PART 1 DIRECTIONS (CCSS R.5): There are few stage directions of Hale’s interrogation of Abigail. The few stage directions that do exist in this scene are highlighted below in orange. Begin by rereading the scene in your book on pages 39-40. The text is also written below. Then add five (5) different stage directions that Arthur Miller could have included. Do not change the directions that Miller included; you should be adding additional directions in different lines. You should add your stage directions to the text below in italics and highlight your new stage directions in a new color. Your stage directions should reflect the appropriate facial expressions, vocal tones, and gestures that make sense in the scene.
HALE: [...] Abigail, what sort of dancing were you doing with her in the forest?
PARRIS: I think I ought to say that I-I saw a kettle in the grass where they were dancing.
ABIGAIL: That were only soup.
HALE: What sort of soup were in this kettle, Abigail?
ABIGAIL: Why, it were beans-and lentils, I think, and-
HALE: Mr. Parris, you did not notice, did you, any living thing in the kettle? A mouse, perhaps, a spider, a frog-?
PARRIS, fearfully: I- do believe there were some movement-in the soup.
ABIGAIL: That jumped in, we never put it in!
HALE, quickly: What jumped in?
ABIGAIL: Why, a very little frog jumped-
PARRIS: A frog, Abby!
HALE, grasping Abigail: Abigail, it may be your cousin is dying. Did you call the Devil last night?
ABIGAIL: I never called him! Tituba, Tituba...
[...]
HALE: How did she call him?
ABIGAIL: I know not—she spoke Barbados.
HALE: Did you feel any strangeness when she called him? A sudden cold wind, perhaps? A trembling below the ground?
ABIGAIL: I didn’t see no Devil! Shaking Betty: Betty, wake up, Betty! Betty!
HALE: You cannot evade me, Abigail. Did your cousin drink any of the brew in that kettle?
ABIGAIL: She never drank it!
HALE: Did you drink it?
ABIGAIL: No, sir!
HALE: Did Tituba ask you to drink it?
ABIGAIL: She tried, but I refused.
HALE: Why are you concealing? Have you sold yourself to Lucifer?
ABIGAIL: I never sold myself! I’m a good girl! I’m a proper girl!
Mrs. Putnam enters with Tituba, and instantly Abigail points at Tituba.
ABIGAIL: She made me do it! She made Betty do it!
PART 2 DIRECTIONS (CCSS R.1): Thinking about your new stage directions, answer the following question in complete sentences. Your answer should be written below the question.
Why would Arthur Miller leave out stage directions in this exchange? Be sure to explain.
