The Crucible
Abigail Williams monologue from The Crucible
- Play
- Arthur Miller
- Women
- Playing age Teens–20s
- About 1:15
- Dramatic
Abigail Williams’s monologue from the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller. A dramatic piece for women with a playing age of teens–20s, running about 1:15.
The setup
17, trying to coax the man she had an affair with to stop rejecting her
The full speech. Read it out loud twice before you start working it.
Abigail Williams’s monologue
Why, you taught me goodness, therefore you are good. It were a fire you walked me through, and all my ignorance was burned away. It were a fire, John, we lay in fire. And from that night no woman dare call me wicked any more but I knew my answer. I used to weep for my sins when the wind lifted up my skirts; and blushed for shame because some old Rebecca called me loose. And then you burned my ignorance away. As bare as some December tree I saw them all---walking like saints to church, running to feed the sick, and hypocrites in their hearts! And God gave me strength to call them liars, and God made men to listen to me, and by God I will scrub the world clean for the love of God. Oh John, I will make you such a wife when the world is white again! You will be amazed to see me every day, a light of heaven in your house, a.....Why are you cold?!
Excerpt for study and audition practice. Read the full play for context.
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About The Crucible
- The Crucible is set during the Salem witch trials of 1692.
- Arthur Miller wrote it as an allegory for the anti-communist hearings of the McCarthy era.
- It won the 1953 Tony Award for Best Play.
All 7 monologues from The Crucible All 15 Arthur Miller monologues
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