The Crucible Act 1 Summary

Please make 6 bullets on your paper. For each bullet, write one significant event that occurred in Act 1. Your bulleted events should be in sequential order and should cover the beginning, middle, and end of the Act.

Act 1 discussion questions1. How would you explain the illnesses of Betty and Ruth?2. What do you think is the primary catalyst to the girls’

behavior at this point in the play? Use textual evidence (quote/pg #) to support your answer.

3. Of the characters introduced in Act 1, which character do you feel will be the most dynamic, meaning which character will change the most? Explain your answer.

4. When someone is accused of a crime today, do people still have a tendency to “jump on the bandwagon” with the accusers? Explain your answer.

5. Why do Hale, Parris, Putnam, and the other adults believe the children’s accusations without proof?

Act 1 Language Review

Read back over the following quotes, and using context clues, rewrite the phrases in modern language (same meaning, but in a way that is more understandable to us).

1. “There be no blush about my name” (10).2. “…I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I

will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you” (13).3. “I have eleven children, and I am twenty-six times a grandma,

and I have seen them all through their silly season, and when it come on them they will run the devil bowlegged keeping up with their mischief” (16).

The Crucible: Act 2

5 bulleted plot points in sequential order.

1. According to Elizabeth, what is Abigail’s true objective in court? Use textual evidence to support your answer.

2. Based on Mary’s statements, what do you infer is the real reason Mary gives Elizabeth the gift?

3. Identify at least 3 external conflicts in the play. Then describe the internal conflict that Proctor faces. How could Proctor’s conflict relate to a broader conflict in the play—between public appearance and private reality?

Crucible Quote AnalysisFor the following quotes, please name the speaker

and paraphrase in your own words the meaning of the quote:

“There is either obedience or the church will burn like Hell is burning!”

“I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men!”

“…we are only what we always were, but naked now. Aye, naked! And the wind, God’s icy wind, will blow!”

“ I do not judge you. The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you.”

Bellwork: 5min2/10

The Crucible Quote Analysis: Name the speaker and paraphrase in modern language.1.“My name, he wants my name. ‘I’ll murder you,’ he says, ‘if my wife hangs! We must go and overthrow the court,’ he says.”2.“You are pulling heaven down and raising up a whore!”3.“Let you beware, Mr. Danforth. Think you to be so mighty that the power of Hell may not turn your wits? Beware it!” 4.“I have this morning signed away the soul of Rebecca Nurse, Your Honor. I’ll not conceal it, my hand shakes yet as with a wound! I pray you, sire, this argument let lawyers present to you.”

Act 3 Discussion Questions1. Why do you think Elizabeth lies in the courtroom when

asked if John and Abigail had an affair? Do you think she should have told the truth? Explain.

2. Explain how Hale is a dynamic character, meaning, how has he changed over the course of the play? Why do you think this change has occurred?

3. Why does John confess to his affair? Do you think he made the right decision to do so? Why or why not?

4. Why does the court refuse to believe any evidence or statements from the adults in the village? Do you think age plays a role in who the court believes? Why or why not?

5. Do you think Mary Warren was justified in her decision to turn on John Proctor? Would you have done the same? Explain.