The Crucible Test Review Sheet – Complete this review sheet for +10 bonus pts. on the test.
1. When does the play take place?
2. What is the setting of the play?
3. Describe everyday life in Salem, as according to the Overture.
4. What were some hardships endured by the people in town?
5. What religion are the people in Salem?
6. What are some reasons for possible contributions to the witch trials?
7. What is the setting at the beginning of Act I?
8. What is the best description of Reverend Parris?
9. Describe Titbua.
10. At the beginning of Act I, why is Parris angry with Abigail?
11. When Parris surprised the girls in the forest, what did he see?
12. When Betty goes into an apparent trance, why is Parris reluctant to leap to the conclusion of witchcraft?
13. In Act I, how is Abigail depicted as an evil character?
14. Why does Tituba confess to the charges against her?
15. Describes John and Elizabeth’s marriage.
16. Why has Proctor not yet had his youngest son baptized?
17. Why does John Proctor consider himself a sinner?
18. When John Proctor criticizes Parris for replacing the pewter candlesticks with golden ones, what is his complaint
against Reverend Parris?
19. Why does Abigail denounce Elizabeth as a witch?
20. Ezekiel Cheever is ultimately convinced that Elizabeth Proctor is a witch when he discovers what?
21. How is John Proctor’s statement “That woman will never lie,” ironic?
22. Who are the judges at the trial?
23. Why is Elizabeth not hanged?
24. What does Giles Corey accuse Thomas Putnam of?
25. What secret does John Proctor reveal to prove the girls are lying?
26. When the girls say that Mary Warren sends her spirit out, they say she is a __________ up on the beam.
27. Who is the first person to accuse John Proctor of being associated with the Devil?
28. Over the course of the play, how does Revered Hale change
29. In Act IV, which details suggest discontent and disorder among the townspeople?
30. Why does Reverend Hale return to the jail in Act IV?
31. What news does Rev Parris give the court in Act IV?
32. Why does Danforth not want to postpone the hangings?
33. How does Giles Corey die?
34. What does Reverend Hale want from Elizabeth in Act IV?
35. What does Elizabeth blame herself for in her marriage?
36. What does John want from Elizabeth in Act IV?
37. Why does Elizabeth refuse to influence John’s decision whether to confess?
38. John tells Elizabeth that he has not yet confessed to being a witch for what reason?
39. When Proctor does decide to confess, what is his main reason?
40. In his confession, what does John Proctor admit to doing?
41. Why does John to tear up his confession?
42. Elizabeth tells John that she, “kept a cold house.” What does this quote mean?
43. What is the one thing John cannot do in Act IV?
44. At the end of the play, how does Proctor gain a moral victory?
45. When John goes to the gallows and Elizabeth says that her husband has his “goodness now,” what does she
mean?
46. What are possible motivations for later accusations of witchcraft?
THEMES – What is the best description of each theme?
47. Arthur Miller’s focus on John Proctor’s struggle with his own conscience
48. The theme in the play which exemplifies the Puritan’s belief in “Government by God”
49. The fact that the entire third act of The Crucible takes place in a courtroom
50. Some characters use the witch hunt for a purpose other than exposing people who have dealt with the devil
51. The Crucible demonstrates how illogical reasons can be used by individuals to manipulate people’s fears
52. This play is a fictionalized account of a real event
53. The Crucible demonstrates how easily human beings can become unhinged in an environment that allows little
opportunity to let off steam
54. The judges of the court rigidly adhere to their own traditions rather than allowing reason or common sense to
prevail
Quotations – who is the correct speaker of each quotation?
55. “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in this life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not
worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my
name!”
56. “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!”
57. “If she be innocent! Why do you never wonder if Parris be innocent, or Abigail? Is the accuser always holy now? Were
they born this morning as clean as God’s fingers? I’ll tell you what’s walking Salem- vengeance is walking Salem. We are
what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common
vengeance writes the law!”
58. “We cannot look to superstition in this. The Devil is precise; the marks of his presence are definite as stone, and I must tell
you that I shall not proceed unless you are prepared to believe me if I should find no bruise of hell upon her.”
59. “In an ordinary crime, how does one defend the accused? One calls up witnesses to prove his innocence. But witchcraft is
ipso facto, on its face and by its nature, an invisible crime, it is not? Therefore, we must rely upon her victims- and they do
testify, the children certainly do testify. As for the witches, none will deny that we are most eager for all their confessions.
Therefore, what is left for a lawyer to bring out?”
60. “He say Parris must be kill! Mr. Parris no goodly man, Mr Parris mean man and no gentle man, and he bid me rise out of my
bed and cut your throat! But I tell him ‘No! I don’t hate that man. I don’t want to kill that man.’”
61. “I say- I say- God is dead!”
62. “I think she’ll wake in time. Pray calm yourselves. I have eleven children, and I am twenty-six times a grandma, and I have
seen them all through their silly seasons, and when it come on them they will run the devil bow-legged keeping up with their
mischief.”
63. “I am only wondering how I may prove what she told me, Elizabeth. If the girl’s a saint now, I think it is not easy to prove
she’s a fraud, and the town gone silly. She told it to me in a room alone- I have no proof of it.”
64. “Indeed not, but it strike hard upon me that she will dare come here with such a tale. Now, Mr. Proctor, before I decide
whether I shall hear you or not, it is my duty to tell you this. We burn a hot fire here; it melts down all concealment.”
65. “I - I cannot tell you how, but I did. I – I heard the other girls screaming, and you, Your Honor, you seemed to believe them,
and I – It were only sport in the beginning, sir, but then the whole world cried sprits, spirits, and I – I promise you, Mr.
Danforth, I only though I saw them but I did not.”
66. “Beguile me not! I blacken all of them when this is nailed to the church the very day they hang for silence!”
67. “No, old man, you have not hurt these people if they are of good conscience. But you must understand, sir, that a person is
either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between. This is a sharp time, now, a precise timewe no longer live in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world. Now, by God’s grace,
the shining sun is up, and them that fear not light will surely praise it.”
68. “The proof is there! I have it from an honest man who heard Putnam say it! The day his daughter cried out on Jacobs, he
said she’d given him a fair gift of land.”
69. “Thomas, Thomas, I pray you, leap not to witchcraft. I know that you- you least of all, Thomas, would ever wish so
disastrous a charge laid upon me. We cannot leap to witchcraft. They will howl me out of Salem for such corruption in my
house.”
70. “John, with so many in jail, more than Cheever’s help is needed now, I think. Would you favor me with this? Go to Abigail.”
TRUE/FALSE
71. Elizabeth Proctor has never, ever told a lie in her life.
72. Judge Hathorne keeps the witch trials going due to the fact that he has already killed 35 people.
73. John Proctor’s last son has not been baptized.
74. Marshal Herrick is clerk of the court.
75. In the forest, Parris saw Abigail drink blood.
76. Reverend Parris used to work in Barbados.
77. Putnam first mentions Goody Good and Goody Osburn as possible witches, and Tituba claims she saw these two
with the Devil at the end of Act I.
78. All of the girls are worried that Susana Walcott is going to tell the truth of what happened in the forest, but
Abigail threatens them to keep quiet or she will shoot them.
79. Goody Proctor regularly kept poppets since childhood.
80. At the end of the play, Abigail is brought to justice for her lies.
81. Mary Warren most likely accuses John Proctor of witchcraft because she is a weak-minded girl overwhelmed by
pressure.
82. Salem is a small town in the state of Pennsylvania.
83. Proctor is concerned about giving up “his good name.”
84. Tituba deliberately lured all of the girls to the forest to perform her witchcraft.
85. John Proctor does not sign the confession.
86. Reverend Parris thinks his salary as minister in Salem is more than adequate.
87. The judges think that Abigail is a young, innocent girl, and they see her as the victim in the witch trials.
88. John, Giles, and Francis bring a deposition that 91 people have signed.
89. On the morning of Act IV, John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse are scheduled to die at sunrise.
90. Giles Corey feels a tremendous amount of personal guilt about his wife being condemned as a witch.
91. A crucible is a severe test or trial, and it is also a device for melting materials.
92. Judge Danforth believes that anyone who is afraid of the court must be guilty of something.
93. At the beginning of Act IV, the two women speaking in the jail are Tituba and Brigit Bishop.
94. John Proctor never tells anyone that he committed adultery with Abigail.
95. Act IV takes place in a courthouse one week after the end of Act III.
96. In Andover, the people rebelled against the court and threw it out of the town.
97. Mercy Lewis works for the Proctors, but is also an official of the court.
98. Reverend Hale returns and says that he does the work of God since he is telling people to confess and save their
lives, which he believes to be God’s most precious gift.
99. Arthur Miller was once married to Elizabeth Taylor.
100. The two best football teams in America are the Houston Texans and the Baylor Bears.
Name: ________________________________
The Crucible TEST - Short Answer
1. What is ironic about Proctor’s recitation of the Ten Commandments? Why does he make his mistake?
Why is his mistake dangerous to his safety and his family’s well-being?
2. What does Hale mean when he asks if every defense is an attack upon the court? How has Hale changed
by the end of the play?
3. What is the effect of confession in the play? (EX: John to Elizabeth, Abigail to Parris, Mary to Danforth,
Tituba to Hale, John to Danforth)
4. Where is the climax of the story? Explain your choice.
5. Are the characters in The Crucible stereotypes? If so, explain the usefulness of using stereotypes in the
play. If they are not, explain how they merit individuality.
6. Explain Rebecca Nurse's role in the play. Why was she included?
7. Explain how Puritanism was a motivating force in the witch hunt.
8. Does John Proctor qualify as a tragic hero? Why or why not? Cite evidence from the play to support
your position.
9. Some critics have argues that a playwright’s use of copious stage directions puts undesirable restrictions
upon the play’s director. For example, they assert that the director should be allowed to bring his own
interpretation to the tone of voice with which a character should deliver a line or the expression a
character should have on his or her face. Clearly, Arthur Miller did not share this view. Which do you
thing is the more valid point of view. Why?