The Crucible: Act Four–Echoes Down the Corridor

by Arthur Miller
This scathing dramatization of the Salem Witch Trials is also an allegory of Senator Joseph McCarthy's pursuit of Communists in the 1950s.

Here are the links to our lists for the play: Act One, Act Two, Act Three, Act Four–Echoes Down the Corridor
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. gibbet
    an instrument of public execution
    Let Rebecca stand upon the gibbet and send up some righteous prayer, and I fear she’ll wake a vengeance on you.
  2. excommunication
    the state of being excluded from a religious community
    It cannot be forgot, sir, that when I summoned the congregation for John Proctor’s excommunication there were hardly thirty people come to hear it.
  3. conciliatory
    intended to placate
    DANFORTH, conciliatory: You misunderstand, sir; I cannot pardon these when twelve are already hanged for the same crime. It is not just.
    "Placate" means "to cause to be more favorably inclined"—Danforth's outward manner might seem conciliatory, but his words are not, since they make clear that Hale is wrong and he is right in refusing to pardon the accused.
  4. retaliation
    action taken in return for an injury or offense
    If retaliation is your fear, know this — I should hang ten thousand that dared to rise against the law, and an ocean of salt tears could not melt the resolution of the statutes.
  5. adamant
    impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, or reason
    Is he yet adamant? Has he struck at you again?
  6. climactic
    consisting of or causing a decisive moment
    HALE, with a climactic desperation: Woman, before the laws of God we are as swine! We cannot read His will!
    "Climax" can mean both "the highest point of anything" (in this case, the "anything" is Hale's desperation to save a good man from being hanged) and "the decisive moment in a play" (which describes Hale's desperate pleading with Elizabeth, since the outcome of that would affect Proctor's decision to live or die).
  7. disputation
    a formal debate
    Goody Proctor, you are not summoned here for disputation.
  8. sibilance
    a hissing sound or quality like the one made by "s" or "sh"
    A sound — the sibilance of dragging feet on stone.
  9. embodiment
    a concrete representation of an otherwise cloudy concept
    He reaches out his hand as though toward an embodiment not quite real, and as he touches her, a strange soft sound, half laughter, half amazement, comes from his throat.
  10. indictment
    a formal document charging a person with some offense
    He would not answer aye or nay to his indictment; for if he denied the charge they’d hang him surely, and auction out his property.
  11. penitence
    remorse for your past conduct
    Is there no good penitence but it be public?
  12. salvation
    the act of delivering from sin or saving from evil
    You will not use me! It is no part of salvation that you should use me!
  13. stony
    showing unfeeling resistance to tender feelings
    Give them no tear! Tears pleasure them! Show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it!
  14. beneficiary
    the recipient of funds or other advantages
    However, it is evident that some people still were unwilling to admit their total guilt, and also that the factionalism was still alive, for some beneficiaries were actually not victims at all, but informers.
  15. rescind
    cancel officially
    In solemn meeting, the congregation rescinded the excommunications — this in March 1712.
Created on Mon Nov 25 23:00:45 EST 2013 (updated Wed Jul 02 13:32:11 EDT 2025)

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