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Rebecca Renna
Dr. Kern
EDC 448
16 February 2012
Text Set: The Crucible and the Salem Witch Trials
Guiding Questions
1. Is understanding the history of the Salem Witch Trials important when reading Arthur
Miller’s The Crucible?
2. How much of The Crucible is based on actual events and people?
3. What about The Crucible makes it so authentic to the 1600s, when in fact Miller wrote it
in 1953?
4. What does The Crucible communicate about the legal system and the power of speech in
the seventeenth century?
The Text of Focus
Text I
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. London: Penguin, 1995. Print.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play that is about one hundred and forty pages and
written in four Acts. Formatted as a script, the story is told through character lines and stage
directions, placing this text within the genre of Drama Literature. While The Crucible is a work
of fiction, the fates and roles of most characters are identical to their historical counterparts. This
historical accuracy makes The Crucible ideal for teaching students about the chaos and tragedy
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behind the Salem Witch Trials. This text will interest
students because it is not written in the traditional novel
format. They will also be intrigued by the events in the
play because while the witch accusations may seem
irrational in modern day society, the trials are far from
fiction. The Crucible may be challenging for students who
have no experience reading scripts and for those who
struggle with the seventeenth century syntax, but since it is
a play, difficult portions can be acted out to increase
comprehension. Also, there are a wide variety of texts that
can supplement the play, so students can grasp the context of the Salem Witch Trials even if they
struggle pulling all the information from The Crucible itself.
Supplemental Books
Text II
Howe, Katherine. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. New York: Hyperion, 2009. Print.
This novel is a contemporary work of fiction that is three
hundred and sixty-eight pages long. While it is a bit lengthy for
some readers, it is a useful and unique addition to this text set for a
number of reasons. The book switches between the late 1600s and
the 1990s, so even if students only read the portions that take place
during the Salem witch trials, they would gain insight into how the
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trials were orchestrated. Most intriguing is that fact that this novel is written by a descendent of
Elizabeth Proctor, who survived the trials and is present in The Crucible, and Elizabeth Howe,
who did not survive the trials. Therefore, although some students might not wish to read the
whole novel, many may be encouraged to because the main character in the 1990s portion is
modeled after the author herself, digging deep into Salem history to discover more about her
ancestors. While the length of this book may intimidate struggling readers, they may wish to
read portions because Howe’s language is less intimidating than Miller’s.
Text III
Martin, Michael. The Salem Witch Trials. Oxford: Raintree, 2011. Print.
The Salem Witch Trials is a graphic novel that is
thirty-two pages long. Through its comic strip-esque
illustrations and narrations, students are presented with
a unique history lesson that will be sure to spark their
imaginations. The format of the book and colorful
presentation of the information is both engaging and
educational. This graphic novel provides a quick,
dramatic introduction to the era that is perfect for
students beginning to study The Crucible. While they
make think they are reading a comic book, students are actually learning about the people and
events that are present in Arthur Miller’s play. This text is extremely useful for struggling
readers because the amount of reading is minimal and there are vivid images to go along with the
information being presented.
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Text IV
Rees, Celia. Witch Child. Cambridge: Candlewick, 2001. Print.
Witch Child is a young adult, historical fiction novel that is
two hundred and eighty-eight pages in length. While this may be
long for some readers, this book is written at an easier reading level
than The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. Written through
fictional diary entries, the reader enters the world of Mary
Newbury, a girl whose family moves to the New World in order to
escape the witch accusations occurring in England. Mary becomes
friends with a Native American healer, however, and the Puritans
prove to be no more forgiving than the English persecutors when it comes to suspicious activity.
This book gives an alternative perspective on the witch trials because Mary is the granddaughter
of a victim and must live in fear of being accused herself. Students will be able to relate to Mary
because of her age and the book’s diary format. The fact that Mary is their age and perhaps
being accused of witchcraft will intrigue students as they try to visualize this bizarre period in
American history. This book is accessible to a variety of readers because it is written for young
adults in a diary format that aids in organization and comprehension. Students will experience
the paranoia of Puritan New England as they read this story of a girl finding her place in society.
Text V
Rinaldi, Ann. A Break with Charity: A Story about the Salem Witch Trials. San Diego: Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich, 1992. Print.
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This young adult, historical fiction novel is lengthy at
three hundred and twenty pages long, but it is the ideal addition
to this text set. A Break with Charity is very strongly correlated
with The Crucible because it places a fictional girl named
Susanna into the circle of girls led by Ann Putnam who listen to
Tituba’s stories in the woods. Ann begins the false witch
accusations and Susanna must decide between going along with
the lies and placing her family in danger by telling the truth.
This book contains many key events and historical figures from
both Salem Witch Trials and The Crucible. It will interest students because reading Susanna’s
perspective is like placing themselves in The Crucible. Aside from the literary and historical
allusions, however, this text is also successful in addressing peer pressure, a challenge that all
readers this age face. This book is written at a level that is easier than the two previous texts,
making it appealing to the struggling reader. It can be a very useful aid in understanding The
Crucible because there are so many parallels.
Online Texts
Text VI
Burcham, Macie. “The Crucible Alphabet: Education Photo Book.” MixBook. 2010. Web. 14
Feb. 2012. <http://www.mixbook.com/photo-books/education/the-crucible-alphabet4414075>.
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This MixBook is a fun and interactive way to
learn the key facts of The Crucible. The webpage
presents a picture of a book, and students click
and drag the top corner to digitally turn each page. The pages progress through the alphabet,
presenting a fact that includes a word beginning with each respective letter. For example, the
first page, “A: Ashamed,” reads, “At the end of Act IV, Abigail Williams was ashamed for
everything she had done. She was a liar, and had the whole town fooled that she was in the
right.” This page and the twenty-five pages that follow present useful information that will
clarify questions students have about the plot of The Crucible. Students will enjoy this text
because it is interactive, clear, and also pleasing to the eye with pictures that compliment that
fact being presented. This MixBook is a wonderful aid for struggling readers because the facts
are presented in a straight-forward manner that is inviting and easy to comprehend.
Text VII
Burns, Margo. “Arthur Miller’s The Crucible: Fact & Fiction.” 17th Century New England. 27
Sept. 2011. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. <http://www.17thc.us/docs/fact-fiction.shtml>.
This webpage is written by a historian who has spent years dedicated to researching the
seventeenth-century, particularly the Salem Witch Trials. The entry begins with some
background information about her research, Arthur
Miller, and Miller’s statement of how much of The
Crucible is historically accurate. Some students may
be interested in reading this portion, but many may
find it a bit dry. The following two portions of the
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webpage are more interesting and useful for the students, displaying a large list of differences
between The Crucible and the actual trials, and a list of questions to consider while reading the
play and studying the time period. These lists will encourage students to pay attention while
they are reading The Crucible, so they can look for the discrepancies and attempt to answer the
questions Margo Burns presents. This website serves as an interesting text for the more
advanced reader and as an aid to the struggling reader.
Text VIII
Crowther, John. “The Crucible Video SparkNote.” SparkNotes. 2010. Web. 11 Feb. 2012.
<http://www.sparknotes.com/sparknotes/video/crucible>.
This webpage contains a ten minute video that summarizes The Crucible that is presented
through a slideshow of drawings with narration.
The video begins with several sentences that
describe the play as a whole before entering into the
more detailed summary. To increase
comprehension, the video clearly indicates when the
narrator is beginning each separate Act. This text is
ideal for the auditory and visual learners in the
classroom. Also, for those who are struggling with
The Crucible, they can watch this video in segments to keep track of where they are in the story.
It must be made clear, however, that this video is to be used as a supplement to The Crucible, not
an alternative to reading the actual play. Teachers must be careful to assess students through
questions and projects that cannot be answered by simply watching this video. This video
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SparkNote is an excellent aid for students who are somewhat unclear about characters and plot
while reading The Crucible.
Text IX
“The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692.” Famous American Trials. University of Missouri-Kansas
City School of Law, 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2012.
<http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salem.htm>.
The Famous American Trials homepage features information and documents from the
Trial of Socrates to the Clinton Impeachment Trial. The page on the Salem Witch Trials is
perhaps the best online source the internet has to provide on this topic. The main focus of the
page is a painting depicting the trials and “An Account of Events in Salem” that summarize the
entire ordeal. On the side of the page, however, students
can click on links for a timeline, paintings,
biographies, and primary sources including
testimonies, letters, petitions, death warrants, and
maps. There is even a link about The Crucible, a
Salem Trials Jeopardy game, and a section for
teaching tools. All the primary sources have the
documents’ actual text printed next to the image for easy
reading. With this website, students can explore the Salem Witch Trials until they become
experts and can complete Salem Trial Jeopardy without hesitation. The detailed account of the
trials will aid greatly in understanding the events in The Crucible and the primary sources will
give depth to the characters they are reading about in the play. This website is perfect for a wide
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variety of reading levels because while the documents may be written in the original
seventeenth-century syntax, the timeline, account, and interactive activities can be easily
understood. There is something on this website to spark the interest of every student who is
studying The Crucible.
Text X
“Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive.” The Institute for Advanced Technology in the
Humanities. The University of Virginia, 2002. Web. 11 Feb. 2012.
<http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/salem/home.html>.
This website contains a substantial number of primary
source documents from the Salem Witch Trials, broken down
into four search areas: 17th Century Documents, Historical
Maps, Notable People, and Literary Works. Students can spend
hours researching court records, personal letters, maps of Salem
Village, biographies of the accused and the accusers, and
information on authors who have written about the era. Many
of the characters that appear in The Crucible are featured on the
website, so students would be able to understand the characters more by reading about their
historical counterparts. Students who are struggling with reading The Crucible will find these
biographies extremely useful because they will only have to focus on the plot rather than figuring
out the characters’ backgrounds as well. Also, the maps put the setting of the play into
perspective, and the other primary source documents will interest the students because they make
the trials all the more real.