The Crucible Background Notes

A crucible is

• a heat-resistant vessel or melting pot

• an ancient farming tool

• a type of clothing

• a kind of spell used in witchcraft

_____ were a religious group in England who had very strict rules about how people should behave.

• The Protestants

• The Baptists

• The Catholics

• The Puritans

What is the name of the type of government that is intertwined with religious beliefs and practices?

• theocracy

• democracy

• plutocracy

• autorcracy

Which one below is NOT typical in a Puritan society?

• Women were considered subservient (below) men

• The church was the center of society

• The opinion of children was respected

• They wanted to purge evil from the world

2 kids, _____ and ____, had "fits" and a doctor suggested witchcraft as a cause

• Abigail Williams

• Mercy Lewis

• Betty Parris

• Susanna Walcott

Which of the following is NOT believed to be a cause of the Salem Witch Trials/scare?

• hysteria

• alien abduction

• food poisoning

• various diseases

Many people believe that desire for land and power, strict religious beliefs, and a tightly controlled society are also possible explanations for the Salem Witch Trials.

• TRUE

• FALSE

Why did Arthur Miller write The Crucible 400 years after the events took place?

• He practiced witchcraft himself and wanted to write a story about it

• He saw a strong parallel between the witch hunts in Salem and the Vietnam War

• He saw a strong parallel between the witch hunts in Salem and the Communist hunt in the 1950s

• He was a descendant of Reverend Parris and wanted to write the story in honor of him

During the Hunt for Communists, people were encouraged to_____ and _____.

• trust their neighbors

• turn on each other

• name suspected communists

• capture communists with a special trap

Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible as __________ to illustrate how ridiculous the paranoia about Communism in the United States was.

• a myth

• an allegory

• a newspaper article

• a personification