American Lit. A
Name ____________________________
The Crucible
by Arthur Miller
Characters
Reverend Parris – Puritan minister;
Salem, Massachusetts (1692)
Betty Parris – Reverend Parris’s 10-year-old
daughter, sick, pretends to see spirits
Tituba – Negro slave who is partly responsible for teaching children about
spirits
Abigail Williams – Reverend Parris’s 17-year-old niece, who leads the other
young people in accusations
Susanna Walcott – Friend of Abigail who joins in accusations
Thomas Putnam – Vindictive man with many grievances who uses the witch
tales for personal revenge
Mrs. Ann Putnam – Thomas’s wife who attributes the death of her seven
infants to supernatural causes
Mercy Lewis – 18-year-old friend of Abigail who pretends to see witches
Mary Warren – Young woman who works for John and Elizabeth Proctor and
is involved in accusations
John Proctor – Local church member, farmer, who opposed many of Mr.
Parris’s unnecessary spending
Elizabeth Proctor – John’s wife; discovers that her husband has committed
adultery with Abigail
Giles Corey – Old man in the community who is put to death after challenging
the court
Reverend John Hale – Minister who first starts the investigations
Francis Nurse – Wise and respected man who tries to stop the investigations
Rebecca Nurse – Francis’s wife; lady of immense goodness and respect who is
later accused
Ezekiel Cheever – One of the men appointed by the court to help arrest the
accused witches
Marshal Herrick – The man who is in charge of arresting all of the accused
Judge Hathorne – One of the judges sent to Salem to examine the accused
witches
Deputy Governor Danforth – A special judge sent to Salem to remove all the
witches
Sarah Good – Old beggar woman who is one of the first to be accused of being a
witch
Hopkins – The town’s jailer
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Historical Background
Arthur Miller, the playwright, was born in 1915 in New York City. During his
long and successful career as a playwright, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize,
the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and an Olivier Award. When he first
encountered the story of the Salem witch trials, Miller did not intend to write a
play based on the events. But he remained interested in the witch trials, and as
the anti-Communist fervor of the McCarthy era (1950s) grew increasingly
oppressive, Miller returned to the subject. He saw stark similarities between
the Salem witch trials of 1692 and the investigations conducted by the House
Un-American Activities Committee, where individuals were questioned about
their illegal alleged Communist ideology. In order to purify their names of the
Red taint, they were intensely pressured to name other people who might be
guilty of Communist associations.
Several colleagues and friends of Miller gave in to the pressures of the
Committee. Those who did not cooperate with the investigations found
themselves blacklisted and their careers ruined. Miller himself was called
before the committee, but he refused to list the names of people involved in
Communist activities. He was charged with being unpatriotic, and his career
suffered severely for years afterward. Partly because of the scandal
surrounding his House appearance, The Crucible had a short run in theaters,
compared to his phenomenally successful play Death of a Salesman. Like John
Proctor, Arthur Miller chose to maintain his integrity
Miller’s The Crucible makes the Salem witch trials an allegory to the real-life
indignities he and many others faced. The patriotism of the McCarthy era was
just as unforgiving and vengeful as the Puritanism of 17th century Salem.
The Salem witch trials were well over 200 years in the past when Miller wrote
The Crucible, but the self-righteous spirit of persecution that drove them was
alive and well in the United States. The McCarthyites were out in full force,
rooting out culprits in the Red Scare. The House Un-American Activities
Committee took it upon themselves to define what made a “good” American. To
them, “anti-American” meant “Communist” and it set out to discover anyone
who had any connections with the Communist Party in the U.S. The hysteria
of the Red Scare demanded conformity just as stringently as the theocratic
government of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692.
(Source: angelfire.com/mn2/english2001/crucible.html)
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Important Concepts
1.
McCarthyism
2.
Salem witch trials
3.
Allegory
4.
Motive / motivation
5.
Theme
6.
Dialogue
7.
Stage directions
8.
Dramatic exposition
9.
Dramatic irony
(See your vocabulary notes.)
Vocabulary
1. abomination – something that causes great horror or disgust
2. ameliorate – to make better; to improve
3. avid – anxious; eager; moved by a strong desire
4. beguile – charm or delight; trick
5. blasphemy – sinful act or remark; violation of something sacred
6. cleave – adhere; cling
7. creed – a system of principles or beliefs
8. crucible – a) a metal container used for heating substances at a high
temperature
b) a severe test or trial
9. defamation – back stabbing; expressing malicious or damaging things about another
person
10. dissembling – disguising one’s real nature or motives
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11. gingerly – very carefully, cautiously
12. heathen –one who is regarded as irreligious, uncivilized, or unenlightened
13. hypocrisy – pretending to have feelings, beliefs, or values that one does not have;
insincerity
14. hysteria – an outburst of irrational fear
15. ingratiating – charming or flattering
16. iniquity - sin
17. innate – existing in one from birth; inherent in the essential character of something
18. integrity – soundness of moral character; honesty
19. justify - to defend or uphold as warranted or well-grounded
20. lechery - unrestrained or excessive indulgence of desire
21. naught - nothing; zero
22 prodigious – of great size, power, or extent
23. purged - cleansed
24. superstition - irrational fear of what is unknown or mysterious
25. tantalized – tormented; frustrated
26. theocracy – a government controlled by church leaders
27. trepidation – fear; dismay in anticipating a bad outcome
28. vengeance – retaliation; revenge
29. vindictive – showing ill will or a desire to hurt others
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Pre-reading Opinionaire
Name _________________________
Read each statement below. Use the following abbreviations for stating whether
you agree or disagree with each statement.
SA = Strongly Agree
A = Agree
N = Neutral
D = Disagree
SD = Strongly Disagree
1. _____ You can always rely on religious leaders to do what is right.
2. _____ If you commit a sin, you are a bad person.
3. _____ The justice system in America is fair.
4. _____ People are often more motivated by greed and jealousy than by love
and forgiveness.
5. _____ Many people are superstitious today.
6. _____ If a woman is not a good wife, her husband has the right to seek
out a relationship with another woman.
7. _____ If a man cheats on his wife, she can never forgive him.
8. _____ Children who don’t get much attention often cause trouble so they
will be noticed.
9. _____ If you try hard enough, you can be perfect.
10._____ Even if it meant I would die, I would never tell a lie that would
endanger my friend/loved one.
11._____ I would rather take the consequences than confess to a crime I did
not commit.
12. _____ A life lived as a hypocrite is not worth living.
After you have read and discussed the play, look back at your answers. Some of
them may have changed as a result of reading The Crucible.
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Study Guide Questions
These questions are designed to help check your understanding of the plot.
Act I
1. Describe Rev. Parris.
2. Describe the townspeople of Salem.
3. Why is Parris so worried about Betty?
4. What do the Putnams think is the cause of Betty and Ruth’s illnesses?
5. Describe Thomas Putnam.
6. What really happened in the woods that night?
7. What do we learn about John Proctor in Act I?
8. Why do the townspeople resent Rebecca Nurse?
9. What is the only way for Tituba and Abigail to get out of the accusations against
them?
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Act II
1. What can you tell about John and Elizabeth Proctor’s relationship from their
dialogue?
2. What proof is used to convict Sarah Good of witchcraft?
3. What is the only way for the accused to avoid being hanged?
4. Whom does Elizabeth believe has accused her of witchcraft? Why?
5. When Rev. Hale comes to the Proctors’ house, which of the Ten Commandments
does John Proctor forget? Why is this ironic?
6. Why are Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey arrested? (be specific)
7. What does Cheever discover in the Proctors’ house? Why is it significant?
Act III
1. Describe the setting and mood of Act III.
2. Why does Giles Corey cause an uproar in the courthouse?
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3. Was Giles Corey right to do this, in your opinion? Explain.
4. What is Abigail’s motive for discrediting Mary Warren’s testimony?
5. Describe your reaction to John Proctor’s confession to adultery.
6. What happens when Elizabeth Proctor testifies?
7. In your opinion, does Elizabeth do the right thing in her testimony? Explain.
Act IV
1. What news does Parris give Danforth? Why is it important?
2. What does Danforth refuse to do? Why do you think he is refusing? Explain.
3. What does Reverend Hale ask Elizabeth to do? Why?
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4. Describe what happens to Giles Corey and give your reaction to this.
5. Why is John Proctor’s name so important to him? Explain.
6. Describe Rev. Parris’s character flaw(s) that contribute to the sad events in the
play.
7. Explain what Elizabeth means when she says, “He have his goodness now. God
forbid I take it from him.”
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