Justin Ao
The Crucible Reading Questions
Directions: Answer all questions using textual evidence.
ACT I 1. (a) What is Betty’s condition at the beginning of the play?
(b) What were she and her cousin Abigail doing the night before? 2. Summarize Abigail’s prior relationship with the Proctors. 3. Who is Reverend Hale? Why is he contacted? 4. What seems to be the main motivation for Reverend Parris’s concern about Abigail and Betty’s behavior in the forest? 5. (a) When Reverend Parris leaves the room, Abigail, Mercy, Mary, and Betty talk in private. What does their discussion revel?
(b) How does this scene hint at events that will occur later in the play? 6. (a) How does Betty’s reaction to the Psalm support the assertion that there is “witchcraft afoot”?
(b) What other incidents do the various characters use to support this assertion? 7. Xxx
ACT II 1. What evidence is used to support Abigail Williams’s assertion that Elizabeth Proctor is guilty of witchcraft? 2. What does Sarah Good do to save herself from hanging? 3. AT one point, John Proctor identifies revenge as the true evil that is afflicting Salem Village. What evidence is there to support Proctor’s assertion? 4. (a) What is ironic about John Proctor’s comment that the witchcraft trials are “a black mischief”?
(b) Why is it ironic that Rebecca Nurse is charged with witchcraft?
(c) What is ironic about the fact that Ezekiel Cheever is the one with arrests Elizabeth Proctor? 5. Xxx
ACT III 1. Which three depositions are presented to the court? 2. Cory charges that Putnam is “killing his neighbors for their land.” What does Danforth demand as proof? 3. Summarize the events leading to John Proctor’s arrest. 4. After rejoining the other girls in their hysterical behavior, what accusation does Mary make about Proctor? 5. What does Reverend Hale denounce at the end of Act III? 6. 111
ACT IV 1. (a) What worries Parris when he meets with
Directions: Answer all questions using textual evidence.
ACT I 1. (a) What is Betty’s condition at the beginning of the play?
(b) What were she and her cousin Abigail doing the night before? 2. Summarize Abigail’s prior relationship with the Proctors. 3. Who is Reverend Hale? Why is he contacted? 4. What seems to be the main motivation for Reverend Parris’s concern about Abigail and Betty’s behavior in the forest? 5. (a) When Reverend Parris leaves the room, Abigail, Mercy, Mary, and Betty talk in private. What does their discussion revel?
(b) How does this scene hint at events that will occur later in the play? 6. (a) How does Betty’s reaction to the Psalm support the assertion that there is “witchcraft afoot”?
(b) What other incidents do the various characters use to support this assertion? 7. Xxx
ACT II 1. What evidence is used to support Abigail Williams’s assertion that Elizabeth Proctor is guilty of witchcraft? 2. What does Sarah Good do to save herself from hanging? 3. AT one point, John Proctor identifies revenge as the true evil that is afflicting Salem Village. What evidence is there to support Proctor’s assertion? 4. (a) What is ironic about John Proctor’s comment that the witchcraft trials are “a black mischief”?
(b) Why is it ironic that Rebecca Nurse is charged with witchcraft?
(c) What is ironic about the fact that Ezekiel Cheever is the one with arrests Elizabeth Proctor? 5. Xxx
ACT III 1. Which three depositions are presented to the court? 2. Cory charges that Putnam is “killing his neighbors for their land.” What does Danforth demand as proof? 3. Summarize the events leading to John Proctor’s arrest. 4. After rejoining the other girls in their hysterical behavior, what accusation does Mary make about Proctor? 5. What does Reverend Hale denounce at the end of Act III? 6. 111
ACT IV 1. (a) What worries Parris when he meets with