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Pressed further, she names two other women as accom-
plices. At the mention of their names, Abigail’s face contorts
with pain and she moans; taking the cue, the other girls
scream and writhe upon the floor. They supply the names of
more witches. Alarmed by the enormity of Satan’s plot,
Massachusetts authorities initiate an investigation.
After one court session, Abigail saunters over to John,
standing by the side of the church. When he asks what “mis-
chief ” she has been up to, Abigail averts her eyes demurely
and then gives him a wicked grin. John smiles at this prodigy
in the seductive arts. She responds with a kiss, her hand
groping for his groin. He hesitates, but then roughly pushes
her away. He has reconciled with Elizabeth; he wants nothing
more of Abigail. Her eyes blaze with hatred.
The girls’ hysterics intensify. Eventually over 100 sus-
pected witches, most of them women, are arrested. The
Proctors themselves come under suspicion. Asked to recite the
Ten Commandments, John omits the injunction against adul-
tery; the magistrate looks at him searchingly. When Abigail
accuses Elizabeth of being a witch, John lashes out at the girl.
“She is a whore,” he declares in court.“I have known
her, sir.”
“He is lying,” Abigail hisses. Suddenly her eyes widen,
horror-stricken, and she screams that he, too, is in league with
Satan. Her flawless histrionics again prevail: He is arrested.
During the trials, the magistrates look for physical evi-
dence of satanic possession: unnatural flaps of skin or
unusual warts—witch’s teats—with which Satan’s minions
sap human souls. Family and neighbors, too, furnish evi-
dence. Some cite occasions when the accused lost their tem-
pers or stole livestock. But the main evidence is the behavior
of the girls themselves, who squirm and howl, claiming that
the spirits of the accused torment them. This “spectral” evi-
dence unsettles the magistrates. Seeking stronger proof, they
urge prisoners to confess. Those who do will be spared, for
the act of confession signifies their break with Satan. Those
who refuse must be hanged.
The Proctors are among those convicted and sentenced
to death. (Because Elizabeth is pregnant, her execution is
postponed.) When given the opportunity to save himself,
John signs a confession. But inspired by his wife’s quiet
courage, he repudiates it, choosing to die with honor rather
than live in shame. His noble death at the scaffold, and the
deaths of others like him, cause the people of Massachusetts
to end the witch hunt.
The Cruciblewarrants consideration apart from Ryder’s
remarkable performance. For one, the movie vividly recreates
a puritan world inhabited by palpable spirits. Contemporary
viewers may snicker at scenes of adults scanning the night
sky for flying witches and evil birds, but the puritans believed
in such things. They regarded comets, meteors, and lightning
as signals from God. For example, when Cotton Mather lost
the pages of a lecture, he concluded that “Spectres, or Agents
in the invisible World, were the Robbers.”W
inona Ryder stars in the 1996 movie based on Arthur
Miller’s 1953 play,The Crucible,an interpretation of the
Salem witch trials of 1692. Ryder plays Abigail Williams, con-
sumed with desire for John Proctor (Daniel Day-Lewis), a
married man. Proctor has broken off their affair and recon-
ciled with his wife, Elizabeth (Joan Allen). As the movie
begins, Abigail and some other girls have sneaked into the
woods with Tituba, a slave who practices black magic. They
ask about their future husbands, and some beg her to cast a
spell on their favorites. Abigail whispers something to Tituba,
who recoils in horror. Abigail’s dark eyes, glowing with fury,
inform the movie audience of her message: She wants
Elizabeth Proctor dead. Tituba slips into a trance and begins
conjuring. Exhilarated by this illicit flouting of convention,
and quivering with sexual energy, the girls throw off their
clothes and dance wildly around a fire.
Then the minister happens onto the scene. The girls
flee in terror. Some become hysterical. Later, when con-
fronted by church elders, Abigail blurts out that Tituba was a
witch who was trying to steal their souls. Tituba initially
denies the charges, but after being whipped she confesses.
RE-VIEWING THE PAST
The Crucible
Few portraits of single puritan women exist; their invisibility may
help explain why some sought attention, perhaps by making
witchcraft accusations. The young woman in this portrait became
“visible” by becoming a mother.