Crucible Act 4 Study GuideCrucible Act 4 Study Guide

The Crucible — Act 4 Study Guide Page 1

The Crucible — Act Four Study Guide

A cell in Salem jail, that fall · plus "Echoes Down the Corridor"

At a Glance

Act Four takes place in a jail cell before dawn on the morning seven prisoners are to hang. The court's power is breaking down. Andover has "thrown out the court," Abigail has fled with Parris's money, a dagger was left at Parris's door, and cows wander loose because their owners are in jail. The officials don't want mercy. They want a confession from someone respected, which would make the hangings look justified. Everything turns on John Proctor. He confesses to save his life, refuses to name anyone else, signs, and then tears the confession up rather than let his name be nailed to the church door. His final words claim back his goodness: "I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor."

Item Detail

Setting A dark cell in Salem jail with moonlight through a barred window; "bitter cold"

Time "That fall," about three months after Act Three, just before sunrise on execution day

Execution

s

"Twelve are already executed"; seven are to hang this morning, including Proctor, Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey Key news Abigail and Mercy Lewis have fled, likely by ship, after robbing Parris of 31 pounds; Andover has rebelled; Giles Corey was pressed to death

Climax Proctor signs a confession and then tears it: "Because it is my name!"

Ending Drums; Elizabeth: "He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!"

Scene-by-Scene Summary

1. Herrick, Sarah Good and Tituba

A drunk Marshal Herrick clears the cell. Sarah Good and Tituba have lost touch with reality and imagine the Devil will fly them to Barbados ("A pair of bluebirds wingin' southerly"). Tituba says the Devil "be pleasureman in Barbados" and that Salem's cold "riles him up." When a cow bellows outside she calls out "Take me home, Devil!" The scene is grim comedy: the "witches" the court "proved" are a pitiful beggar and an enslaved woman. 2. Danforth, Hathorne, Cheever: signs of collapse

The judges arrive. Herrick admits he drinks because "I have no fire here." Hathorne says Parris has "a mad look" and "wept" when greeted. Cheever explains the dispute over abandoned cows. Danforth warns, "speak nothing of Andover," a sign that the rebellion there scares the authorities.

3. Parris's news: Abigail gone, a dagger

Parris says Hale has come back to persuade the prisoners to confess. He then reveals that Abigail and Mercy Lewis have "vanished," probably "aboard a ship," taking "thirty-one pound" from his strongbox ("I am penniless"). Danforth calls him "a brainless man!" Parris warns that this group of prisoners is different: "Rebecca Nurse is no Bridget… John Proctor is not Isaac Ward that drank his family to ruin." Hanging respected people could cause a riot. He reports that only about thirty people came to Proctor's excommunication, and finally admits "a dagger clattered to the ground" outside his door. He asks for a postponement, out of fear for his own life, not out of conscience.

The Crucible — Act 4 Study Guide Page 2

4. Danforth refuses

Hale enters, "steeped in sorrow": "You must pardon them. They will not budge." Danforth refuses: "I cannot pardon these when twelve are already hanged for the same crime. It is not just." A postponement would mean "a floundering on my part; reprieve or pardon must cast doubt upon the guilt of them that died till now." He adds "I should hang ten thousand that dared to rise against the law" and compares himself to Joshua, unable to stop the sun. Hale describes the province's collapse: "orphans wandering from house to house; abandoned cattle bellow… the stink of rotting crops." He calls his own mission bitterly: "I come to do the Devil's work. I come to counsel Christians they should belie themselves… There is blood on my head!"

5. Hale and Danforth pressure Elizabeth

Elizabeth is brought in pale and chained. She reminds them, "I am yet six month before my time." Hale admits his guilt ("if he is taken I count myself his murderer") and gives his new argument: "cleave to no faith when faith brings blood… Life, woman, life is God's most precious gift… it may well be God damns a liar less than he that throws his life away for pride." Elizabeth answers: "I think that be the Devil's argument." Danforth calls her dry eyes evidence ("A very ape would weep at such calamity!"). She agrees to speak with John but promises "nothing." 6. John and Elizabeth alone

Proctor is brought up "bearded, filthy," his eyes "misty as though webs had overgrown them." They talk about the coming child ("It grows") and the boys (kept by "Rebecca's Samuel"). Elizabeth tells him Giles died by pressing. He refused to answer the indictment so his sons could keep his farm, and his last words were "More weight." Proctor admits he is thinking of confessing: "I cannot mount the gibbet like a saint. It is a fraud. I am not that man… Spite only keeps me silent." He asks for her forgiveness. She answers: "it come to naught that I should forgive you, if you'll not forgive yourself… It is not my soul, John, it is yours." She then admits her own part: "It needs a cold wife to prompt lechery… It were a cold house I kept!" Her final word to him: "Do what you will. But let none be your judge. There be no higher judge under Heaven than Proctor is!"

7. The confession