Analyzing Tragedy and Character in The Crucible: Common Formative Assessment
This assessment focuses on analyzing themes and character development in Arthur Miller's The Crucible, specifically Act 4. You will demonstrate your understanding of theme development, objective summary, and explanatory writing. Answer all questions using evidence from the text and organize your written response clearly. Avoid personal opinions unless prompted.
Group 1
Part 1: Close Reading & Textual Analysis (RL.11-12.2) Answer the following questions based on your understanding of Act 4.
Source 1.1
Reread Proctor's confession from Act 4 of The Crucible (629) and answer the following questions.
Question 1a
Based on the stage directions, what is the primary shift in Proctor’s internal state as he tears the confession?
Question 1b
Analyze Proctor’s metaphor in the following lines:
"I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor. Not enough to weave a banner with, but white enough to keep it from such dogs."
What does this reveal about his character development?
Question 1c
Provide a 3–4 sentence objective summary of the events in Act 4 leading to Proctor’s walk to the gallows. Avoid personal opinion.
Question 1d
Which statement best describes how the theme of "Personal Integrity vs. Social Reputation" is developed in this scene?
Group 2
Part 2: Explanatory Writing Task (W.11-12.2.a-b) Prompt: Write a Eulogy or Elegy for John Proctor. You must explain how Proctor’s death functions as a "Tragedy of the Common Man" as defined by Arthur Miller.
Your writing must include:
- Organization: Introduce your topic clearly; use the funeral program structure (Introduction, Body/Lament, Reflection) to organize complex ideas.
- Development: Use relevant evidence from the play and Miller’s essay to develop the "fateful wound of indignity." Explain the "moral law" Proctor discovers through his sacrifice.
Question 2a
Write a eulogy or elegy for John Proctor, explaining how his death demonstrates the "Tragedy of the Common Man" according to Arthur Miller. Use evidence from the play and Miller’s essay to support your analysis. Organize your response using the structure provided in the prompt.
Source 2a.2
FINAL WORDS FROM ARTHUR MILLER:
“I think the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing—his sense of personal dignity. From Orestes to Hamlet, Medea to Macbeth, the underlying struggle is that of the individual attempting to gain his "rightful" position
in his society.
Sometimes he is one who has been displaced from it, sometimes one who seeks it attains it for the first time, but the fateful wound from which the inevitable events spiral is the wound of indignity and its dominant force is indignation. Tragedy, then, is the consequence of a man's total compulsion to evaluate himself justly... Now, if it is true that tragedy is the consequence of a man's total compulsion to evaluate himself justly, his destruction in the attempt posits a wrong or an evil in his environment. And this is precisely the morality of tragedy and its lesson. The discovery of the moral law, which is what the enlightenment of tragedy consists of,
is not the discovery of some abstract or metaphysical quantity.”
– “Tragedy and the Common Man”
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