The Crucible Preliminary Research

Name______

The Crucible Preliminary Research

The Puritans in Salem, 1692 Webquest

Welcome! You are about to embark on a quest for knowledge. You will obtain information on Puritan perceptions, attitudes, values, and beliefs that influenced the events of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, the subject of Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible. Hopefully, you will learn why Arthur Miller chose this time period to create his allegorical play critiquing the hysteria and hypocrisy of the Cold War era we are about to study.

First, save this worksheet to your own file folder so you may alter it. Then record all your answers on this sheet. You are not restricted to the web addresses listed below, but if you do search elsewhere, search legitimate sources such as LM databases, sites that end in “.edu,” or reputable encyclopedias.

1.) Who were the Puritans and why did they immigrate to America? http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01.html and scroll down to “Crossing the Ocean to Keep the Faith”

2.) How were the Puritan beliefs reflected in the laws of Massachusetts?

http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01.html Hint: Scroll down to “The Bible Commonwealths” and open the document “Seventeenth-Century Laws of Massachusetts”

3.) What were the most important concepts of the Puritan faith? What role do you think they each played in Puritan society? http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/puritantheology.htm

4.) What is a theocratic government?

What implications could a theocracy have on its people and their behavior?

5.) What was the tool Puritans used to teach their children? In addition to the alphabet, what else was taught using this tool? How does this relate to question #4?

http://www.gettysburg.edu/~tshannon/his341/nep07pg12_13.htm

6.) Salem Village was the center of the witch trials. Read about life in Salem in 1692. What governmental and economic factors may have made people more suspicious of witchcraft and evil spirits?

7.) Describe the Puritan religious code that allowed for such accusations? Who were among the first accused?

8.) How did economic and social divisions fan the flames of the witch hunt?

9.) Look at a portrait “Examination of a Witch.” Describe the atmosphere of the room depicted in a short paragraph.

http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/images/mattwitch1.jpg

10.) You are accused!? Go to this link to see what your options are once you have been accused. Choose one of these options and tell me what your fate would be.

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/accused!.html

Creative Response:

First, read about what life was like for children in Salem, 1692.

Then, imagine you are a young boy or girl living in Salem and from a respectable family. It is late at night, and you cannot sleep. Your household servant, Tituba, has agreed to sneak out with you to meet some of your friends in the woods later this evening. Tituba is from Barbados and claims to know how to do magical spells and to tell people’s fortunes.

You walk downstairs and find her in the kitchen, carrying a large pot and a burlap sack containing a live chicken. You have no idea what she intends to do with these, but you are intrigued and excited.

The woods have a reputation of being a vast uncivilized wilderness, the playground of the devil, a place where American Indians lie in wait to kill the white man who has taken their land.

Tituba takes you there, and eleven of your friends are waiting for you, gathered around a small fire. The night is clear, the moon is full, the air is crisp, and you are feeling young and finally free from the constraints of your strict parents and Puritan society.

Write a diary entry about what takes place during this secret meeting in the woods.