This GCSE English Literature quiz will test you on dialogue in Arthur Miller's The Crucible. All direct speech in literature is termed “dialogue”, although technically, the term means a conversation between at least two people. Dialogue is a significant aspect of characterisation and provides a great deal of information about a character. Paying attention to the style and content of a person’s speech can help you to build up an image of the character. Characters in The Crucible are distinguished in relatively subtle ways by the style and content of their dialogue, with the notable exceptions of Tituba and Sarah Good, whose speech marks them as outsiders.
Ask yourself these questions about dialogue whenever you begin studying a work of fiction: in what manner does the speech of each character differ from that of others?
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How and why does vocabulary vary between characters? Do you observe any changes in a character’s dialogue over time, or perhaps in different situations? Does the speech of a particular character differ depending on who is being addressed?
In a play, most factual information will be conveyed through dialogue. Individual characteristics are also developed through speech. In The Crucible most of the action happens off-stage and is reported through characters’ conversations with one another. Speech, in fact, often is the “action” in a world in which invisible powers are believed to have terrible, and concrete, effects.
One very useful way for you to prepare for a literature exam is by memorising dialogue. Create a list for each character of the most significant examples of dialogue, paying extra attention to speech which expresses or develops the themes of the text.
The quiz below asks you to work out who is speaking each of these lines. Consider the significance of the dialogue before answering the questions. What can you know about the type of character who is speaking? Could another character possibly utter similar lines? If so, what does that information tell you about the play and the relationship between those characters?
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1.
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Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.
"I have fought three long years to bend these stiff-necked people to me, and now, just now, when some good respect is rising for me in the parish, you compromise my very character" |
|
[ ] |
Reverend Hale |
[ ] |
Reverend Parris |
[ ] |
John Proctor |
[ ] |
Judge Hathorne |
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2.
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Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.
"Does someone afflict you, child? It need not be a woman, mind you, or a man. Perhaps some bird invisible to others comes to you — perhaps a pig, a mouse or any beast at all" |
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[ ] |
Reverend Hale |
[ ] |
Tituba |
[ ] |
Goody Proctor |
[ ] |
John Proctor |
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3.
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Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.
"I take it on my soul, but who else may surely tell us what person murdered my babies?" |
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[ ] |
Rebecca Nurse |
[ ] |
Elizabeth Proctor |
[ ] |
Abigail Williams |
[ ] |
Ann Putnam |
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4.
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Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.
"Mr. Hale, I have always wanted to ask a learned man — what signifies the readin' of strange books?" |
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[ ] |
Reverend Parris |
[ ] |
Marshal Herrick |
[ ] |
Giles Corey |
[ ] |
Thomas Putnam |
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5.
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Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.
"I do not judge you. The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you. I never thought you but a good man, John - (with a smile) - only somewhat bewildered" |
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[ ] |
Elizabeth Proctor |
[ ] |
Abigail |
[ ] |
Mary Warren |
[ ] |
Reverend Hale |
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6.
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Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.
"Oh, Mary, this is a black art to change your shape. No, I cannot, I cannot stop my mouth; it's God's work I do" |
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[ ] |
Abigail |
[ ] |
Betty |
[ ] |
Mercy Lewis |
[ ] |
Reverend Hale |
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7.
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Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.
"I cannot lie no more. I am with God. I am with God" |
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[ ] |
Abigail |
[ ] |
Rebecca Nurse |
[ ] |
Elizabeth Proctor |
[ ] |
Mary Warren |
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8.
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Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.
"I say — I say — God is dead!" |
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[ ] |
Reverend Parris |
[ ] |
Reverend Hale |
[ ] |
Rebecca Nurse |
[ ] |
John Proctor |
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9.
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Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.
"There is blood on my head! Can you not see the blood on my head!" |
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[ ] |
Deputy Governor Danforth |
[ ] |
Reverend Parris |
[ ] |
Reverend Hale |
[ ] |
Mary Warren |
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10.
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Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.
"He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!" |
|
[ ] |
Abigail |
[ ] |
Tituba |
[ ] |
Elizabeth Proctor |
[ ] |
Mrs. Putnam |
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|
1.
|
Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.
"I have fought three long years to bend these stiff-necked people to me, and now, just now, when some good respect is rising for me in the parish, you compromise my very character" |
|
[ ] |
Reverend Hale |
[x] |
Reverend Parris |
[ ] |
John Proctor |
[ ] |
Judge Hathorne |
|
|
2.
|
Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.
"Does someone afflict you, child? It need not be a woman, mind you, or a man. Perhaps some bird invisible to others comes to you — perhaps a pig, a mouse or any beast at all" |
|
[x] |
Reverend Hale |
[ ] |
Tituba |
[ ] |
Goody Proctor |
[ ] |
John Proctor |
|
|
3.
|
Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.
"I take it on my soul, but who else may surely tell us what person murdered my babies?" |
|
[ ] |
Rebecca Nurse |
[ ] |
Elizabeth Proctor |
[ ] |
Abigail Williams |
[x] |
Ann Putnam |
|
|
4.
|
Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.
"Mr. Hale, I have always wanted to ask a learned man — what signifies the readin' of strange books?" |
|
[ ] |
Reverend Parris |
[ ] |
Marshal Herrick |
[x] |
Giles Corey |
[ ] |
Thomas Putnam |
|
|
5.
|
Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.
"I do not judge you. The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you. I never thought you but a good man, John - (with a smile) - only somewhat bewildered" |
|
[x] |
Elizabeth Proctor |
[ ] |
Abigail |
[ ] |
Mary Warren |
[ ] |
Reverend Hale |
|
|
6.
|
Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.
"Oh, Mary, this is a black art to change your shape. No, I cannot, I cannot stop my mouth; it's God's work I do" |
|
[x] |
Abigail |
[ ] |
Betty |
[ ] |
Mercy Lewis |
[ ] |
Reverend Hale |
|
|
7.
|
Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.
"I cannot lie no more. I am with God. I am with God" |
|
[ ] |
Abigail |
[ ] |
Rebecca Nurse |
[ ] |
Elizabeth Proctor |
[x] |
Mary Warren |
|
|
8.
|
Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.
"I say — I say — God is dead!" |
|
[ ] |
Reverend Parris |
[ ] |
Reverend Hale |
[ ] |
Rebecca Nurse |
[x] |
John Proctor |
|
|
9.
|
Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.
"There is blood on my head! Can you not see the blood on my head!" |
|
[ ] |
Deputy Governor Danforth |
[ ] |
Reverend Parris |
[x] |
Reverend Hale |
[ ] |
Mary Warren |
|
|
10.
|
Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.
"He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!" |
|
[ ] |
Abigail |
[ ] |
Tituba |
[x] |
Elizabeth Proctor |
[ ] |
Mrs. Putnam |
|
|