Embedded Files
Miller's The Crucible PDF by Penguin
Cast List by Act
Questions for Crucible
(detailed with listed characters & problem)
Act II (includes Act II.2 in appendix)
Act II.2 (the appendix: controversial scene)
The Classical Journey of a hero:
What happened to Tituba? Was she hanged? Sent back to Barbados? Continued working for Paris? Escaped? Read this.
An ancient crucible:
How is this journey different from
the modern hero's journey?
ABIGAIL, pulling her away from the window: I told him everything; he knows now, he knows everything we-
BETTY: You drank blood, Abby! You didn't tell him that!
ABIGAIL: Betty, you never say that again! You will never-
BETTY: You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!
ABIGAIL, smashes her across the face: Shut it! Now shut it!
BETTY, collapsing on the bed): Mama, Mama! She dissolves into sobs.
ABIGAIL: Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam's dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this. 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; I saw Indians smash my dear parents' heads on the pillow next to mine, and I have seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down! She goes to Betty and roughly sits her up.Now, you-sit up and stop this!
But Betty collapses in her hands and lies inert on the bed.(I.113-132)
(Review sheet & essay prompts)
Other ways to help review:
Quizlet Flashcards on Crucible
Who is McCarthy??? ..the modern day perpetrator of 'witch' trials of 1950s?
McCarthyism
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s America was overwhelmed with concerns about the threat of communism growing in Eastern Europe and China. Capitalizing on those concerns, a young Senator named Joseph McCarthy made a public accusation that more than two hundred “card-carrying” communists had infiltrated the United States government. Though eventually his accusations were proven to be untrue, and he was censured by the Senate for unbecoming conduct, his zealous campaigning ushered in one of the most repressive times in 20th-century American politics.
While the House Un-American Activities Committee had been formed in 1938 as an anti-Communist organ, McCarthy’s accusations heightened the political tensions of the times. Known as McCarthyism, the paranoid hunt for infiltrators was notoriously difficult on writers and entertainers, many of whom were labeled communist sympathizers and were unable to continue working. Some had their passports taken away, while others were jailed for refusing to give the names of other communists. The trials, which were well publicized, could often destroy a career with a single unsubstantiated accusation. Among those well-known artists accused of communist sympathies or called before the committee were Dashiell Hammett, Waldo Salt, Lillian Hellman, Lena Horne, Paul Robeson, Elia Kazan, Arthur Miller, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Charlie Chaplin andGroup Theatre members Clifford Odets, Elia Kazan, and Stella Adler. In all, three hundred and twenty artists were blacklisted, and for many of them this meant the end of exceptional and promising careers.
During this time there were few in the press willing to stand up against McCarthy and the anti-Communist machine. Among those few were comedian Mort Sahl, and journalist Edward R. Murrow, whose strong criticisms of McCarthy are often cited as playing an important role in his eventual removal from power. By 1954, the fervor had died down and many actors and writers were able to return to work. Though relatively short, these proceedings remain one of the most shameful moments in modern U.S. history.
We learn the truth motives behind Abigail’s actions, even as she tries to get the girls to agree on a story to protect herself. She uses the threat of violence, and their belief that she might know some real witchcraft, to keep them in line.
Quotes for other themes:
In 2000 Miller wrote an article about why he wrote The Crucible. Read it!
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