Name: __________________________________________ 4.3.2013
Literature and Writing 4.1 THEME
4.1 Guided Notes: Theme
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Objective: Students will be able to identify major themes in the Crucible. Aim: What themes are found in The Crucible?
Get Ready
Watch the following video and explain what the moral of the video is.
Guided Notes My Notes
Themes
Themes: A fundamental and often universal idea explored in a literary work.
It is the “lesson” that you learn as you read the story!
It’s what lets us identify with the story, even if it takes place in a setting we are unfamiliar with.
How do YOU identify theme?
Ask yourself the following questions. 1. What is the lesson the author is trying to
tell you?
2. What happens in the story that makes you
believe this?
3. Then the theme is…
Example 1: Identify the Theme
In his sophomore year of high school, Michael Jordan tried out for the varsity basketball team at Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina. But at five feet and eleven inches tall, the coach believed that Jordan was too short to play at that level, so Jordan was cut from the team. Jordan didn’t let this obstacle defeat him. In fact, it pushed him to work even harder. He trained vigorously and grew another four inches the following summer. When he finally made the varsity squad, Jordan averaged 25 points a game and went on to become one of the greatest basketball players in history.
Questions to Answer
1. What is the lesson the author is trying to tell you?
2. What happens in the story that makes you
believe this?
Example 2: Identify the Theme
Kyle liked Lucy more than any other girls in the school, but he had an odd way of showing it. When she walked ahead of him in line, he kicked at her. When she passed him in the school yard, he called her “lame Lucy.” He even wrote a mean word on her homework during the bus ride to school. But what puzzled Lucy the most was receiving an invitation to Kyle’s birthday party. Figuring that he was just planning a mean trick on her, Lucy decided not to go and while Kyle eagerly awaited Lucy’s arrival, Lucy talked on the phone with Jacob. When Kyle finally realized that Lucy was not coming to his party, he was crushed.
Questions to Answer
1. What is the lesson the author is trying to tell you?
2. What happens in the story that makes you
believe this?
3. Then the theme is…
Example 3: Identify the Theme
The little grey mouse that lived in my wall prospered for many days on small bites of my lunch. I’d pack a meal before bed and, while I slept, he would take small bites of my lunch, which I left on the counter. He’d take a cracker crumble here, and a bread crumb there, but he wouldn’t take too much and he’ always clean up after himself. Things were going quite well for him and I didn’t even know he existed, until he got sloppy. One night while I slept, he ate all of my chips and left behind a big mess. When I awoke to this sight, I knew what happened to my chips. So the next night when he returned for another snack, he found a nice delicious piece of cheese…lightly balanced on a mouse trap. Now I don’t have to share my chips anymore.
Questions to Answer
1. What is the lesson the author is trying to tell you?
2. What happens in the story that makes you
believe this?
3. Then the theme is…
The Crucible Plot Summary
The Crucible is a play set in Salem
Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. As young girls become afflicted with an unknown illness, the antagonist, Abigail William begins accusing others of witchcraft. Hundreds of people were accused and hanged. The protagonist, John Proctor, who had an affair with the antagonist, ends the cycle of
accusations by falsely admitting to witchcraft. Eventually, Salem fell apart.
Define Protagonist:
Theme Number 1: Evidence from the plot:
1. The Crucible is set in a theocratic society (the church and state are one).
2. In Salem, everything is either good or evil, right or wrong, of God or of Satan. There is no “gray area” or “in between.”
3. Anyone who doesn’t follow the religious rules is considered a threat.
4. Disobeying God’s laws isn’t just unlawful, it’s considered Satanic / evil.
Character Evidence:
Parris, points at Betty: …I saw Tituba waving her arms over the fire when I saw you. Why was she doing that? And I heard a screeching and gibberish coming from her mouth. She was swaying like a dumb beast over that fire.
Abigail: She always sings her Barbados songs, and we dance. (Page 11)
Questions to Answer: Theme 1
1. What is the lesson the author is trying to tell you?
2. What happens in the story that makes you
believe this?
3. Then the theme is…
Theme Number 2: Character Evidence:
1. Abigail: uses the situation to accuse Elizabeth and have her sent to jail
2. Parris: strengthens his shaky position in the village by putting blame on people like Proctor who question his authority
3. Thomas Putnam: gains revenge on Francis Nurse by getting Rebecca accused of murdering his wife’s babies
4. The People of Salem: The townspeople accept the witch-hunt not because they love God or genuinely care about conquering evil, but because it allows them to act on long-held grudges.
Plot Evidence:
When Abigail and the girls pretend to see the yellow bird in the courtroom that Mary Warren supposedly summoned upon them to attack them.
The wealthy, ambitious Thomas Putnam gains revenge on Francis Nurse by getting Rebecca, Francis’s virtuous wife, convicted of the
Questions to Answer: Theme 2
1. What is the lesson the author is trying to tell you?
2. What happens in the story that makes you
believe this?
supernatural murders of Ann Putnam’s babies. Theme Number 3:
Character Evidence:
PARRIS, studies here, then nods, half convinced: Abigail, I have fought here three long years to bend these stiff-necked people to me, and now, just now when some good respect is rising for me in the parish, you compromise my very character. I have given you a home, child. I have put clothes upon your back – now give me an upright answer. Your name in the town – it is entirely white, is it not?
ABIGAIL, with an edge of resentment: Why, I am sure it is, sir. There be no blush about my name.
PARRIS, to the point: Abigail, is there any other cause than you have told me, for your being discharged from Goody Proctor’s service? I have heard it said, and I tell you as I heard it, that she come so rarely to the church this year for she will not sit so close to something soiled. What signified that remark?ABIGAIL: She hates me, uncle, she must, for I would not be her slave. It’s a bigger woman, a lying, cold, sniveling woman, and I will not work for such a woman! (I.63-66)
---ABIGAIL, with a bitter anger: Oh, I marvel how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife
be-PROCTOR, angered-at himself as well: You'll speak nothin' of Elizabeth!ABIGAIL: She is
blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her! Let her turn you like a-PROCTOR, shaking her: Do you look for whippin'?
Questions to Answer: Theme 3
1. What is the lesson the author is trying to tell you?
2. What happens in the story that makes you believe this?
3. Then the theme is…
Name: ___________________________________________ 4.3.2013
Literature and Writing HOMEWORK
4.1 HW: Themes Due: Thursday, 4.4.2013
1. Define theme:
2. Choose one theme from The Crucible. Using specific details from The Crucible, show how Arthur Miller develops this theme throughout the play .
