Crucible+-+Act+I+Summary

// The Crucible //
 * Act I: **

- Page 1231
 * Salem Witch Trials: 1692

- Pages 1234-1237
 * Barbaric fanatics
 * Theocracy
 * Hypocrisy
 * Puritan intolerance
 * Two-man patrol
 * Fear of the unknown (forest)
 * Reasons to cry witch..
 * Revenge
 * Greed
 * Jealousy
 * Clear guilt and wash away sins (“the devil made me do it”)

- Characters first paragraph on page 1252/last paragraph on 1255
 * Parris (in notes)
 * Betty Parris – passed out to begin play
 * Proctor (notes)
 * Thomas and Ann Putnam (notes) / looking for witchcraft
 * Francis and Rebecca Nurse (notes)
 * Elizabeth Proctor (wife of Proctor, fired Abigail)
 * Abigail Williams (page 1246-1247) – admits to witchcraft being false
 * Tituba – Parris’s slave – conjured spirits in woods with girls
 * Giles – early 80s – silly old man
 * Rev. Hale – called to Salem to investigate – “ghostbuster”

- Conflicts
 * Accusations of Witchcraft (external conflict)
 * Parris vs. Proctor (1250-1251)
 * Proctor vs. Abigail
 * the Nurses vs. the Putnams
 * Proctor vs. Elizabeth
 * Proctor vs. himself

- End of Act
 * Tituba’s “confession” (forced confession)
 * Abigail and Betty call out names (1262-1263)