Saturday, November 27, 2010

The Crucible Guiding Questions by Acts

In descending order from Act 4 to Act 1

ACT FOUR QUESTIONS

1. Act 4 is set in what location at what time?
Location:________________________________ Time of Year: _________________________

2. Who is Herrick?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

3. Danforth and Hathorne talk about Parris and say that he is a bit “unsteady”. What do you think is causing
him to be “unsteady”?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

4. What does Parris reveal about Abigail and Mercy Lewis?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

5. What does Parris say he believes motivated Abigail and Mercy?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

6. What does Parris say about John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse? How does this display the change in his
character?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

7. What does Parris request happens?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

8. What is Danforth’s reason that they must be hung?
____________________________________________________________________________________

9. What does Danforth do that is ironic when speaking with Elizabeth Proctor?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

10. How has Proctor changed by the time he is reunited with Elizabeth?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

11. Who confessed to avoid hanging?
____________________________________________________________________________________

12. What has Rebecca Nurse done?
____________________________________________________________________________________

Indictment: a formal charge of having committed a most serious criminal offense

13. What has happened to Giles Corey?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

14. What has Martha Corey done?
____________________________________________________________________________________

15. What does the conversation that John and Elizabeth have reveal about their feelings and thoughts of one
another?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

16. Why won’t Proctor confess anyone else’s name?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

17. What does Proctor do after signing his confession? (Multiple actions should be listed here)
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

Beguile: influence by slyness

18. What does Elizabeth mean what she says “He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!”
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________


ACT THREE QUESTIONS

Vestry: a room in a church where sacred vessels and vestments are kept or meetings are held

1. Who is Hawthorne? What are his credentials? (This is throughout the Act)
____________________________________________________________________________________

2. Whose trial is going on at the beginning of Act 3?
____________________________________________________________________________________

3. What does Giles claim that gets him kicked out of the court?
____________________________________________________________________________________

4. Who is Danforth?
____________________________________________________________________________________

Contentious : likely to cause controversy
Contemptuous: expressing extreme disrespect

5. What does Giles mean when he says that he has “broke charity” with his wife?
____________________________________________________________________________________

6. Who else says that they have proof that the girls are frauds?
____________________________________________________________________________________

7. What proof do they have?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

8. How does Parris react to Proctor?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

9. What happens to Proctor when he asks to speak the truth to the court?
____________________________________________________________________________________
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

10. Who is Hale supporting at this point? (page 41)
____________________________________________________________________________________

11. What does Proctor find out about his wife from Danforth?
____________________________________________________________________________________

12. What does Proctor hand to Danforth that he hopes will help him free Elizabeth and Giles and Francis’s
wives? (3 Things)
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
13. What ends up happening instead?
1)__________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
2)__________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
3)__________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

14. What does Proctor tell Mary Warren to try and calm her?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________

15. Who does Giles Corey accuse of pushing his daughter to “cry witchery”?
___________________________________________________________________________________

16. What happens to Giles? (p.43-44)
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

Prodigious: Great in size, large, a lot.

Effrontery: Arrogant behavior that you have no right to

17. What reasons does Mary Warren give to Hawthorne to explain why she said saw spirits?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

Base: bias; unfair; prejudice

18. What does Abigail do when confronted by Hawthorne about the cries of witchcraft being lies?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

19. What does Proctor do to Abigail?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

20. What does Proctor end up confessing about himself?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

Lechery: unrestrained indulgence in sexual activity

Harlot: prostitute

21. How does Hawthorne check Proctor’s story?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

22. What do we know about Mary Warren that makes her an easy target for the girls to turn on? (Act 1)
____________________________________________________________________________________

23. How does Mary Warren react under the pressure of the girls?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

24. How has Hale’s character changed at this point? (Making him a dynamic character)
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

25. What is ironic about Parris’s belief and support of the girls?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

26. Who is still supporting the trials by the end of Act Three?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

27. Who is making a stance against the trials by the end of Act Three?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________


ACT TWO QUESTIONS

1. How much time has passed since the first act?
____________________________________________________________________________________

2. Look at the conversation and kiss between John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth. What can you infer about
their relationship?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

3. What gives Mary Warren the ability to tell Goody Proctor (Elizabeth) what she is going to do?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

4. If a person doesn’t confess what is the consequence?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

5. Elizabeth calls her husband out on his hesitation on going to Salem to try and stop the trial. What does she think is stopping him from going?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

6. How is the punishment of the court ironic?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

7. What motivation does the court seem to have?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

Ameliorate: to make a situation better or more tolerable

Jabberer: One who talks in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner

8. How does Mary Warren decide that Goody Osburn is a witch?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

9. After Mary Warren tells the Proctors of how Goody Osburn was convicted, what does Mr. Proctor point out
that there was none of?
____________________________________________________________________________________



10. What could be motivating Mary Warren to want to continue with the trial? What does it do for her in the society?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

11. Elizabeth Proctor believes that who called out her name?
____________________________________________________________________________________

12. What does Elizabeth want her husband to do to try and keep her safe?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

13. What does the metaphor “The promise that a stallion gives a mare I gave that girl!” suggest about Proctor
and Abigail’s relationship?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

14. What does Hale go around doing after the first day of court proceedings?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

15. What does this indicate about Hale’s character?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

16. What does Hale look at to decide if the Proctor’s have a Christian home?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

17. What question does Elizabeth contest and give Hale the answer he is NOT looking for?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

18. What is Rebecca Nurse charged with?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

19. Why do they keep saying “until an hour before the Devil fell, God thought him beautiful in Heaven”?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

20. Why does Martha Corey get charged with witchcraft?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

21. How has Mary Warren set up Elizabeth Proctor?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________


22. Proctor questions “Why do you never wonder if Parris be innocent, or Abigail? Is the accuser always holy
now?” Why do you think people won’t stand up to them?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

23. What does Proctor say is walking around Salem?
____________________________________________________________________________________

24. When Proctor says “I’ll pay you, Herrick, I will surely pay you!,” what does he mean?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

Lechery: unrestrained indulgence in sexual activity

25. What does Proctor mean when he says that “We are only what we always were, but naked now?”
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________


ACT ONE QUESTIONS
PART 1

1. What do you find out about Reverend Parris in the first paragraph?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

2. Where and when does the play take place?
____________________________________________________________________________________

3. What do you learn about the Puritan society (beliefs and daily lives)?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

4. How were the Puritans of Salem in 1692 different from those that arrived on the Mayflower?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

5. What is the paradox that the Salem tragedy developed from?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

6. What did the witch-hunt allow the Puritans to do that hey had not been able to in the past?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

7. Who brings the news that there is no medication for Betty to the Reverend? ________________________

8. What does Abigail tell Susan before she leaves?
____________________________________________________________________________________

9. What did the Reverend catch Betty and Abigail doing?
____________________________________________________________________________________

10. What can you interpret about Reverend Parris’s character from his conversation with Abigail? (You may
want to write down quotes and they indicate what they say about him)
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

11. What does Reverend Parris mean when he says “Your name in town-it is entirely white, is it not?
____________________________________________________________________________________

12. What does Goody Putnam (aka Mrs. Putnam or Goody Ann) say that Betty did?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

13. What do you know about Thomas Putnam?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

14. Mr. and Mrs. Putnam are the parents to whom? ________________________________________________

15. What has happened to their child?
____________________________________________________________________________________

16. What could Thomas Putnam’s motive be in the witch hunt?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

17. Mrs. Putnam begins to point the blame on whom? ______________________________________________

18. How does Mrs. Putnam’s claim gain momentum or strength?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

19. Who is Mercy Lewis and what does she look like?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________


Finish reading at stage direction “Mrs. Putnam goes out” p.12


Below list the characters that have been introduced and their relationships to one another.
















Name:____________________________
Period:____________________________
The Crucible

ACT ONE QUESTIONS
PART 2

20. How is Parris’s mind changed about going to address the crowd downstairs?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________

21. Who is Mary Warren?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________

22. What does the conversation on page 13 between Abigail, Mercy, and Marry Warren (with an interjection by Betty) reveal about the plot?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

23. What does the conversation on page 13 between Abigail, Mercy, and Marry Warren reveal about their relationships with each other?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

24. Why would Abigail want to kill Goody Proctor?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

25. Who is John Proctor?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

26. How do Mercy and Mary respond to Proctor’s entrance?
____________________________________________________________________________________

27. What can you infer about the relationship between Abigail and Proctor by the beginning o f their
conversation on page 14?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

28. How does Proctor react to Abigail’s advances towards him?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________


29. Who is Rebecca Nurse (aka Goody Nurse)?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

30. What is going to end up happening to Rebecca Nurse?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

31. What does Rebecca say is wrong with the girls?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

32. In the conversation between Parris, Putnam, Proctor, Mrs. Putnam, and Rebecca, on pages 16-17, what is
revealed about their characters?
Parris: _____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Putnam:_____________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Proctor:_____________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Mrs. Putnam:_________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Rebecca:____________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

33. What is Proctor commenting on when he says “Why, then I must find and join it.” What tone or literary
device is he using?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

34. Who is Reverend John Hale?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

35. What was the outcome of the girl in Hale’s parish that was afflicted?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

36. What does the narrator mean when he says “the necessity of the Devil may become evident as a weapon, a
weapon designed and used time and time again in every age to whip men into surrender”?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

Diabolism: the worship of devils

37. What type of political culture does Miller seem to think would be best? (page 19 right)
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

38. What does Miller say that reminds you that the Red Scare is going on in the United States?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

Klatches: A fictional location (country)

Lascivious: driven by lust

39. Giles Corey seems very interested in what is going on. What could his motivation be?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

40. How many girls were dancing in the forest?
____________________________________________________________________________________

incubi (incubus): a male demon believed to lie on sleeping persons and to have sexual intercourse with sleeping
women

succubi (succubus): A female demon who would visit men at night and engage in sexual activity

41. What does Giles say that his wife does? How does this affect him?
____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________

42. Interpret the paragraph on p. 22 about Giles Corey. What does this say about him?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________



*Stop reading after the paragraph about Giles Corey on page 22.

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