Crucible Study Questions
the deputy governor of Massachusetts, he presides over the Salem witch trials, a stern yet practical man more interested in preserving the dignity and stature of the court than in executing justice or behaving with any sense of fairness, his greatest interest is preserving the reputation of the court
Deputy Governor Danforth
Adultery, John.
Elizabeth Proctor
He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it away from him!
Elizabeth Proctor
I do not judge you. The magistrate that sits in your heart judges you.
Elizabeth Proctor
Suspicion kissed you when I did.
Elizabeth Proctor
Who is brought in to corroborate John Proctor's claims about Abigail?
Elizabeth Proctor
Whom do Ezekiel Cheever and Herrick, the marshal, come to the Proctor home to arrest?
Elizabeth Proctor
has a strict justice and moral principles, can be a cold and demanding woman, whose chilly demeanor may have driven her husband to adultery and whose continual suspicions of her husband render their marriage tense
Elizabeth Proctor
a clerk of the court who serves the arrest warrants to the persons charged with witchcraft.
Ezekiel Cheever
a well-respected wealthy landowner in Salem, he joins Giles Corey and John Proctor in their challenge against the court when their respective wives are charged with witchcraft
Francis Nurse
I cannot give you his name.
Giles Corey
an irascible and combative old resident of Salem, a frequent plaintiff in court, having brought dozens of lawsuits, a comic figure in whose fate turns tragic when he unwittingly effects his wife's charge for witchcraft when he wonders aloud about the strange books she reads at night, and he stands with Proctor in challenging the girls' accusation
Giles Corey
What does the court do with John Proctor because of Elizabeth's testimony?
It arrests him for witchcraft .
My niece, sir, my niece -- I believe she has vanished.
Samuel Parris
the minister of Salem church, he instigates the witchcraft panic when he finds his daughter and niece dancing in the woods with several other girls, continually beset with fears for his reputation, convinced that his parishioners are not giving him the proper respect or monetary compensation
Samuel Parris
one of the first women charged with witchery by the girls, a homeless woman who confesses to witchcraft to save herself and continues the charade with Tituba, comically claiming that Satan will take her and Tituba to Barbados.
Sarah Good
What does Abigail do at the end of the play?
She flees Salem, after robbing her uncle.
Why will Elizabeth not be hanged if she is found guilty?
She is pregnant.
What does Elizabeth do when called upon to testify?
She tells a lie.
What news does Mary Warren bring from Salem?
Someone has accused Elizabeth of witchcraft.
the Putnams' lone surviving child out of eight, like Betty Parris, she falls into a strange stupor after Reverend Parris catches her and the other girls dancing in the woods at night
Ruth Putnam
In Act II, what does Mary Warren give to Elizabeth Proctor when she returns home from the trials?
a little doll
When John Proctor is facing death, what does Hale urge him to do?
confess, even though he is innocent
On what charge is Giles Corey arrested?
contempt of court
Before the play begins, what did Parris catch his daughter and other girls doing?
dancing in the forest
What is Parris's position in Salem?
minister
What does Mrs. Putnam blame on witchcraft?
the death of seven of her children in infancy
What kind of government does Salem have in The Crucible?
theocracy
the judge who presides over the Salem witch trials, he remains largely subservient to Deputy Governor Danforth, but applies the same tortured reasoning to charges of witchcraft
Judge Hathorne
I must tell you, sir, I will be gone every day now. I am amazed you do not see what mighty work we do.
Mary Warren
the eighteen year-old servant in the Proctor household, one of the girls found dancing in the woods, weak and tentative, she challenges the Proctors when they forbid her to go to court but eventually breaks down and testifies against Abigail until Abigail charges her with witchery
Mary Warren
Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it.
Abigail Williams
a seventeen year-old girl who is the niece of Reverend Parris, the Proctors' servant before Elizabeth fired her for having an affair with John, a malicious, vengeful girl who, an unabashed liar who charges witchcraft against those who oppose her, her callous nature stems partially from past trauma— she is an orphan who watched as her parents were murdered by Indians
Abigail Williams
Why did Elizabeth Proctor fire Abigail?
Abigail was having an affair with John Proctor.
You think that is God's work that you should never lose a child and I bury all but one?
Ann Putnam
the wife of Thomas Putnam, broken by the stillborn deaths of seven of her children and fearful of her one remaining daughter's illness, she suspects that there is some paranormal reason and blames Rebecca Nurse.
Ann Putnam
Who is the author of the play?
Arthur Miller
You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor.
Betty Parris
the young teenager daughter of Reverend Parris, she falls mysteriously ill after Reverend Parris finds her dancing in the woods with Abigail and other girls of Salem, she goes into hysterics when the charges of witchcraft first form, holding delusions that she can fly and exclaiming with horror when she hears the name of Jesus
Betty Parris
But you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it. There will be no road between.
Danforth
Come now. You say your only purpose is to free your wife. Good then, she is saved at least this year, and a year is long... will you drop this charge?
Danforth
Postponement means a floundering on my part.
Danforth
Who is in charge of the court?
Danforth
You will confess yourself or you will hang.
Danforth
Why won't Danforth postpone the hangings?
He believes it will make him look like a fool, it will look like he wrongly accused people, and it will make him look weak.
What ultimately happens to John Proctor?
He is hanged.
What does John Proctor do, in a desperate attempt to foil Abigail?
He tells the court about his affair with her.
Life, woman, life is God's most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it... it may well be God d***s a liar less than he that throws his life away for pride.
John Hale
Until an hour before the Devil fell, God thought him beautiful in Heaven.
John Hale
a scholar from Beverly, he comes to Salem on Reverend Parris' request to investigate supernatural causes for Betty Parris' suspicious illness and thus instigates the rumors of witchcraft, he at first is enthusiastic to discern the presence of witchcraft in Salem but soon grows disillusioned with the witchcraft accusations that abound, he fears that he may have caused the execution of innocent persons.
John Hale
And there's your first marvel, that I can. You have made your magic now for I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor.
John Proctor
Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang.
John Proctor
I may think of you softly from time to time, but I will cut off my hand before I reach for you again. We never touched.
John Proctor
Let Rebecca go like a saint, for me it is a fraud.
John Proctor
You are not God, Elizabeth! Can you not look for some goodness in me and judge me not?
John Proctor
You will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to your death.
John Proctor
a farmer in Salem, sharply intelligent , serves as the voice of reason and justice in The Crucible, he who exposes the girls as frauds and thus becomes the tragic hero of the tale, questions his own moral sense because of his affair with Abigail Williams
John Proctor
The setting of the Salem Witch Trials was an analogy to what events going on in the author's day?
McCarthyism and the fear of Communism
the Putnam's servant, a fat, sly merciless eighteen year-old girl whom Parris found naked when he spied the girls dancing in the woods
Mercy Lewis
There is a prodigious danger in the seeking out of loose spirits.
Rebecca Nurse
one of the most noble and well-respected citizens of Salem, this elderly woman is kindly and sane, yet because she served as midwife, she is charged with the supernatural murder of Putnam's children, who were each stillborn, clearly a martyr, the most pure and saintly character in the play
Rebecca Nurse
As the play opens, whom has Parris asked to come to Salem?
Reverend John Hale
To what does John Proctor convince Mary Warren to testify?
The girls are only pretending to be possessed.
Why does Proctor retract his confession?
The officials demand that he sign his name to it .
Why are cows wandering loose on the roads and crops rotting?
There isn't anybody to take care of them.
When Mary Warren testifies against them, what do Abigail and her troop of girls do?
They claim that Mary is bewitching them.
What is John Proctor's chief complaint against Parris's sermons?
They focus too much on fire and brimstone.
one of the wealthiest landowners in Salem, a vindictive, bitter man who holds longstanding grudges against many of the citizens of Salem, he uses the trials for his own personal gain
Thomas Putnam
Which commandment does John Proctor forget when Reverend Hale quizzes him?
Thou shalt not commit adultery .
No Abby! Dat be a bad Thing!
Tituba
Parris' slave from Barbados, she was with the girls when they danced and attempted to conjure the spirits of Ann Putnam's dead children, the first person accused of witchcraft and the first person to accuse others of witchery - particularly when she discovers that the easiest way to spare herself is to admit to the charges no matter their truth.
Tituba
Who is the first person that Abigail claims practiced witchcraft?
Tituba
