Act 1 Quotes

‘A child’s spirit is like a child, you can never catch it by running after it; you must stand still. And, for love, it will soon itself come back.’ (Rebecca) Act 1

‘There is prodigious danger in the seeking of loose spirits. I fear it, I fear it.’ (Rebecca) Act 1

‘For how else is she [Ruth] struck dumb now except some power of darkness would stop her mouth? It is a marvellous sign, Mr Parris.’ (Putnam) Act 1

‘You think it God’s work you should never lose a child, nor grandchild either, and I bury all but one?’ (Goody Putnam is envious of Goody Nurse’s prospering family) Act 1

‘That tract is in my bounds, it’s in my bounds, Mr Proctor… you load one oak of mine and you’ll fight to drag it home!’ (Putnam threatening Proctor and Corey about his land) Act 1

‘It discomforts me! Last night – mark this – I tried and tried and could not say my prayers. And then she [Martha, his wife] close her book and walks out of the house, and suddenly – mark this – I could pray again!’ (Corey to Hale and the Salem elders) Act 1

‘Here is all the invisible world, caught, defined and calculated. In these books the Devil stands stripped of all his brute disguises…have no fear now – we shall find him out if her has come among us, and I mean to crush him utterly if he has shown his face!’ (Hale upon arriving at Salem) Act 1

‘Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut of my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again.’ (Proctor to Abigail) Act 1

‘We cannot leap to witchcraft. They will howl me out of Salem for such corruption in my house.’ (Parris) Act 1

‘Mr Corey, you will look far for a man of my kind at sixty pound a year! I am not used to this poverty; I left a thrifty business in Barbados to serve the Lord. I do not fathom why I am persecuted here?’ (Parris is disappointed with his wages as the minister of Salem) Act 1

When one rises above the individual villainy is displayed, one can only pity them all, just as we shall be pitied someday… a witch-hunt was not, however, a mere repression. It was also, and as importantly, a long overdue opportunity for everyone so inclined to express publicly his guilt and sins, under cover of accusations against the victims. (Stage notes from Miller) Act 1

‘Here are all your familiar spirits – your incubi and succibi; your witches that go by land, by air, and by sea… 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!’ (Hale) Act 1

Act 2 Quotes

‘My wife is the very brick and mortar of the church, Mr Hale…’ (Francis defending his wife when she is arrested) Act 2

‘There be certain danger in calling such a name – I am not Goody Good that sleeps in ditches, nor Osburn, drunk and half-witted… she means to take my place, John.’ (Elizabeth believes Abigail has ulterior motives for accusing her) Act 2

‘Theology, sir, is a fortress; no crack in a fortress may be accounted small.’ (Hale when he is visiting the Proctor household) Act 2

‘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!’ (Proctor to Elizabeth) Act 2

‘… I will be your only wife, or no wife at all! She [Abigail] has an arrow in you yet, John Proctor, and you know it well!’ (Elizabeth to Proctor) Act 2

Act 3 Quotes

‘Oh Francis, I wish you had some evil in you that you might know me! A man will not cast away his good name. You surely know that.’ (Proctor in court after confession to lechery with Abby) Act 3

‘This man [Putnam] is killing his neighbours for their land!’ (Giles Corey accuses Putnam for his evil plots) Act 3

‘I’m never put upon; I know my rights, sir, and I will have them.’ (Corey in court) Act 3

‘I will give you no name. I mentioned my wife’s name once and I’ll burn in hell long enough for that. I stand mute.’ (Corey in court) Act 3

‘I have been near to murdered every day because I done my duty pointing out the Devil’s people – and this is my reward? To be mistrusted, denied, questioned…’ (Abby in court) Act 3

‘Let you beware, Mr Danforth. Think you be so mighty that the power of Hell may not turn your wits?’ (Abby in court) Act 3

‘In her [Elizabeth’s] life, sir, she have never lied. There are them that cannot sing, and them that cannot weep – my wife cannot lie. I have paid much to learn it, sir.’ (Proctor to the court) Act 3

Act 4 Quotes

‘I am not that man. My honesty is broke, Elizabeth. I am no good man. Nothing’s spoiled by giving them this lie that were not rotten long before.’ (Proctor just before he considers confessing) Act 4

‘There is blood on my head! Can you not see the blood on my head!!’ (Hale just before Proctor hangs) Act 4

‘Postponement now speaks a floundering on my part; reprieve or pardon must cast doubt upon the guilt of them that dies till now. While I speak God’s law, I will not crack its voice with whimpering. If retaliation is your fear, know this – I should hang ten thousand that dared to rise against the law…’ (Danforth) Act 4

‘Hang them high over the town! Who weeps for these, weeps for corruption!’ (Danforth) Act 4