Throughout the first three acts, John has demonstrated that he does not blindly follow authority, whether of the church or state. This stance often puts him at odds with people who represent authority, such as Rev. Parris. Here, John seals his fate by accusing Danforth, Parris, and the other officials of acting against the will of God in believing Abigail. This scene also marks the moment that Reverend Hale abandons the trials, seeing them for the farce they are.
• "Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!"

  At the end of the fourth act, John confesses, falsely, to witchcraft, but he stops short of agreeing to let his signed confession be posted around town. He explains that his name is too precious for him to give up. His refusal ends up condemning him to death. The idea of personal integrity is an important theme in the play, and here it is paramount.
• "I can. And there's your first marvel, that I can. You have made your magic now, for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor. Not enough to weave a banner with, but white enough to keep it from such dogs."

  Rev. Hale and Danforth cannot believe that John will not allow his confession to be posted in town, thus saving his life. But John tells them that he feels he is finally recovering from his many sins - he has found a "shred of goodness" in himself by refusing to falsely confess. He will die with other good people, like Rebecca Nurse.
• "Here is all the invisible world, caught, defined, and calculated. In these books the Devil stands stripped of all his brute disguises. Here are all your familiar spirits - your incubi and succubi; your witches that go by land, by air, and by sea; your wizards of the night and of the day. Have no fear now - we shall find him out if he has come among us, and I mean to crush him utterly if he has shown his face!"

  The arrival of Rev. Hale to the Parris home towards the end of Act 1 reveals him to be a smug, if intelligent, man who calmly explains to the residents of Salem that he can easily identify a witch. His self-assurance will soon crumble, but here Hale represents a warning that some things are less clear than they may initially seem, and that even very smart people can be wrong.
• "I come to do the Devil's work. I come to counsel Christians they should belie themselves. There is blood on my head! Can you not see the blood on my head!!"

  By Act 4, Rev. Hale is a changed man. He's no longer certain of anything, except the fact that the Salem witch trials have condemned and killed innocent people with his help. He tells Danforth that he is trying to get the innocent prisoners to confess to witchcraft in hopes of saving their lives, his duty for helping to condemn them.
• "Life, woman, life is God's most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it. I beg you, woman, prevail upon your husband to confess. Let him give his lie. Quail not before God's judgment in this, for it may well be ********s a liar less than he that throws his life away for pride. Will you plead with him? I cannot think he will listen to another."

  In Act 4, Rev. Hale pleads with Elizabeth to try to get John to confess to witchcraft, which would save his life. Hale has arguably gone through the most drastic change over the course of the play. Once a smug young pastor who thought he understood morality, he is now reduced to begging people to lie to save themselves.
• "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."

  This line is one of the first things Elizabeth says in the play, in the second act during her first scene. When her husband John tries to explain why he was alone with Abigail, Elizabeth turns cold and suspicious. She has not forgiven her husband for his affair despite claiming she has. Thematically, the idea of a "good man" and what good men do and do not do is an important one in this play. By the end, John will prove that he is a good man, as Elizabeth has always believed.
• "It is her dearest hope, John, I know it. There be a thousand names; why does she call mine? There be a certain danger in calling such a name - I am no Goody Good that sleeps in ditches, nor Osburn, drunk and half-witted. She'd dare not call out such a farmer's wife but there be monstrous profit in it. She thinks to take my place, John."

  In this moment in Act 2, Elizabeth is quicker than John to see that Abigail has figured out that she will be able to hurt - even kill - Elizabeth, believing she can take Elizabeth's place at John Proctor's side. Elizabeth understands Abigail's desires and intent much better than anyone else in the play. She sees Abigail for who she is.
• "Your Honor, I - in that time I were sick. And I - My husband is a good and righteous man. He is never drunk as some are, nor wastin' his time at the shovelboard, but always at his work. But in my sickness - you see, sir, I were a long time sick after my last baby, and I thought I saw my husband somewhat turning from me. And this girl -"

  Elizabeth is forced in the middle of Act 3 to testify in court about her husband's involvement with Abigail. Readers already know that John has confessed his adultery, but Elizabeth doesn't. This moment shows her desperately trying to be honest in explaining why Abigail hates her but also trying to be fair to her husband, who she loves. Elizabeth will ultimately lie on her husband's behalf, condemning them both and making his earlier comment that she will never fail to tell the truth a lie.
• "Great stones they lay upon his chest until he plead aye or nay. They say he give them but two words. "More weight," he says. And died... It were a fearsome man, Giles Corey."

  In Act 4, Elizabeth has to tell John that their friend, Giles Corey, has been killed because he was pressed for a confession to witchcraft. This moment shows Elizabeth's admiration for Giles' moral strength, which may end up inspiring John.
• "It is not my soul, John, it is yours. Only be sure of this, for I know it no Whatever you will do, it is a good man does it. I have read my own heart this three month, John. I have sins of my own to count. It needs a cold wife to prompt lechery... I counted myself so plain, so poorly made, no honest love could come to me! Suspicion kissed you when I did; I never knew how I should say my love."

  As John struggles with whether to falsely confess to witchcraft in Act 4, Elizabeth makes a confession of her own, telling him that she knows she is at least a little to blame for his affair with Abigail, which has brought ruin on them both. In Act 2, John told her that her mercy could freeze beer. Here, she returns to the idea of "a cold wife" to agree with him.
• "He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him."

  At the end of the play, John is taken to be hanged, along with Rebecca Nurse and other innocent Salem residents. Although Rev. Hale begs Elizabeth to go after John and get him to resign the confession, Elizabeth declines, acknowledging that John is, at last, what they both wanted him to be: a good man.
• "We burn a hot fire here; it melts down all concealment."

  Danforth's arrival in Act 3 raises the stakes for the residents of Salem. He is there to convene trials of the accused, so when he tells John and the others he'll "burn a hot fire,", he means it. His words turn out to be true: while Danforth falsely condemns many people, he also does burn away John's lies and deception about his relationship with Abigail.
• "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."

  In speaking to Francis Nurse during the courtroom scene of Act 3, Danforth reveals his own deluded belief that he is doing the will of God by condemning innocent people to death. Danforth's lack of self-awareness results in the deaths of many innocent people.
• "Mr. Proctor, you have been notified, have you not? I see light in the sky, Mister; let you counsel with your wife, and may God help you turn your back on Hell."

  By Act 4, most of the people of Salem recognize that the witch trials were a sham. Abigail has run away, and Parris reports that he has been threatened. But Danforth won't accept this turn of events. In order to protect himself, he continues to insist that he did the right thing, and, even now, tries to threaten John.
• "Hang them high over the town! Who weeps for these, weeps for corruption!"

  Danforth gets almost the last word in the play, condemning John to death for taking back his false confession. Danforth's inability to recognize that the witch trials were a sham and that he has participated in the murder of dozens of innocent people is chilling. His character represents what can happen when people are too self-righteous to listen to reason.