The Crucible Act 1

I just got done reading The Crucible Act One and I find it very confusing. With all the characters in it, I have to make sure to go over the text a couple of times in order to understand it. I do not really like plays that are written in books. Anyway The Crucible Act One was over a young girl who supposidly was playing in the forest with her friends when all of a sudden she fell to the ground. The people of this time period do not know what was wrong with her. They tried bringing in doctors and ministers and just could not figure out what was wrong with her. The minister who's name was Hale, decided that their was witchcraft going on between Betty and the Devil. They would always pray to God and try to make him help her with all her needs. Throughout this story they would always use Hell as an example of what was happening to Betty. When Arthur wrote, "Mrs. Putnam: The psalm! The psalm! She cannot bear to hear the Lord's name" (Miller 24). This shows that when Betty was supposidly "with" the devil she could not bear to hear the Lord's name or she would sit up and scream. They believe that the Devil was trying to get into her soul. This play resembles the Puritan writing by how they used God and the Devil so much. The Puritans were very religious during their time and would always include God as a symbol in their story. In The Crucible, during Betty's collapsing, they would always put God into forgiving them and just trying to get Betty back alive. They believe that the cause of this was witchcraft. There was nothing that they could do except just pray for Betty to get out of her slumber and get away from the devil. When Hale was trying to figure out what was wrong with Betty he took many precautions before performing on her. Like when Miller says, "Hale, holding up his hands: No, no. Now let me instruct you. We cannot look to superstition in this. The Devil is precise; the marks of his presence are definite as stone, and I must tell you all that I shall not proceed unless you are prepared to believe me if I should find no bruise of hell upon her" (Miller 38). He is speaking about how the devil is very powerful and weird things could happen in the room if he went on with this procedure. When they are about to talk to her it is very dangerous because the Devil can get very angry. Towards the end of the Act Tituba is saying that she did not do this to Betty and she does not work with the Devil. After asking her so many times she finally gives up and says that he has asked her to help him with killing people but she said that she refused to do what he asked. As you can see The Crucible looks like it will be just like the Puritan writing style in play format.

Bibliography

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.