Overall, the symptoms of witchcraft depicted throughout the play involve people being incapacitated, physically harmed, and suffering from audible and visible hallucinations.

In the beginning of Act One, Parris tells the reader, Abigail, and the Putnams that he can not call the girls’ actions witchcraft because if witchcraft is found in his house, he will be driven from his position as reverand and his name will be completely ruined.

Why are some adults so willing to accept witchcraft as the cause of the children’s conditions and infant deaths in Salem in Act 1 of The Crucible? In Act 1 (Betty Is Bewitched) the adults are more willing to blame other people or forces for the girls’ conditions than to look for causes in their parenting.

Abigail

Why does Mrs. Putnam believe there are witches in Salem? Because she thinks they’ll be accused of being witches. Mary’s telling Abigail to tell the truth of what they did because the worst that could happen is that they get whipped.

The infamous Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. By September 1692, the hysteria had begun to abate and public opinion turned against the trials.

Betty is essentially suffering from a psychological illness, which stems from her fear of being punished for dancing in the woods with the other girls. Hysteria concerning witchcraft may also motivate Betty to remain incapacitated in her bed. As far as an actual physical illness goes, there is nothing wrong with Betty.

Betty screams when she hears the Lord’s prayer, the Lord’s name. “Meanwhile, as a psalm is sung in the room downstairs, Betty claps her hands over her ears and begins whining loudly. Betty’s behavior is taken as a sign of witchcraft, which has made it impossible for the girl to hear the Lord’s name.”

sick

In The Crucible, Betty Parris pretends to be ill because she fears her father’s anger and the resulting punishment after she, her cousin, and their…

In Act 1 of The Crucible, Betty Parris wants her mother.

Why is Parris so worried about the evidence of witchcraft being discovered in his own house? Parris wants to remain minister and fears any evidence that may harm his reputation. What does Rebecca Nurse think is wrong with the girls? Putnam so eager to prove there is witchcraft in the village?

The girls, Abigail and Betty, and their friends were dancing in the woods and their father jumped out, scaring Betty so badly that she fainted. Reverend Parris thinks that they “trafficked with spirits in the forest” (Act 1, scene 1).

witchcraft

She fears punishment and ostracism within her community. All her fears lead her to accuse others of false transgressions.

Does Rebecca think that Betty is touched by the devil? No. Rebecca thinks Betty will wake up in time. She is just in a “silly season,” and will be fine when she tires of acting that way.

Answer: The Putnams resent that the Nurses interfered with Thomas Putnam’s candidate for minister of Salem. Others may resent Francis’s rise from land-renter to land-owner and Rebecca’s being too saintly for her own good, as when she absents herself from Hale’s witchcraft investigation in Act 1.

Betty confronts Abigail and accuses her of not admitting she drank blood. She also accuses her of casting a spell in order to kill Goody Proctor.

Reverend Parris is determined to protect his reputation and maintain his position of authority at all costs. Despite his daughter’s mysterious illness, Reverend Parris shows that he is more concerned about his reputation and position as Salem’s minister by expressing his anxiety that his enemies will ruin him.

As a minister, Parris delivers harsh fire and brimstone sermons that sometimes turn off his parishioners. He is very concerned about protecting his reputation and guarding himself from witchcraft that his daughter may have been engaged in. Who is Betty in the Crucible?

Tituba

“Confession is good for the soul,” says King David, but no one’s soul is aided in the confessions of witchcraft in “The Crucible.” According to Reverend Hale, one of the Salem court examiners, “Tituba, Sarah Good and numerous others have confessed to dealing with the devil.” Ironically, the confessions are lies to …

Why do Abigail and Betty name names? Abigail accuses Tituba to get blame off of her. Hale leads Tituba into naming names by putting words in her mouth and kind of giving her a way out. Abigail and Betty name names to completely get the blame off of them and to focus it on the others.

Why has Abigail been asked to leave the Proctor’s home? Abigail was asked to leave the Proctor’s home because Elizabeth suspects that Abigail and Proctor have had an affair. Because she is jealous that she is married to John Proctor.

Tituba says that the devil wanted her to kill Parris multiple times, but that she kept on refusing, even when the devil promised her return to Barbados. She says this to get on Parris’s good side, but saying that she did not want to kill him and saying that he is a good man.

In Act I of this play, Mrs. Putman and her husband are talking about witchcraft because their daughter, Ruth, is ill and they believe witchcraft to be the cause. Mrs. Putman had previously sent Ruth to see Tituba, who they believe has the ability to speak to the dead and is involved in witchcraft.

The story about Reverend John Hale not indicting the woman in Beverly is important, because it shows a division between him and the witch court. He was initially a devoted servant, but is not interested in a power position, or merely convicting witches.

Honest, upright, and blunt-spoken, Proctor is a good man, but one with a secret, fatal flaw. His lust for Abigail Williams led to their affair (which occurs before the play begins), and created Abigail’s jealousy of his wife, Elizabeth, which sets the entire witch hysteria in motion.

Reverend Hale comes to Salem as a religious man, a spiritual leader, with the idea that he is empowered and obligated to investigate the claims of witchcraft and to clear the town of it if he finds it. He is a believer in the Puritan church and its principles.