Name: _________Key____________________________________________________________
The Crucible
Act III—Vocab and Study Guide
Please define the following words. Be sure you are looking at the definition for the correct part of speech, as listed in
parentheses after the word. There will be vocabulary quiz questions on your Act III quiz on Friday, 10/25.
1. Pretense (noun): a false reason or explanation that is used to hide the real purpose of something; a
false show
2. Plaintiff (noun):a person who sues another person in court; a person who accuses someone else of a
crime
3. Guile(noun): the use of clever and usually dishonest methods to achieve a goal
4. Daft (adjective): crazy or foolish
5. Revelation (noun):a usually secret or surprising fact that is made known
6. Effrontery (noun):a very confident attitude or way of behaving that is shocking or rude
7. Auger (noun):a sharp tool used for drilling holes
8. Contentious (adjective): likely or willing to argue; argumentative
9. Undermine (verb): to make someone or something weaker or less effective usually in a secret or
slow way
10. Lecher (noun):a man who shows excessive or disgusting interest in sex
11. Deposition (noun): a formal statement that someone who has promised to tell the truth makes so
that the statement can be used in court
12. Testament (noun): proof or evidence that something exists or is true
13. Probity (noun):the quality of a person who is completely honest
14. Harlot (noun):whore; prostitute
15. Vestry (noun): a small room in a church where the priest dresses for the services or where the holy
items used during services are kept
Reading questions—answer the following questions while you read to keep you involved in the text and to help you
remember important characters and actions.
1. What is Danforth’s role in the proceedings?
He is deputy governor of the province and head judge in these trials….
2. How would you characterize Danforth’s personality? Quote a line that supports your
characterization.
Danforth is quite full of himself. He seems to think that his position as judge makes him
smarter than most people and he takes his position very seriously.
“Do you know who I am…and do you know that near to four hundred are in the
jails…upon my signature?” (209-210).
3. According to Giles Corey, what is Thomas Putnam’s purpose in promoting the witch trials?
According to Giles, Putnam is accusing people of witchcraft so that when they are
executed, he can buy up their land and increase his own wealth.
4. What does Danforth mean when he says, “the entire contention of the state in these
trials is that the voice of Heaven is speaking through the children”? What do you think makes him so
unwilling to consider that the girls could be pretending?
The quote means that the entire argument being made by the state is that the accusations
coming from the girls are the voice of God speaking through the girls. The state believes
that these accusations are straight from heaven.
He is unwilling to consider the girls are pretending because
a) a puritan believed that lying would condemn a person to hell for all eternity—it
never occurs to these people that the girls might lie
b) he has seen the girls behavior in court and believed they were being attacked; if
someone as wise as him can believe it, it must be true.
5. What do we learn about Elizabeth Proctor and her health?
She claims she is pregnant, which means she will not be executed for witchcraft until after the
baby is born
a. Do you think she is telling the truth?
Yes./No
b. Why or why not?
Proctor claims it is impossible for Elizabeth to lie; she has never lied in her life./she may
just be trying to save herself from hanging
6. When Proctor and Francis Nurse present a testament signed by people who believe
Rebecca Nurse and Elizabeth Proctor to be good, Christian women, what does Parris claim?
Include a QUOTE.
Parris claims that the people who support the Proctors, Coreys, and Nurses are trying to
attack the court and should be arrested.
“All innocent and Christian people are happy for the courts in Salem! These people are
gloomy for it” (213).
7. What makes Proctor want to continue his attempt to prove the girls are lying, even after he finds
out that Elizabeth will be spared a year?
He knows what the girls are doing is wrong and he wants to help his friends whose wives
are also accused
8. To whom is Proctor speaking when he says: “Do that which is good, and no harm shall
come to thee”?
Mary Warren
a. Do you agree with him in this case? Why or Why not?
Not necessarily. Francis was trying to help his wife when he brought the list of names of
supporters to court. Now all those people are being arrested too. They were just trying to
help, to do good, but they are going to be punished now for supporting the women.
9. Who seems more likely to listen to reason, Hale or Danforth?
At this point, Rev. Hale.
a. Explain your reasoning:
Judge Danforth seems a bit worried about his reputation and less worried about
the truth. He will not allow lawyers to argue Proctor’s case, even after Hale urges
him that a farmer cannot possible argue the case properly. He also isn’t
considering why people might be worried to come before the court—despite the
fact he is told that people fear the court because they fear the accusation of
witchcraft.
10. Why was Mary Warren able to “faint,” but now cannot make herself?
She was part of a group or mob and the mob helped to support her. She cannot
faint on command because she lacks the support of the group.
a. What does she claim as the reason she cannot force herself to faint when requested by
Parris?
She says that she has “no sense of it now” and that “I heard the other girls
screaming, and you, Your Honor, you seemed to believe them…”, meaning that
because the adult men seemed to believe the girls “performance” and take it
seriously, she was able to believe that she was being attacked too and to faint.
11. How would you describe the encounter between Danforth and Abigail?
It is very threatening…he asks if there is any chance she might have been confused and thought she
saw spirits, but she cuts him off and screams about her proof (stabbed by needles, etc).
a. Who “wins”?
Abigail
b. Why?
She tells Danforth that the devil could be turning his wits…she threatens to accuse him of
witchcraft.
12. What does Proctor finally admit in Act Three?
That he committed adultery with Abigail
a. How does Abigail react?
She is shocked and denies it
13. W h y d o e s E l i z a b e t h l i e w h e n a s k e d t o t e l l w h y s h e f i r e d A b i g a i l ?
She is protecting her husband from prosecution (he could be legally punished for
committing adultery) and embarrassed that her private family business is public.
a. H o w d o e s H a l e r e a c t t o E l i z a b e t h ’ s l i e ?
Hale recognizes that it is a “natural lie to tell.” This means that any wife would deny her
husband’s affair in court because she doesn’t want him to go to jail for breaking the law.
b. H o w
d o e s
D a n f o r t h
r e a c t ?
Danforth takes her lie as truth. He believes Abigail over Proctor and thinks Proctor lied
when he admitted to the affair.
14. W h y d o e s M a r y t u r n o n P r o c t o r ?
The girls have turned on her already—if she keeps defending Proctor, she knows she will
be charged with witchcraft. She turns on him to save herself.
15. W h y d o e s P r o c t o r s t a t e , “ G o d i s d e a d ! ”
Proctor’s exclamation that “God is Dead” is in response to Danforth’s belief in Abigail, the girls,
and Mary Warren. Proctor is implying that if Danforth believes he is working with the Devil, then
there must be no God at all. It is as though God has abandoned Salem and left the Good People
(like him and Rebecca nurse) at the mercy of the evil people (Abigail).
16. C o n s i d e r i n g A b i g a i l ’ s i n t e n d e d d e s i r e t o b e w i t h P r o c t o r , e x p l a i n h o w t h e
ending of Act III is ironic.
Act Three ends with Proctor being arrested for witchcraft, which is the
worst thing ever for Abigail. She has wanted to get rid of Elizabeth and
have John to herself; now John and Elizabeth will be in jail together and
there is no chance Abigail can have Proctor.