The Crucible Act 1 Analysis

Act I set play in a place called “Salam”, located in Massachusetts. The story begins in the house of Reverend Paris, Betty Paris, his daughter, has fallen into mysterious coma. As there seems to be no signs of Betty waking up from the coma, Reverend calls the doctor to examine her symptoms. Despite the town doctor’s examination of Betty’s illness, the doctor fails to determine the cause of Betty’s illness and suggest the possibility of spiritual cases. The rumor of witchcraft soon spread across the town, and Parris confronts Abigail and demands an explanation for Betty’s illness. Although Abigail, his niece, denies any involvement in witchcraft that happened in the forest, Parris notices that she is lying since, prior to the opening of Act I, he discovers Betty and other girls were …show more content…
Moreover, Parris questions Abigail again about her reason why the Proctor has fired her from working as their servant. However, Abigail simply refute Parris’ allegations and the story progresses. After a while, Mr. and Mrs. Putnam enters the room and suggests that Betty’s is under the influence of witchcraft. After a heated debate and discussion regarding the nature of evil spirits in Salem, Putnam convinces Parris to confess the truth to the town but Parris continues to protect himself by hiding the presence of witchcraft. As all the people leaves the scene, Abigail and Mercy are left alone discussing what really happened in the woods. While the girls are discussing the stories in the woods, Betty suddenly wakes up from her coma and falls back into her coma when Abigail slaps her face and threatens the girls to death if the girls admitted to the truth. In the midst of all the chaos, Proctor, a farmer, enters the play and has a heated conversation with Abigail regarding the affair and him still being in love with