Honors Day 42 Research/Crucible Appositive Phrases Clauses Read through Act IV (finish) for Wednesday. Discuss Acts I & II—exposition, symptoms? Act III Crucible Essay Test Thursday Wikipage/Outstanding book report DUE THURSDAY Extra Credit: Read a second book and do a second project, due Thursday

Crucible (n): A vessel made of a hard to melt substance such as graphite or porcelain, used for melting materials at high temperatures, sending the “good ore” to the top. A severe test, as of patience or belief; a trial. A place, time, or situation characterized by the confluence of powerful intellectual, social, economic, or political forces dictionary definition of the term as a "pot" that through the process of "refraction," through intense heat, sends the "good" ore to the top; connotatively, a severe trial or test. Based on this definition, those who endure the "heat" of rigid Puritanism, to keep their integrity intact, are metaphorically the "pure" ore.

What is Tragedy? Tragedy, then, is a process of imitating an action which has serious implications, is complete, and possesses magnitude; by means of language which has been made sensuously attractive, with each of its varieties found separately in the parts; enacted by the persons themselves and not presented through narrative; through a course of pity and fear completing the purification of tragic acts which have those emotional characteristics. from Aristotle's Poetics (from the translation by Gerald Else)

Crucible Points the way Miller slowly releases the exposition of the play. It is through bits and pieces that the reader/viewer is brought in touch with the "status quo" of what is happening in Salem, Massachusetts. as Miller moves the action forward, he skillfully implants questions in the reader/viewer’s mind, right up to the end of the play, about the outcome of decisions, loyalty, and relationships. Miller’s use of repetition to mock and his parallelism in syntax at the end of Acts I and III build intense rhythms that heighten the dramatic power of the scenes. Miller’s design of building to a crescendo at the end of each act, culminating in Elizabeth’s statement and the "final drums" of the last Act is a powerful structural pattern.