The Crucible-act1

A detailed Summary of The Crucible-act1

The play opens with Parris praying for Betty. Tituba, his black slave enters. Parris brought her with him from Barbados where he used to be a merchant. Tituba is frightened by Betty's sudden illness. Abigail Williams, Parris's niece enters and tells Parris that Susanna Walcott has arrived from Doctor Briggs. Susanna says that the doctor can find no explanation for Betty's illness in his books, but that Prris 'might look to unnatural things for the cause of it'

Parris is frightened and angered by this: he is already unpopular in the town and he knows that he cannot afford to be associated with any suggestion of witchcraft. Parris is shown as a miserable, harsh man who thinks that everyone else should be as serious as he is. He turns on Abigail and confronts her with the fact that he caught her, Betty and the others dancing in the forest. Abigail admits that they were dancing but says 'when you leaped out of the bush so suddenly, Betty was frightened and then she fainted'. When Parris caught the girls, Tituba was with them. Tituba was waving her arms, swaying over the fire and screeching her Barbados songs.

Despite Parris's accusations of witchcraft, Abigail tells him that 'it were sport uncle!' She knows

Abigail tries to wake Betty and Mercy offers to hit the girl to pull her together. She also tells Mercy that she danced in the woods and that 'He knows Tituba conjured Ruth's sisters to come out of the grave'. Mary wanted to tell the adults what really happened in the woods but Abigail tells her that if she is whipped then she will be too.

When young Betty wakes up she feels extremely threatened by Abigail's presence and asks to see her dead mother. Betty tries to climb out of the window but Abigail pulls her back in and hits her in a state of worry about what betty will say. Betty has heard Abigail talking to Parris and knows that she hasn't told him everything. 'You drank blood Abby! You didn't tell him that!' Abigail tells all the girls to say that they were dancing in the woods and conjuring Ruth's dead sisters and not to 'the other things' and that is all. Mary warren is still anxious to own up to it all but Abigail is prevented from hitting her on the entrance of John proctor.

Even though Parris says that witchcraft had nothing to do with it he sent for reverend Hale of Beverly, a well known expert in 'domestic arts'. Mrs Putnam says that she lost seven babies after her birth and knows her only child has become ill. She sent her daughter Ruth to see Tituba. The Putnams leave with Parris who has gone to pray with the crowd outside and has left Marcy and Abigail alone with Betty.

Hale asks questions as to what exactly the girls were doing in the forest. Abigail denys full participation but blames Tituba for most of the doings in the forest. When hail puts pressure on Abigail she says 'I'm a good girl!I'm a proper girl!' However, Abigail remembers information about the witchcraft and she will use this later in the court scene.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Betty Mercy, Proctor' Proctor, Despite Parris's, Thomas Putnam, Ruth Hale, Briggs Susanna, Bridge Bishop, Character Proctor, Osburn Putnam, Hale Beverly, abigail tells, thomas putnam, putnam enters, forest abigail, abigail tries, proctor calls, witchcraft parris, witchcraft abigail tells, witchcraft abigail,

Approximate Word count = 1232
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English