The following
includes sentences or phrases that have particular meaning in The Crucible. In small groups, (a) analyze the meaning, (b) the context (time or place) and (c)
identify any allusions, metaphors, or other figurative language. Each group will
respond to all questions on one paper. Be prepared to share as a group in class:
1. Rebecca Nurse: “There
is prodigious danger in the seeking of loose spirits.” (p.78)
2. Proctor (to Hale): “Pontius
Pilate! God will not let you wash your hands of this!” (p.101)
3. Giles Corey: “Think
on it. Wherefore is everybody suing everybody else? Think on it now. It’s
a deep thing, and dark as a pit.” (p.79)
4. Proctor: “I’ll
tell you what’s walking Salem-
vengeance is walking Salem.” (p.101)
5. Elizabeth: “John, if it were not Abigail
that you must go to hurt, would you falter now? I think not.” (p.91)
6. Proctor (to Mary Warren):
“Now remember what Raphael said to the boy Tobias.” (p.109)
7. Proctor: “An
everlasting funeral marches round your heart.” (p.90)
8. Danforth: “And
do you know that near to four hundred are in jails from Marblehead to Lynn, and upon my signature?” (p.105)
9. Proctor: “I
hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours,
Danforth! For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I have quailed,
and as you quail now when you know in all your black hearts that this be fraud- God damns our kind especially, and we will
burn, we will burn together.” (p.120)
10. Proctor: “How may I live without my name? I have given you my
soul; leave me my name!” (p.132)
"Why I Wrote The Crucible"
Questions
1.
What is ironic about Hollywood making a movie about The
Crucible?
2.
What problem does Miller allude to when he talks about the cast of a movie giggling as they watch Hitler on film or those
of us today watching McCarthy on film?
3.
How did the hunt for artists in Hollywood who were associated
with communism begin?
4.
Why do you think that Mr. Cohn want Miller to change the gangsters in his screenplay to Communists?
5.
What first conflict did Miller see in the Salem trials that
made him consider the play? What personal situation made him empathize with John Proctor?
6.
How does Miller answer the charge that "there never were any witches but there certainly are Communists"?
7.
What is a crypto-Luciferian?
8.
In the Salem witch hunts, if you denied any reason for why
you were accused of witchcraft, you were ultimately claiming that the investigation was mistaken or a fraud. Explain this
logic.
9.
What more modern comparisons does Miller make to a Salem citizen
being accused of or arrested for witchcraft?
10.
Why does Miller say that people are likely to believe that someone arrested or accused probably deserves it?
11.
After making a number of comparisons of the witch hunts to more modern day situations, Miller says "I am not sure what The
Crucible is telling people now." What do you think The Crucible is telling people now? Now that McCarthyism
is over, what warnings or lessons can it hold for you and possibly future generations?
A Cautionary
Tale Paragraph
In the opening of Act One of The
Crucible, Arthur Miller clearly establishes that this play is about the period in American history known as the Salem witch trials. Much has been made, however, out of the historical
moment in which Arthur Miller wrote the play—the McCarthy era—and it has been argued that The Crucible
was Miller’s attempt to come to terms with and understand the hysteria occurring at the time.
If The Crucible is a cautionary tale, identify what it cautions
the reader against, and how it suggests that society avert or prevent such a fate. Be sure to use evidence (quotes) from
the article as well as the play to defend your response.
8 sentence Literary Analysis format
