PRESENTATION OUTLINE
During their argument in Act Two, Elizabeth tells John that he lost her trust when he kept the truth from her about being alone with Abigail. How is trust and therefore lack of trust a major theme is this story?
Abigail uses fear as a way to get her way. She uses it in order to bully the other girls and in order to control the townspeople. How do people use fear as a weapon in the modern world?
How does Reverend Hale's opinion of the witch trials change from when he enters the Proctor household to when he leaves? How might this affect the rest of the story?
Mary says that 39 people had been arrested and were now standing accused, yet as we know, witches are not real. So how is it that Abigail managed to convince so many adults that witches were real? Was it her words? Was it just the human spirit, caught up in the madness? Or do the people simply go along with what's happening to avoid trouble?
Why do you believe that Reverend Parris and Abigail are never accused of being witches?
Proctor states "I’ll tell you what’s walking. Salem— vengeance is walking Salem." What do you believe is meant by this statement?
Elizabeth tells Proctor that he must break the promise he made with Abigail. Proctor is faced with the difficult decision of breaking this promise and hopefully saving his wife from accusation or to stay back and hope that Abigail is not accusing Elizabeth out of spite. As young adults, what are some of the difficult decisions that we must make in our lives?
In many of the witch trials in "The Crucible", people confess to being a witch in order to survive. If they stood up for themselves they would be murdered. What other examples, from the past and the present, do we have of people being forced to conform or die?
As Reverend Hale questions the Proctors about their holiness, he uses different rhetorical strategies to interrogate them. What were some of these strategies?
