The Crucible - Green Local Schools



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The Crucible

Literature and Composition

Study Guide & Activities

Cast of Characters

REVEREND PARRIS: the minister of Salem, Massachusetts. The witch scare began with his daughter’s mysterious illness.

BETTY PARRIS: Reverend Parris’ daughter, one of the initial accusers.

TITUBA: the Parris family’s Caribbean slave.

ABIGAIL WILLIAMS: Parris’ niece and chief among the accusers. Formerly a servant in the Proctor household.

SUSANNA WALCOTT: accused of witchcraft.

MRS. ANN PUTNAM: a bitter woman who sides with the accusers.

THOMAS PUTNAM: her husband for whom the witch trials are a means of increasing his already considerable land holdings. An enemy of Reverend Parris.

MERCY LEWIS: the Putnams’ servant. One of the accusers.

MARY WARREN: the Proctors’ servant. One of the accusers.

JOHN PROCTOR: a prominent landholder and farmer in the Salem community.

REBECCA NURSE: a prominent citizen of Salem, famous throughout Massachusetts for her virtue and charity.

GILES COREY: a prominent landholder in Salem.

REVEREND JOHN HALE: another minister—from Beverly, Massachusetts—famous for his study of witchcraft and witches.

ELIZABETH PROCTOR: John’s wife.

FRANCIS NURSE: Rebecca’s husband.

EZEKIEL CHEEVER: town constable.

MARSHAL HERRICK: town jailer.

JUDGE HATHORNE: the inflexible judge in the witch trials. A distant ancestor of Nathaniel Hawthorne.

DEPUTY GOVERNOR DANFORTH: the Deputy Governor of Massachusetts and presiding officer of the court.

SARAH GOOD: one of the condemned.

HOPKINS: a guard in the jail.

Dramatic License

While Miller freely admitted that this play was not intended to be a history, he

researched the information for the witch trials from primary documents in Salem. He was

careful not to misrepresent characters or their actions. Miller did make some changes for the sake of the story. One of the largest was the Abigail Williams and John Proctor affair. Miller inferred from actions noted in court documents that Abigail and John had a relationship.

Miller created all conversations to support this idea. Furthermore, Abigail was actually eleven years old when the story takes place. While girls were often wed around her age, Miller made her older in his story to make his audience more comfortable with this plot line. Miller’s other significant alterations are the exclusion of characters and the compression of time. For example, Parris was still married at the time and had two other children, and there were several other judges and afflicted witnesses. Likewise, in reality, Rebecca Nurse was hanged several weeks before John Proctor, and Giles Corey’s “pressing” did not occur until a month or two later. These changes were most likely necessary to make the play “fit” onto the stage.

A more accurate timeline of the events of the witch trials follows:

November, 1689: Samuel Parris is named the new minister of Salem.

October 16, 1691: Villagers are dissatisfied with Reverend Parris and stop contributing to his salary.

January 20, 1692: Eleven-year-old Abigail Williams and nine-year-old Elizabeth Parris begin behaving strangely. Soon, Ann Putnam, Jr., and other Salem girls begin

acting similarly. This is not the first case of “witchcraft” in Salem. Four years earlier

thirteen-year-old Martha Goodwin, her brother, and sisters acted strangely after a

fight with their laundress. Laundress Goody Glover was hanged as a witch.

Late-February, 1692: Pressured by ministers and townspeople, Elizabeth identifies the Parris’s Indian slave Tituba as the cause of her odd behavior. The girls later accuse Sarah

Good and Sarah Osborne of witchcraft. Sarah Good is a homeless beggar, and Sarah

Osborne an elderly, quarrelsome woman who had not attended church in over a

year.

February 29, 1692: Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne are arrested on charges of witchcraft.

March 1, 1692: Magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin examine Tituba, Sarah

Good, and Sarah Osborne. Tituba confesses to practicing witchcraft and confirms

Good and Osborne are her co-conspirators.

March 11, 1692: Ann Putnam, Jr., shows signs of affliction by witchcraft. Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott, and Mary Warren later claim to be affl icted as well.

March 12, 1692: Ann Putnam, Jr., accuses Martha Cory of witchcraft.

March 19. 1692: Abigail Williams denounces Rebecca Nurse as a witch.

March 21, 1692: Magistrates Hathorne and Corwin examine Martha Cory.

March 23, 1692: Sarah Good’s daughter, four-year-old Dorcas, is arrested.

March 24, 1692: Corwin and Hathorne examine Rebecca Nurse.

March 26, 1692: Hathorne and Corwin interrogate Dorcas.

March 28, 1692: Elizabeth Proctor is accused of witchcraft.

April 3, 1692: Sarah Cloyce defends her sister, Rebecca Nurse, and is accused of witchcraft herself.

April 11, 1692: Judges Hathorne and Corwin examine Sarah Cloyce and Elizabeth Proctor. John Proctor, who protested the examination of his wife, is arrested. He is the first man accused of witchcraft.

Early April, 1692: Mary Warren, the Proctors’ servant and accuser, admits that she lied. She accuses the other girls of lying.

April 13, 1692: Ann Putnam, Jr., accuses Giles Cory of witchcraft and claims that a man who died at Cory’s house also haunts her.

April 19, 1692: Giles Cory and Mary Warren are examined. Mary Warren reverses her

statement made in early April and rejoins the accusers.

April 22, 1692: Mary Easty, another of Rebecca Nurse’s sisters who defended her, is examined by Hathorne and Corwin.

May 10, 1692: Sarah Osborne dies in prison.

May 18, 1692: Mary Easty (Rebecca Nurse’s sister) is released from prison but is again

arrested after her accusers protest.

May 27, 1692: Governor Phipps issues a commission for a “Court of Oyer and Terminer” (meaning “Hearing and Determining”) and appoints as judges John Hathorne,

Nathaniel Saltonstall, Bartholomew Gedney, Peter Sergeant, Samuel Sewall, Wait Still Winthrop, and Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton.

June 15, 1692: Cotton Mather, an infl uential Boston minister and writer, writes a letter

requesting the court not use “spectral evidence” and urging that the trials be speedy.

The Court pays more attention to the request for speed and less attention to the

criticism of spectral evidence.

June 29-30, 1692: Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Good are tried, pronounced guilty, and sentenced to hang.

July 19, 1692: Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Good are hanged at Gallows Hill.

August 5, 1692: John and Elizabeth Proctor are pronounced guilty and sentenced to hang.

August 19, 1692: John Proctor is hanged on Gallows Hill. Elizabeth Proctor is not hanged because she is pregnant.

September 9, 1692: Martha Corey and Mary Easty are pronounced guilty and sentenced to hang.

Mid-September, 1692: Giles Cory is indicted.

September 19, 1692: Sheriffs administer Piene Forte Et Dure (pressing) to Giles Cory after he refuses to enter a plea to the charges of witchcraft against him. After two days under the weight, Cory dies.

September 22, 1692: Martha Cory is hanged.

October 3, 1692: The Reverend Increase Mather, President of Harvard College and father to Cotton Mather, denounces the use of spectral evidence.

October 8, 1692: Governor Phipps orders that spectral evidence no longer be admitted in

witchcraft trials.

October 29, 1692: Phipps prohibits further arrests, releases many accused witches, and

dissolves the Court of Oyer and Terminer.

November 25, 1692: The General Court establishes a Superior Court to try the remaining

witches.

January 3, 1693: Judge Stoughton orders the execution of all suspected witches who were exempted by their pregnancies. Phipps prohibits the enforcement of this order, and

Stoughton resigns.

January 1693: 49 of the 52 surviving people charged with witchcraft are released because their arrests were based on spectral evidence.

1693: Tituba is released from jail and sold to a new master.

May 1693: Governor Phipps pardons those still in prison on witchcraft charges.

January 14, 1697: The General Court orders a day of fasting and soul-searching for the

tragedy at Salem. Judge Samuel Sewall publicly confesses error and guilt.

1697: Samuel Parris is fi red as minister in Salem.

1702: The General Court declares the 1692 trials unlawful.

1706: Ann Putnam, Jr., (now 26 years old) publicly apologizes for her actions in 1692. She is the only one of the accusers ever to offer such an apology.

1711: The colony passes a legislative bill restoring the rights and good names of those

accused of witchcraft and grants 600 pounds in restitution to their heirs.

1752: Salem Village is renamed Danvers.

Appendix I

Literary Terms and Definitions

Alliteration - the repetition of sounds at the beginning of words. Example: More Mischief and Merriment.

Atmosphere – see Mood

Characterization - the methods, incidents, speech, etc., an author uses to reveal the people in the book. Characterization is depicted by what the person says, what others say, and by his or her actions.

Climax - the point of greatest dramatic tension or excitement in a story. Examples: Othello’s murder of Desdemona. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the person chasing Scout is killed.

Conflict - the struggle that moves the action forward in a work of literature. There are three types of conflict, and most books include all three: man versus man (Example: a typical Western, in which the sheriff confronts the outlaw); man versus nature (Example: a story about someone surviving in a small boat on the ocean); man versus himself (Example: a character in a story fighting his or her own drug abuse). Some authorities consider man versus society a fourth category of conflict (Example: a character in a book fighting against the Nazis).

Denouement - the portion of a literary work that follows the climax and resolves the plot’s loose ends. Example: After Sherlock Holmes solves the crime (the climax), the last few pagesare left for him to explain how he did it and to clear up any remaining mysteries.

Dialect - a particular kind of speech used by members of one specific group because of its geographical location or class. Example: Jim, in Huckleberry Finn says, “Shet de do.’’[“Shut the door”.]

Dialogue - conversation between two or more characters.

Drama – plays intended to be acted; performances of plays. Example: Arthur Miller’s All My Sons.

Dynamic Characters - people in the book that evolve, change, or surprise the reader.

Exposition - the background information that the reader has to know and/or understand before reading the play or novel. The information is usually dealt with at the beginning of the book. Sometimes, exposition reveals things that occurred before the actual plot begins.

Figurative Language- words and phrases that have meanings different from their usual ones in order to create a poetic and/or literary effect. Examples: Love certainly has its own seasons; crumbling cities made of matches.

Flat or Static character - a one-dimensional character who lacks diversity and complexity; a character who is either all good or all bad and does not change. Because the character behaves in just one way, he or she is easy to comprehend. Example: Sherlock Holmes seems to be calm, deliberative, and in complete charge, regardless of the situation.

Free Verse – poetry that has no formal rhyme or meter and depends on the rhythms of speech. Example: Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.

Hyperbole- exaggeration for emphasis; overstatement. Example: I’ve told you a million times to…

Irony - a perception of inconsistency, sometimes humorous, in which the significance and

understanding of a statement or event is changed by its context. Example: The firehouse

burned down.

• Dramatic Irony - the audience or reader knows more about a character’s situation

than the character does and knows that the character’s understanding is incorrect.

Example: In Medea, Creon asks, “What atrocities could she commit in one day?”

The reader, however, knows Medea will destroy her family and Creon’s by day’s end.

• Structural Irony – the use of a naïve hero, whose incorrect perceptions differ from the

reader’s correct ones. Example: Huck Finn.

• Verbal Irony - a discrepancy between what is said and what is really meant; sarcasm.

Example: A large man whose nickname is “Tiny.”

Metaphor - a comparison of two things that are basically dissimilar in which one is described in terms of the other. Example: The moon, a haunting lantern, shone through the clouds.

Mood - the emotional aspect of the work, which contributes to the feeling the reader gets from the book. Example: Gothic novels like Frankenstein have a gloomy, dark quality to

them, which the author reflects through the depiction of nature, character, and plot.

Onomatopoeia - a word whose sound (the way it is pronounced) imitates its meaning. Examples: “roar,” “murmur,” “tintinnabulation.”

Parallelism - the repetition of similarly constructed phrases, clauses, or sentences within a short section. Examples: “Government of the people, by the people, and for the people…”;

“When I was a child, I spake as child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child…”I

Corinthians 13:11

Personification - a figure of speech in which an object, abstract idea, or animal is given human characteristics. Examples: The wall did its best to keep out the invaders. “Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me.”

–Emily Dickinson

Plot - the pattern of events in a literary work; what happens.

Resolution - the part of the story in which all the problems are solved and/or the secrets revealed.

Setting - when and where the short story, play, or novel takes place. Examples: Macbeth takes place in the eleventh century in Scotland. The Old Man and the Sea has its main setting on the ocean outside Havana, Cuba, in an unspecified time in the middle-to-late 20thcentury.

Simile - a comparison between two different things using either like or as. Examples: I am as hungry as a horse. The huge trees broke like twigs during the hurricane.

Stage Directions - the information given for the reader to visualize the setting, position of props, etc., in a play. Stage directions may give additional impressions of the characters through short descriptions and through what they do. Examples: “Exit”; “She reads from the newspaper.”

Superstition - any belief or attitude based on fear or ignorance that is inconsistent with the known laws of science. Example: Breaking a mirror brings seven years bad luck.

Symbol - an object, person, or place that has a meaning in itself and that also stands for

something larger than itself, usually an idea or concept; some concrete thing which

represents an abstraction. Example: The sea could be symbolic for “the unknown.” Since

the sea is something that is physical and can be seen by the reader, and also has elements

that cannot be understood, it can be used symbolically to stand for the abstraction of

“mystery,” “obscurity,” or “the unknown.”

Theme - the central or dominant idea behind the story; the most important aspect that emerges from how the book treats its subject. Sometimes theme is easy to see, but, at other times, it may be more difficult. Theme is usually expressed indirectly, as an element the reader must figure out. It is a universal statement about humanity, rather than a simple statement dealing with plot or characters in the story. Themes are generally hinted at through different methods: a phrase or quotation that introduces the novel, a recurring element in the book, or an observation made that is reinforced through plot, dialogue, or characters. It must be emphasized that not all works of literature have themes in them. Example: In a story about a man who is diagnosed with cancer and, through medicine and will-power, returns to his former occupation, the theme might be: “Real courage is demonstrated through internal bravery and perseverance.” In a poem about a flower that grows, blooms, and dies, the theme might be: “Youth fades, and death comes to all.”

Tragic hero - the main character in a tragedy; in order to fit the definition, the hero must have a tragic flaw, which causes his or her downfall. Examples: Hamlet’s main character

weakness is his indecision; Lear’s is his pride.

Study Guide Questions

The setting is Salem, Massachusetts, in the year 1692. Someone once said of the Puritans that they did not leave Europe because they were persecuted, but that they were thrown out of Europe because they persecuted everyone else. As you read the opening of Act I, how do you suppose Miller would respond to that statement?

Act I

Vocabulary

abomination – something detestable; something despised

abrogation – abolishment; annulment

abyss – nothingness; point of no return

anarchy – lawlessness

antagonistic – hostile

arbitrate – decide

ascertain – determine

atomization – reduction to small particles

autocratic – absolute

blatantly – in an offensively obvious manner

calumny – false charges calculated to damage another’s reputation

canny – clever; shrewd

confirm – verify

congerie – collection

contention – point advanced in a debate; also, rivalry

contiguous – next to; adjacent

corroborating – agreeing with and supporting

cosmology – theory of the natural order of the universe

covenanted – pledged

dallied – lingered; dawdled

darkling – dark

defamation – damaging another’s reputation

deference – the respect due an elder or superior

defiled – dirtied; fouled

diametrically – extremely; oppositely

Dionysiac – frenzied; festive and wild

discomfits – embarrasses; thwarts

dissembling – putting on a false appearance; concealing something

ecclesiasts – clergymen

fetishes – objects believed to have magical power

formidable – massive; considerable

ideology – system of beliefs

incubi – evil masculine spirits that come to women while women sleep

inculcation – implanting; brainwashing

inert – still; not moving

iniquity – wickedness; sin

innate – inborn

intimations – suggestions; hints

junta – group controlling a government after seizing power

ken – range of perception or understanding

klatches – gatherings, usually characterized by casual conversation

lascivious – lustful

licentious – lewd

magistrates – local officials

malevolence – ill will

malign – speak evilly of; utter false things about

manifestation – embodiment

marauded – raided

mores – moral attitudes, manners, and customs

naïve – not worldly

naught – nothing

paradox – something with seemingly contradictory elements

parochial – narrow-minded

perverse – corrupt

predilection – preference

prodigious – strange; extraordinary

propitiation – appeasement; atonement

providence – divine guidance

rankle – irritate

scourge – cause of widespread affliction

smirched – dirtied; stained

sniveling – whining and sniffling

speculation – wondering

subservient – cringingly submissive

succubi – evil female spirits that come to men while men sleep

theocracy – government by divine guidance

titillated – excited and intrigued

trepidation – apprehension

vindictive – vengeful

writ – formal written document

yeomanry – middle class land-owners; farmers

Act I

1. What does the “spareness” of the Puritan setting reveal about the lives of the townspeople of Salem?

2. Explain the significance of the forest to the Puritans.

3. Explain the irony in the Puritans’ pilgrimage to Salem to escape persecution.

4. When Abigail enters, she is described as “a strikingly beautiful girl...with an endless capacity for dissembling.” What does the phrase an “endless capacity for dissembling” suggest?

5. When Susanna exits, Abigail makes a confession to Parris, which she recants near the

end of the Act. What is the confession, and why does she change her mind?

6. Why does Rev. Parris become upset at the thought that Betty’s illness is a result of unnatural causes? What negative aspect of his character does this reveal?

7. What innuendo does Rev. Parris make about Abigail’s character?

8. Explain the relationship between Abigail and Goody (Elizabeth) Proctor.

9. Why does Mrs. Putnam believe there are witches in Salem?

10. What are Putnam’s motivations for his actions in Salem?

11. Explain the dramatic irony when Parris says, “I know that you—you least of all,

Thomas, would ever wish so disastrous a charge laid upon me.”

12. What do we learn from the conversation that Mercy, Abigail, and Mary Warren have while alone?

13. How do we see that Abigail is the acknowledged leader of this group?

14. What role did Ann Putnam play in the dancing in the forest?

15. Explain briefly how Putnam coerces Parris to declare witchcraft.

16. What does Betty’s information about dancing in the forest reveal about Abigail’s true

motivation?

17. What does the threat of a “pointy reckoning” reveal about Abigail’s true nature?

18. Describe Mary Warren’s personality.

19. In his stage directions, Miller tells us that despite, or perhaps due to, his upright

appearance, John Proctor feels he is a fraud because he knows he is a sinner. What does his conversation with Abigail tell us about the nature of his sin?

20. Explain Proctor and Abigail’s relationship.

21. Describe Rebecca Nurse physically and by reputation.

22. What three grudges could the Putnams have against the Nurses?

23. What is Rebecca’s solution to Betty’s and Ruth’s ailments, and why does this solution

anger Ann Putnam?

24. How does Proctor’s subsequent comment on Parris’ fiery sermons cause an outburst from Rev. Parris?

25. In this argument the theme of authority explicitly arises. What are the two points of view?

26. What is Reverend Hale’s motivation?

27. Hale says, "They [the books] must be [heavy]; they are weighted with authority." What is the significance of this remark?

28. Why has Abigail turned on Tituba and accused her of these things?

29. What does Putnam say that terrifies Tituba and causes her to say that she told the devil she did not want to work for him?

30. Why does Tituba come up with the names Goody Good and Goody Osburn as the two women she saw consorting with the devil?

31. What question does Giles ask Hale that shows his comical, innocent personality.

32. What effect does Miller create by lowering the curtain for this act during the girls’ cries of witchcraft?

33. What motivates Abby and Betty to begin denouncing everyone?

Vocabulary

ameliorate – to make better or more tolerable

contempt – disdain

daft – crazy; idiotic

falter – hesitate

indignant – angry over something unjust

ineptly – incompetently; foolishly

lechery – sexual indulgence

pious – faithfully religious

poppets – dolls

pretense – pretending; “an act”

Act II

1. What does the reader learn about the Proctors’ marriage through the discrepancy

between what John Proctor does before he sees his wife and when he talks to her?

2. In what ways is Miller’s use of dialogue effective in the fi rst two pages of this scene to

show the rift between the couple?

3. When Proctor kisses his wife, what does her reaction show about her feelings?

4. What does Proctor’s hesitation to travel to Salem indicate about his inner conflict?

5. Explain the ironic ultimatum the head of the court has given to those who have been

arrested.

6. Explain Proctor’s quote: “If the girl’s a saint now, I think it is not easy to prove she is a

fraud, and the town gone so silly.”

7. What lie does Elizabeth notice Proctor told? How does this feed her current suspicions?

8. What present does Mary Warren give to Elizabeth? What does her making it and givingit to Elizabeth foreshadow?

9. How does Mary Warren save herself from a whipping? Who does Elizabeth believe

accused her of witchcraft and why?

10. What does Hale’s motivation for visiting the Proctors tell the audience about his

personality?

11. In what ways does Hale question John Proctor’s religious strength?

12. Explain how Hale tests Proctor’s belief in God, as well as the irony in how Proctor fails Hale’s test.

13. Explain Hale’s quote: “Man, remember until an hour before the Devil fell, God thought him beautiful in Heaven.”

14. Explain Francis’ metaphor: “My wife is the very brick and mortar of the church.”

15. What evidence does Cheever have against Elizabeth?

16. If Mary contradicts Abigail, how is she “charging cold murder on Abigail”?

17. How is Hale a “broken minister”?

18. Explain the demand Proctor makes of Mary Warren at the end of scene one and her

significant response to his threat.

19. Who are the two dynamic characters in this scene and show their changes.

20. How are the golden candlesticks symbolic of Parris’s personality?

21. How is the poppet a symbol of Abigail’s control of the society?

Act III

Vocabulary

anteroom – “before room,” foyer

apparitions – ghosts; visions

base – low; vulgar

befuddled – confused; muddled

blanched – paled

callously – cruelly

denounce – to publicly pronounce something evil; to accuse

deposition – testimony under oath

effrontery – shameless boldness

immaculate – pure

ipso facto – “by that very fact;” therefore

partitioning – dividing

perjury – lying under oath

placidly – calmly

probity – uprightness

quail – to falter; to recoil

qualm – doubt; worry

remorseless – without a regret

slovenly – untidy

sublime – supreme; grand

unperturbed – not bothered; not upset

vestry – room used for church meetings and classes

1. Why does Giles say that he “broke charity” with his wife?

2. In what sense does the Corey’s' situation reflect on John and Elizabeth Proctor?

3. How has Rev. Hale changed since we last saw him?

4. Why is Mary Warren’s testimony critical for Hale, Proctor, Nurse, and Corey?

5. What does Mary Warren tell Governor Danforth?

6. Why does Proctor not drop the charges against the court when he hears that his wife is

pregnant and will be spared for at least a year?

7. Why does Proctor say that his wife must be pregnant if she has said so?

8. What happens to the ninety-one people who signed the petition in support of the accused?

9. What is the charge that Giles Corey makes against Putnam?

10. What is Giles Corey’s proof for his charge, and why will he not supply the proof to the court?

11. Why does Danforth find it hard to believe that Abigail could be pretending and, in effect, be a murderer?

12. How does the questioning of Mary Warren differ from the questioning of Abigail? Why?

13. Why can’t Mary faint when asked by the court?

14. When Abigail is questioned by Danforth, how does she respond?

15. In calling Abigail a whore, what charge and punishment does Proctor open himself to? Why has he made this confession?

16. What test is Elizabeth given, and how does she fail it? Why?

17. What finally causes Mary Warren to agree with Abigail?

18. On what dramatic note does Act III end?

Act IV

Vocabulary

adamant – unyielding; inflexible

beguile – to deceive

excommunication – exclusion from the church or community

gaunt – excessively thin

gibbet – gallows

purged – emptied

reprieve – stay of execution

retaliation – revenge

sibilance – a word having a sss or shh sound

tantalized – teased

1. What is the relationship between the rebellion in Andover and the flight of Abigail and

Mercy Lewis?

2. Why is Parris upset?

3. Why is it important for the court to get one of the accused "respectable citizens," such as John Proctor or Rebecca Nurse to confess?

4. Why is Rev. Hale telling the accused to lie?

5. What is it that the court desires of Elizabeth Proctor?

6. How did Giles Corey die? Why?

7. Why does Proctor call himself a fraud?

8. What responsibility does Elizabeth accept for Proctor’s lechery? What does she advise him to do?

9. After Proctor confesses to witchcraft what else does Danforth want from him?

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