In the New England town of Salem, Massachusetts, a group of girls goes dancing in the forest with a black slave named Tituba. They are caught by Reverend Parris right in the middle of dancing. One of the girls, The Parris’s daughter Betty, falls into a deep a coma after being caught dancing with the other girls. A crowd gathers at Reverend Parris’s home while rumors of witchcraft circle the town. After having sent for Reverend Hale, the expert on witchcraft in Salem, Parris questions Abigail Williams, Parris’s niece and one of the girls caught on seen about what had taken place in the forest. Abigail admits to doing nothing but dancing in the forest.
John Proctor, a farmer, comes to talk to Abigail alone. To no one else’s knowing John and Abigail had an affair while she was working as a maid in John’s household which led her to get fired by Elizabeth, John’s wife. Abigail still desires Proctor, but he wants nothing to do with her.
Betty wakes up screaming, everybody rushes upstairs to confront what has happened, everyone questions if is bewitched. Reverend Hale arrives and examines Betty, while Proctor departs. Hale questions Abigail about the incident, he notices she is acting strange and wishes to speak to Tituba. After Parris and Hale interrogate her, Tituba admits to being with the devil, and she also accuses various townsfolk of being with the
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Abigail has run away with her taking all Parris’s money. Hale has lost faith in the court, pleads the accused to confess falsely to save their lives, they refuse. Danforth asks Elizabeth to talk John into admitting about being a witch, she agrees. John, troubled by the thought, eventually agrees to confessing. When the court says his admission to witchcraft must be done publicly, Proctor grows angry and retracts his early admission to witchcraft. Despite Hale’s pleas to John to admit, he refuse and is sent to the gallows with the others and so the witch trials meets it gruesome
The Devil influences the villagers of Salem, Massachusetts by using their ongoing fear of him to manipulate their thoughts and actions in a manner to set himself in the highest position by the end of the Act 1. As the Puritans lean toward blaming the Devil for their misgivings and suspicions, he gains control of their thoughts. Ruth and Betty pretend to fall ill after Reverend Parris catches them in the forest with Tituba and other girls, partaking in what is considered to be witchcraft: an act that defies the laws of femininity in the Puritan society. Mrs. Putnam does not buy her daughter Ruth’s act; rather, she sees it as “‘the Devil’s touch”’ which “‘is heavier than sick”’ (13). Believing that the Devil
Before the play has even begun, we are informed that John has cheated on his wife, Elizabeth, with Abigail Williams who was a maid in his house. Proctor, already starting to feel some guilt, says to Abigail, “No, no, Abby. That’s done with. ”(17) while describing the affair they had. Proctor even says to her that even though “I may think of you softly from time to time.
Now because of the poor choice of dancing naked in the woods, one of her good friends are very sick. (Can Reverend Hale help them before it gets too late?) In Salem, witchcraft is blamed upon Betty’s illness. When all is said and done, Salem seems to be a very dangerous home for the people living there. Now it is all up to Reverend Hale to fix this terrible act.
In the beginning of the play, Hale is summoned to Salem in need of help with witchcraft. He is summoned by Reverend Parris. The reasoning for this summoning is because of some girls that were discovered in the woods dancing. When Hale arrives he treats Betty for witchcraft and he believes that the state that she is in is from witchcraft.
Parris asks Rebecca to take a look at Betty. Rebecca says that there was nothing seriously wrong with Betty. Hale starts question Abigail about being in the woods. Abigail then blames Titiba for messing with spirits. They go to get Titiba to question her.
In his book, “A Modest Inquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft (1702),” clergyman John Hale comes forth to confront the recent events going on at the time. Initially, Hale alludes to the questionable actions and activities of the townspeople being accused of witchcrafts, and being imprisoned as punishment. In addition, he discloses how everyone suspicious will be accused, not even young children are safe from the hands of this fate. Hale’s purpose of publishing this book was to describe the incident of the Witch Trials, and to reveal his experience of the trials, since his own wife was accused. By employing a didactic tone, Hale relays the actions of the past that targeted the Puritans and those wrongly accused of witchcrafts, so this occurrence
Betty Parris’s great power throughout Act I can be seen by her ability to single handedly create chaos and hysteria within the town for her own personal gain. Her power can first be viewed after Susanna Walcott explains the possibility of a supernatural cause to Betty’s illness, leading Abigail to advise her Uncle about “the rumor of witchcraft [that] is all about: [She] thinks [he 'd] best go down and deny it [himself]. The parlor’s packed with people,sir” (10). This is the first hint that others in the town believe in the presence and of the beginnings of the hysteria that follows.
Abigail seeks vengeance after her affair with John Proctor. She is still madly obsessed with him. After John rejected her, she makes up lies in court in desperate attempt to get Goody Proctor hanged. She thinks if she gets rid of Goody Proctor she will be able to have John all to herself. One quote that supports this is “I do sir.
The Crucible - Conflict Analysis John Proctor Internal: John Proctor’s most eminent internal conflict is over the sin he has committed, adultery. Proctor cheated on his wife with Abigail Williams, and this makes Proctor feel incredibly guilty because in the town, he is “respected and even feared” (19). He tried very hard, and succeeded, with keeping this moral crime to himself. He still walked about Salem as if he was “an untroubled soul,” (21) however, avoiding the sin again would be a difficult task. Abigail flirts with him, in attempt to have him for one last night, and it’s obvious Proctor has an arduous time pushing her away.
One of the most powerful human emotions is desire. Everyone is constantly trying to fulfill their own desires. A desire or passion may be so strong it can conflict with morality. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams, is driven to go against her moral duty and pursue John Proctor. She will stop at nothing to see her plan through.
The Crucible takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The action begins in the home of Reverend Parris, whose daughter Betty lies unconscious and appears very ill. Around midnight the night before, Parris had discovered Betty, his niece Abigail, and Tituba, his black slave, dancing in the woods, causing Betty to swoon. The local physician is unable to determine the cause of Betty 's illness. Mr. and Mrs. Putnam arrive and reveal that their daughter Ruth is also ill.
(I.465-472). Seeing Abigail cry, it suggests that Abigail’s affair with John Proctor has influenced her behavior in jealousy and lust as she strives for nothing more than her love for John Proctor. By only being heartbroken, Abigail is not to be fully blamed for the hysteria within the town as her actions are only based on desperate attempts to win John Proctor over, and no intentional harm whatsoever. However, on the other hand, Abigail cannot be excused with outside forces making her the way she is due to the fact that she has clearly had a choice in most of her decisions and actions throughout the witchcraft crisis. When Mary Warren, another girl involved in the forest incident, enters the court, she explains to Danforth, the judge, that the girls are lying and are only pretending to see spirits.
At the same time he is doing his duty of making her confess. Nevertheless, Reverend Hale knows that John and Elizabeth are innocent, and that Abigail Williams and the girls are guilty of witchcraft.” You are goodwife Proctor”(2. 266-267). He could have done something more than just trying to convince Judge Danforth that they are innocent.
Abigail 's heartless attitude is shown in act two when she frames and accuses Elizabeth Proctor for witchcraft. She desired and longed for this revenge on poor Proctors innocent wife, aiming for her through out the play. Later on in Act Three she seems to lose her last attachment of society by destroying John Proctor, who she claims to love with all her heart. When John attempts and threatens to expose Abigail’s wrong doings, she skillfully manages to turn the whole problem around on him, sending him off
When people think of the play, “The Crucible”, they usually picture the witch trials and women being hanged, but Arthur Miller depicts the witch trials in a completely new light. He shows through a story that the witch trials were much more than just people calling others witches. There was deceit, pain, greed, and more. Through the play, we follow the character, Abigail, observe her actions and their consequences. We witness the lives of people she impacts, what happens to them, and how many times she lies to get her way.