Post 1: Deleted Scene in The Crucible

Deleted Scene in The Crucible

Going through Act II of The Crucible, a student in English class pointed out that there was a missing scene in the play; Scene II of Act II was played onstage only once, when The Crucible first opened in theatres. Then in later publications and productions of The Crucible, the scene was left out. Why could this be? There must have been a reason why this scene was left out of the later editions of the script for the play. It’s dubious that Arthur Miller just decided that he didn’t like this scene anymore.

Description of the Missing Scene
In this missing scene, Abigail Williams meets John Proctor in the woods at night, where they discuss the happenings in town. Abigail tells John of the mental suffering she has gone through for the good of the town, and even shows John the physical proof of her sufferings: numerous holes in her leg from witches’ needles, the wound in her abdomen that Elizabeth Proctor’s spirit reopens every night, and the lump on her arm that George Jacobs strikes while Abigail tries to sleep. To the reader who knows that Abigail is not in any way connected to witchcraft and has no ability to see spirits, Abigail appears insane. She appears to believe that the wounds she has caused herself were . But not only is Abigail is insane enough to mutilate her body for the sake of being believed by Salem’s court, Abigail still deceives herself into thinking that John will marry her one day.
John sees Abigail’s deluded state, and, determined to end Abigail’s influence over the court at any cost, warns her that he will confess his affair with her to the court. Abigail, still maintains that John loves her, doesn’t believe that John would blacken his name or her name by his own will. (She instead accuses the hypocrites of Salem of stealing John’s honesty and goodness, and she forgives his misstep.) Abigail laughs in disbelief and dismisses his threat; she tells John not to worry because she knows John secretly hates his wife Elizabeth and will marry Abigail once Elizabeth hangs for witchcraft.

The Scene’s Importance
The reader can now see the full effect of the witch trials on Abigail’s character. This is actually one of the best scenes in regards to character development!
It shows how the sudden power and respectful fear that Abigail has gained has seized her wits and thrown them out the door. We witness Abigail’s complete derangement. She is not just power-hungry anymore. She is a different girl with a new and different motive for playing the victim of spirits in court.
Only in this scene do we see that Abigail has a motive for accusing townspeople of witchcraft other than revenge on Elizabeth Proctor: she also wants to rid Salem of its hypocrites. She rants about the hypocrisy of the townspeople, who only appear to be good but fall deep into sin. Abigail truly seems to believe that she does God’s will by cleansing the town of sinners. (Here is a character analysis that disregards the omitted scene and describes Abigail’s character as chiefly vindictive.)

Reason for the omission of such an important scene?
Since Abigail’s new quality (of being deluded and insane) is only present in this missing scene, we may theorize that perhaps Arthur Miller left the scene out so he could create a character whose villainy was solely vengeful, and not a side effect of being insane. Obviously, Abigail was not meant to turn out insane; perhaps Arthur Miller wanted to show readers what could happen when the unscrupulous seize power. This could only be accomplished if Abigail were only a manipulative person with her wits. This way, the downfall of man could not be blamed on insanity, but on man’s manipulative, deceitful behavior.

“Additionally, when the girls are treated as ‘officials of the court’ with the power to charge and condemn, the thrill in arousing hysteria and anxiety in others, combined with the power to
condemn, proves too seductive for a young girl to ignore.”
— "Sheffield Theatres Education Resource." Welcome to Sheffield Theatres Checking Plugin. 26 Jan. 2009 )

As the quote above describes, Abigail and the other girls have let the lure of newfound power control them. This much is evident without the omitted scene. So perhaps the play is better off without the second scene in Act II. Abigail’s obsession with power is enough for the reader to think about without throwing the question of her insanity into the mix!


*I apologize that there is no link to provide the text of the missing scene; The Crucible is still in publication and is still under copyright, so there are no online sources of the text.