The Crucible

The cruciable- play

The play is about the Salem witch trials. It takes place in Salem in 1692. One of the main characters, Rev. Parris catches a group of girls, including his niece Abigale and his daughter dancing in the woods. They were practicing witchcraft. Abigale drank chickens blood in attempt to kill Elizabeth proctor because she had an affair with her husband John Proctor. The word quickly spreads that there is witch craft happening in the town, and they demand that Rev. Parris help  them figure out what is going on. Rev. Parris does not want to acknowledge that anything is going on because his daughter, Betty was also practicing witchcraft, and he did not want to damage his reputation. The group of girls are terrified that they got caught, so they start accusing other girls of being witches.  Everyone that they accuse gets arrested and many of them get executed. Anyone who is accused of being a witch  is brought in front of Abigale and her friends who were caught practicing witchcraft, if the girls fell to the ground like spirits were attacking them, the person would be sentenced to death. Elizabeth is terrified that Abigale is going to tell the court that she is a witch so Elizabeth would be executed, and she could then marry John. Just as suspected, even though John tries to fight it, Elizabeth is arrested and carried off in chains. John decides that he will have to go in front of the court and admit to adultery. He knows he would be discrased by the town, but still it would discredit Abigale. In the court 91 names of people are presented and each get arrested. John shows up with marry warren, one of the girls who got caught dancing in the forest practicing witchcraft to say Abigale and the other girls are lying. Abigale denies the claims. One of the judges ask Marry Warren to pretend like a spirit is attacking her like she did previously with the other girls, but without the other girls doing it with her she cant. All of the sudden Abigale and her friends start acting like Mary’s spirit is attacking them. John finally has enough and admits to the court that he had an affair with Abagail. However, after his wife dismisses the claims to protect him, the judge rules him not guilty and Abigale continues to act like she is being attacked. Eventually Emily breaks down and says that John works for Satin and Abigale is right. John is then arrested. Then cut to months later where john and 11 others are to be hanged. Abigale steals all of Rev. Parris’s money and runs away. A lot of people turn against the trials and don’t believe in them anymore. John eventually is convinced to confess in order to save his own life. He admits that he works for Satin. However, John refuses to sign a confession that would be nailed to the door of the church because he doesn’t want to disgrace his name or his family’s name. Because of this John is executed. After this government by the church is essentially broken.

1.      Please explain why you chose this text. What was your rationale? For whom is this text appropriate? Please consider age, ability, and any other factor you find important. Why is it appropriate for this group of students?

I choose this text because the Salem witch trials have always been an interesting topic to be. We studied it in History class in middle school and it has always been an interesting period of history for me.  Since we studied the Salem Witch Trials in middle school, I think this age group would be perfect to read this play in. The language isn’t too complex or the story isn’t too hard to follow either.

2.      Please include some teaching ideas. How do you envision this text being used in a secondary classroom? Provide at least 3 specific ideas for what is possible with this text.

First, we could read the play as a class. When we are done reading it, I could split students into groups and have them act out whole, or different scenes from the play, editing a little of course.

Second,  I could have tem read the play and create their own salem witch trial story or play in groups, when they have finished, have a presentation day for what they created.

Third, Read the play as a class and create a visual project in groups like a poster describing the main points of the story, a comic book on poster board depicting character development, plot, themes, etc. Then have a presentation day where the students present their project with their groupmates.

3.      Please consider some obstacles to using this text. What are the potential issues that may arise from using this text? Predict an administrator’s response to the use of this text. Predict parents’ responses. Predict students’ responses.

I see a few potential problems with presenting this text to my class: One- language. There isn’t too much bad language in this play, but the word “whore” is used, and that may create a problem with students or parents. The other problem I see is the nature of the text. The play is based around lieing to get people hung. This may become an issue with parents or students who are uncomfortable with the subject matter of the play.