...The Crucible Act Three Questions Short Response Answer the following questions based on your knowledge of the drama. Write a response on a separate sheet of paper. 1. Describe one piece of evidence that Giles, Francis, or Proctor bring before the court to show that the girls are lying. 2. What does Abigail do to distract Danforth from Hale’s accusations that she is lying? 3. How does Hale show that he believes that the court is not doing the right thing? Use three details from the text in your response. 4. Danforth explains that “. . . a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between.” What conclusion can you draw about Danforth’s character from this line? 5. How does Hale excuse Elizabeth’s lie about Abigail’s affair with Proctor? 6. Danforth explains that witchcraft is an invisible crime and that only the victims are reliable. How does his philosophy flame the hysteria? Use details from the drama to support your response. 7. How do Hale and Parris try to thwart each other, or act as foils, in regards to Danforth and the court? Use details from the drama to support your response. 8. Describe the point at which you think the plot reaches its highest intensity, or climax. 9. After the outbreak in court, Mr. Danforth makes the following short statement to Mr. Hale: I will have nothing from you, Mr. Hale! In your own words, describe what Mr. Hale has said or done to instigate Mr. Danforth’s...
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...In Act Four of The Crucible, Reverend Hale must confront and overcome his crucible. The magnitude of this is witnessed in his character: “Reverend Hale enters. They look at him for an instant in silence. He is steeped in sorrow, exhausted, and more direct than he ever was.” (pp 128-129, Act 4) Hale’s crucible is whether or not to follow the public and continue forcing people to confess witchcraft or to make known the madness of these hunts, since he knows these witch hunts and trials are irrational. This exemplifies Hale’s personal and gradual movement to candor rather than the accusation of more innocent individuals. Furthermore, it shows Hale’s first steps from the break from conformity. In this essay, I will explain the changes that occur in his character as he struggles with his crucible. Also, I will analyze a crucible that I have faced. Hale grows almost exponentially throughout the duration of Act Four in The Crucible. On page 130, Hale is trying to convince Danforth to postpone the trials of the accused: “Excellency, if you postpone a week… that speak mercy on your part, not faltering.” After Danforth’s response, including a discussion of the trials doing God’s work in Salem, Hale speaks his mind again and announces that Danforth is mistaken in his judgment. At this point Hale begins to realize what he must do. He must attempt to delay, if not halt these trials, in order to prevent people from hanging needlessly. Hale shows outright maturation and grows a backbone, so...
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...the Characterization of Reverend John Hale Throughout The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses the characterization of an archetypal hero, Reverend John Hale, to reveal how when arrogant and nationalistic pride becomes involved even the most intelligent and moral man’s moral compass can be distorted. This universal truth and Hale’s archetypal characteristics were revealed by Miller to reprehend those who fell into McCarthyism and the flaws in the American society in the nineteen-fifties, which were impacts of their blinded morals. To comprehend the idea of this specific universal truth, one first must understand Hale’s characterization through Aristotle’s archetypal hero traits. The first criteria, Noble...
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...Thematic Questions 1. What is a crucible and how is it used? Justify Miller’s choice of title for his play. A crucible is a ceramic container that can withstand very high temperature and is used for metal, glass and pigment production as well as a number of modern laboratory processes. Miller’s choice of the title “The Crucible” is due to the same reason as the courtroom being referred to as a crucible: using the heat of questioning and scrutiny, they burned away all the impurities, i.e. lies and half-truths, to get the purified product the “truth”. 2. How do Hale’s preconceptions influence his interpretation of events? How does his interpretation change? What are the implications of his conversion? Hale’s preconceptions has influenced his interpretation of events in that he initially thought that he had the authority over the town due to his extensive knowledge of witchcraft. He expected to find witches, however his interpretation changes throughout the play as he realises that innocent townspeople are being falsely accused, such as John Proctor. The implications of his conversion are when he encourages the accused to confess, i.e. the good people to lie, even though he believes that he is doing the “Devil’s work”. 3. Proctor calls Hale “Pontius Pilate.” Explain the allusion. Do you agree or disagree? The allusion is that Pontius Pilate was the ruler in Bethlehem who ordered the crucifixion of Jesus Christ at the order of the Jewish leadership, despite the...
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...considered blasphemous as witches. Through The Crucible, Arthur Miller describes the irrational behaviour of people in “all classes”(Miller 7) from Salem, Massachusetts during this time of misdemeanor. Many characters throughout the play incriminate others due to bitterness and jealousy. For instance, Abigail indicted her former lover, John Proctor’s, wife. Ultimately the corrupted men and women of Salem reached their goal of hanging the pure, which leads to hysteria amongst the townsfolk. Although John Proctor begins the play as an ambivalent and uncertain man, who is paralyzed...
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...integrity is something that many people fear and this is shown through the characters in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Cotton Mather’s Wonders of the Invisible World and John Hale’s A Modest Enquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft. The Crucible is a play about the Salem witch trials and the characters who are accused and judged based off of their reputation. Each character’s perception is different than what the actual reality is of the witchcraft because they have their own views about this trial. In Cotton Mather’s Wonders of the Invisible World, Cotton Mather is warning the townspeople about the devil taking control of their lives. He encourages them to take action and do something about it,...
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...Conformity in The Crucible We often hear about people of Middle Eastern descent being called terrorist at the airport and no one doing anything to stop that behavior, if you do anything people hate you. In our daily lives we face many decisions that are minor but affect our future. For example, do you go with the crowd and bully someone or do you attempt to do the morally correct thing and stand up to the bullying and face social harassment of your own? The Crucible, by Arthur Miller is a play about an affair between John Proctor and Abigail Williams and most importantly the Salem witch trials. Innocent people are being accused of witches for no reason and people blindly follow along, but John Proctor dies to go against the conformity. In...
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...Change happens in a person when they meet someone or experience something that alters their way of thinking, acting, and reacting to situations. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the town of Salem and many of its residents go through a major transformation after the idea of witchcraft is introduced. One character, Reverend John Hale, a visitor from Beverley and a known expert on witchery, undergoes a major character transformation throughout the play. Hale goes from believing in witchcraft and wanting to stop any witches in Salem, to doubting the court, and finally ending with an unshakeable guilt, knowing he is the reason innocent people are being hung for things they did not do. In Act I of the play, Hale is called to Salem to assess Betty Parris' condition. He is confident that the Devil is present, and he will "crush him utterly if he has shown...
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...overcome to develop his character in The Crucible. John Proctor’s change in his character is an important part of the theme of The Crucible. John Proctor is a farmer that inherited the family tradition. He is married to Elizabeth Proctor and has three young boys. John Proctor dislikes hypocrites and does not trust the authority in Salem. John Proctor committed an affair with a seventeen-year-old girl named Abigail Williams. Throughout the story he is challenged with the guilt of committing adultery. John Proctor’s personal integrity is challenged in multiple parts of The Crucible. Proctor is challenged by the affair with Abigail, Hale questioning him about his relationship with God, giving up...
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...------------------------------------------------- Character Progression and Development of Reverend John Hale in The Crucible The character of Reverend Hale, in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, experiences a profound, dramatic and transformative personal evolution from when he comes to Salem in Act One through the climax in the third act. In the final act, in this progression, his identity by profession is challenged when he is confronted with the realization of an unjust, immoral community, and he responds with integrity and moral truth by abandoning his assigned mission of “witch hunter” in order to truly save others. When Reverend Hale first comes onto the scene, he is a pious and revered minister who was summoned by Reverend Parris because of his expertise on uncovering witchcraft. Reverend Hale presents as a strict and dedicated professional; he is confident, even arrogant as to his education, knowledge and, his authoritative role as expert, and falls back upon the fact that Salem needs him to resolve the unrest and chaos in the community. The hysteria in Salem is clearly exacerbated by Hale’s investigation; but initially, Hale is fueled by his charge to rid Salem of witchcraft and his self-assurance in that role, Hale finds himself, in the end, questioning his own integrity and his moral beliefs when he realizes that the witchcraft accusations were false. He has to battle his own internal guilt and regret for the needless suffering of other accused and persecuted which...
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...The protagonist of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, John Proctor, passes his extreme test because he is willing to put his life and reputation at risk to free Elizabeth from all of her troubles. John’s past affair with the jealous Abigail Williams is no secret to Elizabeth. Determined to do anything she can to accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft, Abigail makes up many lies about her like accusing her of implanting a needle in a doll. John finally sees that there is only one way to stop the hysteria in Salem: to admit his sin of adultery. “I have known her, sir. I have known her”(1145). Proctor faces one of his crucible moments in the play, when he tells the court he committed the crime of adultery, and he passes. He confesses in front of the court and the judges that he himself was an adulterer. Proctor feels he owed this to Elizabeth. He wants to make up for...
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...portrayed in his play The Crucible, written two years previously. Just over forty years later, with HUAC long out of power, The Crucible became a film with a budget of $25 million, produced by the well-known Twentieth-Century Fox Film Corporation (IMDb). The perseverance of this story is a testament to its intriguing portrayal of power struggle during the Salem witch trials that applies to many situations even today. The movie version of the play alters the text and storyline; in particular, the scene in which Tituba is accused and confesses was changed in several ways in order to focus on the details of the witch trials that made them so effective....
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...A person’s beliefs and character can change dramatically over a course of time. Even if someone believes so strongly in something, with time and realization, that person might have a change of heart and radically alter their way of thinking. Being part of a shameful situation can make a person become fully aware of the kind of person they are and prompt them to reform themselves. In The Crucible, the Reverend Hale is depicted as an honorable man caught up in a dishonorable situation. A character, Snowball, from the book, Animal Farm, similarly was in a dishonorable situation. In The Crucible, Reverend John Hale is summoned to the town of Salem to seek out and expel any signs of witchcraft within it. Hale does, however, have good intentions to help the afflicted people of Salem. Unfortunately, in his hunt to remove witchcraft from the town, Hale lets others around him, such as Abigail, manipulate him into making wrong decisions. When Hale arrives to Salem, he is overwhelmed with false accusations and evidence from Abigail and other girls who do and say whatever Abigail tells them to. The pressure from the town to diagnose witchcraft gets in Hale’s head and causes him to take the false evidence and accusations as the truth without conducting an investigation into it. Hale later realizes Abigail is a fraud...
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...convicted and 20 were hanged for the crime of witchcraft. The play The Crucible written by Arthur Miller in 1953 is about the Salem witch trials and some of the people involved in it. The word crucible is a test and every character goes through their own tests. John Proctor’s test changes him slowly throughout the play when he goes first stops in salem and thinks the whole entire thing will blow over. Over the course of the play the town goes mad with witchcraft while the Proctors don't know what is going on until Reverend Hale stops by and says that Elizabeth is mentioned for witchcraft. Then towards the end when Proctor confesses his sin of lechery and is convicted by Mary Warren and the other girls...
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...The Salem witch trials are notoriously known for the killings of innocent inhabitants of Salem. Some say the cause of their deaths could be traced back to Salem’s strict social order. The structure of 1600’s Salem was very religion-based as it was woven into everyday life. The government was a theocracy, the priests were highly respected, and anyone who went against the government was considered evil. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible unveils the realistic effect of social order on one’s personal freedom. Because religion was so vital in 1600’s Salem’s social order, the inhabitants suffered from a lack of personal freedom. The structure of the Puritan society in colonial Massachusetts served an important role in the setting of The Crucible. The...
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