What is the setting of Act III?
The vestry room of the Salem meeting house
The Crucible
Act III study guide
What evidence of Martha Corey’
Corey’s
witchcraft is the court considering?
That she has been reading fortunes. This comes
after her arrest for using her books to kill
Walcott’
Walcott’s pigs
What has Mary Warren signed that
Proctor and Giles want to submit as
evidence to the court?
A deposition stating that Mary never saw
spirits and that the girls are lying
Why does Giles Corey feel guilty
that his wife is charged with
witchcraft?
Because he told Rev. Hale that his wife was
reading books, and now that has been used
against her to accuse her of witchcraft
What do you think makes Judge
Danforth so unwilling to consider that
the girls could be pretending?
He wants to protect the court’
court’s reputation
because the court would look foolish if it was
discovered that the girls had been lying all
along
What does Danforth believe prompted
Proctor to bring Mary Warren before
the court?
That Proctor not only wants to save his wife,
but that he wants to undermine the court
What bargain does Danforth attempt
to strike with Proctor just to make him
go away?
Danforth explains to Proctor that, if Elizabeth
is pregnant, then she will live for another year,
meaning that John should drop his charges and
go home if his sole purpose for coming before
the court was to save Elizabeth’
Elizabeth’s life
What makes Proctor want to continue
in his attempt to prove the girls are
lying?
What document does Danforth
consider, and what does he do to the
people who signed it?
Because he wants to save the lives of all those
who have been wrongly accused by the girls
A petition signed by 91 people attesting to the
good moral character of Rebecca Nurse,
Martha Corey and Elizabeth Proctor
He orders the arrest of all 91 people who signed
it so they could be questioned
What does Giles claim Thomas
Putnam had his daughter do, and
why?
He claimed he had his daughter, Ruth, accuse
George Jacobs of witchcraft so he could buy his
land when he is hanged for the crime
Why is Giles Corey hesitant to give the
name of the man who heard Thomas
Putnam say his daughter’
daughter’s outcry against
Jacobs had “given him a fair gift of land”
land”?
Because Danforth just had the 91 people who
signed the petition arrested, so he doesn’
doesn’t want
to see this person arrested also
What does Danforth do with Giles?
He arrests him on a charge of contempt of
court since he refuses to give the name of the
man who told him about Thomas Putnam’
Putnam’s
scheme
What finally prompts Proctor to
report his affair with Abigail?
He sees that Mary Warren is being intimidated
by Abigail, the other girls and the judges, so, as
a last resort to convince the court Abigail is a
fraud, he admits to the affair
Why do Abigail and the others suddenly
pretend to be cold and to see spirits?
They want to reinforce Danforth’
Danforth’s belief in
their innocence, and they realize he is
beginning to doubt them
What does Judge Hathorne ask Mary Warren
to do, which she cannot? And why can’
can’t she
do it now?
He asks her to faint
Because she was stirred up by the frenzy
around her when the other girls pretended to
see spirits, so she claimed to see them too. So
when she is asked to do it alone, she cannot
What kind of irony is Abigail using when she asks
the court why she is being questioned when it is
she who has been hurt and her blood that’
that’s been
“running’
running’ out”
out”?
It is verbal irony, since she is the one whose
accusations will lead to the deaths of those
accused of witchcraft
Why does Elizabeth lie about John’
John’s
lechery? How is this ironic?
Because she thinks that, by lying, she is
protecting him from a charge of lechery
It’
It’s ironic because John told the court that his
wife never lies, so the one time she does could
cost both of them their lives (TAKE NOTE:
This is dramatic irony since the audience knew
what had taken place before Elizabeth’
Elizabeth’s
entrance, but she didn’
didn’t
What finally destroys Proctor’
Proctor’s
efforts to save his wife?
Mary Warren turns on him and calls him the
Devil’
Devil’s man and accuses him of making her
sign the Devil’
Devil’s book
What is Hale’
Hale’s reaction to the events
in Act III?
Hale denounces the court and then quits
Why does Mary Warren denounce her
deposition and side with Abigail against
Proctor?
Because she fears the court will hang her for
being a witch if she continues to side with John
against the girls, so she saves herself by
claiming John was the Devil’
Devil’s man