The Crucible by Arthur Miller

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The Crucible by Arthur Miller

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Anticipation Questions

• Is confessing to a crime you didnt commit in
  order to avoid punishment wise?
• Is it better to die for what you believe in
  rather than to lie to save your life?
•  Is it more difficult to forgive yourself if the
  person you have hurt doesnt forgive you?
• Is a person truly innocent until proven guilty?
• Does courage mean you do something even though it
  can be difficult and fearsome?

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TIMELINE Salem, MA

• 1689- June 18 - Samuel Parris is officially hired
  as the Salem Village minister.
• 1692
• January 20 - Samuel Parris' nine year old
  daughter, Betty, falls ill. - More young girls in
  Salem Village also fall ill.
• February - The Salem Village physician, Dr.
  William Griggs, concludes the girls are
  bewitched.

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Timeline Salem, MA

• 1692 - February 29 - Thomas and Edward Putnam,
  Joseph Hutchinson and Thomas Preston swear
  complaints against Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah
  Osborne. They are later arrested for suspicion of
  witchcraft.
• March 1 - Salem Town Magistrates John Hathorne
  and Jonathan Corwin examine Tituba, Sarah Good,
  and Sarah Osborne.
• Tituba confesses to witchcraft.

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Themes of The Crucible

• 1) People who stand by their beliefs, no matter
  the cost, ultimately triumph.
• 2) The effects of fear on a society can lead to
  its destruction.
• 3) Repression, fear, and lies can lead to mass
  hysteria.
• 4) A mans reputation is worth dying for
• 5) When good men do nothing, evil will triumph
• 6) Absolute power corrupts absolutely

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Facts

• 140 number of people who were accused of
  witchcraft in 1692
• 4 the age of the youngest person accused of
  witchcraft
• 19 number of people who were hanged 1 was
  pressed to death
• 43 the number of people who were afflicted by
  witchcraft
• 81 the age of the oldest person accused and
  killed
• 2 the number of dogs executed for witchcraft
  association

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Other interesting facts

• Failure to recite The Lords Prayer was
  considered evidence of witchcraft
• Accused witches were thought to have signed the
  devils book
• Moles were examined as a place where the devil
  sucked at ones soul

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Vocabulary

• theocracy governed by religion
• providence Gods will Gods intervention in
  human affairs
• Puritanical strict in morality and religion
  this term has come about since the reign of the
  Puritans
• theology the study of a religious doctrine what
  a particular sect believes
• vestry the room in the church where robes are
  kept
• apparition ghost
• trafficked have dealings with
• blink tolerate

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Language of Arthur Miller

• Using old-fashioned, archaic words bid (told),
  Aye (Yes), Nay (No), Hearty (Well)
• Incorporating expressions from the time period
  Goody (Mrs.) Be open with me (tell the truth)
• Changing the use of the verb to be it were
  (it was), There be (there was)
• Adding double negatives he cannot discover no
  medicine and I dont compact with no devil
• Changing the normal order of words I like not
  to search a house.
• Adds a rustic, colloquial fee to the language by
  dropping the g from the ends of some words
  dreamin, carrin, nothin

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The story begins with THE GIRLS

• Sick girls
• Betty (Parris Daughter)
• Ruth (Putnams daughter)
• Girls who danced
• Abigail Williams
• Mercy Lewis
• Mary Warren (works for the Proctors)
• Susanna Walcott

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Reverend Samuel Parris
My ministrys at stake my ministry and perhaps
your cousins life.

• Paris in History

• The minister of Salem
• Bettys father
• Abigails uncle.
• Parris delivers harsh fire and brimstone sermons
  that sometimes turn off his parishioners.

As a father and master, hes inattentive and
quick to anger. Parriss insecurity and obsessive
concern with his reputation result from his near
paranoid belief that someone is plotting to
persecute him, steal his position, ruin his good
name, or harm him in some other way.
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Betty Parris

• Parris DAUGHTER who was caught dancing in the
  woods. She immediately went into a comatose
  state.
• She is 10 years old

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Tituba

• Parris Barbados slave.
• The girls asked her to go into the woods to
  conjure spirits
• 40 years old

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Abigail Williams
And mark thislet either of you breathe a word,
or the edge of a word about the other things,
and I can make you wish you had never seen the
sun go down!

• Abigail Williams The 17-year-old niece of
  Reverend Parris.
• Native Americans killed Abigails parents when
  Abigail was young.
• While a servant in John Proctors household,
  Abigail was fired.
• Abigail is beautiful, intelligent, crafty, and
  vindictive. Shes also a skillful liar. She is
  the leader of the girls and is willing to do
  anything to protect herself.

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The story begins with THE GIRLS

• Sick girls
• Betty (Parris Daughter) 10
• Ruth (Putnams daughter) 10
• Girls who danced
• Abigail Williams 17
• Mercy Lewis 18
• Mary Warren (works for the Proctors)17
• Susanna Walcott 16

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Ann Putnam
Mr. Hale, is it a natural work to lose seven
children before they live a day?

• Ann Putnam The wife of Thomas Putnam.
• Mrs. Putnam is bitter
• 8 children only ONE lived

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Thomas Putnam

• Thomas Putnam The husband of Ann Putnam,
• one of the richest farmers and landowners in all
  of Salem.
• Putnam is a bitter man who feels that the
  citizens of Salem have not given him the respect
  that he and his family deserve.
• He seeks to gain respect and revenge by
  increasing his wealth, landholdings, and
  influence however he can.

This man is killing his neighbors for their
land! -Corey
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John Proctor
Because it is my name! Because I cannot have
another in my life!

• John Proctor A farmer, and the husband of
  Elizabeth.
• Proctor had an affair with Abigail Williams while
  she worked as a servant in his house.
• A powerful man in both build and character,
  Proctor refuses to follow people he considers
  hypocrites, including Reverend Parris.
• Feared and resented by the many people in Salem
  he has made feel foolish
• Proctor has a powerful sense of personal
  integrity. For this reason, his affair with
  Abigail makes him see himself as a hypocrite.

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Rebecca Nurse

• Respected
• Loved
• Charitable
• Pious

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Rev. John Hale

• Reverend Hale A minister in the nearby
  Massachusetts town of Beverly, and an expert in
  identifying witchcraft.
• An intelligent man, Hale sees himself as a
  scientist and philosopher, a kind of physician of
  the soul..

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Elisabeth Proctor

• Elizabeth Proctor The wife of John Proctor.
• She fires Abigail Williams as her servant when
  she discovers that the girl is having an affair
  with Proctor.
• Elizabeth is a good woman known for never telling
  a lie. She loves her husband deeply, but seems to
  have the sense that she doesnt deserve him.

In her life, sir, She have never lied. There
are them that cannot sing, and them that cannot
weepmy wife cannot lie. John Proctor
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Deputy Governor Danforth

• A Deputy governor of Massachusetts who comes to
  Salem to preside over the witch trials. Though
  hes more open-minded and intelligent than Judge
  Hathorne, Danforth believes completely in his
  ability to distinguish truth from fiction. He
  views those who disagree with him as suspect. In
  fact, he suspects that anyone who disagrees with
  him might be working against God.