1. The Crucible written by Arthur Miller

2. Crucible…the definition…  1. A vessel used for melting substances that require a high degree of heat.  2. A severe test

3. The setting…  1692  Salem, Massachusetts  Rev. Parris kneeling in prayer by bed while daughter, Betty, lays inert.

4. Salem Community  Town has been around for 40 yrs  Don’t celebrate Christmas  Lots of prayer; 2 men walk around church and take names of those not paying attention.

5. The Forest…  …is the devil  Lots of laws

6. Witch Hunts…  Time for people to express publicly guilt for sins  Vengeance condoned by Bible

7. Crucible Characters…

8. Reverend Parris  minister of Salem’s church  paranoid, power-hungry figure  concerned with building his position in the community  many dislike him

9. Betty Parris  Parris’s 10 year old daughter  falls into a stupor after Parris catches her and the other girls dancing in the forest

10. Tituba (Voodoo Queen)  Parris’s black slave from Barbados.

11. Abigail Williams  Parris’s niece  smart, a good liar, vindictive  once the servant for the Proctor household but fired because she had an affair with John Proctor

12. John Proctor (wife: Elizabeth)  local farmer who lives just outside town  harsh-tongued man  hates hypocrisy  had an affair with Abigail  respected and feared in town

13. Mary Warren  servant in Proctor household  timid girl; easily influenced

14. Reverend John Hale  young minister from Beverly  an expert on witchcraft

15. Thomas Putnam  wealthy, influential citizen  holds a grudge against Francis Nurse for preventing Putnam’s brother-in-law from being elected minister of Salem

16. Ann Putnam  gave birth to 8 kids, but only Ruth Putnam survived  7 kids died before they were a day old  believes her babies were murdered by supernatural means

17. Ruth Putnam  falls into a strange stupor after Parris catches her and other girls dancing in the woods at night

18. Mercy Lewis  Servant in Putnam’s household

19. Francis Nurse  wealthy, influential man  well respected by most people in Salem, but an enemy of the Putnams

20. Rebecca Nurse  a wise, sensible, and upright woman

21. Giles Corey  an elderly man (83)  famous for his tendency to file lawsuits

22. Martha Corey  Giles’s 3 rd wife  reads “strange” books

23. Ezekiel Cheever  one of the men appointed to help arrest supposed witches

24. Marshal Herrick  man in charge of arresting all of the accused witches

25. Judge Hathorne  Judge sent to examine the accused witches

26. Deputy Governor Danforth  special judge sent to remove the witches

27. Sarah Good  an old beggar woman

28. Hopkins  a jailer

29. The Crucible FACT & FICTION

30. Betty Parris’s mother was not dead, but very much alive at the time. She died in 1696, four years after the events.

31. The Parris family also included 2 other children- an older brother, Thomas, and a younger sister, Susannah.

32. Miller boosted Abigail’s age to 17 even though the real girl was only 11. John Proctor was 60 and Elizabeth, 41, was his 3 rd wife.

33. Betty Parris had violent, physical fits, not a sleep that she could not wake from.

34. There never was any wild dancing in the woods led by Tituba, and Rev. Parris never stumbled upon them.

35. Tituba was Indian, not black. She had a husband named John.

36. Giles Corey was not executed for refusing to name a witness. He was accused of witchcraft.