Crucible Unit Study Guide

The Crucible

By: Arthur Miller

Unit overview

• Vocabulary study: Look up definitions for twenty words (due when packet is due). Small glossary other words given. Background notes: students are expected to take notes in the space given.
• Character study: For the main characters, tell as much as you can about each.
• Study questions: Answer these questions as we read. These are due when the packet is due.
• Dramatic reading: It is expected that each student participate in the reading of this play. There are twenty-two roles, but we will share larger roles so everyone has a part.
• Test: To be completed at the end of the reading and discussion.
• Essay: To be completed at the end of the unit(Rough Draft 1, Peer review in-class), Draft 2, Final Draft) 400 points
• Unit packet: 400 points  

Background Notes

Author:

Drama:

A crucible is:

Puritans believed:

1.

2.

3.

4.

Why was the idea of possession accepted?

Themes:

1.

2.

3.

4.

McCarthy Hearings During the McCarthy hearings (1950s) many innocent people were accused of being traitors (communists, mainly) to our country and, while they were not physically harmed, their professional and personal lives were ruined by this adverse publicity, which was often untrue. During this period also (as in Salem) many supposed “good people” participated in the accusations against other because they were afraid that if they refused to do so their own lives would be ruined. Miller is thus drawing a parallel between two periods of hysteria in our country, though far apart in time, that are dangerously close in ideology. 

Write down the names of five famous people who were blacklisted for their ties (real or not) to communism.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Fill out the chart, by writing down the similarities and differences between the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy hearings.

Vocabulary study Glossary: these words are defined for you.

1. theocracy: governed by religion
2. providence: God’s will; God’s intervention in human affairs
3. Puritanical: strict in morality and religion; this term has come about since the reign of the Puritans
4. inculcation: impress with insistent urging; convince
5. propitiation: win good will
6. ameliorate: improve
7. theology: the study of religious doctrine; what a particular sect believes
8. vestry: the room in the church where the robes are kept
9. apparition: ghost
10. trafficked: have dealings with
11. blink: tolerate

Vocabulary study You need to define the following twenty words.

1. dissembling
2. conjure
3. vindictive
4. propriety
5. diametrically
6. defamation
7. malign
8. fiend
9. iniquity
10. malevolence
11. contempt
12. prosecutor
13. deposition
14. plaintiff
15. guile
16. reprieve
17. indictment
18. conspiracy
19. purged
20. penitence

Character study For each of the following characters, write who s/he is, what relationship to other characters, any important character or personality traits and any other important information.

	Who is s/he?	Relationship to whom?	Problem? Acts of courage/cowardice?
Rev. Samuel Parris
Betty Parris
Abigail Williams
Tituba
Mrs. Ann Putnam
Thomas Putnam
John Proctor
Elizabeth Proctor
Rebecca Nurse
Rev. John Hale

Think of what you mean when you use the words “honor”, “truth”, “justice”, or “courage.” Choose one character that exemplifies your idea of one of these ideals and explain how s/he lives up to your standards (or do the reverse: fails to live up to your standards).

Study Questions Answer each fully (sometimes in sentences, sometimes the answer is just a word or two). Keep these questions out and fill in your answers as we read and not when we finish. Answers to some of the questions might be found in the exposition sections.

ACT I

1. What was Samuel Parris’s attitude toward children?
2. Why do you think Rev. Parris has many enemies?
3. After Parris begins to believe his daughter to afflicted by witchcraft, what is Thomas Putnam’s advice to him?
4. What truths come out when the adults leave the girls alone?
5. What’s going on between Abigail and John Proctor?
6. Why does Betty start screaming?
7. Why are some people, including John Proctor, inclined to stay away from the Sabbath meeting?
8. Why does Hale believe the Devil would strike Rev. Parris’s house?
9. Though Rev. Hale is trying to get Tituba to name her accomplices, who is the first person to mention names?
10. Why isn’t it difficult for Ann Putnam to believe that Goody Osburn is a witch?
11. Give two examples that Proctor, Putnam and Corey give for why Parris is an ineffective minister.
12. Describe Giles Corey in one sentence.
13. How does Hale confuse Tituba? What is the significance of this conversation?
14. How and by whom are the other villagers accused of witchcraft? What is the motivation of the girls’ accusations? How many people are accused on the last page of Act I?

ACT II

15. What do you know about the relationship between John and Elizabeth Proctor from the stage action and opening dialogue of Act II?

16. Describe the power Abigail has in the court room.
17. Though Mary Warren cannot say who accused Elizabeth Proctor, who do you believe accused her and why?
18. Ironically, which commandment can John not remember?
19. John Proctor seems to the only voice of reason in the confusing end of Act II. What are some examples to support this idea?

20. Why is Mary Warren afraid of telling the truth about Abigail, for herself and for John?
21. How are these two ideas connected: 1. Walcott buying a pig. 2. Martha Corey being accused of witchcraft.
22. Explain the allusion that Proctor makes to Pontius Pilate.

ACT III

23. Over and over, Danforth says that the good have nothing to fear. What evidence can you give to show that the opposite is true?

24. Danforth gives the premise for judging a witch. Summarize his guidelines.
25. Mary Warren’s testimony is destroyed in the end because she cannot do something. What? How does she explain the problem?

26. Finally, Proctor admits that he and Abigail have been lovers. The truth could be the end of Abigail’s control. Why isn’t it?

27. What is the importance of John Proctor’s last speech in Act III?

ACT IV

28. What time of day does Act IV open?
29. What is Hale’s mission in Act IV?
30. Parris tells Danforth, “You cannot hang this sort.” What does he mean?
31. Why doesn’t Danforth pardon the prisoners?
32. Do you think Elizabeth Proctor would confess if she were in her husband’s place? Explain.
33. Give two reasons why Giles Corey was smart for not admitting or denying the charges against him?
34. What were Giles Corey’s dying words, and how did he die?
35. What does John Proctor admit to?
36. What will Proctor not sign?
37. Why would Proctor admit, but not sign, a confession of guilt?
38. What finally happens to Proctor’s confession?
39. In the end, what is it that is of utmost importance to John Proctor?

40. List the fate of these characters:
1. Rev. Parris
2. Tituba
3. Abigail Williams
4. John Proctor
5. Rebecca Nurse
6. Giles Corey
7. Martha Corey
8. Rev. Hale
9. Elizabeth Proctor

41.  Reflection: Did you like “The Crucible”? Why or why not?