The Crucible Quotations ACTIVITY
Instructions: Below are key quotations from the play.
FIRST: With your group, determine who said each quote. They are in no particular order. Then in the right column,
determine why each quote is significant. Consider rhetorical and literary devices (anaphora, epizeuxis, hyperbole,
anadiplosis, irony, metonymy, etc.), as well as tone and characterization.
SECOND: There are three quotes from each of the following characters (John Proctor, Abigail Williams, Rev. Hale,
and Danforth). Choose one of these four characters, and write his/her quotes on the poster board provided. Beside each
quote, write down at least one adjective or attribute that the quote illustrates about the character. Be prepared to share
your posters with the class.
QUOTE
“You are no wintry man. I know you, John. I know
you.”
“The world goes mad, and it profit nothing you
should lay the cause to the vengeance of a little
girl.”
“I have seen marvels in this court. I have seen
people choked before my eyes by spirits; I have
seen them stuck by pins and slashed by daggers. I
have until this moment not the slightest reason to
suspect that the children may be deceiving me.”
“Oh, Elizabeth, your justice would freeze beer.”
“She hates me, uncle, she must, for I would not be
her slave. It’s a bitter woman, a lying, cold,
shriveling woman, and I will not work for such a
woman!”
“Now, children, this is a court of law. The law,
based upon the Bible, and the Bible writ by
Almighty God, forbid the practice of witchcraft.”
“Suspicion kissed you when I did.”
“Because it is my name! Because I cannot have
another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to
lies. Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of
them that hang.”
“Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a
word, about the other things, and I will come to you
in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a
pointy reckoning that will shudder you.”
“You will give me your honest confession in my
hand, or I cannot keep you from the rope.”
“Is she going to fly again? I hear she flies.”
“And why not, if they must hang for denyin’ it?”
“The Devil is alive in Salem, and we dare not quail
to follow wherever the accusing finger points.”
“My, they’re [the books] heavy.”
“They must be; they are weighted with authority.”
SPEAKER
WHY IS IT SIGNIFICANT?
Consider tone, characterization,
literary and rhetorical devices.