The Crucible Summary

As a result, the Putnams and their allies wanted to split a large portion of land from Salem Town called “Salem Village”, where the original Puritanism was preserved and free from contamination of merchant life. However, the leaders of Salem Town did not want such a large chunk of land and a large source of tax revenues secede from the Town. Later on though, the grandson of John Putnam, Thomas Putnam Jr, was of the generation that did not do so well economically. After the death of Thomas Jr’s mother (Thomas Sr’s wife), Thomas Sr remarried a woman named Mary Veren, the widow of a ship captain. Together, Thomas Sr bore a son with Mary named Joseph, and when Thomas Sr died, Mary and Joseph got his vast inheritance, not Thomas Jr.

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

“The Crucible” is about the Salem witch trials in 1692. Several young girls claim to be afflicted by witchcraft. Mrs.Ann Putnam only has one child causing her to feel calamity. When the witch trials started she was ascertain and blamed her children’s deaths on the witchcraft instead of facing the facts that the children died from health issues, and feels she is immaculate. Mrs. Putnam used witchcraft charges as an excuse to blame others for her struggles with not having more children.

The narrator of the play states “Thomas Putnam felt that his own name and the honor of his family had been smirched by the village, and he meant to right matters any way he could.” (Act I) The Nurses were involved with Thomas’s brother-in-law not becoming minister of Salem. He also sides with his wife Ann after she accuses Rebecca Nurse. The families aren’t exactly the best of friends.

His idealism comes forth as Hale begins to meet several characters involved in the night of what happened in the forest of naked dancing and flying: Abigail, Betty, and Tituba. In Act I, Reverend Hale began to speak to the group of girls and Reverend Parris. He stated, “No, no. Now let me instruct you. We cannot look to superstition in this.

Tituba was a servant of Reverend Parris that would dance with the girls in the woods around a fire. Abigail is the niece of Reverend Parris, which he adopted and a girl who also had an affair with John Proctor. Betty is the daughter of Reverend Parris who gets caught in the mess with Abigail and Mary. 4. Mrs.Putman believed that there are witches in Salem because she had talked to a witch to contact her dead children.

Thomas Putnam 's loss of inheritance and authority instigates his desire to punish fellow community members. Putnam reveals himself as a "man with many grievances" (13) and shows that his "vindictive nature was demonstrated long before witchcraft began" (14). Prior to the witchcraft trials, Putnam experiences multiple personal conflicts that created a fiery desire for vengeance. These conflicts include the community failing to recognize his land inheritance and selecting Parris as minister over his brother-in-law. Although the alleged perpetrators in these events had little involvement in his diminished stature, Putnam concludes that "his own name and the honor of this family had been smirched by the village", which caused him to "right matters

Young Elizabeth “Betty” Parris and Abigail Williams were cousins, but also best friends. The girls enjoyed playing together and listening to the stories of their slave, Tituba. Because of their connections with the church the girls had most likely grown up with Puritan beliefs and were strongly influenced by that culture. The girls knew all ten of the commandments and were familiar with what they were and weren't allowed to do by the ways of Lord. With this strong Christian influence, 9-year-old Betty and 12-year-old Abigail were the last people expected to get caught up in a witchcraft scandal.

Reverend Parris, worried for his own job, explains to Abigail that her “punishment will come in its time. But if you trafficked with spirits in the forest I must know it now, for surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me with it.” Even the idea of witchcraft in Reverend Parris’s house could ruin his reputation in the town and therefore risk his job. By Betty being ‘afflicted’, she is holding power over her own father and his position in the town. She knows that the longer she is asleep, the more desperate her father is going to be blame someone for the witchcraft who is not her.

A stain in one’s name is a serious dishonor. Rumors, as well as wrongful actions, affect how the world sees us and how we see the world. Thus human beings are victims of their own reputation. To avoid this, one tends to use pride as a shield. However, instead of protecting us, pride hurts us even more by impeding us from solving our issues.

After all of this chaos, Tituba (Reverend Parris’s slave from Barbados) and two other women were charged for witchcraft. In the courtroom, the girls were acting erratically and only Tituba out of the three confessed about participating in witchcraft. She did this because she did not want to be executed. In addition, she claimed that their were other witches in Salem.

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.

The town suspects the girls of witchcraft; however, Parris does not want to believe witchcraft is the cause of the trouble in Salem; so he calls in Reverend

When Reverend Hale first Appeared in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, he was very different from the person shown at the end of the play ... At first Hale believed that he was to be helpful and that he was doing the right thing, but by the end of the play he was stuck trying to fix his horrifying mistake, weighed down by the guilt from the lives of those killed. When Hale first appears in Act I, he is on his way to Salem in order to see Reverend Parris’ daughter, Betty. Abigail began accusing many people of witchcraft, which then led Betty to “wake” and join her in the accusations. this strengthened hale’s belief that he was doing good for the town of salem, encouraging him to stay in town and further the trials at hand.

Abigail told Reverend Parris that they were just dancing and that they didn’t do anything else. However, Reverend Parris didn’t believe her and ask Reverend Hale, an expert on witchcraft, for help. Reverend Parris didn’t want to be accused witchcrafts happening in house so he tried to calm the people of Salem. Later on, Abigail talks to some of the girls and told them that they were only dancing and nothing else and if they didn’t cooperate with her she would murder them. Then John Proctor, a local farmer, came to Reverend Parris’s house and end up alone with Abigail who was blamed and kicked out of John’s house for having affair with him.