Which happens during the course of act two

When the petition testifying to the good character of the accused women is presented, the reaction from Danforth, Hathorne, and Parris is to arrest the people who signed it rather than considering that this might indicate that the women are innocent.

Nowhere is there any consideration of ulterior motives. The power of mass hysteria is further revealed when Mary is unable to faint outside of a charged courtroom environment. She believed she had seen spirits earlier because she was caught up in the delusions of those around her.

Abigail distracts the judges from any rational investigation in this act by playing into this hysteria. Will you confess yourself with him? Danforth insists that John must know more about the Devil's dealings than he has revealed. Though Rebecca Nurse's involvement has already been corroborated by other confessors, Danforth demands to hear it from John to confirm that John is fully committed to renouncing his supposed ties to Satan.

Here are a few questions about hysteria to consider now that you've read a summary of how this theme was expressed throughout the plot of the play:. Even though there is significant reason to believe Abigail is lying about Elizabeth's familiar spirit stabbing her, the frenzied investigators ignore testimony that challenges their chosen witchy narrative.

Concern for reputation is a theme that looms large over most of the events in The Crucible. Though actions are often motivated by fear and desires for power and revenge, they are also propped up by underlying worries about how a loss of reputation will negatively affect characters' lives. Once there have been enough convictions, the reputations of the judges also become factors. They are extremely biased towards believing they have made the correct sentencing decisions in court thus far, so they are reluctant to accept new evidence that may prove them wrong.

The importance placed on reputation helps perpetuate hysteria because it leads to inaction, inflexibility, and, in many cases, active sabotage of the reputations of others for selfish purposes. The overall message is that when a person's actions are driven by desires to preserve favorable public opinion rather than do the morally right thing, there can be extremely dire consequences.

Reverend Parris' concerns about his reputation are immediately evident in Act 1. Parris is very quick to position himself on the side of the accusers as soon as Abigail throws the first punch, and he immediately threatens violence on Tituba if she doesn't confess pg.

He appears to have no governing system of morality. His only goal is to get on the good side of the community as a whole, even in the midst of this bout of collective hysteria.

Abigail also shows concern for her reputation. She is enraged when Parris questions her suspicious dismissal from the Proctor household. Abigail insists that she did nothing to deserve it and tries to put all the blame on Elizabeth Proctor.

She says, "My name is good in the village! I will not have it said my name is soiled! Goody Proctor is a gossiping liar!

In this act, we learn more details about the accused that paint a clearer picture of the influence of reputation and social standing on the patterns of accusations. Goody Good, an old beggar woman, is one of the first to be named a witch.

Rebecca Nurse, a woman whose character was previously thought to be unimpeachable, is accused and arrested. This is taken as evidence that things are really getting out of control "if Rebecca Nurse be tainted, then nothing's left to stop the whole green world from burning.

People in power continue to believe the accusers out of fear for their own safety, taking the hysteria to a point where no one is above condemnation. At the end this act, John Proctor delivers a short monologue anticipating the imminent loss of the disguises of propriety worn by himself and other members of the Salem community.

The faces that people present to the public are designed to garner respect in the community, but the witch trials have thrown this system into disarray. In a way, John welcomes the loss of his reputation because he feels so guilty about the disconnect between how he is perceived by others and the sins he has committed.

John Proctor sabotages his own reputation in Act 3 after realizing it's the only way he can discredit Abigail. This is a decision with dire consequences in a town where reputation is so important, a fact that contributes to the misunderstanding that follows. She continues to act under the assumption that his reputation is of the utmost importance to him, and she does not reveal the affair.

This lie essentially condemns both of them. Danforth also acts out of concern for his reputations here. He references the many sentencing decisions he has already made in the trials of the accused.

This fact could destroy his credibility , so he is biased towards continuing to trust Abigail. Danforth has extensive pride in his intelligence and perceptiveness. This makes him particularly averse to accepting that he's been fooled by a teenage girl. Though hysteria overpowered the reputations of the accused in the past two acts, in act 4 the sticking power of their original reputations becomes apparent. Parris begs Danforth to postpone their hangings because he fears for his life if the executions proceed as planned.

In the final events of Act 4, John Proctor has a tough choice to make between losing his dignity and losing his life. The price he has to pay in reputation to save his own life is ultimately too high. I have given you my soul; leave me my name! Here are a few discussion questions to consider after you've read my summary of how the theme of reputation motivates characters and plot developments in The Crucible :.

If you're an old beggar woman who sometimes takes shelter in this creepy shack, you better believe these jerks are gonna turn on you as soon as anyone says the word "witch. The desire to preserve and gain power pervades The Crucible as the witch trials lead to dramatic changes in which characters hold the greatest control over the course of events.

Where before she was just an orphaned teenager, now, in the midst of the trials, she becomes the main witness to the inner workings of a Satanic plot.

The main pillars of traditional power are represented by the law and the church. These two institutions fuse together in The Crucible to actively encourage accusers and discourage rational explanations of events. The girls are essentially given permission by authority figures to continue their act because they are made to feel special and important for their participation.

The people in charge are so eager to hold onto their power that if anyone disagrees with them in the way the trials are conducted, it is taken as a personal affront and challenge to their authority. Danforth, Hathorne, and Parris become even more rigid in their views when they feel they are under attack. As mentioned in the overview, religion holds significant power over the people of Salem.

Reverend Parris is in a position of power as the town's spiritual leader, but he is insecure about his authority. He believes there is a group of people in town determined to remove him from this position, and he will say and do whatever it takes to retain control.

This causes problems down the line as Parris allows his paranoia about losing his position to translate into enthusiasm for the witch hunt. Abigail, on the other hand, faces an uphill battle towards more power over her situation. She is clearly outspoken and dominant, but her initial position in society is one of very little influence and authority. Abigail accuses Tituba first because Tituba is the one person below her on the ladder of power, so she makes an easy scapegoat.

If Tituba was permitted to explain what really happened, the ensuing tragedy might have been prevented. No one will listen to Tituba until she agrees to confirm the version of events that the people in traditional positions of authority have already decided is true, a pattern which continues throughout the play.

By Act 2, there have been notable changes in the power structure in Salem as a result of the ongoing trials. This new power is exciting and very dangerous because it encourages the girls to make additional accusations in order to preserve their value in the eyes of the court.

Abigail, in particular, has quickly risen from a nobody to one of the most influential people in Salem. No one thinks a teenage orphan girl is capable of such extensive deception or delusion , so she is consistently trusted. She openly threatens Danforth for even entertaining Mary and John's accusations of fraud against her. Though Danforth is the most powerful official figure in court, Abigail manipulates him easily with her performance as a victim of witchcraft. He's already accepted her testimony as evidence, so he is happy for any excuse to believe her over John and Mary.

John finally comes to the realization that Mary's truthful testimony cannot compete with the hysteria that has taken hold of the court. The petition he presents to Danforth is used as a weapon against the signers rather than a proof of the innocence of Elizabeth, Martha, and Rebecca. Abigail's version of events is held to be true even after John confesses to their affair in a final effort to discredit her. Logic has no power to combat paranoia and superstition even when the claims of the girls are clearly fraudulent.

John Proctor surrenders his agency at the end of Act 3 in despair at the determination of the court to pursue the accusations of witchcraft and ignore all evidence of their falsehood.

By Act 4, many of the power structures that were firmly in place earlier in the play have disintegrated. Reverend Parris has fallen from his position of authority as a result of the outcomes of the trials.

In Act 1 he jumped on board with the hysteria to preserve his power, but he ended up losing what little authority he had in the first place and, according to Miller's afterward, was voted out of office soon after the end of the play.

The prisoners have lost all faith in earthly authority figures and look towards the judgment of God. The only power they have left is in refusing to confess and preserving their integrity. I n steadfastly refusing to confess, Rebecca Nurse holds onto a great deal of power. The judges cannot force her to commit herself to a lie, and her martyrdom severely damages their legitimacy and favor amongst the townspeople.

Here are some discussion questions to consider after reading about the thematic role of the concepts of power and authority in the events of the play:. Mary Warren when she comes back from Salem in Act 2. These are themes that could be considered subsets of the topics detailed in the previous sections, but there's also room to discuss them as topics in their own right. I'll give a short summary of how each plays a role in the events of The Crucible.

The theme of guilt is one that is deeply relevant to John Proctor's character development throughout the play. John feels incredibly ashamed of his affair with Abigail, so he tries to bury it and pretend it never happened. Elizabeth tells Proctor that he must go to Salem and reveal that Abigail is a fake. Proctor hesitates and then reveals that he cannot prove what Abigail said because they were alone when they talked. Elizabeth becomes upset with Proctor because he did not tell her he spent time alone with Abigail.

Proctor and Elizabeth argue. Proctor is angry because he believes Elizabeth is accusing him of dishonesty and is suspicious that he has resumed his affair with Abigail.

Elizabeth is angry because she does not believe Proctor is completely honest with her. Up until this point, the audience has only heard about Elizabeth through Abigail and Proctor. Abigail has described Elizabeth as a cold "sniveling" woman who cannot possibly satisfy Proctor or make him happy. Proctor has vehemently defended Elizabeth. From outward appearances, the Proctor household seems to be the typical Puritan home. As Proctor and Elizabeth eat dinner they discuss the farm, crops, and domestic issues; however, tension exists in the house.

Elizabeth knows about Proctor's affair. She tells Proctor that she forgives him, but a lingering distrust plagues her. Even though Proctor has remained faithful for the past seven months and is truly sorry for his affair, Elizabeth faces difficulty moving beyond the past.

As a result, Proctor feels that Elizabeth continually scrutinizes his actions, which frustrates and angers him. They instead continue to push for more confessions, which are then counted as "evidence" of a grand Satanic plot. Anyone who doubts the existence of this plot is brought under suspicion. When the poppet is discovered in Elizabeth's possession, it is taken as concrete proof that she's involved in witchcraft. Elizabeth's side of the story immediately becomes virtually irrelevant because Abigail's testimony is much scarier and more dramatic: "She sat to dinner in Reverend Parris's house tonight, and without word nor warnin' she falls to the floor.

Like a struck beast, he says, and screamed a scream that a bull would weep to hear. And he goes to save her, and, stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draw a needle out. The idea that a witch's familiar spirit could be going around stabbing people willy-nilly is too horrifying for people who genuinely believe in witchcraft to give Elizabeth the benefit of the doubt. Everyone severely underestimates Abigail's ambition and deviousness. Goody Good, an old beggar woman, is one of the first to be accused because she is already held in such low regard.

It's easy for respectable citizens to accept that she's in league with the Devil because she is an "other" in Salem, just like Tituba. Elizabeth knows that Abigail has it in for her because there's no other reason she would take the risk of accusing a farmer's wife with a solid reputation. Elizabeth is an upstanding member of the community, whereas other women who have been accused were already at the bottom of the totem pole. Elizabeth knows that her high status still affords her some credibility, but this is the point at which the value of reputation in Salem starts to butt heads with the power of hysteria and fear to sway people's opinions and vengeance to dictate their actions.

In this act it is also revealed that Rebecca Nurse has been accused, a woman whose character was previously thought to be unimpeachable. This is taken as evidence that things are really getting out of control "if Rebecca Nurse be tainted, then nothing's left to stop the whole green world from burning.

In Act 2, we see that Mary Warren has been given a new sense of her own power through the value placed on her testimony in court.

Elizabeth notes that Mary's demeanor, previously very meek, is now like that of "the daughter of a prince" pg. Mary has never felt like she was a part of something significant like this before, which likely adds to her conviction that the people she's accusing are truly witches.

Mary and the other girls are riding on a high of attention and respect from powerful people in the community, so they are especially motivated to stick to their stories and even genuinely believe their own lies. At this point, Abigail has gone from a nobody to unofficially one of the most powerful people in Salem. It would be incredibly difficult for her to go back on her accusations now.

Abigail's low status in normal times ironically gives her a great deal of power in her current situation. No one thinks she's smart or devious enough to make up all these insane stories, so she is taken at her word. In the words of John Proctor, "the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom" pg. This theme is prominent in the dynamic between John and Elizabeth. John is frustrated with Elizabeth because she still doesn't fully trust him, but he's really projecting his internal guilt about his affair with Abigail onto her.

John gets worked up because he's angry at himself for essentially setting these accusations in motion against his wife. He's frustrated that he hasn't been allowed to leave the affair behind him and hates that he now has to face up to real consequences. He underestimated Abigail and is now paying the price.

John's guilt is a huge thematic undercurrent throughout the play, as we will see to an even greater extent in the next two acts. Even before his arrest spoiler alert , John is a prisoner of his own guilt. He kinda deserves it, tbh. In Act 2, the situation in Salem goes from worrisome to straight up horrifying. It becomes clear just how far the characters are willing to go to protect themselves against the town's burgeoning hysteria even if it means setting others on a path to the gallows.

Let's recap the most important events:. Elizabeth informs John that more people have been arrested, and he needs to go to Salem to tell the court that Abigail is a fraud. Mary returns from Salem after participating in the trials and gives Elizabeth a ragdoll she made in court. Mary tells the Proctors that Elizabeth was mentioned briefly, but the accusations were dismissed thanks to Mary's favorable testimony.

Elizabeth knows Abigail will continue to accuse her until something sticks, and she tells John he has to go directly to Abigail and tell her that they're NEVER gonna be a thing. Hale warily questions the Proctors about their skimpy church attendance, and John tells him Abigail is a fraud.

Hale has fleeting doubts about the legitimacy of the girls' accusations. They find a needle in the doll Mary gave Elizabeth that corresponds to the needle that Elizabeth's familiar spirit supposedly used to stab Abigail. This is all a set-up for the heightened drama of Act 3. John Proctor is prepared to tell the whole truth about Abigail to save his wife and the rest of the accused, but will that be enough to stem the tide of witch-related hysteria?

Hint: no. Want a full summary of the play all in one place? Check out our complete overview of the plot of The Crucible , including descriptions of the main characters and a list of major themes. If you're looking for a deeper thematic discussion to help you write a killer essay, read this article on how each theme manifests in the play and what larger conclusions can be drawn as a result.

We've also written comprehensive analyses of the most significant characters in The Crucible. We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools , from state colleges to the Ivy League.

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How to Get a Perfect 4. How to Write an Amazing College Essay. A Comprehensive Guide. Choose Your Test. Best Crucible Act 2 Summary. The Crucible Act 2 Summary — Short Version John and Elizabeth discuss the trials in Salem , and they both realize things are getting out of hand though John still believes the court would never actually hang anyone.

Irony This act sees one of the most blatant examples of irony in the play. Hysteria Act II is when the full extent of the hysteria in Salem becomes apparent. Reputation Goody Good, an old beggar woman, is one of the first to be accused because she is already held in such low regard.

Power and Authority In Act 2, we see that Mary Warren has been given a new sense of her own power through the value placed on her testimony in court. Guilt This theme is prominent in the dynamic between John and Elizabeth.

Let's recap the most important events: Elizabeth informs John that more people have been arrested, and he needs to go to Salem to tell the court that Abigail is a fraud. Francis Nurse and Giles Corey come to the house and say that their wives have been arrested.