NOTE: Please TYPE all answers in sentences that contain part of the question.
CRUCIBLE QUESTIONS
Act Two
Check Test
1.Where does the poppet found at the Proctor’s home come from?
2.What does Reverend Hale order John Proctor to name?
3.Name the three women whom Cheever and Herrick have warrants to arrest for witchcraft.
4.Who accuses Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft?
5.What does Herrick do to Elizabeth that enrages Proctor?
Getting at Meaning/Interpreting:
6.According to Elizabeth, how are the witch trials conducted? What do John and Elizabeth think of the proceedings? How does Elizabeth respond to the news that her name has been mentioned in court?
7.Which one of the commandments does Proctor forget when Reverend Hale orders him to name them? Who reminds him of the answer? What is the significance of this incident?
8.The following lines are from Act Two:
Proctor: I have wondered if there be witches in the world—although I cannot believe they come among us now.
Hale: Then you do not believe—
Proctor: I have no knowledge of it; the bible speaks of witches, and I will not deny them.
Hale: And you, woman?
Elizabeth to Hale: I cannot think the Devil may own a woman’s soul, when she keeps an upright way, as I have. I am a good woman, I know it; and if you believe I may do only good work in the world, and yet be secretly bound to Satan, then I must tell you, sir, I do not believe it.
What contrast between Proctor and Elizabeth do these lines suggest?
9.When she first hears that Abigail has accused her, Elizabeth says that she is no Goody Osburn or Goody Good. How do the accusations against Elizabeth, Rebecca Nurse, and Martha Corey show that the situation in Salem has become more and more irrational and dangerous?
10.What does Proctor’s remark that “vengeance is stalking Salem” suggest? What does Reverend Hale feel the widespread outbreak of witchcraft must mean?
Reading Literature:
11.What conflict does John Proctor have with Elizabeth in Act Two? What conflict does he have within himself?
12.What indications are there that John Proctor has a sensitive side to his nature? What other qualities does he show in Act Two?
13. How is Mary Warren’s poppet important to the plot?
CRUCIBLE QUESTIONS
Act Three
Check Test:
1.Who is being tried for witchcraft as the act opens, and who interrupts the proceedings?
2.Whom does John Proctor bring to court to clear his wife’s name?
3.According to Mr. Danforth, why will Elizabeth Proctor be safe from hanging for at least a year?
4.According to Abigail Williams, what form has Mary Warren’s spirit assumed?
5.What two characters are under arrest at the end of the act?
Getting at Meaning:
6.Why do Giles Corey, Francis Nurse, and John Proctor want to testify? In what way do their depositions boomerang?
7.What does Danforth suspect is John Proctor’s real reason for coming to court? Why is Danforth even more suspicious of Proctor after informing him about Elizabeth’s pregnancy? Do Cheever’s remarks about Proctor’s conduct when his wife was arrested weaken or strengthen Danforth’s suspicion?
8.Why does Danforth hold Giles Corey in contempt of court? What is Corey’s reason for not talking?
9.In what sense would Abigail and Putnam be guilty of attempted murder if the girls are merely pretending to be bewitched?
10.What makes Mary Warren rejoin Abigail and the other girls at the end of the act?
11.Why do you think Elizabeth tells Danforth that her husband is not a lecher? Support your answer.
12.How well does Miller convey to you the terrible irrationality of the witch trials?
Reading Literature:
13. What is ironic about Elizabeth’s lie to Danforth? What is ironic about John Proctor’s confession and his later arrest?
14.What changes can be seen in the character of John Hale between his first appearance in Act One and his exit in Act Three? In what way does he develop as a character?
15.How do the events in this act illustrate the theme that in a climate of fear, basic human rights often are endangered?
16.Miller’s stage directions in Act One describe Abigail as having “an endless capacity for dissembling.” In what ways do her actions support that description of her character? Support with examples.
CRUCIBLE QUESTIONS
Act Four
Check test:
1.Name at least two characters who are condemned to be hanged as witches.
2.What has happened to Abigail Williams?
3.How might any of the condemned save himself or herself from hanging?
4.What does Proctor do with his signed confession?
5.Who leaves the stage with Proctor to be hanged?
Getting at Meaning:
6.How has public opinion about the witch hunt in Salem changed? What might account for the change? How might Abigail’s running off affect public opinion?
7.What reasons does Hale give Elizabeth Proctor to try to make her influence John to confess? What does she mean when she says, “I think that be the Devil’s argument”?
8.In what way did Giles Corey triumph over his accusers?
9. What difference does Proctor see between himself and Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse? What does he mean when he tells Elizabeth that dying rather than confessing “is a fraud”?
10.In the end, John Proctor chooses to die rather than ruin his good name. Do you admire him for his decision? Would you have blamed him if he had chosen to live? Is there any cause or belief that you would die for? Explain
11.Do the events in Salem represent forces that could operate in another time and another place in modern American society? Can you imagine one taking place today?
Reading Literature:
12.What is the dramatic function of the opening scene in which Tituba and Sarah Good appear?
13.Both Parris and Hale try to save the seven condemned from hanging. What is different about their motives for doing so?
14.What motivates Danforth to insist that the executions take place? In what way do his motives differ from those of characters such as Parris, Putnam, and Abigail Williams?
15.In what way is the conflict between John and Elizabeth Proctor resolved?
16.One theme of The Crucible is that moral courage is the mark of a hero. In what ways do Elizabeth and John Proctor show moral courage?