1. THE CRUCIBLE
UNIT TEST REVIEW

2. ACT I

3. * In the opening scene of the play, Reverend Parris is praying and weeping because his
His daughter Betty is sick.
His niece Abigail has been involved in suspicious activities in the woods.
The town is “infected” with witchcraft.

4. When Abigail tells John of her love for him, John responds by
John tells her that their affair is over.

5. Why did Mrs. Putnam send her 8 year-old daughter Ruth to see Tituba?
She wanted to find out if evil spirits killed her children.

6. What is Rebecca Nurse’s opinion of Betty Parris’s illness?
She believes that it is a childish phase that will soon pass.

7. Why is Mrs. Putnam quickly convinced that Sarah Osburn is a witch?
Sarah Osburn was the midwife present at some of the births of Ann’s children.

8. Many of Giles Corey’s neighbors dislike him because of his fondness for _____.
Unjustified lawsuits

9. Rev. Hale sternly warns the Salem citizens that they must be prepared to accept that
There is no witchcraft in their town.

10. Rev. Parris openly criticizes John Proctor for
He has not attended church regularly.

11. *Abigail responds to the witchcraft rumors by
Accusing others, threatening the younger girls, and “confessing” her sins

12. *What are the motives for the confessions at the end of Act One?
To ensure their own survival and to obtain revenge on others

13. ACT II

14. *During John and Elizabeth Proctor’s conversation, the audience learns that
Elizabeth may still be angry at John.
John is angry that Elizabeth still does not trust him.
Elizabeth is now intimidated by their servant Mary.
She wants John to go and testify against Abigail.
John knows the truth of Betty’s “illness.”
Many people have been accused of witchcraft.

15. *Mary Warren, their servant, returns from court and tells them
Elizabeth has been accused of witchcraft.
She has made a poppet (doll) for Elizabeth.
She will need to be in court each day.
39 people have been arrested
Sarah Osburn will be hanged

16. Elizabeth realizes that
Abigail wants to kill her and marry John.

17. *Rev. Hale is kind toward the Proctors, but he is greatly disturbed when he learns that John
Has not attended church regularly
Only 2 of his 3 sons have been baptized
He only knows 9 of the 10 commandments

18. John tells Rev. Hale that he
He had to take care of his wife.
He dislikes Rev. Parris’s stern preaching and obsession with money.

19. Giles Corey and Francis Nurse bring what news?
Their wives have been arrested.

20. Abigail claims that Elizabeth is
Torturing her by stabbing the poppet (doll)

21. Ezekiel Cheever arrives to arrest
Elizabeth Proctor

22. Elizabeth calls _____ a murderer.
Abigail Williams

23. John compares _____ to Pontius Pilate.
Rev. Hale

24. ACT III

25. Martha Corey says that she does not know what a witch is, but the judge asks her,
“How do you know then that you are NOT a witch?”

26. Judge Danforth says that _____ have been accused and _____ have been condemned.
Over 400 71

27. There are _____ names on the petition defending Nurse, Corey, and Proctor.91

28. *Giles Corey makes which statements in court?
He did not mean to accuse his wife of witchcraft, only of reading too much.
He wrote the petition to free the three recently accused.
He accuses Thomas Putnam of getting his young daughter to accuse people in order to obtain their land.

29. *Mary Warren tries to Tell the truth
She is herself accused of witchcraft
She accuses John Proctor of witchcraft

30. John Proctor admits to the court that
He had committed adultery with Abigail Williams.

31. Rev. Hale becomes convinced that the witchcraft accusations are_____, and he _____.
False; leaves the court

32. *John Proctor is shocked when his wife Elizabeth
She lied to protect him.
She would not judge him.
She is pregnant with their fourth child.

33. Judge Danforth orders the arrest of _____.
John Proctor

34. John Proctor calls _____ a _____.
Abigail Williams; whore

35. ACT IV

36. In Act IV, Rev. Hale tries to convince which innocent person to confess and avoid hanging?
Rebecca Nurse
John Proctor

37. Abigail Williams and _____ have stolen Rev
Abigail Williams and _____ have stolen Rev. Parris’s money and left town.
Mercy Lewis

38. *Rev. Parris tells Judge Danforth that
He feels threatened because a dagger was at his door.
He tries to postpone the executions.
He reports rumors of a rebellion.

39. 19 prisoners are hanged; one, _____, is _____to death instead.
Giles Corey; pressed

40. Elizabeth Proctor is protected for the time being because of her
pregnancy

41. Despite several appeals, Judge Danforth refuses to
Postpone the executions.

42. Judge Hathorne rejoices and calls it a blessing when _____ agrees to _____.
John Proctor; confess himself as a witch.

43. John admires _____ and _____ for their refusal to confess.
Rebecca Nurse; Martha & Giles Corey

44. When John tells Elizabeth that he is tempted to _____, she tells him that she cannot _____.
Confess; judge him.

45. Though John Proctor is willing to _____, he is unwilling to _____.
Confess; give up his reputation; accuse others

46. ALLEGORY—symbolism present through an entire work
The Crucible was written as a protest against Senator McCarthy’s persecution of supposed Communists in the 1950’s.

47. ALLITERATION—repetition of initial consonant sounds
“We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom…”

48. ALLUSION—reference that the author expects readers to know
“Pontius Pilate! God will not let you wash your hands of this!”
“Now remember what the angel Raphael said to the boy Tobias. Remember it.”
“I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face…and it is my face, and yours, Danforth!”

49. DIALECT—use of regional speech
All of Tituba’s lines in this play are examples of dialect.

50. FORESHADOWING—clues or hints about the future
“[Dr. Griggs] bid me tell you, that you might look to unnatural things for the cause of it.”
“There is prodigious danger in the seeking of loose spirits. I fear it, I fear it.”
“Let you fear nothing! Another judgment waits us all!”

51. HYPERBOLE—use of exaggeration to make a point
“I have seen [all my children and grandchildren] through their silly seasons, and when it come on them they will run the Devil bowlegged keeping up with their mischief.”
“This farm’s a continent when you go foot by foot droppin’ seeds into it.”
“I should hang ten thousand that dared to rise against the law, and an ocean of tears could not melt the resolution of the statutes.”

52. IMAGERY—use of one or more of the 5 senses to create a mental picture
”Lilacs have a purple smell…the smell of nightfall…Massachusetts is a beauty in the spring.”
“Excellency, abandoned cattle bellow on the highroads, the stink of rotting crops hangs everywhere…better you should wonder how they do not burn your province!”

53. IRONY—the opposite of what is expected
When questioned by Rev. Hale, John Proctor forgets the one commandment he should remember the best. His wife Elizabeth gently reminds him, “Adultery, John.”
Judge Danforth tells John, “I have until this moment not the slightest reason to suspect the children may be deceiving me.”
John Proctor declares his wife’s unfailing honesty: “There are them that cannot sing, and them that cannot weep—my wife cannot lie.” However, Elizabeth does lie. She covers up John’s sin by committing one herself.

54. METAPHOR—comparison of 2 unlike things that does NOT use like or as
“Theology, sir, is a fortress; no crack in a fortress may be accounted small.”
“I have known her, sir…my dear good wife…took this girl soon after, sir, and put her out on the highroad…and being what she is, a lump of vanity, sir…she thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave!”

55. ONOMATOPOEIA—words whose sound suggest their meaning
“I heard a screeching and gibberish coming from [Tituba’s] mouth!”
”So many time, Mr. Proctor, [Goody Osburn] come to this very door, beggin’ bread and a cup of cider—and mark this: whenever I turned her away empty, she mumbled.”

56. PERSONIFICATION—giving human traits to non-human objects or ideas
I’ll tell you what’s walking Salem—vengeance is walking Salem! Common vengeance writes the law!”
“Do you know, Mr. Proctor, that the entire contention of the state in these trials is that the voice of Heaven is speaking through the children?”
“Shall the dust praise him? Shall the worms declare his truth?”

57. SIMILE—comparison of 2 unlike things using like or as
“I saw [Tituba]…swaying like a dumb beast over that fire!”
“Is the accuser always holy now? Were they born this morning as clean as God’s fingers?
“Mr. Proctor…I beg you be clear, open as the sky, and honest.”
“I came into this village like a bridegroom to his beloved…”

58. SYMBOL—object that represents both itself and a larger concept
The poppet (doll)—was used both in The Crucible and in the actual Salem Witch Trials as a symbol of witchcraft. The so-called witches were accused of sticking pins in the poppets in order to harm their human victims through the use of voodoo.

59. SYNECDOCHE—use of a part to represent the whole
“You are the high court; your word is good enough!”

60. LITERARY THEORIES
According to Dr. Christopher Booker’s 7 Basic Plots Theory, The Crucible can be labeled as a Rebirth tale.
According to Dr. Thomas Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, the character of Rebecca Nurse is a Christ figure.