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The Crucible by Arthur Miller - Barron's Booknotes
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ANSWERS
TEST 1
10. C
11. C
12. A
13. B
14. A
15. C
16. B
17. C
18. A
19. C
11. The Puritans left England in the 1620s, fleeing from
religious intolerance, and hoping to establish God's "visible
Kingdome" in the New World. There they formed a
"theocracy"- literally, a government by God-which was
supposed to enforce God's laws. These laws were written down
in the Bible, and were summarized in the Ten Commandments.
Every man, woman, and child in the colony was supposed to
know these commandments by heart, and act accordingly.
Church attendance was compulsory, even for "strangers"-
visitors, traders, in fact everyone but the Indians, who had not
been officially confirmed by the church. Newborn babies had to
be baptized as soon as possible; if they died unbaptized, they
went straight to hell.
Public punishment was one way the Puritan theocracy
maintained its authority. Whippings, hangings, and being made
to stand in the stocks for hours in the town square were
common.
The leaders believed their power came from God, and it was
their duty not only to maintain order and promote well-being in
the colony, but to keep a sharp eye on their citizens' spiritual
lives as well.
12. The belief in the Devil-God's archenemy, sometimes called
Satan-was widespread among the Puritans of colonial
Massachusetts. The Devil had once, according to legend, been
the brightest among God's angels (another name for the Devil
was Lucifer, which means "Lord of Light"). But he was jealous
of God's son Jesus, so Satan rebelled and started a war in
heaven. He lost, and was cast into hell, where he and his
followers set up their own kingdom. From there the Devil
continued his war on God. And one of his favorite targets to
attack was God's favorite creature, man.
Satan and the other fallen angels, sometimes called demons,
stalked the earth in various disguises, trying to corrupt as many
men and women as they could. Like a stranger offering candy to
a child, the Devil held out wonderful temptations to those who
would follow him. But they were all lies: as soon as the
misguided witch died, he or she was whisked straight to hell to
be tormented forever.
But before that, a witch had a duty to get more followers for his
or her master, and to punish anyone who resisted. One way a
witch could torture an innocent soul was to "send her spirit out"
to pinch, stab, burn, or just terrify her victim. Another was to
make a likeness in the form of a doll or "poppet," and hold it
over a fire or stick it with pins, thereby tormenting the victim
from a distance.
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