The Crucible: Study Questions
The Crucible- Comprehension Study Questions
1. There are many factors that contribute to the initiation and the escalation of the witch hunts in Salem. Partisans truly believed in the existence of witches, as it was recognize as a sin against God in the bible. This caused their society to accredit any unnatural happenings to the Devil. When Ruth and Betty cannot wake, Ann Putnam blames her daughters unconscious state and the deaths of her unbaptized babies on witchery. Witchcraft in Salem is only a rumor until Reverend Hale comes to cleanse the town of evil. Soon after Paris tells Hale of his discovery of the girls dancing in the forest, Abby cries witch on Tituba to avoid being prosecution herself. This marks the beginning of the witch …show more content…
The development of the accusations started at the bottom and gradually worked it’s way up the social hierarchy. It began with Hale questioning Abigail causing her to blame Tituba for trying to bring her to the Devil, in order to save her self from being prosecuted. Tituba was the easiest target since she was a slave from Barbados with no one to defend her. As Hale persists with urging Tituba to return to God by giving more names that do the Devils work, she finally accuses Sarah Good and Goody Osborn, two other vulnerable women at the bottom of the social pyramid. Abigail becomes inspired by the positive reaction Tituba receives with her accusations and admits to seeing the Devil with the two women as well as Bridget Bishop. Betty awakens and the two girls continue to shout out names hysterically with great relief. The accused are arrested and eventually people that had a higher social status were blamed. Highly thought of characters such as Rebecca Nurse, charged for the spiritual murder of Ann Putnam’s babies, were put in jail. Abby framed Goody Proctor and manipulated the court in to believing that Elizabeth, a good religious woman, was a witch. The accusations began at the bottom and worked its way up the social ladder as more and more people were
1. There are many factors that contribute to the initiation and the escalation of the witch hunts in Salem. Partisans truly believed in the existence of witches, as it was recognize as a sin against God in the bible. This caused their society to accredit any unnatural happenings to the Devil. When Ruth and Betty cannot wake, Ann Putnam blames her daughters unconscious state and the deaths of her unbaptized babies on witchery. Witchcraft in Salem is only a rumor until Reverend Hale comes to cleanse the town of evil. Soon after Paris tells Hale of his discovery of the girls dancing in the forest, Abby cries witch on Tituba to avoid being prosecution herself. This marks the beginning of the witch …show more content…
The development of the accusations started at the bottom and gradually worked it’s way up the social hierarchy. It began with Hale questioning Abigail causing her to blame Tituba for trying to bring her to the Devil, in order to save her self from being prosecuted. Tituba was the easiest target since she was a slave from Barbados with no one to defend her. As Hale persists with urging Tituba to return to God by giving more names that do the Devils work, she finally accuses Sarah Good and Goody Osborn, two other vulnerable women at the bottom of the social pyramid. Abigail becomes inspired by the positive reaction Tituba receives with her accusations and admits to seeing the Devil with the two women as well as Bridget Bishop. Betty awakens and the two girls continue to shout out names hysterically with great relief. The accused are arrested and eventually people that had a higher social status were blamed. Highly thought of characters such as Rebecca Nurse, charged for the spiritual murder of Ann Putnam’s babies, were put in jail. Abby framed Goody Proctor and manipulated the court in to believing that Elizabeth, a good religious woman, was a witch. The accusations began at the bottom and worked its way up the social ladder as more and more people were