The crucible act 1 summary. SparkNotes: The Crucible: Act I: Opening scene to the entrance of John Proctor 2019-01-18

The Crucible Act 1 Study Guide

However, in this instance she purposely frames Elizabeth Proctor out of revenge, planting the poppet as a means to engineer Elizabeth's murder. Mary Warren comes home from Salem where she is serving as an official of the court, and gives Elizabeth a poppet doll that she made for her while sitting in the courtroom. I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil! Betty wakes up, and she and Abigail name individuals that they say they have seen with the Devil. Tituba was intoning unintelligible words and waving her arms over a fire, and Parris thought he spotted someone running naked through the trees. An additional irony that Miller constructs in the act is in the plot structure.

The Crucible Act 1 part 1 Summary

Proctor admits that for a minute they were, but then the others came. Two major themes emerge in the second act of. He says that he cannot prove his allegation because Abigail told him this information while they were alone in a room. Elizabeth wants Proctor to expose Abigail as a fraud, but she suspects Proctor may still have feelings for the girl. Putnam asks Rebecca to visit Ruth and attempt to wake her.

The Crucible Act I Summary

Putnam, Proctor, and Corey then begin arguing over property lines and ownership. Proctor reveals that Abigail admitted to him that the witchcraft charges were false. Giles Corey tells Hale that Proctor does not believe in witches, but Proctor says he did not speak one way or another. Reverend Hale The devout, no nonsense Reverend Hale arrives during the kerfuffle and begins to question the girls about the rumors. According to the other characters, and the audience, desire may mean many other things besides sexual longing.

The Crucible Act 1 part 2 Summary

Parris runs off to calm the crowd, and a local farmer named John Proctor winds up alone with Abigail. Mary says there are now thirty-nine women. Abigail Williams shows the ability to affirm or deny any charge against her based entirely on whether it serves her needs, while Tituba, when charged with witchcraft, denies it only until she realizes that admitting to the crime will save her from further punishment and that accusing others will shift the blame elsewhere. Miller seems to indicate that, like the rest of their Puritan society, the Proctors need an outlet to expiate John's sins and without this means for redemption they are committed to a perpetual obsession with past infidelity. However, the Salem witch trials as described by Miller have a sexual element that runs concurrent with the political aspects of the allegory. Rebecca Nurse and Giles Corey enter.

The Crucible: Act One SparkNotes Flashcards

Tituba says she saw Sarah Good and Sarah Osburn with the devil and then men begin to praise her. Abigail demonstrates a great ability for self-preservation: she admits what she must at appropriate times, and places the blame for her actions at the most convenient source, Tituba. When she remains limp, he asks Abigail what kind of dancing they were doing in the forest. These events parallel how the actual Salem Witch Trials began. Abigail denies Mary Warren's charge, however, and she and the others claim that Mary Warren is sending out her spirit against them in the court. Putnam leaves, followed by Parris and Mr. Why has Parris sent for Reverend Hale from Beverly? He knows that a group of townspeople want to remove him from Salem, and a witchcraft scandal involving his family would give them the power to oust him from the town.

The Crucible Act 1 Summary

The argument covers everything from Putnam's meddling, to Mrs. Where and when is the opening scene of the play set? Once they are alone, Abigail updates Mercy on the current situation. She says they have to confess because the penalty for witchcraft is hanging, but if they confess to just dancing, they'll only be whipped. Hale arrives at the house as Elizabeth and John argue over Abigail. Parris berates Abigail anew and asserts that she and the girls were indeed practicing witchcraft. The afflicted girls accuse people in the town of witchcraft, often choosing victims who they or their families dislike.

The Crucible Act Two Summary and Analysis

Hale asks if Proctor will testify to this in court, and asks if he believes in witches. Elizabeth Proctor is intensely suspicious of her husband, worrying when he arrives at home late for dinner and adopting a condescending tone when her husband admits that he was momentarily alone with Abigail Williams. Mary Warren tells them how the poppet got into the house, and claims that she stuck the needle in it, but Hale questions whether or not her memory is accurate or supernatural. He asks questions about the ailing girls. Miller immediately establishes Parris as a man whose main concern is his reputation and status in the community, rather than the well-being of his daughter. Abigail speaks tenderly to him and references an affair between them, but Proctor states that he will cut off his hand before he ever touches her again. She says many witches exist in Salem.

The Crucible Act 1 Summary & Analysis

Rebecca also dislikes the implication that witchcraft is involved, so she leaves. Religion has not tamed the forests or the heathen Indians that inhabit them, so the Puritans view the woods as the Devil's stronghold. This play by Arthur Miller is based on the actual events that happened in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 focused on many of the real people involved in the accusations of witchcraft. Abigail says Elizabeth dismissed her because she refused to act like a slave, and that other women haven't hired her for the same reason. Ten-year-old Betty Parris lies in an unmoving, unresponsive state. Parris is distinctly paranoid, defending himself from all enemies even when they may not exist.

The Crucible: Act One SparkNotes Flashcards

Abigail smacks her and informs the girls she herself will kill them if they utter anything out of line with the story they've presented. The Puritans of Massachusetts were a religious faction who, after years of suffering persecution themselves, developed a willful sense of community to guard against infiltration from outside sources. The Crucible is a play by Arthur Miller that is a mostly fictional dramatization of the Salem Witch Trials in which women were hanged for the suspicion of witchcraft in the late 1600s. The Proctor marriage is stagnant and stifling, as the fact of John's adultery lingers in every conversation like a giant white elephant. The court convicts Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse of witchcraft.

The Crucible Act 1 Summary & Analysis

If witchcraft is charged Parris fears he may lose his ministry. Because the girls cannot dance within Salem, they must retreat into the woods outside of Salem in order to indulge in physical pleasure. The author himself was held in contempt of court for failing to name names of people who might be involved in Communism. Perhaps the most important theme that Miller develops in this act is the propensity of accusations to snowball. We learn that the events in the forest are evil and that the devil does his work in the forest and that evil things happen within the forest. In order to express their innate desires whether innocent or not , the girls must go outside of the community into the wilderness.