Crucible Unit

The Crucible Lesson plans, ideas, and resources
Always find these and updated links on The English Teachers Friend Delicious site.
Essay by Arthur Miller where he describes the paranoia that swept across America during the McCarthy era.
Activities with Resources and Project ideas
Collection of political cartoons about the McCarthy era.
Large collection of internet sites to assist students with further research on the era of McCarthyism and The Salem Witch
Trials.
Excellent collection of resources and summary of the Puritans
The Kennedy Center Arts Edge lesson on societal perceptions great lesson ideas here.
Eyewitness to History with first person accounts of the hysteria of witch trials
The Crucible Essay Topics
from http://www.goodessaytopics.com/the-crucible-essay-topics.html
1. Discuss the roles that grudges and personal rivalries play in the witch trial hysteria.
2. How do the witch trials empower individuals who were previously powerless?
3. How does John Proctor's great dilemma change during the course of the play?
4. Compare the roles that Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams play in The Crucible.
5. What role does sex, and sexual repression, play in The Crucible?
6. What kind of government does Salem have? What role does it play in the action?
7. Analyze Reverend Parris. What are his motivations in supporting the witch trials?
8. Discuss the changes that Reverend Hale undergoes in the course of the play.
9. Compare and contrast the Salem witch trials and McCarthyism.
10. Examine the dynamics of Puritanism in 1692.
11. Is John Proctor a tragic figure? Compare his fate to that of such tragic literary figures as King Oedipus in
Sophocles's Oedipus Rex and the title character in William Shakespeare's Hamlet.
12. Describe the social response to witchcraft in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries.
13. What can you find out about modern witchcraft or wicca?
14. Compare and contrast the characters of Rebecca Nurse and John Proctor.
15. Discuss Miller's treatment of women in The Crucible.
16. Explain why the play is a tragic comedy.
17. Explain the symbolic characters and how they develop the themes.
18. Discuss how the themes of The Crucible make it both universal and enduring.
19. Miller originally wrote the crucible as a critique of McCarthyism, but he distanced his narrative by using
the Salem witch trials as the setting for the play. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this
approach.
20. At the end of the play, John Proctor recovers his sense of goodness by tearing up the confession that
would have saved his life. Given his character and the events which have led up to this moment, do
you find this act believable? Explain your response.
21. In The Crucible, miller suggests that sacrifices may be necessary to restore the social order. Discuss the
sacrifices made by the play's characters and whether you think they are necessary.
22. How does The Crucible portray justice or injustice?
23. Compare the character of Elizabeth Proctor to that of Mary Warren. What value systems does each
represent?
24. How are the "little crazy children jangling the keys of the kingdom"?
25. What is Giles Corey's role in the play?
26. Examine Elizabeth Proctor as a symbol of truth. How has her husband "paid for" this truthfulness?
27. What motivates Elizabeth to lie? Is a good name more important than the truth?
28. How is Mary Warren used by both sides? Does she have an individual identity?
Also included below
Poem Half Hanged Mary

Anticipation guide
Personal writing assignments
How to Spot a Witch article and worksheet

Various Publisher Teacher guides
HALF-HANGED MARY
("Half-hanged Mary" was Mary Webster, who was accused of witchcraft in the 1680's in a Puritan town in Massachusetts
and hanged from a tree - where, according to one of the several surviving accounts, she was left all night. It is known that
when she was cut down she was still alive, since she lived for another fourteen years.)
7pm
Rumour was loose in the air

hunting for some neck to land on.
I was milking the cow,
the barn door open to the sunset.
I didn't feel the aimed word hit

and go in like a soft bullet.
I didn't feel the smashed flesh
closing over it like water
over a thrown stone.
I was hanged for living alone

for having blue eyes and a sunburned skin,
tattered skirts, few buttons,
a weedy farm in my own name,
and a surefire cure for warts;
Oh yes, and breasts,

and a sweet pear hidden in my body.
Whenever there's talk of demons
these come in handy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8pm
The rope was an improvisation.

With time they'd have thought of axes.
Up I go like a windfall in reverse,

a blackend apple stuck back onto the tree.
Trussed hands, rag in my mouth,

a flag raised to salute the moon,
old bone-faced goddess, old original,

who once took blood in return for food.
The men of the town stalk homeward,

excited by their show of hate,
their own evil turned inside out like a glove,

and me wearing it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9pm
The bonnets come to stare,

the dark skirts also,
the upturned faces in between,
mouths closed so tight they're lipless.
I can see down into their eyeholes
and nostrils. I can see their fear.
You were my friend, you too.

I cured your baby, Mrs.,
and flushed yours out of you,
Non-wife, to save your life.
Help me down? You don't dare.

I might rub off on you,
like soot or gossip. Birds
of a feather burn together,
though as a rule ravens are singular.
In a gathering like this one

the safe place is the background,
pretending you can't dance,
the safe stance pointing a finger.
I understand. You can't spare

anything, a hand, a piece of bread, a shawl
against the cold,
a good word. Lord
knows there isn't much
to go around. You need it all.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10pm
Well God, now that I'm up here

with maybe some time to kill
away from the daily
fingerwork, legwork, work
at the hen level,
we can continue our quarrel,
the one about free will.
Is it my choice that I'm dangling

like a turkey's wattles from his
more then indifferent tree?
If Nature is Your alphabet,
what letter is this rope?
Does my twisting body spell out Grace?

I hurt, therefore I am.
Faith, Charity, and Hope
are three dead angels
falling like meteors or
burning owls across
the profound blank sky of Your face.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12 midnight
My throat is taut against the rope

choking off words and air;
I'm reduced to knotted muscle.
Blood bulges in my skull,
my clenched teeth hold it in;
I bite down on despair
Death sits on my shoulder like a crow

waiting for my squeezed beet
of a heart to burst
so he can eat my eyes
or like a judge
muttering about sluts and punishment
and licking his lips
or like a dark angel

insidious in his glossy feathers
whispering to me to be easy
on myself. To breathe out finally.
Trust me, he says, caressing
me. Why suffer?
A temptation, to sink down

into these definitions.
To become a martyr in reverse,
or food, or trash.
To give up my own words for myself,

my own refusals.
To give up knowing.
To give up pain.
To let go.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2am
Out of my mouth is comming, at some

distance from me, a thin gnawing sound
which you could confuse with prayer except that
praying is not constrained.
Or is it, Lord?
Maybe it's more like being strangled
than I once though. Maybe it's
a gasp for air, prayer.
Did those men at Pentecost
want flames to shoot out of their heads?
Did they ask to be tossed
on the ground, gabbling like holy poultry,
eyeballs bulging?
As mine are, as mine are.

There is only one prayer; it is not
the knees in the clean nightgown
on the hooked rug
I want this, I want that.
Oh far beyond.
Call it Please. Call it Mercy.
Call it Not yet, not yet,
as Heaven threatens to explode
inwards in fire and shredded flesh, and the angels caw.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3am
wind seethes in the leaves around

me the tree exude night
birds night birds yell inside
my ears like stabbed hearts my heart
stutters in my fluttering cloth
body I dangle with strength
going out of me the wind seethes
in my body tattering
the words I clench
my fists hold No
talisman or silver disc my lungs
flail as if drowning I call
on you as witness I did
no crime I was born I have borne I
bear I will be born this is
a crime I will not
acknowledge leaves and wind
hold onto me
I will not give in
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6am
Sun comes up, huge and blaring,

no longer a simile for God.
Wrong address. I've been out there.
Time is relative, let me tell you
I have lived a millennium.
I would like to say my hair turned white

overnight, but it didn't.
Instead it was my heart:
bleached out like meat in water.
Also, I'm about three inches taller.

This is what happens when you drift in space
listening to the gospel
of the red-hot stars.
Pinpoints of infinity riddle my brain,
a revelation of deafness.
At the end of my rope

I testify to silence.
Don't say I'm not grateful.
Most will have only one death.

I will have two.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8am
When they came to harvest my corpse

(open your mouth, close your eyes)
cut my body from the rope,
surprise, surprise:
I was still alive.
Tough luck, folks,

I know the law:
you can't execute me twice
for the same thing. How nice.
I fell to the clover, breathed it in,

and bared my teeth at them
in a filthy grin.
You can imagine how that went over.
Now I only need to look

out at them through my sky-blue eyes.
They see their own ill will
staring then in the forehead
and turn tail
Before, I was not a witch.

But now I am one.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Later
My body of skin waxes and wanes

around my true body,
a tender nimbus.
I skitter over the paths and fields
mumbling to myself like crazy,
mouth full of juicy adjectives
and purple berries.
The townsfolk dive headfirst into the bushes
to get out of my way.
My first death orbits my head,

an ambiguous nimbus,
medallion of my ordeal.
No one crosses that circle.
Having been hanged for something

I never said,
I can now say anything I can say.
Holiness gleams on my dirty fingers,

I eat flowers and dung,
two forms of the same thing, I eat mice
and give thanks, blasphemies
gleam and burst in my wake
like lovely bubbles.
I speak in tongues,
my audience is owls.
My audience is God,
because who the hell else could understand me?
Who else has been dead twice?
The words boil out of me,

coil after coil of sinuous possibility.
The cosmos unravels from my mouth,
all fullness, all vacancy.
~Margaret Atwood~
The Crucible
Anticipation/Reaction Guide
Part I Directions: Prior to reading The Crucible, in the Before column, respond to each statement by
putting a plus sign (+) if you agree with it, a minus sign (-) if you disagree, and a question mark (?) if
you are unsure of your belief.
Part II Directions: For one of the statements below, write a Deep Thoughts response of 500 words or
more in MLA format as to why you have the belief you do. Then, copy and paste your response on our
message board at mrjeffrey.com. If someone responds to it, they may earn up to 10 points extra
credit. Extra credit points both depend on the quality and quantity of the response.
Part III Directions: After reading the story, in the After column respond again to the statements.
Then, reply by writing a 500 words or more Deep Thoughts response in MLA format to a statement
where your belief changed since reading the play. If not, write about a different statement than you
responded to in Part II. Once again, post your journal on our message board.
Before Statement After

1 . ___ Confessing to a crime you didnt commit in order 1 . ___
to avoid punishment is wise.
2. ___ The difference between right and wrong is clear. 2. ___
3. ___ It is better to die for what you believe in rather 3. ___

than to lie to save your life.
4. ___ There is only one correct way to interpret the 4. ___

Bible.
5. ___ That which doesnt destroy us only makes us 5. ___

stronger.
6. ___ Its more difficult to forgive yourself if the 6. ___

person you have hurt doesnt forgive you.
7. ___ Courage means doing something even though it can 7. ___

be difficult and fearsome.
8. ___ A person is innocent until proven guilty. 8. ___
9. ___ Beliefs in opposition to common values should be 9. ___

illegal.
1 0. ___ Justice is best determined in a court of law. 1 0. ___

Personal Writing Assignment
Focus: The Crucible
Pick eight out of these thirteen choices to write about. Each entry must be at least 200 words (with the exception of
#2 & 3). You will be graded on the effort and thought put into these writings, as well as your creativity. Add
pictures, drawings, art work, whatever you feel appropriate. The more creative, the better the grade. Have fun with
it!
1. A major theme in The Crucible deals with guilt. Recall a time when you felt guilty about something you had done
or said. It may not be as serious as the characters in the play, but it was probably just as real. It can be some recent
experience or one that took place in childhood. How did you deal with those feelings? As you look back now were
your fears justified, or were you being too hard on yourself?
2. Read the poem Conversations with an American Writer on page 162 in The Crucible Rewrite the poem replacing
the word (and the theme) courage with another word to describe you.
3. Think of an image from the play and use that image to create a spatial poem.
4. Abigail was a strong, domineering influence on Mary Warren. When did the power or control of someone else
influence you?
5. Recall a time when you were wrongly accused of something, or of a time when you wrongly accused someone of
something. What was it and how did you feel?
6. Abigail took revenge for Proctors dismissal of her. Describe a time when you sought revenge or someone sought
revenge on you.
7. Describe your concept of heaven.
8. Describe your concept of hell.
9. Write a sermon to a group of fourteen to sixteen year olds. Your objective is to make them feel guilty for all real and
imagined things they might have done or thought. What do you say?
10. Stream of consciousness writing:

Pick a theme from The Crucible (guilt, faith, honor, etc). Just start writing and do not stop for several minutes or
until you have filled up at least one page. Do not worry about punctuation, grammar, etc. Just dont let your pen
stop moving.
11. Describe a time when you have felt isolated.
12. What do you feel remorse for?
13. Read How to Spot a Witch pg. 179 in The Crucible book. Write a paper similar to this essay on how to spot a
_________. You fill in the blank. EX: How to Spot a Liar. How to Spot a Surfer. Etc.
How to Spot a Witch
by Adam Goodheart
The belief in witches existed for centuries If he sinks, haul him back in and set him free.
before the trials at Salem. Over time, a The theoretical basis for this is simple,
considerable body of folklore developed explained James VI of Scotland in 1597: "The
water shall refuse to receive in her bosom
about how to identify witches. A
those who have shaken off the sacred water of
contemporary writer explains the most baptism."
popular methods.
Other popular tests include weighing the
Perhaps the reason witch-hunting has gotten a bad suspect against a very heavy Bible (if she
name is that some practitioners used rather crude weighs less than the book, she is guilty) and
methods to separate the guilty from the innocent. asking her to recite the Lord's Prayer without
The notorious judges of the Holy Roman Empire, making a mistake. (In 1663, a defendant was
for example, simply applied thumbscrews until the convicted after repeatedly failing to do better
unfortunate suspects confessed. And during the than "Lead us into temptation" or "Lead us not
English witch craze in the 1640s, the Rev. John into no temptation.") When you suspect a
Gaule recorded that 'every old woman with a witch has murdered someone, ask her to lay
wrinkled face, a furr'd brow, a hairy lip, a gobber her hands on the victim's body. If she is guilty,
tooth, a squint eye, a squeaking voice, or a the corpse will start to bleed.
scolding tongue ... is not only suspected, but
pronounced for a witch." (Sexism was regrettably 3. Nabbing the Elusive Imp One of the most
widespread among Gaule's colleagues, even devious ways to foil witches is to catch them
though both men and women could be witches.) with their familiars, the imps in animal form
But more discriminating European witch hunters who do their nefarious [wicked] bidding. Many
used far more refined techniques, as described in witch hunters believed thee the imps could not
early lawbooks, manuals and court records. go for more than 24 hours without being
suckled by their master or mistress. Therefore,
when you have a suspect in prison, drill a
1. Devil's Marks and Witches' Teats According to peephole in the cell door and keep a close
many witch-hunting guides, it is best to start watch. If you see a rat, mouse or beetle in the
your examination by shaving the suspect's cell, you've nabbed an imp. Beware of even
body and examining it for devil's marks. These the most improbable animals. In 1645, an
are the spots where Satan brands his followers Englishman named John Bysack confessed that
to seal their pact with him. An English jurist in for the last 20 years, he had regularly suckled
1630 described' them as "sometimes like a imps in the form of snails.
blew spot, or a red spot, like a Fleabiting. One 4. Asking the Right Questions Even stubborn
problem: In the vermin-ridden 17th century, suspects will often collapse under skillful
such blemishes were hardly uncommon. So the interrogation. Europe's most successful witch
witch hunters devised an ingenious solution. hunters were expert at framing questions of
The Devil, they reasoned, would not allow the when-did-you-stop-beating-your-wife sort.
anything of his to be harmed. Therefore, they The justices of Colmar in Alsace used to lead
pricked any suspicious marks with a long silver off with How long have you been a witch?"
pin. If the spot didn't bleed or was insensitive before moving on to more specific inquiries
to pain, the suspect was a witch. such as "What plagues of vermin and
English experts believed witches often had caterpillars have you created?"
extra nipples that they used to suckle demons.
Matthew Hopkins, a witch hunter under Oliver
Cromwell, exposed one woman as a witch WARNING:
when she was "found to have three teats about According to the Molleus Maleficarum (Hammer of
her, which honest women have not. " Witches), a comprehensive witch-hunting guide
2. The Swimming Test If the hunt for teats and published in 1486, judges at witchcraft trials
devils marks proves inconclusive, you may should take precautions against being bewitched
have to resort to a popular folk method, the by the accused. Always wear protection: A wax
swimming test." First, sprinkle the suspect medallion containing a bit of salt blessed on Palm
with holy water. Tie his right thumb to his left Sunday, worn round the neck, will defend you from
big toe, and his left thumb to his right big toe. Satan's wiles [tricks]. Otherwise, you yourself
Fasten a rope around his waist. Then toss him could end up on the wrong end of a witch hunt.
into a pond or river. If he floats, he's a witch.
Name & Class Period :
How to Spot a Witch by Adam Goodheart
Directions:
The article, How to Spot a Witch by Adam Goodheart, gives four methods of how one might determine if
a person is a witch or has become bewitched. Think of three additional ways that someone could tell if a
person were involved in witchcraft. Use the format of the article to guide you. First, determine how you will
spot a witch, what evidence you will use to prove they are guilty, what the suspect will go through once
accused, possible ways the suspect witch will react and how you intend to respond, and finally, what people
should do in the future to prevent getting caught for witchcraft from this method. Be specific and write in
complete sentences!
5. How to spot a witch:
What evidence will be used to prove they are guilty?
What will the suspect go through?
Possible ways the suspect will react and how one might respond:
What people should do in the future to prevent getting caught from others using this method?
STUDY GUIDE 2006
A PRACTICAL, HANDS-ON RESOURCE FOR THE CLASSROOM
CONTAINING ONTARIO CURRICULUM SUPPORT MATERIALS
BY
ARTHUR MILLER
EDUCATION PARTNERS
PRESENTS
The crucible
By
Arthur miller
This study guide for The Crucible contains back-

ground information for the play, suggested themes
and topics for discussion, and curriculum-based TABLE OF Contents
lessons that are designed by educators and theatre
The Players/Synopsis............................................3
professionals.
The Story ..............................................................4
The lessons and themes for discussion are organ-
ized in modules that can be used independently or Whos Who in the Play ........................................5
interdependently according to the class level and
time availability. Directors Notes/Designers Notes ....................6
THIS GUIDE WAS WRITTEN AND COMPILED BY The Playwright .......................................................7

BARBARA WORTHY, ROD CHRISTENSEN AND DR. Historical Background ..........................................8
DEBRA MCLAUCHLAN, PHD. ADDITIONAL MATE-
RIALS WERE PROVIDED BY TADEUSZ BRADECKI, Did You Know? ....................................................9
PETER HARTWELL AND GYLLIAN RABY. Background/ Puritanism ....................................10
COVER: LOOKING BACK (1984) EVELYN WILLIAMS, CHARCOAL
ON PAPER.(PRIVATE COLLECTION/BRIDGEMAN ART LIBRARY)
Background/The Mystery of Salem ..................11
PAGE 2 ILLUSTATION: DEATH WARRANT FOR REBECCA NURSE
(ORIGINAL COURT DOCUMENT)
Background/The Political Stage........................12
PAGE 5 PHOTO: PETER KRANTZ BY SHIN SUGINO.
Additional Sources...............................................13
Classroom Applications
The crucible
Before Attending the Play ............................14-20
Running time: 2hrs 50 approx.
After Attending the Play...............................21-28
including one intermission
Glossary of Theatre Terms ................................29
Previews June 3, 2006
Opens June 23, 2006 Response Sheet ....................................................30
Closes October 14, 2006
2
The Players
Ezekiel Cheever............................................................................. Guy Bannerman
Giles Corey ....................................................................................Bernard Behrens
Hopkins......................................................................................... Anthony Bekenn
Tituba......................................................................................................... Lisa Berry
Thomas Putnam........................................................................ Norman Browning
John Proctor .............................................................................. Benedict Campbell
Betty Parris....................................................................... Katie Cambone-Mannell
Elizabeth Proctor .......................................................................................Kelli Fox
Abigail Williams ...........................................................................Charlotte Gowdy
Ann Putnam...........................................................................................Mary Haney
Townsperson ....................................................................................Evert Houston
Francis Nurse ............................................................................................ Al Kozlik
Reverend John Hale.............................................................................Peter Krantz
Mary Warren.................................................................................. Trish Lindstrom
Marshall Herrick................................................................................. Jeff Meadows
Deputy-Governor Danforth..................................................................Jim Mezon
Rebecca Nurse................................................................................. Jennifer Phipps
Guard................................................................................................Micheal Querin
Reverend Samuel Parris.............................................................................. Ric Reid
Judge Hathorne .......................................................................... David Schurmann
Susanna Wallcott.....................................................................................Nelly Scott
Sarah Good.................................................................................... Wendy Thatcher
Mercy Lewis............................................................................... Taylor Trowbridge
Directed by Tadeusz Bradecki

Set Designed by Peter Hartwell
Costumes Designed by Teresa Przybylski
Lighting Designed by Kevin Lamotte
Original Music by Paul Sportelli
Stage Manager: Meredith Macdonald
Assistant Stage Manager: Amy Jewell
Technical Director: Jeff Scollon
Synopsis
A powerful, fictional re-telling of a historical moment in 17th century America: the witch trials of Salem,
Massachusetts in 1692. A play famous for rousing the conscience of America, and one of the landmark dramas
of the century, it depicts how difficult it is to defend principles and human dignity under conditions of para-
noia, fear, and hysteria. The Crucible is an allegory of the insidious spread and reach of McCarthyism in the early
50s.
3
The Story
The Crucible is based upon the 17th century witch-
hunts that took place in the community of Salem -
a small religious colony of Puritans near Boston,
Massachusetts. Miller wrote this play as an allegory
to 1950s McCarthyism; it parallels the activities of
the House Of Un-American Activities Committee
in the USA during the mid 20th century when para-
noia about communism pervaded the USA and
spread to Canada. The Crucible is a story of a village
overtaken by religious fervor and mounting panic,
where people are arrested for being witches with-
out evidence. In Salem, matters of good and evil
are clearly defined; dissent is not merely unlawful,
it is associated with satanic activity.
Early in the year of 1692, a collection of girls from

the colony fall victim to supposed hallucinations
and seizures after dancing in the forest with a black
Costume design for John Proctor by Teresa Przybylski.
female slave named Tituba. Suspicion surrounds
craft fill the town. Abigail Williams, 17 years old
Tituba and soon accusations and fears of witch-
and beautiful, appears to be the girls ringleader,
and when Tituba and Abigail begin accusing vari-
ous townsfolk of conspiring with the devil, the
other girls join in. Soon the colony is beset with
jealousies, bitter quarrellings, and deeply held ha-
treds rise to the surface. Local farmer John Proctor
is a deeply honest man and he suspects Abigail of
being a fraud. But Proctor has a guilty secret to
protect an affair with Abigail when she was a ser-
vant in his house. This proves to be his downfall.
Jealous and vindictive, Abigail accuses Proctors
wife of dealings with the devil, and as the hysteria
grows, Proctor hesitates to expose Abigail in fear
of having his secret exposed and losing his good
name. Old grudges and religious fervour result in
tragedy, as good people are hanged for witchcraft,
others are jailed, and a community is left with its
conscience in tatters.
Death Warrant for Rebecca Nurse
(Original court document)
4
Whos in Miller himself said, "The play is not report-
ible age of any kind .... nobody can start to write a
Who T h e Cruc tragedy and hope to make it reportage ....
what I was doing was writing a fictional story
about an important theme."
At the center of the Salem tragedy were real people - the bewitched young girls, the towns
people who fell prey to the hysteria and the innocent individuals accused of witchcraft.
Whether they helped create the witch-hunt or were at the mercy of the events, these people
made up a community consumed by jealousy, fear, hysteria, superstition and hypocrisy.
Abigail Williams is a tormented charac- John Proctor is a deeply honest man, who is troubled by
ter who represents absolute evil and The Devil. his act of lechery with Abigail. Driven by guilt , Proctor be-
She is the mass murderer whose actions bring comes the hero of this play, but he is painfully human. His
about the death of so many innocent people. fall from grace is part of his humanity. He is weak and unde-
She was deeply in love with John Proctor and cided, full of contradictions, and yet he makes heroic
now that love has been taken away from her, choices. He is a man who can be easily understood because
her vengeance is powerful. She wants revenge. he is imperfect. Part of this imperfection is the knowledge
But her life is not an easy one. She is an orphan that his bond with Abigail is not completely ended. His
whose parents were murdered by the Wabanaki, choices are difficult but in the end, heroic.
(see pg. 9). She has raised herself, feeling some-
what on the edge of society, and observing all Deputy-Governor Danforth is the Deputy Gover-
the manipulation and hypocrisy around her. Her nor of Massachusetts and the presiding judge at the witch trials.
power comes from her intelligence, empathy Honest and scrupulous, Danforth is a tough Boston lawyer
and courage. Shes like an animal, instinctual who is basically fair, honest and scrupulous but overconfident
and strong. She knows what she has to do to in his ability to judge the truth. He is always right, at least in
get what she wants. his own mind, and is convinced that he is doing right in rooting
out witchcraft. Danforth feels that it is his duty and destiny to
purge society of evil and establish the Kingdom of Christ on
earth. He is, therefore, temperamentally inclined to interpret all
Elizabeth Proctor is a good woman who has been treated
evidence as proof that Satan's forces are operating in Salem and
badly and she pays the ultimate price. Her love and understanding
seems to feel particularly strongly that the girls are honest. He
of her husband John is powerful, but if she accepted his adultery,
is sensitive to the presence of the devil and reacts explosively to
she did not intend to let it continue. She is no fool and under-
whatever evidence is presented.
stands Abigails intentions well, better than Proctor himself. She is
a loving mother, and is sent to prison even though she carries a
Reverend John Hale
child. She is described as being cold, but is perhaps merely accept- Mary Warren is a
is a tight-skinned, eager-eyed
ing of her life. intellectual. This is a beloved servant in the Proctor house-
errand for him; on being called hold and used by Abigail to
here to ascertain witchcraft he accuse Proctors wife, Eliza-
Reverend Parris is Pastor of the church in Salem. He is the
has felt the pride of the spe- beth. John takes Mary to the
father of Betty, uncle of Abigail Williams, and master of Tituba.
cialist whose unique knowl- court, hoping she will con-
He believes that he is being persecuted and that the townspeople
edge has at last been publicly fess to the girls pretense.
do not respect his position as a man of God. The people have
called for (Miller). As the play But Mary fears Abigail, and
ousted the last few pastors and Parris fears the same fate. He
progresses, however, Hale when Abigail leads the other
chooses to believe the girls, because to do otherwise would mean
experiences a transformation. girls against her, Mary turns
that the trouble would be connected to his own household. If this
His belief in witchcraft falters, on Proctor and accuses him.
happened, he may not be trusted by the village.
as does his faith in the law.
5
Directors Notes
Arthur Millers classic parable of mass accusations have repeatedly scythed
hysteria draws a chilling parallel their bloody crops. Millers comment on
between the Salem witch-hunts of his work, written in 1953, is striking:
1692 one of the strangest and most When one rises above the individual
awful chapters in human history villainy displayed, one can only pity
and the McCarthyism that gripped them all, just as we shall be pitied some
America in the 1950s. And yet, when day. It is still impossible for man to
read from the perspective of over half organize his social life without
a century after the play was written, its repressions, and the balance has yet to
core message seems today to be far be struck between order and freedom.
more universal: analyzed in The Crucible I remain particularly touched by the
are not only those two particular Costume design for deep, understanding humanism of this
Danforth by Teresa Przybylski.
moments of American history, but also play. What is man? asks Miller. Look with
some general, fatal pattern of human behaviour, no illusions, he seems to say: these two-legged
repeatedly re-occurring like a disease through monsters seem capable of every possible evil, every
the centuries. Salem-like witch-hunts happened imaginable cruelty. And yet we humans wretched
and still do happen in many places in the world. creatures in many ways are able to reach almost
Innumerable communities and whole nations have angelic levels of goodness and beauty, thanks to
been stirred into madness by superstition, malice, the unique human treasure we all possess: our free
and ideological paranoia. The evils of mindless will.
persecution and the terrifying power of false Tadeusz Bradecki, Director
Set Designers Notes

Strongly rooted in its historical well: It represents the eternal
time frame of 1692, director machinery of human madness,
Tadeusz Bradecki and designer like some kind of gigantic
Peter Hartwell saw the set design guillotine, pushing us from one
for The Crucible as reflecting a place to the other. And the
metaphysical space in keeping backdrop is a cyclorama of a
with the sense of the play as a vast forest, reminding us that
parable. A large black grid the wilderness, the ever-
dominates the stage, rotating on stretching American continent,
its axis to form a horizontal floor was never far away. The large
or vertical walls to create four black strip running along the
different places of action. Each backdrop echoes the long, rec-
rotation is accompanied by the tangular windows used by the
sound of metal chains and media to view the McCarthy
Costume design for hearings in the 50s.
grinding machinery. Says Hart-
Sarah Good by Teresa Przybylski.
6
Arthur Miller 1915 - 2005
He was a great playwright, a great man, and a man
Born: Manhattan, 1915
of rare integrity in his writing. He was a landmark
Died: Roxbury, Connecticut, 2005
and a leader. Harold Pinter, London, 2005
Overview
Arthur Miller transformed American theatre. Following the end of World War II, he tapped into a sense of
dissatisfaction and unrest within the greater American psyche. His dramas were provocative, insightful and
probing. He became the public conscience. Regarded as a brilliant writer, a staunch humanitarian, and a man
of great dignity, it is said that not a day goes by when one of Millers plays is not being performed somewhere
in the world.
Family
Major Works
Parents: Jewish immigrants, Isidore and
All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman Augusta Miller.
(1949, won the Pulitzer Prize), The Cruci- Father: a ladies wear manufacturer.
ble (1953), A View from the Bridge (1955), Mother: a school teacher and housewife.
The Misfits (1961 screenplay). Sister: actress Joan Copeland.
Brother: Kermit.
Major Themes A young Arthur Miller

School
Moral plight of the working class - moral
responsibility - struggles of conscience - Graduated from high school and paid
sociopolitical commentaries - betrayal - his way through college. Attended
death - injustice. University of Michigan, 1934-38.
Bachelor of English with honorary
Major Influences degrees worldwide.
The Great Depression years - watching Marriage

his fathers desperation due to business Miller in his later years, photographed by
m. Mary Slattery, 1940-1956 (college
his wife Inge Morath.
failures - anti-Semitism - McCarthyism - sweetheart, two children: Jane and
politics - love. Robert);
m. Marilyn Monroe, 1956-1961
Arthur Miller with Marilyn Mon-
(movie icon - met through Elia
roe in 1961, on the set of The
Misfits which is the screenplay he Kazan);
wrote for her. They were only m. Inge Morath, 1962 (photographer
married for five years and this - met on the set of The Misfits), mar-
was Monroes longest marriage. ried 40 years until her death in 2002,
"I'd say out of the five we had two good
two children: Daniel and Rebecca);
years, but her addiction to pills and
drugs defeated me," said Miller. Yet
in 2004 Miller announced his engage-
the marriage compounded ment to Agnes Barley, 34, with
Millers fame. whom he had been living since 2002.
7
Historical Background
Seeking reprieve from the strict and narrow ways were several undiscovered witches who seek to
of Puritan life, several girls from Salem secretly met destroy the Puritans. Discovering and eliminating
in the woods to hear the exotic tales told by Ti- witches became a crusade not only for Salem but
tuba, a slave from Barbados. In February, 1692, all Massachusetts.
the Reverend Parris discovered the girls participat- In June of 1692, the special Court of Oyer (to hear)
ing in one of these forbidden sessions. Afterwards, and Terminer (to decide) sat in Salem to hear the
Betty Parris and others began having fits that de- cases of witchcraft. Presided over by Chief Justice
fied all explanation. Doctors and ministers watched William Stoughton, the court was made up of mag-
in horror as the girls displayed catatonic symptoms istrates and jurors. The first to be tried was Bridget
and signs of the devil. Bishop of Salem who was found guilty and was
Unable to find a natural explanation, the Puritans hanged on June 10. By October of that year, thir-
turned to the supernatural - the girls were be- teen women and five men from all stations of life
witched. Prodded by Parris and others, the girls were hanged before the court was disbanded by
named their tormentors: a beggar named Sarah Governor William Phipps. A new court, (the Supe-
Good, the elderly Sarah Osburn, and Tituba her- rior Court of Judicature), was formed which did
self. Each woman was in some way, a village out- not allow spectral evidence. This belief in the power of
cast. the accused to use their invisible shapes or spectres
Tituba claimed, The devil came to me and bid me to torture their victims, sealed the fates of those
serve him. Villagers sat spellbound as Tituba tried by the Court of Oyer and Terminer. The new
spoke of the devils mischief and how she was co- court released those awaiting trial and pardoned
erced into signing the devils book. She said there those awaiting execution. In effect, the Salem witch
trials were over.
King Williams War or The Second In- The Wabanaki Confederacy was a coalition of
dian War five Algonquian tribes of the eastern seaboard, banded
In 1689 the English parliament drove the papist James II from the throne together in response to Iroquois aggression.
Like other Wabanaki tribes, the Penobscot Indians
and replaced him with his daughter and her husband, the Dutch Protestant
of Maine were longstanding enemies of the Iroquois,
William of Orange. Ongoing tensions between the French and the English
particularly the Mohawk. This led them to side with
contributed to colonial conflicts. Both competed for control of the Maine the French and Algonquins in the costly war against
frontier. The people of Salem feared attacks by the French/Catholic the English and Iroquoians. The English paid out
backed Wabanaki Indians with whom there had been an uneasy truce since bounties for dead Penobscots, but it was European
Chief Metacomets War (1675-1678). The colony lacked a constitutional diseases (especially smallpox) that really decimated
government, and wealthy men had soaked up the power and put the judici- their nation, killing at least 75% of the population.
ary in disarray. The times were out of joint, wrote Arthur Miller. Still angry with the British, the much-reduced Penob-
Feuding Landholders scot tribe supported the Americans in the Revolution-
ary War, and having picked the winning side they
Salem village was rife with resentment and rivalry fueled by disagreements
were not expelled from New England, and to this
over land and taxes. A race for land-wealth pit neighbour against
day, remain on reservations in their native Maine.
neighbour. Accusations were made against known merchants who traded Recently the Penobscot tribe was able to buy back
arms and food for profit to the French-allied Wabanaki Indians. Many of some of their ancestral lands, and today they are a
the accusers resented this, due to loss of family members and landholdings. sovereign nation working to maintain their traditions,
Those merchants were seen as traitors, having devilish collaboration with language, and self-sufficiency.
the enemy.
8
Did You Know?
Definition: Crucible (n)
1. A severe test, as of patience or belief; a trial. Spectral Evidence
2. A place, time, or situation characterized by the confluence of
powerful intellectual, social, economic, or political forces. Arthur Miller: At a certain point, the high court of the
3. A metal container used to heat material to a very high
temperature. province made the fatal decision to admit, for the first time,
4. A hollow area at the bottom of a furnace where metal the use of "spectral evidence" as proof of guilt. Spectral evi-
collects
dence meant that if I swore that you had sent out your
Miller also wrote the familiar spirit to choke, tickle, poison me or my cattle, or
screenplay of the film
version of The Cruci-
Did to control thoughts and actions, I could get you hanged
unless you confessed to having had contact with the Devil.
ble, which featured YoU After all, only the Devil could lend such powers of visible
Winona Ryder, and his
son-in-law Daniel Know transport to confederates, in his everlasting plot to bring
down Christianity.
Day-Lewis, who was
married to Miller's
daughter Rebecca.
The Language of 1692

Miller used the colour of language in The Crucible to
help create the tone of 17th century Salem with dia-
lect choices imbedded in the script. He chose a rustic,
colloquial sound, partly based on Salem records, with
echoes of the King James bible; not unlike a dialect Arthur Miller in 1956
still heard today in rural southern England. Miller Miller was one of the original founders of International
achieved his effect by changing verb tenses, linking PENs Writers in Prison committee, and in 1965 was
words unusually and by the use of archaic words and elected its president, which was a position he held for
double negatives, (e.g. not with no, or never). four years.
You should surely know that Cain were an upright man, and
yet he did kill Abel. (Parris, Act 3);
He cannot discover no medicine for it in his books. Arthur Miller on writing The Crucible:
(Susanna, Act 1); The Crucible was an act of desperation. Much of my des-
Old-fashioned words set the tone from the begin- peration branched out, I suppose, from a typical Depression-
ning: bid for told, unnatural for supernatural, witched -era trauma - the blow struck on the mind by the rise of
for bewitched, sport for fun, aye and nay for yes and
no. And as Puritans, the characters often quote or European Fascism and the brutal anti-Semitism it had
allude to the Bible, which Miller uses to remind us of brought to power. But by 1950, when I began to think of
the strict religious code they lived by: writing about the hunt for Reds in America, I was moti-
Abigail brings the other girls into the court, and where she vated in some great part by the paralysis that had set in
walks the crowd will part like the sea for Israel. (Elizabeth, among many liberals who, despite their discomfort with the
Act 2) inquisitors' violations of civil rights, were fearful, and with
You should surely know that Cain were an upright man, and
yet he did kill Abel. (Parris, Act 3). good reason, of being identified as covert Communists if they
should protest too strongly.
9
Background: Puritanism
Puritanism is a Christian faith which originated in These new beliefs included emphasis on individual
England during the early seventeenth century. The acceptance or rejection of God's grace, tolerance
ideals, which separate Puritans from other Chris- for a variety of religious beliefs, and the incorpora-
tians include their strict belief in predestination. tion of "high church" symbols. The Puritans
This term refers to the idea wished to rid their religion
that God has previously of all Catholic influence.
chosen those who will be
Early in the seventeenth
saved, and an individual can
century, groups of Puritans
do nothing to change this
began leaving Europe to
status. The Puritan Cove-
travel to the American colo-
nant of Grace calls for all
nies. The New England re-
Puritans to be actively faith-
gion became the center for
ful. The Covenant of Works
Puritans, but the group was
is the belief that those who
spread throughout the area
follow God's moral codes
This map shows the locations of major landmarks, farms, land north of Virginia. The main
will be blessed with eternal life. grants, physical features, and the dwellings of prominent and
goal of these immigrants was to
important residents in Salem 1692.
The Puritans split from the form a religious community in
Church of England in 1633. When William Laud which their "pure" ideals could be central. The
became the new Archbishop of Canterbury, the radical beliefs of the Puritans flourished in the
new beliefs he brought were unacceptable to those New World. By keeping a strong connection be-
members who sought to "purify" the Church. tween Church and State, the Puritans were able to
control most of the colonies' activity until the end
The Puritans: of the seventeenth century.
Five Basic Beliefs
Total Depravity: By virtue of the original sin of
Adam, when one is born, he has no right to salvation.
Unconditional Election: Some are chosen for salva-
tion, some are not. There is nothing one can do to change his
status.
Limited Atonement: The extent to which one can
please God with acts is limited.
Irresistible Grace: God showers one with a quality of
grace, and one cannot resist it.
Perseverance: Once one has been saved, nothing he does
will change that fact.
These central beliefs, along with an extreme emphasis on
preaching and the laws contained within the Bible itself
formed the strict ideals of American Puritanism.
10
The Mystery of Salem
A Truth of 1692
The real Abigail Williams was only 11, and the
real John Proctor was 60, and Elizabeth Proctor, 41, was
his third wife. Proctor was not a farmer but a tavern keeper.
Living with them was their daughter aged 15, their son who
was 17, and John's 33-year-old son from his first marriage.
Scholars have been writing about the Salem Witch Trials
Everyone in the family was eventually accused of witchcraft.
for three hundred years, with various theories as to why the
Elizabeth Proctor was indeed pregnant during the trial, and
girls cried out. Sexual repression, a male dominated soci-
did have a temporary stay of execution after convicted, which
ety, fear, intolerance, an austere religious doctrine have all
ultimately spared her life because it extended past the end of
been suggested. Here are some findings through the centuries:
the period that the executions were taking place.
17th Century: scholars believed the accusers were
actually possessed by the devil and operating as
witches against the Christian community of Salem.
18th Century: religious fervour and the popularity
of extreme conversion seemed a more likely ex-
planation for the fits and delusions of the accusers.
19th Century: Theories of womb-centred female
psychology suggested that the girls were hysterical,
carried away in a collective consciousness. (This Declaration of Regret
theory continued with adherents of Freud and - Salem Jurors -
Jung) .
20th Century: Science experts propose that the We do therefore hereby signify to all in general, and to the
surviving sufferers in special, our deep sense of, and sorrow
girls were under the influence of natural poisons for, our errors in acting on such evidence to the condemning
of any person; and do hereby declare, that we justly fear that
such as ergot or suffering from an encephalitis epi- we were sadly deluded and mistaken - for which we are much
demic. Bernard Rosenthal proposes that they were disquieted and distressed in our minds, and do therefore
humbly beg forgiveness, first of God, for Christ's sake, for
malicious adolescents drunk on power. this our error, and pray that God would impute the guilt of it
21st Century: Contemporary scholarship refocuses to ourselves nor others, and we also pray that we may be con-
sidered candidly and aright by the living sufferers, as being
the spotlight away from the accusers to the judges then under a strong and general delusion, utterly unac-
quainted with, and not experienced in, matters of that nature.
and the larger cultural context of war, making a
case that the accusers were traumatized refugees. We do hereby ask forgiveness of you all, whom we have justly
offended, and do declare, according to our present minds, we
would none of us do such things again, on such grounds, for
the whole world - praying you to accept of this in way of sat-
isfaction for our offense, and that you would bless the inheri-
tance of the Lord, that he may be entreated for the land.
Thomas Fisk, Foreman Thomas Pearly, Sr.

William Fisk John Peabody
John Bacheler Thomas Perkins
Thomas Fisk Samuel Sayer
John Dane Andrew Eliot
Joseph Evelith Henry Herrick, Sr.
11
The Political Stage
Conscience was no longer a private
matter but one of state administration." Arthur Miller
House Committee on
Un-American Activities
(HUAC or HCUA)
(1938-1975) was an inves-
tigative committee, of the
United States House of HUAC Hearing
Representatives. In 1969 In 1956 Miller appeared before
Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy the House changed the the House Committee on Un-
committee's name to the American Activities. On May
McCarthyism grew out of the Second Red Scare
Committee on Internal 31, 1957, Miller was found guilty
that began in the late 1940s and is named after U.S.
Security. The House abol- of Contempt of Congress for
Senator Joseph McCarthy, a Republican of Wisconsin ished the committee in refusing to reveal the names of
with a particular zeal in uncovering the reds. Many 1975 and its functions members of a literary circle sus-
parallels exist between McCarthyism and Millers depic- were transferred to the pected of Communist affiliation.
tion of the Salem witch trials. When The Crucible opened House of Judiciary Com- His conviction was reversed on
on Broadway on January 22, 1953, audiences were well mittee. August 7, 1958, by the U.S.
aware of the symbolism it represented. McCarthyism Court of Appeals.
took place during a period of intense suspicion in the
United States primarily from 1950 to 1954, when the Arthur Miller: Certain processes are universal. When
U.S. government was actively countering alleged Gentiles in Hitler's Germany, for example, saw their Jewish
American Communist Party subversion, its leadership, neighbors being trucked off, or soldiers in Soviet Ukraine saw
and others suspected of being Communists or the Kulaks sing before their eyes, the common reaction, even
sympathizers. During this period people from all walks among those unsympathetic to Nazism or Communism, was
of life, but especially the arts, became the subject of quite naturally to turn away in fear of being identified with the
aggressive "witch-hunts," often based on questionable
condemned. As I learned from non-Jewish Elia Ka
zan
evidence. Paranoia reached a peak of hysteria.
refugees, however, there was often a
despairing pity mixed with Well, they
must have done something.
i l le r
ur M
Arth In the film industry alone, over
300 actors, writers and directors
were denied work in the U.S.
through the informal Hollywood
blacklist. The studios, after first resisting, agreed to
submit artists' names to the House Committee for
"clearing" before employing them. This unleashed a
veritable holy terror, wrote Arthur Miller. Even Millers
close friend, film director Elia Kazan, named names to
the HUAC, effectively ending a friendship, careers, and in
October 31, some cases, lives. Miller and writer Lillian Hellman pub-
1947 licly denounced him.
12
ADDITIONAL SOURCES
http://www.etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/
This site provides a wealth of primary source documents, from trail transcripts to rare books and histori-
cal maps of Salem Village. Also features a helpful Q&A with the town archivist for Danvers (formerly
Salem Village).
http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/puritan/puritan.html
This site contains Mary Easty's petition to the court asking them to please not shed any more innocent
blood. The site also contains background historical information on the trials.
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/trials/salem/salem/.html
Find a chronology of events, images, select trail transcripts and petitions, biographies, excerpts from Cot-
ton Mathers Memorable Providences and more
http://www.salemweb.com/witches.html
This site contains a brief historical introduction to the events of 1692-93 in Salem. This site also contains
various links to more specific aspects of Salem and the trials.
http://www.salemwitchmuseum.com/learn.html
This site answers some commonly asked questions about the trials and witchcraft in the seventeenth cen-
tury.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/97/salem
An interactive trip through the hysteria that caused the witch hunt in Salem, offered from the perspective
of one of the accused.
http://www.jefferson.village.virginia.edu/~bcr/salem/salem.html
An interactive map showing the locations of the accused and the accusers, as well as major roads, rivers,
townships and households.
http://earlyamerica.com/review/summer97/carey.html
Although over 500 of the original legal documents from the trials still exist, one particular death warrant,
known as the Carey Document, has been exposed as a fake. This site includes information on the discov-
ery of the document with pictures.
http://www.native-languages.org/wabanaki.htm
Peoples of the Wabanaki Indian Confederacy, with links to information about each Wabanaki nation and
its language.
http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/salem.html
A chronology of important events surrounding the Salem witch trials.
13
Classroom Applications
The following pages suggest questions and activities students might explore BEFORE attending The Crucible
Activities relate to Ministry of Education expectations for Drama and Dance at the junior, intermediate and senior levels.
To obtain Ontario Curriculum documents, visit www.edu.gov.on.ca.
RESEARCH
The Crucible enacts historical events that occurred in and around the town of Salem, Massachusetts, in
1692. Investigate these events on the internet. In role as investigative reporters, select one aspect of these
events to focus attention on. Write a two to three paragraph newspaper article to read to the class.
Theme One
COMMUNITY
The idea of community is important to The Crucible because the play enacts factual circumstances that arose in a
specific community of time and place. A community might be identified by the values, attitudes and actions of
its people. Rules of behaviour, either stated or implied, specify what beliefs
and behaviours are permitted and not permitted in any community. DISCUSSION
Your school as a community
What are the duties and responsibilities of various members of your school community
(e.g. students, teachers, administration, custodians, secretaries)?
What formal rules of behaviour exist for different members of your school community?
What unspoken rules exist among students in your school?
What values, actions and affiliations are prized in your school community?
Does your school community include cliques or easily distinguished groups of students? If so, what labels
and behaviours are attributed to these groups?
14
ACTIVITY
Tableau Work
Imagine that you live in a farming community with these unspoken rules:
Everyone must belong to the same religion and attend church every Sunday.
Hard work is good; recreation is evil.
No one is allowed to dance or read novels.
Hymns and lullabies may be sung; no other singing is permitted.
Families should be prepared for a possible attack by natives living just beyond the community border.
Slavery is an accepted practice and most landowners own slaves.
Parents and slave owners have the right to beat their children or slaves.
Owning as much land as possible is an admired goal.
Disputes among neighbours are normally settled by a court of law.
People are expected to spy on their neighbours to make sure they follow the rules.
In groups of four to five, create a tableau depicting an image of everyday life in this community. Then cre-
ate another tableau depicting an image that breaks one or more rules of this community.
Display the tableaux to the class. Identify common images or themes from both versions. What moods
are depicted in the tableaux? Describe the lifestyle of people displayed in the first tableaux.
ACTIVITY
The Crucible depicts relationships and conflicts among three generations of community members. Although
specific details of character and experience relate to a community very different from ours, certain aspects
of inter-generational conflict are similar to todays circumstances. The task in this activity is to improvise a
scene based on the following information.
15
Theme One, continued
COMMUNITY
ACTIVITY
continued
Four teenagers have been caught engaging in activity that is forbidden or illegal in their community.
The worst aspects of the activity remain unknown to the adult who caught them.
Teenager A is the leader. Physically attractive, bossy, and very accustomed to lying, Teenager A or-
ganized the forbidden event. Once caught, Teenager A decides to admit to a minor aspect of the
activity, and plans to accuse others of the more serious elements.
Teenager B is a true follower. Nervous and eager to please, Teenager B often acts without thinking
things through. Teenager B went along with Teenager As plans out of intimidation and curiosity.
Teenager B will admit to whatever the majority decides. Teenager B is afraid of the punishment that
is likely to follow.
Teenager C is a lonely and nave person who went along with the group in an attempt to be accepted
by the in-crowd. Teenager C was present at the scene of the forbidden activity, but did not partici-
pate. However, Teenager C is willing to admit to participating in minor aspects of the activity for
fear of group retaliation.
Teenager D is deceptive and frequently unkind. Teenager D is a bully and uses threats of violence
and exclusion to get what she or he wants. Teenager D accuses Teenager C of planning to tell on
others in order to escape punishment.
Before creating the scene, the group should first decide on the type of activity that the teenagers were
engaged in. Next, decide what aspects of the activity they were caught doing, and what more serious as-
pects occurred undetected. Now decide on the setting. Finally, decide who it was that caught them in
the act.
The scene itself should depict a conversation among the four teenagers that occurs after they have been
caught, but before they have been questioned individually about their role in the activity. The improvisa-
tion should demonstrate the wants and goals of each character and lead to an announcement of what
each one plans to do.
16
Theme Two
WITCHCRAFT
The Crucible recreates events of 1692 in and around the town of Salem, Massachusetts, where a number of citi-
zens, primarily women, were accused of witchcraft and subsequently condemned to death.
DISSCUSSION
Brainstorm common ideas about witches in terms of: (a) their appearance (b) their objects (c) their ani-
mals (d) their habits and (e) their supernatural abilities.
In the Salem trials, many people accused of witchcraft were those considered of little use to society;
elderly widows, for example. Compare your ideas about witches to images of elderly widows in an agri-
cultural society 300 years ago.
The Wizard of Oz recounts how an elderly woman can become transformed by a young girls dream into
a powerful force of evil witchcraft. Discuss childhood dreams or fears of witches that classmates recall.
ACTIVITY
Pantomime
In this exercise, students will depict actions that might be transformed through rumor and exaggeration
into evidence of witchcraft.
One partner will represent an elderly woman or man performing a menial task involving such objects as
a cooking pot, a broom, and a candle. Household pets and/or other animals may be involved as well.
The second partner will represent the same task, this time transformed by rumor and exaggeration into
an example of witchcraft.
17
Theme Two, continued
WITCHCRAFT
ACTIVITY
Chants and Spells
The witches in Shakespeares Macbeth exemplify common notions of witches in the century before the Sa-
lem trials, including spells and chants over a boiling cauldron, fetishes, and familiars. Fetishes were objects
believed to embody magic power; familiars were animals belonging to individual witches.
In the box below are words and phrases taken from Act One of The Crucible.
In groups of four to six, create a chanted spell by :

(a) selecting words and phrases of your choice from the box, (b) putting the words and phrases into an
appropriate order, (c) choosing words or phrases to repeat throughout the chant or charm.
Add actions and possibly music to your chant or charm.
After presenting to the class, discuss the atmosphere evoked by the exercise.
nocturnal corruption obscene conjuring spirits
demonic art murdering gibberish vengeful
swaying devils touch sin abomination
darkness screeching witchcraft unnatural
18
Theme Three
REVENGE
The Crucible suggests that the Salem witch-hunt was largely sparked by differences between two landowning
families, the Putnams and the Proctors. A teen-aged girl capitalized on the growing frenzy to gain personal re-
venge of her own.
Revenge is a common theme in the Bible, literature and movies. Iden- DISCUSSION
tify examples of revenge stories known by the class.
Why is the theme of revenge so important in our cultures religion and entertainment?
What is the difference between revenge and justice?
Story-Telling ACTIVITY
In small groups, create and tell modern-day stories, derived from your
imaginations, based on the following information:
Two families own large areas of land in a farming community (imagine members of each family, the
type of farming they do, and the kind of people they are).
The families feud over various issues (imagine a specific example or two).
The families sue each other (imagine details of the lawsuits).
One family seeks revenge on the other (imagine how the revenge is sought).
A teenager who once worked for one of the families holds a grudge against them (imagine the cause of
the grudge).
The teenager seeks his or her own revenge (imagine what form the revenge takes).
A Tribunal
A tribunal is a court or seat of justice. In groups of three, imagine yourselves as panels of judges called
upon to respond to the following letters of appeal for justice. What decisions would you make? Why?
19
Theme Three, continued
REVENGE ACTIVITY
Letter #1
I appeal to your wisdom to settle a matter of dispute between myself and my neighbors. As the oldest son of the richest man in our town,
and one who has risked my life in battle for my neighbors safety, I demand justice from those whose jealousy has besmirched my family.
As you may recall, I sought justice on another occasion from this court and was turned down. In that instance, I asked you to overturn
my fathers will, a clearly illegal document that favored my stepbrother over me. You refused my appeal for help at that time. I trust you
will not disappoint me again. Today I appeal for my wifes relative, who was refused an important position in this town because of his
connection to me. My wifes relative was the most qualified person for the position, and was voted by 2/3 of those in power to be given the
post. He was told, however, that the job had gone to someone else for reasons never disclosed. I demand justice for my family member.
Letter #2
As this towns pastor, I seek what is owed to me. I came to this town a widower raising a daughter on my own. I realized from the start
that I was entering an unstable situation - this town has had three pastors in the last seven years. Im a man who has never refused a
challenge, but I did want some signs of trust from the congregation. When I asked for the deed to the house I was given to live in, my pleas
for a secure roof over my head were met with heated denial. When I sought to have proper candlesticks installed by the church altar, I had
to fight like a thief for what was right. I agreed to a salary that is low by any standards for a man of my experience. My simple expecta-
tions are that important living expenses, such as the heating requirements for my house, should be paid in addition to my meager wage. I
now face opposition for this small request. I trust you will come to my assistance.
Letter #3
Although I am young in years, I am old in sorrow. In childhood, I witnessed the murder of my parents as they slept in bed. Following
their deaths, I was sent to work as a servant for a family that treated me cruelly. The wife was sick most of the time and very miserable
and demanding. At first, the husband would beat me when I failed to please her. One night, shortly after I turned 16, he seduced me in
the shed behind the house. From then on, the husband was kind to me and found ways for us to meet. I fell in love with him and I know
he loved me too. Then his wife discovered our secret and forced him to turn me out into the street, penniless and with no source of employ-
ment. I seek justice for the wrongs this woman has done me.
Letter #4
I am a foreigner to your country, working for a very strict man whose teenaged niece is living in the household. The young woman and her
friends are very interested in learning about the culture of my people, whose customs include singing, dancing, and fortune-telling. The niece
fears her uncles stern attitude toward laziness and what he views as improper female conduct. Not wanting her uncle to know, the young
woman and a group of her friends begged me to meet them in secret and teach them about my culture. However, the uncle came upon us
and now blames me for leading them astray. I face severe punishmentpossibly death. Please help me.
20
The following pages suggest questions and activities students might explore
AFTER attending The Crucible
DISCUSSION
The Title of the Play
The word crucible refers to (a) a metal container used to heat material to a very high temperature, (b) a hol-
low area at the bottom of a furnace where metal collects, and (c) a severe test or trial.
Why do you think Arthur Miller chose to title his play The Crucible?
RESEARCH
McCarthyism
The Crucible was written in 1953, a time in American history that has been labeled the witch-hunt of
McCarthyism. Many literary analysts claim that Arthur Miller wrote the play as a deliberate comparison
between the mass hysteria of 1692 and the frenzy against Communism in mid-20th century USA.
Who was Senator Joseph McCarthy and why is his name linked to the term witch-hunt?
How did the Communist witch-hunt affect Hollywood celebrities in the 1950s?
What was the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)?
How was the FBI related to the Communist witch-hunt?
What similarities and differences exist between events in Salem in 1692 and events in Washington DC dur-
ing the 1950s?
21
Theme One
COMMUNITY
The Crucible chronicles a factual instance of mass hysteria that affected most members of a rural community in
one-way or another.
RESEARCH
Divide the class into teams representing physicians, lawyers, social
workers, and experts in studies of occult phenomena.
The task for each group is to explain the mass hysteria that overtook the Salem community from
the perspective of the occupation assigned. Research will be required to complete this task.
The physicians will describe mass hysteria from a medical perspective and demonstrate that the
residents of Salem were physically afflicted.
The lawyers will describe the effects of mass hysteria on the population of Salem in terms of
charges laid, convictions handed down, and punishments assigned.
The social workers will describe mass hysteria as a result of community conditions in and around
Salem at the time.
The experts in studies of occult phenomena will describe the symptoms of the mass hysteria as it
related to beliefs about supernatural influences.
Movement ACTIVITY
The Crucible reveals that the community of Salem relied on acts of cruelty to maintain
order and discipline among its members.
In pairs, recall instances of physical cruelty from the play.
Through movement only, practice four or five of these cruel acts in slow motion.
Concentrate on demonstrating the emotions of the two characters involved through gestures and facial
expression.
Link the acts of cruelty together to create a stylized depiction of cruelty in the Salem community.
Decide on appropriate music to accompany your movement performance.
22
Theme One, continued
COMMUNITY
DISCUSSION
Discussion: Theocracy
The Crucible is set in a community governed by theocracy, meaning that laws of religion legally ruled people.
In this case, the religion was a strict and harsh form of Protestantism known as Puritanism. The attitude of
the religious rulers was all or nothing; in other words, they believed that people belonged to either God
or the Devil, with no room for doubt in between. The witch trials demonstrated this all or nothing atti-
tude by branding anyone who broke rules of the community with the label of devil-worshiper. As Deputy
Governor Danforth proclaimed in Act III of the play: A person is either with this court or he must be
counted against it, there be no road between.
Are any countries today ruled by theocracy? If so, with what consequences?
Do you know of any historical instances, other than the Salem witch trials, in which a theocracy caused
the imprisonment and death of its citizens?
What is the effect of theocracy in general on the people who live under its rule?
Theme Two
WITCHCRAFT and the SUPERNATURAL
Did a witch exist in Salem?

DISCUSSION
On what evidence were various women in the play accused of witchcraft?
What different kinds of women were accused of witchcraft? Did these women display any common
characteristics?
What voodoo practices and fetishes were introduced in the play? How were they explained?
(a) the accusers of witchcraft and (b) those accused of witchcraft?
What unexplained strange occurrences remain unanswered at the end of the play?
Common notions of witches evoke images of ugly old women. But the word witch can also refer to
a beautiful or fascinating woman who enchants others by means of her bewitching appeal. Based on
the second notion of witchcraft, might Abigail be labeled a witch? Why or why not?
23
Staging a Scene ACTIVITY

Below is a scene from The Crucible in which evidence of witchcraft is displayed.
Divide the class in half. In one half, groups will rehearse the scene as if the characters are truly possessed
by witchcraft. In the other half, groups will rehearse the scene as if the characters are merely pretending to
be possessed by witchcraft. NOTE: In the case of males playing female roles, have them act as males
would act and not females.
Watch the various versions of the scene. Is it possible to detect the difference between the two depictions?
What differences exist between male and female approaches to the scene?
The circumstance of the scene is that one of the teenaged witnesses, Mary Warren, has admitted that she
lied about witchcraft. Abigail has just been accused of lying as well. Characters in the scene are: Mary,
Abigail, Mercy, Susanna, Deputy General Danforth, and John Proctor.
JOHN PROCTOR: This girl (meaning Abigail) speaks false.
ABIGAIL: (staring at the ceiling) You will not! Be gone! Be gone I say.
DANFORTH: What is it, child? (Abigail and the other witnesses are now all
staring at the ceiling) Whats there? Answer me child. Why do you---?
MERCY: (pointing) Look. Its on the beam. Behind the rafters.
DANFORTH: (looking up) Where?
ABIGAIL: Why do you come here, yellow bird?
JOHN PROCTOR: What bird? I see no bird.
DANFORTH: Be quiet.
ABIGAIL: My face? But God made my face. You cannot want to

tear my face. Envy is a deadly sin, Mary.
MARY: (jumps to her feet, pleading) Abby, no.
ABIGAIL: (still looking at the ceiling) Oh, Mary, this is black art to change your shape.
24
JOHN PROCTOR: Theyre pretending, Mr. Danforth. ACTIVITY
SUSANNA: (looking at the ceiling) Her claws, shes
continued
stretching her claws.
JOHN PROCTOR: Lies, lies.
ABIGAIL: Please, Mary, dont hurt me.
MARY: (to Danforth) Im not hurting her.
DANFORTH: (to Mary) Then why does she see this vision?
MARY: She sees nothing.
ABIGAIL: (copying Marys voice) She sees nothing. She sees nothing.
MARY: (pleading) Abby, you mustnt.
ABIGAIL, MERCY, SUSANNA: Abby, you mustnt. Abby, you mustnt.
MARY: Im right here.
ABIGAIL, MERCY, SUSANNA: Im right here. Im right here.
DANFORTH: Mary Warren. Draw your spirit out of them. Have you compacted
with the Devil?
MARY: Never, never.
ABIGAIL, MERCY, SUSANNA: Never, never.
MARY: Abby, stop it.
ABIGAIL, MERCY, SUSANNA: Abby, stop it.
MARY: Stop it!
ABIGAIL, MERCY, SUSANNA: Stop it!
MARY: Stop it!
ABIGAIL, MERCY, SUSANNA: Stop it!
DANFORTH: (to Mary) Where did you find this power? You have seen
the Devil, have you not?
25
Theme Three
REVENGE
The Crucible reveals reasons for various characters to seek revenge for their perceived wrongs by making accusa-
tions of witchcraft against a number of citizens of Salem. Teenaged girls who appeared physically and psycho-
logically affected by supernatural causes supplied evidence supporting these accusations. One theory to explain
the girls behaviour relies on the notion of suggestibility, meaning that the girls might have unconsciously
caused their own strange delusions and behaviour because they were easily influenced by others.
RESEARCH
Activity on Suggestibility
Investigate recent criminal trials, based on the evidence of children and/or teenagers, in which
suggestibility was used to refute the testimony of witnesses.
DISCUSSION
Questions on Suggestibility
People who are suggestible are frequently the best candidates for hypnotism.
Discuss any class experiences with hypnosis, either as participants or observers.
What types of behaviour do entertainment hypnotists induce in volunteers?
What types of behaviour do clinical hypnotists treat in their patients?
Do you believe that suggestibility was a cause of unexplained behaviour in Salem? Why or why not?
Were the girls who testified at the witch trials involved in a form of mass hysteria? Why or why not?
Can mass hysteria be considered a form of mass hypnosis? Why or why not?
Why is the testimony of suggestible witnesses suspect?
Was the revenge attained by the Salem witch trials justifiable?
26
REVENGE
RESEARCH
A Flawed Justice System
Identify aspects of the Salem trials, as depicted in The Crucible that show evidence of faulty court proce-
dures.
List reasons for declaring a mistrial of justice against the Salem judicial system.
ACTIVITY
Staging a Scene
Below is a scene from The Crucible that displays courtroom injustice and intolerance. The following charac-
ters are needed: Martha Corey, Giles Corey, Judge Hathorne, Reverend Hale, and Deputy Governor Dan-
forth.
Before rehearsing the scene, analyze the motives for each characters words and actions.
The setting is the Salem meeting house, now serving as the General Court.
JUDGE HATHORNE: Now, Martha Corey, there is abundant evidence in our hands to
show that you have given yourself to the reading of fortunes. Do
you deny it?
MARTHA COREY: I am innocent to a witch. I know not what a witch is.
HATHORNE: How do you know, then, that you are not a witch?
MARTHA COREY: If I were, I would know it.
HATHORNE: Why do you hurt these children?
MARTHA COREY: I do not hurt them.
GILES COREY: I have evidence for the court!
DANFORTH: Keep your seat.
GILES COREY: Thomas Putnam wants our land!
DANFORTH: Remove this man from the court!
27
REVENGE
ACTIVITY
GILES COREY: You are hearing lies, all lies. continued
HATHORNE: Arrest this man!
GILES COREY: But I have evidence. Why will no one hear my evidence?
REVEREND HALE: Pray be calm a minute.
GILES COREY: Mr. Hale, please demand that I speak.
REVEREND HALE: A moment, sir. A moment.
GILES COREY: Theyre going to hang my wife.
HATHORNE: How dare you come roaring into this court! Have you gone crazy?
GILES COREY: You arent a Boston judge yet, Hathorne. Dont call me crazy.
DANFORTH: Who is this man?
GILES COREY: My name is Corey, sir. Giles Corey. I have 600 acres and timber
in addition. It is my wife you are condemning now.
DANFORTH: And do you expect to aid her cause with such contemptuous riot?
Be gone.
GILES COREY: Theyre telling lies about my wife, sir.
DANFORTH: Do you take it upon yourself to determine what this court shall
believe and what it shall set aside?
GILES COREY: Your Excellency. We mean no disrespect for
DANFORTH: Disrespect indeed. You have disrupted this court, Mister. This
is the highest court of the supreme government of this province.
Do you know that?
GILES COREY: Your Excellency, I only said she was reading books, and they
came and took her out of my house for witchcraft. I only wanted
to know why she reads books. I never accused her of witchcraft.
HATHORNE: Arrest this man in contempt, sir.
28
GLOSSARY OF THEATRE TERMS WHO WORKS IN A THEATRE
BLOCKING: The actors movement on stage is known as
DIRECTOR: The person who guides the actors during the
blocking. The Stage Manager writes the blocking nota-
rehearsal period as they stage the play. The director is respon-
tion into the Prompt Script.
sible for presenting a unified vision of the play to the audi-
COSTUME: Anything that an actor wears on stage is re- ence.
ferred to as a costume. The Wardrobe department (the de-
DESIGNERS: The people who work with the director to
partment responsible for creating costumes) provides clothes,
decide what the production will look like. Designers must
shoes, hats, and any personal accessories such as umbrellas,
choose the colour, shape and texture of everything you see
purses and eyeglasses.
on the stage. There are several areas that need to have design-
DROP: A drop is a large piece of painted canvas that is ers: costumes, set, lighting and sometimes sound. The design-
flown in by the flyman (see FLYMAN). ers work very closely with the director to create the environ-
ment in which the play will take place.
GREEN ROOM: The green room, usually near the en-
trance to the stage, is where the actors and crew sit while DYER: The person who dyes fabrics for the Wardrobe de-
waiting for their turn to go on stage. One possible explana- partment.
tion of how the green room got its name is that actors used
FLYMAN: The person responsible for the manipulation of
to wait for their entrances at the back of the theatre in an
the scenery which is in the fly gallery (the space above the
area where the scenery was stored. Perhaps the scenery was
stage). The scenery is manipulated by ropes attached to a
green, or the name scene room evolved into green room.
counterweight system.
ORCHESTRA PIT: The orchestra pit is the place where
MILLINER: The person who makes the hats which the
the musicians perform during a musical. Usually the orchestra
actors wear on stage.
pit is between the front row of the audience and the stage.
PROPS BUYER: The person who buys items that will be
PROPS: A property or prop is anything that the audience
used or adapted to become props. Props buyers also pur-
sees that is not worn by an actor and is not a structural part
chase the raw material used to build props.
of the set. Some examples are: tables, chairs, couches, car-
pets, pictures, lamps, weapons, food eaten during a play, SCENIC ARTISTS: The people who are responsible for
dishes, cutlery, briefcases, books, newspapers, pens, tele- painting and decorating the surfaces of the set. Some of the
phones, curtains and anything else you can imagine. techniques they use include: wood graining, stenciling, mar-
bling and brickwork. They also paint the drops and scrims
PROSCENIUM: A term describing the physical character-
that are flown in.
istics of a theatre. A proscenium theatre is one in which the
audience and the actors are separated by a picture-frame STAGE CARPENTER: The person who ensures that
opening that the audience looks through to see the actors, everything runs smoothly on stage during a performance.
(e.g. Shaw Festivals mainstage and Royal George Theatres). The stage carpenter and stage crew are responsible for chang-
Surrounding this opening is the PROSCENIUM ARCH. If ing the sets between scenes and acts.
there is an acting area on the audience side of the proscenium
arch, it is referred to as the APRON. STAGE MANAGER: The person who makes sure that all
rehearsals and performances run smoothly. During a per-
SCRIM: A scrim is a piece of gauze that is painted and used formance the stage manager also makes sure that all of the
as part of the scenery. When a scrim is lit from in front it is technical elements (e.g. lights, sound, curtains flying in and
opaque, you cannot see through it. When a scrim is lit from out) happen at exactly the right time.
behind it is transparent, you can see through it. This allows
for many different visual effects to be created by the lighting TECHNICAL DIRECTOR: The person who is responsi-
and set designers. ble for coordinating all of the technical elements of a produc-
tion. Technical directors work with the people who build the
THRUST STAGE: A thrust stage is a stage that is sur- sets, props, costumes, wigs and special effects to make sure
rounded on three sides by the audience, (e.g. Shaw Festivals that everything runs smoothly.
Court House Theatre).
29
The Crucible
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The Story: YES _______ NO _______
Whos Who in the Play: YES _______ NO _______
Character Breakdown: YES _______ NO _______
Director's / Designer Notes YES _______ NO _______
The Playwright: YES _______ NO _______
Historical Background: YES _______ NO _______
Did You Know? YES _______ NO _______
Backgrounder: Puritanism YES_______ NO_______
Backgrounder: The Mystery of Salem YES_______ NO_______
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Classroom Applications: YES_______ NO_______
Glossary of Theatre Terms: YES_______ NO_______
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30
A TEACHERS GUIDE TO THE PENGUIN EDITION OF
ARTHUR MILLERS
THE CRUCIBLE
By RANDEANE TETU
A Teachers Guide to Arthur Millers The Crucible 2
NOTE TO THE TEACHER:
The questions, exercises, and assignments on these pages are designed to guide students reading of the literary work and
to provide suggestions for exploring the implications of the story through discussions, research, and writing. Most of the
items can be handled individually, but small group and whole class discussions will enhance comprehension. The
Response Journal should provide students with a means, first, for recording their ideas, feelings, and concerns, and then
for reflecting those responses in their writing assignments and class discussions. These sheets may be duplicated, but
teachers should select and modify items according to the needs and abilities of their students.
INTRODUCTION
The witchcraft trials in Salem, Massachusetts, during the 1690s have been a blot on the history of America, a country which
has come to pride itself on the concepts of free speech and justice as well as on its religious principles. Guilt by association,
unexamined testimony, judges blinded by their biases, and individuals determined to use the system of justice when no
evidence of a crime existedthese kinds of social or political problems did not go away with the completion of those trials.
U.S. Senator Joseph R. McCarthys relentless determination to find unAmerican citizens and communists in all areas of
American life in the early 1950s prompted Arthur Miller to write The Crucible, a play about the Salem witch trials which
has similarities to McCarthyism. The play no doubt prompted the House Committee on Un-American Activities in
1956 to call Miller for questioning, but Miller refused to cooperate when asked to identify writers who had once been
communists. Richard H. Rovere calls Miller the leading symbol of the militant, risk-taking conscience of that time.
Although the play does not parallel the McCarthy investigations exactly, Miller, as a socially conscious writer, is clearly
making a statement about conscience and political morality relevant to the McCarthy periodor any period.
P R E PA R I N G T O R E A D
1. Review what you know about Massachusetts in the colonial period of early American history. What religious period and
political values held Massachusetts together? What is a theocracy?
2. What were the beliefs and attitudes about witches and witchcraft held by many people in the New England colonies in
the late seventeenth century? What characteristics did witches supposedly manifest? How were they identified? How were
they punished?
3. Salem, Massachusetts did not have a speedy system of communication with other towns, and the wilderness was not far
from its borders in 1692. How did this isolation affect activities and attitudes in the town?
4. Describe the political climate of the 1950s. Why did Senator McCarthy become a powerful figure? How did he influence
politics in the fifties?
5. Why is it easier to relinquish responsibility for your actions when you are part of a group?
6. As you read through the play, stop occasionally to record your thoughts, reactions, and concerns in a Response Journal.
Your journal may be a separate notebook or individual sheets which you clip together and keep in a folder. Include
statements about the characterswhat you learn about them, how they affect youand about the key issues and events
which the play explores. Also, jot down questions you have about events and statements in the play which you do not
understand. Your Response Journal will come in handy when you discuss the play in class, write a paper, or explore a
related topic that interests you. Because this play contains several unusual words (e.g., diabolism) and expressions (e.g.
strike hard upon me), you may want to keep a list of some of those words and their meanings in your journal.
U N D E R S TA N D I N G T H E S U R F A C E S T O R Y
ACT ONE
1. Why did the Salem settlement need a theocracy? Why had the settlers begun to turn toward individualism?
2. How does Miller characterize Parris? How does Parris feel about his parishoners?
3. Why is Thomas Putnam willing to speak of witchcraft? How does Mrs. Putnam know what Ruth was doing in the woods?
4. Why does Abigail admit that Tituba and Ruth were conjuring spirits? Why is Abigail afraid the others will confess what
they were doing in the woods? How does Abigail treat the other girls? How does she treat her uncle?
5. What are Abigails feelings towards John Proctor? Why is she antagonistic toward Elizabeth Proctor? Why has she been
asked to leave her home? Why does she tell John what happened to Betty?
6. Why do Proctor and Rebecca speak out against Hales coming? Why has Proctor set himself against Parris? How does
Rebeccas departure affect those waiting at the bedside?
7. Why does Abigail accuse Tituba? Why does Hale believe Abigail rather than Tituba? How does he lead Tituba into naming
names? Why do Abigail and Betty name names?
ACT TWO
1. Why doesnt Proctor go to Salem to report what Abigail has told him? Why does Elizabeth want him to go? Why does
Elizabeth mistrust him?
2. How does Proctor feel about the court and Mary Warrens part in the proceedings? How has Mary Warren changed?
3. How has Hale changed since his arrival in Salem? Why is he testing Proctor and Elizabeth? Why hasnt Proctor been in church?
4. Why is Cheever looking for a poppet? What is the significance of the one they find?
5. Hale says: Maryyou charge a cold and cruel murder on Abigail. What does he mean?
6. Why does Proctor insist that Mary Warren testify in Elizabeths defense? Why does Mary Warren refuse?
ACT THREE
1. Why is Giles Cory expelled from court? Why wont Danforth hear his evidence? Why is Cory arrested?
2. Why is Mary Warren in court? What does she tell Danforth? Why is Danforth suspicious of her and of Proctor? Why
does Proctor remind her of the angel Raphael?
3. How does Parris nullify Proctors testament? How is Giless deposition turned against him?
4. What is the professed purpose of the court? Why doesnt the court need witnesses? What does this suggest about the proceedings?
5. Why does Proctor confess lechery? Why does he think Danforth and Hathorne will believe his confession? Why dont
they believe him?
6. How is Elizabeths testimony used against Proctor? Why is this an unfair test of Elizabeths word against Johns?
7. How does Abigail turn the court against Mary Warren?
8. Why does Hale denounce the proceedings? What should have been the effect of his denunciation? Why is it not?
ACT FOUR
1. What is the effect of Sarah Goods and Titubas talk about flying south? Why does Miller include it?
2. How has Parris changed? Why doesnt the news that Abigail and Mercy have left town affect the decision of the court?
How is Danforth a victim of his own logic?
3. Why has Hale returned? How has he changed? Why has he changed?
4. Why does Danforth allow Elizabeth to speak to John Proctor? How has she changed toward her husband? Why doesnt
she take Hales advice?
5. How and why does Giles die? Why wasnt he hanged?
6. Why does Proctor confess? Why will he not name names? Why will he not let Danforth have his signed paper?
7. Why does John Proctor choose to hang? What does he thereby accomplish?
DIGGING DEEPER
1. What is a crucible? How is it used? Justify Millers use of The Crucible as a title for his play.
2. What is an overture? Why does Miller use on in The Crucible? Why is Echoes Down the Corridor an appropriate
afterword?
3. ...Salem folk believed that the virgin forest was the Devils last preserve... How is the forest used to personify the Devil?
How else is the Devil personified?
4. How is Abigail responsible for starting the whole scare about witches in Salem? Is she lying? insane? possessed? If Abigail
had not been caught dancing, would the witch trials still have been held? What makes you think so?
5. How do Hales preconceptions influence his interpretation of events? How does his interpretation change? What are the
implications of his conversion?
6. As a representative of the state government, is Danforth neutral and fair? How would his statement, Do you know, Mr.
Proctor, that the entire contention of the state in these trials is that the voice of Heaven is speaking through the children?
be received in a court today? Why was it received as valid in Salem in 1692?
7. Them that will not confess will hang. Explain the major irony of that kind of confession.
8. How have Elizabeth and John Proctor come to terms? Explain the irony in their reconcilement. Why wont Elizabeth be hanged?
9. Why does Danforth rejoice when Proctor confesses? What does this imply about the purpose of the trials? What does it
imply about Danforth? Why must Danforth hang Proctor?
10. What is the purpose of Millers comments and explanations throughout the play? How would your understanding be
affected if those had not been included?
11. How does Act Two, Scene 2 clarify or change the meaning of the play? Miller says that scene was eliminated from the
stage version because it seemed to deflect the tempo of the play. If you were directing the play, would you include that
scene? Why or why not?
12. In staging the play, Laurence Olivier said a drumbeat starts during the play and continues to the end. How does Miller
create this feeling of tension? How does he create the oppressive atmosphere?
13. Arthur Miller has been quoted as saying The tragedy of The Crucible is the everlasting conflict between people so
fanatically wedded to this orthodoxy that they could not cope with the evidence of their senses. What does he mean by
this orthodoxy? What is the evidence of their senses? Do you agree that this is the basic conflict?
14. In a morality play, characters are intended to dramatize Good and Evil. In what ways is The Crucible a morality play?
15. As a socially conscious writer, Miller intended this play as a comment on McCarthyism. What are the parallels between
the incidents Miller dramatizes and the acts of Senator McCarthy in the 1950s?
16. You might have utilized notes from your Response Journal as you reacted to some of the questions above. Now select one
specific unanswered question from your journal, and see if your classmates can shed some light on that issue.
WRITING RESPONSES
1. Explain why Proctors knowledge that the childrens sickness had naught to do with witchcraft did not stop the witch
hunt and court proceedings.
2. Proctors summation of the trials is that Vengeance is walking Salem. Is he right? Support your position with evidence
from the play.
3. Proctor calls Hale Pontius Pilate. Explain the allusion and argue whether it is or not an appropriate allusion.
4. Give specific examples of how Abigail influences the proceedings, and then give your reason(s) for why she continually succeeds.
5. Miller said, The form, the shape, the meaning of The Crucible were all compounded out of the faith of those who
hanged. Explain what he means and how his meaning is evident in the play.
6. Herbert Blau (Counterforce I: The Social Drama) says the adultery of John Proctor and Abigail Williams dissipates the
force of the public terror which it was Millers intent to convey. Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not?
7. Describe how Miller used the symbol of fire throughout the play and explain what it represents.
8. Choose one of the ironies in the play (for instance, Elizabeth Proctor lies to protect John Proctor and thereby convinces
Danforth that John has lied to save Elizabeth) and explain how the irony enhances the drama of the play.
9. If audience sympathy were not with John Proctor in the matter of his adultery, we might be able to see Abigails side of
the story. Write an account of Abigails feelings before she was caught dancing in the forest.
10. Write a one-act play in which a student is caught breaking the school code of ethics and must face a court of his or her
peers. Make clear in your scene which rights the student has and which he or she does not.
EXPLORING FURTHER
1. Research habeas corpus. Explain how this right, guaranteed by the Constitution, might have influenced the proceedings
at the Salem witch trials.
2. Research the Puritan idea of predestination and the elect. How does an understanding of those concepts influence an
interpretation of this play?
3. Read Joseph R. McCarthys McCarthyism: The Fight for America or articles by Senator McCarthy. What were his tenets?
What was their influence on the thinking of certain Americans in the 1950s? What appeal do they have today?
4. Read Bernard Shaws Saint Joan (also available from Penguin), a play with themes similar to Millers. Note the similarities
and differences.
5. Read Millers Death of a Salesman. The play has been performed successfully in China partly because of the common experience
available to both cultures. What would be some of the difficulties in presenting The Crucible to an audience in China?
6. Read Millers 1950 adaptation of Ibsens An Enemy of the People (also available from Penguin). How are the moral values
of that play related to those in The Crucible?
7. Create an advertising campaign for a new presentation of the play. Include posters, news releases, radio and TV spots.
8. Stage an interview with Miller in which the class asks questions and Miller responds.
9. Set up a Today Show in which Abigail, Proctor, and other characters appear to recount the events which made them famous.
10. Using the list you made of unusual expressions used in the play, rewrite some of Millers lines as they would be said by
teenagers today.
11. Three Sovereigns for Sarah, a television drama starring Vanessa Redgrave, examines the same Salem witch trials by
focusing on one familys harrowing involvement. After viewing the three-part program, compare this more historical
approach with Millers more dramatic and symbolic approach.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR OF THIS GUIDE
Prepared by RANDEANE TETU, Coordinator of Developmental Language Skills, Middlesex Community College,
Middletown, Connecticut.
FREE TEACHERS GUIDES
A full list of Teachers Guides and Teachers Guides for the Signet Classic Shakespeare Series
is available on Penguins website at:
www.penguin.com/academic
TEACHERS GUIDES
Animal Farm Anthem Beloved Beowulf The Call of the Wild Cannery Row City of God The Country of the
Pointed Firs and Other Stories The Crucible Death of a Salesman Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Dubliners Ethan Frome
The Fountainhead Girl in Hyacinth Blue The Grapes of Wrath A Journey to the Center of the Earth The Jungle
The Life of Ivan Denisovich Looking Backward Lysistrata Main Street Of Mice and Men The Mousetrap and
Other Plays A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave Nectar in a Sieve 1984 The Odyssey
The Passion of Artemisia The Pearl Persuasion The Prince and the Pauper A Raisin in the Sun The Red Pony Redwall
The Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Pimpernel Silas Marner A Tale of Two Cities The Time Machine Up from Slavery
The Women of Brewster Place Wuthering Heights
TEACHERS GUIDES FOR THE SIGNET CLASSIC SHAKESPEARE SERIES

Antony and Cleopatra As You Like It Hamlet Henry V Julius Caesar King Lear Macbeth Measure for Measure
A Midsummer Nights Dream Much Ado About Nothing Othello Richard III Romeo and Juliet The Taming of
the Shrew The Tempest Twelfth Night
Visit the Penguin Group (USA) web site at www.penguin.com to browse all Signet Classic paperback editions
and www.penguin.com/scessay for information about the Annual Signet Classic Scholarship Essay Contest

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The Crucible Lesson plans, ideas, and resources

Activities with Resources and Project ideas

Collection of political cartoons about the McCarthy era.

Excellent collection of resources and summary of the Puritans

The Crucible Essay Topics

Also included below

Poem Half Hanged Mary

How to Spot a Witch article and worksheet

Rumour was loose in the air

I didn't feel the aimed word hit

I was hanged for living alone

Oh yes, and breasts,

The rope was an improvisation.

Up I go like a windfall in reverse,

Trussed hands, rag in my mouth,

old bone-faced goddess, old original,

The men of the town stalk homeward,

their own evil turned inside out like a glove,

The bonnets come to stare,

You were my friend, you too.

Help me down? You don't dare.

In a gathering like this one

I understand. You can't spare

Well God, now that I'm up here

Is it my choice that I'm dangling

Does my twisting body spell out Grace?

My throat is taut against the rope

Death sits on my shoulder like a crow

or like a dark angel

A temptation, to sink down

To give up my own words for myself,

Out of my mouth is comming, at some

As mine are, as mine are.

wind seethes in the leaves around

Sun comes up, huge and blaring,

I would like to say my hair turned white

Also, I'm about three inches taller.

At the end of my rope

Most will have only one death.

When they came to harvest my corpse

Tough luck, folks,

I fell to the clover, breathed it in,

Now I only need to look

Before, I was not a witch.

My body of skin waxes and wanes

My first death orbits my head,

Having been hanged for something

Holiness gleams on my dirty fingers,

The words boil out of me,

Before Statement After

2. ___ The difference between right and wrong is clear. 2. ___

3. ___ It is better to die for what you believe in rather 3. ___

4. ___ There is only one correct way to interpret the 4. ___

5. ___ That which doesnt destroy us only makes us 5. ___

6. ___ Its more difficult to forgive yourself if the 6. ___

7. ___ Courage means doing something even though it can 7. ___

8. ___ A person is innocent until proven guilty. 8. ___

9. ___ Beliefs in opposition to common values should be 9. ___

1 0. ___ Justice is best determined in a court of law. 1 0. ___

7. Describe your concept of heaven.

2. _ The difference between right and wrong is clear. 2. _

3. _ It is better to die for what you believe in rather 3. _

4. _ There is only one correct way to interpret the 4. _

5. _ That which doesnt destroy us only makes us 5. _

6. _ Its more difficult to forgive yourself if the 6. _

7. _ Courage means doing something even though it can 7. _

8. _ A person is innocent until proven guilty. 8. _

9. _ Beliefs in opposition to common values should be 9. _

1 0. _ Justice is best determined in a court of law. 1 0. _