1. Friday, the day before Ms. WT’s tournament  Turn in Graded Draft and Notecards  Definitions: “Crucible,” “Tragedy”  McCarthyism  Act I  Homework: finish reading Act I, WORK ON YOUR WIKI!

2. Crucible (n): 1.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. 2.A severe test, as of patience or belief; a trial. 3.A place, time, or situation characterized by the confluence of powerful intellectual, social, economic, or political forces

3. Another Consideration: 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.

4. 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)