The Crucible Webquest Activity

Introduction

Arthur Miller's The Crucible is a play that depicts the events of the Salem Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. The events that unfold center around girls who become unexplainably ill after it is found out they dabbled in witchcraft in the woods with the minister's slave, Tituba. Mass hysteria ensues when the girls began to blame others for their illness leading to the trials and people being arrested and hung because of the accusations from these young girls.  Arthur Miller drew a parallel in The Crucible between the hysteria surrounding the witchcraft trials in Puritan New England and the postwar climate of McCarthyism.

Click on "task" to see the instructions for your webquest.

Task

For this webquest, there are two categories you will be researching. For each category, skim the articles for each link provided and watch the videos; then copy and paste the questions listed on the "process" page and  in a google doc, type a response to each.

Category 1: Arthur Miller

Category 2: Red Scare

 

Click on "process" to see the instructions for each category. 

Process

Category 1: Arthur Miller

https://www.biography.com/writer/arthur-miller   (Link to biography)

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tPfpS1IJN0

 

  1. Where and when was Arthur Miller born?
  2. What university did he attend? 
  3. How did the Wall Street Crash (1920's) affect Miller's family?
  4. When did he start writing?
  5. What famous actress was he married to?
  6. What inspired him to write The Crucible? 
  7. What was Arthur Miller’s involvement with McCarthyism?
  8. In May of 1957 what was Miller found guilty of?
  9. What year did Miller die and how old was he?
  10.  What are the titles of two famous plays he wrote (excluding the Crucible?) 

 

 

 

Topic # 2    The Red Scare

https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/red-scare

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N35IugBYH04

 

https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/hollywood-ten

 

Red Scare Questions: 

  1. What is the Red Scare? 
  2. What did it mean to be "blacklisted" during this era? 
  3. What is Communism? 
  4. Who is to blame for the Red Scare? 
  5. How did the Red Scare impact the Arthur Miller when writing The Crucible? 
  6. What does the HUAC stand for?
  7. Was Arthur Miller blacklisted? 
  8. Why were both Republicans and Democrats fearful to take a stand against this injustice? 
  9. Who were the Hollywood 10?