The Crucible: Abigail
Now place your Abigail along the line. How do you perceive her character?
Nasty or nice?
WHOOSH!
Betty is ill- she is lying motionless in bed. Her father, Reverend Parris, is praying by her bedside, attended by the family slave, Tituba. Suzannah comes in with a message from the doctor- he can find no cure and suggests Parris looks for an 'unnatural cause'. Parris is horrified- he is a paranoid man and feels his enemies might use this against him. He turns to his orphaned niece, 17 year old Abigail Williams and demands to know why she was seen dancing in the woods whilst Tituba chanted and someone ran around naked. She denies his suggestion that they were conjuring spirits and says she'd never hurt Betty. He is not convinced and tells her he is worried that she still has not found a job as a servant since being dismissed by Goody Proctor 7 months ago. The Putnams interrupt, talking excitedly about witchcraft; their daughter is also ill and they suspect the devil's work.
Individual task
Write a paragraph explaining your thoughts about Abigail having read your extract. Has your view of the character changed?
P: Point - First spark
E: Evidence - Blaze of glory
E: Explain - Burning bright
A: Analyse (what has Miller done to manipulate the reader's response?) - Lightbox
A: Read the extract where Abigail defends herself to Parris
B: Read the extract where Abigail talks to John Proctor
Your task:
1. In your pair, read the extract and determine what is happening.
2. Fill in the sheet.
3. Use the sheet as a basis to present your findings to the class.
You must be prepared to feed back to the class next lesson.
What's happened so far?
Now place your Abigail along the line- has your perception of her changed?
On your Abigail: write all the adjectives that you think describe her.
Now swap with your partner.
Using the thesaurus, improve as many as your partner's adjectives as you can in 2 minutes.
Aim: to extend vocabulary and choose words for impact
Objectives:
First spark: to identify facts about the character of Abigail Williams
Burning bright: make inferences about the character of Abigail Williams
Blaze of glory: to support these inferences with evidence from the text
Lightbox: to explain how Arthur Miller presents information about Abigail to have a deliberate impact on the reader