The Crucible Essay Topics:

1.	Choose Parris, Putnam, or Giles, and write an essay in which you show how he serves as a foil for Proctor.

2.	A tragic hero should come to some self-knowledge. Using that criterion as a basis for judgment, decide whether John Proctor is a tragic hero. Defend your answer.

3.	What were the problems inherent in defending oneself against a charge of witchcraft?

4.	Consider “A Private Meeting of John and Abigail” (the appendix, Act II scene 2). If you were the director of this play, would you include this scene? Explain your reasons for this decision.

5.	What three characters are responsible for the trials, and why?

Essay directions:

Have a clear beginning, middle and end.

Have a single-sentence thesis.

Body paragraphs should have topic sentences, evidence from text, and analysis of the text.

Use no banned words or phrases.

The finished product should be typed, and be no less than two pages, no more than three pages. Note: this means at least to the bottom of page two, but not more than to the bottom of page three. Your rough draft should be approximately one to one-and-a-half pages, or thereabouts.

We will go over MLA formatting, TurnItIn.com, how to use text evidence, and other essay-related topics next week in class. For Monday, September 23, have just a solid rough draft and thesis statement.