The Crucible Quiz (Acts 1-3)

The play opens with Reverend Parris praying by his afflicted daughter’s bedside. We are left to infer from the dialogue that follows between Parris and his niece, the details of the events preceding this moment. What do we come to learn has caused Betty’s affliction?

• She has been bewitched
• She is desperately frightened because her father has seen her meddling with witchcraft
• Abigail has poisoned her with a brew made in the forest
• She feels terribly guilty because she has had an affair with a married man

The dialogue between Parris and Abigail also reveals some important characteristics of the Reverend: Parris: If you trafficked with spirits in the forest, I must know it now, for surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me with it. Abigail: But we never conjured spirits. Parris: Then why can she not move herself since midnight? This child is desperate! (Abigail lowers her eyes). It must come out - my enemies will bring it out. Let me know what you done there. Abigail, do you understand that I have many enemies? Abigail: I have heard of it, uncle. Parris: There is a faction that is sworn to drive me from my pulpit. Do you understand that? From the above dialogue, we can infer that the Reverend’s primary motive for wanting to know what happened in the forest is. . .

• His fatherly love for his daughter
• His jealousy over Betty’s fondness for Abigail
• His concern for his own reputation
• His desire for gossip, to know more about the townspeople

If you wanted to prove that Hale is not as quick to leap to conclusions of witchcraft as many others in this play, which piece of evidence would be the strongest support for this claim?

• Hale: What victory would the Devil have to win a soul already bad? It is the best the Devil wants, and who is better than the minister?
• Hale: You cannot evade me, Abigail. Did your cousin drink any of the brew in that kettle?
• Hale: You are God’s instrument put in our hands to discover the Devil’s agents among us. You are selected, Tituba, you are chosen to help us cleanse our village.
• Hale: I must tell you all that I shall not proceed unless you are prepared to believe me if I should find no bruises of hell upon her.

Who does Abigail initially blame for the "bewitching"?

• Tituba
• Sarah Good
• Sarah Osburne
• Bridget Bishop

The company asks Rebecca Nurse, an elderly woman renowned for her piety, to give advice about the stricken Betty. She says, I think she’ll wake in time. Pray calm yourselves. I have eleven children, and I am twenty-six times a grandma, and I have seen them all through their silly seasons, and when it come on them they will run the Devil bowlegged keeping up with their mischief. I think she’ll wake when she tires of it. A child’s spirit is like a child, you can never catch it by running after it; you must stand still, and, for love, it will soon itself come back. Her advice can best be summarized by which of the following?

• The girls are clearly bewitched; do not chase their spirits or the devil will whisk them away.
• The girls are just acting like silly teenagers. Leave them alone and they’ll come to their senses.
• The girls are acting silly; all you need to do is give them a good beating and they will stop.
• The girls are under the influence of the Devil; bring the witch finders as quickly as possible to break the spell

When Reverend Hale asks John to demonstrate his piety by reciting the commandments, John forgets which one?

• Thou Shalt not Steal
• Thou Shalt keep the Sabbath holy
• Thou shalt honor thy parents
• Thou shalt not commit adultery

What does his forgetting this particular commandment tell us about John?

• That he feels guilty for not attending church often
• That he is worried about the Putnam’s encroaching on his property
• That he doesn’t think of his family members—specifically his wife—enough
• That he feels guilty for breaking his marriage vows

In addition to not attending service often enough, what is the other spot of “softness” the Reverend Hale sees in John Proctor’s church record?

• He hasn’t paid his tithes or offerings
• He hasn’t had his child baptized
• He has committed adultery
• He begrudges the reverend his gold candlesticks

Who does Elizabeth call "a mouse no more"

• Mary Warren
• Abigail Williams
• John Proctor
• Rebecca Nurse

When Danforth asks Elizabeth about John and Abigail’s affair, why does she lie?

• She doesn’t want to get Abigail in trouble
• She doesn’t want to be responsible for anymore accusations of witchcraft.
• She wasn’t really sure whether or not they’d truly had an affair.
• She doesn’t want to endanger John.