In 1692, a village killed its own neighbours because some girls said the word "witch". The trials were real. One big part of the film is not.
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These are the new words. Match each word (1–8) to its meaning (A–H). Say your answers out loud — "I think 1 is D" — then check.
1 = E (a witch) · 2 = A (a village) · 3 = B (a judge) · 4 = G (a court)
5 = F (a lie) · 6 = D (jealous) · 7 = H (to hang someone) · 8 = C (a prison)
Nicholas Hytner's The Crucible (1996). The story comes from a famous play by Arthur Miller. Read each part. Then try the questions from memory, and talk about the last one. (There are spoilers — that is fine, we want to talk about it.)
Salem, America, in the year 1692. It is a small, very religious village. Everybody goes to church. Everybody watches everybody else.
One night, some girls go into the wood with Tituba. Tituba is a slave in the house of the church minister, Mr Parris. The girls dance and think about boys. Mr Parris sees them. The next morning, his daughter does not wake up. People in the village start to say a terrible word: witch.
The leader of the girls is Abigail Williams. She worked before in the house of a farmer, John Proctor. They had a secret love affair, and then Proctor's wife, Elizabeth, sent Abigail away. Abigail is jealous. She wants Elizabeth gone.
The girls are afraid of punishment. So they accuse Tituba. Mr Parris beats her, and she confesses. Then something dangerous happens: the village listens to the girls. The girls understand that they now have power — and they begin to accuse many more people.
1. Why do the girls accuse Tituba?
2. Why is Abigail jealous of Elizabeth Proctor?
1. They are afraid of being punished for dancing in the wood, so they say Tituba is a witch. Tituba is beaten and then confesses.
2. Abigail had a love affair with Elizabeth's husband, John Proctor. Elizabeth sent her away, and Abigail wants John for herself.
A special court comes to the village. The main judge is called Danforth. He is intelligent, but he is completely sure that he is right.
In the court, the girls say that they can see the spirits of the accused people. They scream and point at the air. Nobody else can see anything. But the court believes the girls, and this is very difficult to answer. How can you prove that a spirit is not there?
Then the girls accuse Elizabeth Proctor. John Proctor takes his servant, Mary Warren, to the court. Mary tells the judges the truth: the girls are pretending. But in front of everyone, the other girls turn against Mary and scream at her.
So John Proctor tells the court about his affair with Abigail. He destroys his own good name to show why Abigail is lying. The judge calls Elizabeth. He asks her, "Was your husband unfaithful?" Elizabeth does not know that John has confessed. She wants to protect him, so she says no. Now John looks like the liar. Mary Warren is frightened, and she accuses John too. The soldiers take him to prison.
1. What do the girls say they can see in the court?
2. Why does Elizabeth's answer hurt her husband?
1. They say they can see the spirits of the accused people attacking them. Nobody else can see them, so nobody can prove it is false.
2. John has just told the court about the affair, to show Abigail's real reason. Elizabeth says there was no affair, because she wants to protect him — so people think John is lying.
The prison is full. An old farmer, Giles Corey, will not answer the judges at all. He says nothing, so the court cannot take his land from his sons. The court puts heavy stones on him, and he dies.
The judges want people to confess, because every confession shows that the court was right. On the last morning, Elizabeth visits John in prison. She is going to have a baby, so the court will not hang her yet. She does not tell John what to do.
John decides to live. He signs a paper and says he is a witch. But then the judge wants the paper on the church door, so all the village can read it. John says no. He tears the paper. He says the court can take his life, but it cannot take his name.
John Proctor walks to the gallows with two other people. They say a prayer together. Elizabeth watches, and she does not stop him.
1. Why does Giles Corey say nothing to the judges?
2. Why does John tear the paper after he signs it?
1. If he never answers, the court cannot take his land, and his sons can keep it. He pays for this with his life.
2. The judge wants to put the paper on the church door for everybody to read. John does not want his name used for a lie, so he tears it.
This whole story happened a long time ago, in 1692. To tell it, you need the past simple — the tense for finished actions in the past.
Put the verb in the past simple.
1. The girls (dance) in the wood at night.
2. Mr Parris (watch) them from the trees.
3. Abigail (accuse) many people in the village.
4. John and Elizabeth (try) to stop the court.
1. danced (dance + d)
2. watched
3. accused (accuse + d)
4. tried (consonant + y → ied)
Put the verb in the past simple. These ones do not take -ed.
1. Tituba (tell) the judges what they wanted to hear.
2. The soldiers (take) Elizabeth to prison.
3. John (write) his name on the paper, and then he (tear) it.
1. told
2. took
3. wrote · tore
Fill each gap with the past simple. Some verbs are regular and some are irregular. Read it aloud when you finish.
In 1692, a group of girls (say) that their neighbours (be) witches. The judges (believe) the girls. Soldiers (arrest) many people. John Proctor (refuse) to tell a lie, and he (lose) his life.
said · were · believed · arrested · refused · lost
Remember: regular verbs take -ed; irregular verbs change completely, and you learn them one by one.
Most of it is true. The village was real, the court was real, and most of the people in the film really lived. But the biggest part of the story is not true — and the writer knew it.
In 1692, the real Abigail Williams was a child of about eleven. The real John Proctor was sixty years old. There is no evidence that they ever met before the trials, and Abigail never worked in his house. So there was no affair. Arthur Miller made Abigail seventeen and Proctor much younger, and he invented the love story. He wrote in a note to his play that he changed her age.
Miller wrote the play in 1953, and he was really writing about his own country. At that time, the American government asked writers and actors about communists. If you gave the names of your friends, you were safe. If you did not, you were in trouble. Miller saw the same thing in the old Salem papers: people saved themselves by naming other people.
Then it happened to him. In 1956, the government asked Miller for names, and he said no. In 1957 a court said he was guilty. But he never went to prison: in 1958 a higher court cancelled the decision.
The court really believed the girls when they said they could see spirits. Nineteen people were hanged in 1692. Giles Corey really died under heavy stones. At least five more people died in prison. Tituba really was a slave in the minister's house — but historians still do not agree about where she came from, so it is honest to say we do not know.
One thing that many people believe is not true: nobody in Salem was burned. The punishment was hanging. In the end, important men said that "seeing a spirit" was not real evidence, the governor closed the court, and by 1693 the people still in prison were free.
Do all three tasks out loud. Use the timer to keep talking.
Tell the story of The Crucible in your own words. Use these steps to help you: girls dance in the wood at night → they accuse Tituba → the village believes them → the court and the "spirits" → John Proctor tells the truth about the affair → Elizabeth's lie → the paper and the gallows.
Try to use some key words (witch, village, judge, court, lie, jealous, prison, accuse, confess) and the past simple.
John Proctor can live if he says a lie about himself. He chooses to die instead. Was this right? Think about his wife and his children. What would you do, and why?
Talk about films that come from real history. Use the past simple.
Not sure what to say? Choose one: