Plot Summary of The Crucible by Arthur Miller in Under 10 Minutes
Schooling Online
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa7l0601i_E

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0:00 The year is 1692. Welcome to Salem, a society governed by priests who rule in God's name and still believe in the powers of witchcraft and
0:10 hocus pocus. We start off with the distraught Reverend Paris weeping and praying in a bedroom. His 10-year-old daughter, Betty
0:22 Paris, lies motionless on the bed. She seems to be very ill. Reverend Paris's orphaned niece, 17-year-old Abigail Williams, enters the
0:34 room with Susanna Walcott, the servant of the local town doctor, Dr. Griggs. Susanna is carrying a message for Betty. Unfortunately, Dr. Griggs can't find a
0:48 cure for her illness. He even suggests witchcraft as the cause of Betty's illness. Reverend Paris strongly denies this and sends for an expert on the
1:01 subject of witchcraft, Reverend Hail, to confirm that Betty has not been bewitched. Meanwhile, Reverend Paris asks Abigail
1:11 what happened last night when he caught her dancing with Betty in the woods. Abigail says that they just danced and the shock of being discovered made Betty
1:22 faint. I mean, everybody loves a little midnight dance in the woods, right? But the fainting. Are we sure Betty is just embarrassed and there isn't any
1:36 witchcraft going on? Mercy Lewis and Mary Warren, two servants from the village, enter the room. They are both Abigail's friends and discuss last
1:48 night's incident with her. They managed to wake Betty up for a moment, who suddenly rushes to the window. To everyone's horror, Betty yells out
1:59 that Abigail drank blood in the woods as a charm to kill John Proctor's wife, Elizabeth. Uh, gross.
2:09 Later, we'll find out that Abigail used to be Elizabeth's servant before she was fired for having an affair with John. Reverend Hail enters the room as planned
2:22 to investigate whether Betty has been bewitched. To save themselves, Tituba, Reverend Paris's slave, along with Abigail and
2:31 Betty, hysterically accuse other people of bewitching them. The blame game begins. Cut to John and Elizabeth Proctctor's
2:42 house 5 miles from the village. Mary has gone and returned from the local courthouse where a few judges from Boston have come to investigate all
2:52 these claims of witchcraft. Mary hands Elizabeth a small rag doll which she swed while sitting in court. Mary also tells them that she saved
3:04 Elizabeth from being arrested. The town's folk are starting to accuse anyone and everyone of being a witch. But who would want to accuse poor old
3:14 Elizabeth Proctctor? Well, Elizabeth correctly guesses that it was Abigail who accused her, probably in an attempt to steal Jon away all for
3:26 herself. Ezekiel Cha, a cler of the court of Salem, arrives. After a few minutes of
3:37 snooping around, Shiva discovers a needle in the stomach of Elizabeth's doll. Creepy, right? He arrests Elizabeth, explaining that
3:49 Reverend Paris discovered a needle stuck in Abigail's belly that night. Abigail had accused Elizabeth's spirit of pushing in the needle.
4:00 As Elizabeth is taken away, John furiously demands that Mary will accompany him to court and tell them the truth. As if we even know what the truth
4:11 is at this point. Cut to the courtroom. The prosecutor, Judge Hawthorne, is questioning Martha Cory.
4:22 Giles, Martha's husband, can't bear to watch his wife be slandered and is forced into an empty room next to the courtroom. Judge Hawthorne, Danforth,
4:33 Francis Nurse, John Proctor, and Mary soon enter the room. Mary is the first to denounce witchcraft, claiming that all the
4:43 accusations made were false. Then Giles states that Thomas Putnham accused George Jacobs of witchcraft to
4:53 gain more land because convicted witches would have to give up all of their property. Are the real motives behind all of this paranoia finally being
5:04 revealed? However, Jars refuses to give the name of his source and is arrested for
5:12 withholding information. It's safe to say that the jail cells were filling up fast at this point. Meanwhile, at the trial, Abigail denies
5:24 Mary's assertions that they were lying and uses some impressive acting skills to pretend that Mary has actually begun to bewitch her.
5:35 Outraged at Abigail's antics, Jon reveals that their secret affair is the real reason that Abigail keeps trying to get Elizabeth out of the way.
5:46 However, without telling Elizabeth about Jon's testimony, Danforth asks Elizabeth why she fired Abigail. Concerned for her husband's reputation,
5:58 Elizabeth lies and says that there was no affair and Danforth is forced to dismiss Jon's testimony.
6:08 Abigail draws on her acting training again as she and the other girls claim that Mary's spirit is attacking them in the form of a yellow bird.
6:18 When Danforth sentences Mary to be hanged, she switches sides and accuses Jon of being evil. It was Jon's affair that got them all into this mess in the
6:29 first place. Desparing and furious, Jon announces that God is dead. That doesn't fly with the town's people. And before he knows
6:41 it, John too is arrested and taken to jail. By now, Reverend Hail also thinks Abigail is lying. He is shocked at the injustice and angrily leaves the court.
6:56 As the play comes to its final act, we find ourselves inside the Salem jail. Danforth is annoyed that Heric, the jailer, has been letting Reverend Hail
7:06 pray with the prisoners. Suddenly, Reverend Paris enters, looking frightened. Apparently, Abigail has vanished and has taken all the
7:17 reverend's money with her. She was probably worried about the riots against the witch trials in nearby towns reaching Salem. After all, she was the
7:27 one who accused others of witchcraft. To persuade Jon to confess and escape being hanged, Danforth summons Elizabeth.
7:38 Elizabeth says that it is his decision whether to confess or not. Eventually, Jon decides that he will, even though the confession of his witchcraft is a
7:49 lie. Danforth enters Jon's cell and asks Jon to incriminate any others who were also practicing witchcraft. He refuses.
8:01 Danforth reluctantly stops questioning Jon. He gives Jon the written testimony and asks him to sign it. But John refuses to hand over the paper,
8:14 demanding to know why his repentance must be made public. How can he make his signed confession public when it is a lie?
8:24 Weeping in fury, Jon tears the paper. As Danforth orders Jon to be hanged, Reverend Paris desperately asks Elizabeth to change Jon's mind.
8:38 Elizabeth ignores Reverend Paris's requests. She can finally see that Jon is valuing honesty above his reputation, and she refuses to take that away from
8:49 him. Jon dies with his integrity. We hope you enjoyed this Schooling Online production.
9:03 For more easy lessons on the Crucible, check out our analysis of the theme of hysteria and fear.