Studied by 144 peopleThe stage scenery throughout the play is often minimal, bare, with only a few pieces of furniture. What does this say about the Puritan people?
They valued being plain, modest, and simple to keep the focus on their religion.
Act 1: Which characters have the least amount of power in the village?
Slaves, women, the poor
Act 1: What does Rebecca Nurse think about the girls' accusations of witchcraft?
Thinks they'll tire of it; children go through "silly seasons"
Act 1: What did Rev. Parris discover the girls doing in the forest at night?
Dancing, conjuring spirits
Act 2: Why does Proctor not like Parris?
Sees "no light of God" in him; too flashy; overly strict/harsh sermons
Act 1: Who is Rev Hale and why is he in Salem?
Preacher from Beverly, MA. Parris asks him to come to investigate claims about witchcraft.
Act 1: Why does Tituba confess to witchcraft?
She is being forced to confess or else she will hang.
Act 2: What tensions exist in the Proctor household?
Elizabeth knows about Proctor/Abigail. Proctor feels like he's been in "dog house" long enough. Mary Warren been spending a lot of time in court lately.
What principal characters are arrested in Act 2?
Martha Corey, Elizabeth Proctor, Rebecca Nurse
Act 2: What is Proctor's plan for getting Elizabeth released from jail?
Get Mary Warren to confess that the girls are pretending.
How has Rev. Hale changed by the end of Act 3?
After he sees the girls go wild in court, he quits the court and denounces the proceedings.
Act 3: Why does Proctor declare "God is dead!"
Mary Warren has turned on him and returned to Abigail. Judge Danforth seems to believe her.
In Act 4, what does Parris say has happened to Abigail?
She has stolen all his money and left town.
Act 4: What happens during Proctor's confession?
Proctor signs it but then tears it up.
Act 2: How does Rev. Hale test the Christian character of the Proctor household?
He questions their church attendance and baptisms. Makes them recite their commandments.
Where does Act 1 take place?
Betty's bedroom
Where does Act 2 take place?
John Proctor's house
Where does Act 3 take place?
The meeting house
Where does Act 4 take place?
The jail
Act 2: Which commandment does John Proctor forget? "Thou shalt..."
"...not commit adultery"
Act 1: "Abigail, I have sought here three long years to bend these stiff-necked people to me, and now, just now when some good respect is rising for me in the parish, you compromise my very character. I have given you a home, child, I have put clothes upon your back - now give me upright answer. Your name in the town - it is entirely white, is it not?"
Rev. Parris
Act 1: "Reverend Parris, I have laid seven babies un-baptized in the earth. Believe me, sir, you never saw more hearty babies born, And yet, each would wither in my arms the very night of their birth."
Mrs. Putnam
Act 1: "I'll fly to Mama. Let me fly! She raises her arms as though to fly, and streaks for the window, gets one leg out."
Betty Parris
Act 1: "Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it; I saw Indians smash my dear parents' heads on the pillow next to mine, and I have seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!"
Abigail Williams
Act 1: "...I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I'll ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind. We never touched..."
John Proctor
Act 1: "In these books the Devil stands stripped of all his brute disguises. Here are all your familiar spirits - your incubi and succubi; your witches that go by land, by air, and by sea; your wizards of the night and of the day. Have no fear now - we shall find him out if he has come among us, and I mean to crush him utterly if he has shown his face!"
Rev. Hale
Act 1: "I have waked at night many a time and found her in a corner, readin' of a book.... Last night - mark this - I tried and tried and could not say my prayers. And then she close her book and walks out of the house, and suddenly - mark this - I could pray again!"
Giles Corey
Act 1: "But he say...'I give you pretty dress to wear, and put you way high up in the air, and you gone fly back to Barbados!' And I say, 'You lie, Devil, you lie!' And then he come one stormy night to me, and he say, 'Look! I have white people belong to me.' And I look - and there was Goody Good."
Tituba
Act 2: "I made a gift for you today, Goody Proctor. I had to sit long hours in a chair, and passed the time with sewing."
Mary Warren
Act 2: "John - grant me this. You have a faulty understanding of young girls. There is a promise made in any bed -.... Spoke or silent, a promise is surely made. And she may dote on it now - I am sure she does - and thinks to kill me, then to take my place."
Elizabeth Proctor
Act 2: "Mr. Proctor, I have little time. The court bid me search your house, but I like not to search a house. So will you hand me any poppets that your wife may keep here?"
Cheever
Act 2: "Now Hell and Heaven grapple on our backs, and all our old pretense is ripped away.... Peace. It is a providence, and no great change; we are only what we always were, but naked now.... Aye, naked! And the wind, God's icy wind, will blow!"
John Proctor
Act 3: "But you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between. This is a sharp time, now, a precise time - we live no longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world. Now, by God's grace, the shining sun is up, and them that fear not light will surely praise it. I hope you will be one of those."
Judge Danforth
Act 3: "I have known her, sir. I have known her."
John Proctor
Act 3: "No, I love God; I go your way no more. I love God, I bless God.... Abby, Abby, I'll never hurt you more!"
Mary Warren
Act 3: "God is dead!"
John Proctor
Act 4: "Oh, it be no Hell in Barbados. Devil, him be pleasureman in Barbados, him be singin' and dancin' in Barbados. It's you folks—you riles him up round here; it be too cold round here for that Old Boy. He freeze his soul in Massachusetts, but in Barbados he just as sweet..."
Tituba
Act 4: "Tonight, when I open my door to leave my house - a dagger clattered to the ground."
Rev. Parris
Act 4: "Postponement now speaks a floundering on my part; reprieve or pardon must cast doubt upon the guilt of them that died till now. While I speak God's law, I will not crack its voice with whimpering. If retaliation is your fear, know this - I should hang ten thousand that dared to rise against the law, and an ocean of salt tears could not melt the resolution of the statutes."
Judge Danforth
Act 4: "I came into this village like a bridegroom to his beloved, bearing gifts of high religion; the very crowns of holy law I brought, and what I touched with my bright confidence, it died; and where I turned the eye of my great faith, blood flowed up. Beware, Goody Proctor - cleave to no faith when faith brings blood."
Rev. Hale
Act 4: Who is Elizabeth Proctor talking about in this passage? "He were not hanged. He would not answer aye or nay to his indictment; for if he denied the charge they'd hang him surely, and auction out his property. So he stand mute, and died Christian under the law. And so his sons will have his farm. It is the law, for he could not be condemned a wizard without he answer the indictment, aye or nay."
Giles Corey
Act 4: "I counted myself so plain, so poorly made, no honest love could come to me! Suspicion kissed you when I did; I never knew how I should say my love. It were a cold house I kept!"
Elizabeth Proctor
Act 4: "Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!"
John Proctor
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