She also says he knows Tituba called to Ruth's dead sisters.Ībigail reveals that Mercy is the female that Parris saw running through the woods.

She informs Mercy that Parris knows they were dancing in the woods. 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.Ībigail and Mercy, the Putnams' servant, try to wake Betty.Ībigail tells Mercy what to say when she is questioned about what she was doing in the woods. Putnam tries to persuade Parris that he should declare the presence of witchcraft, but Parris is worried. Putnam's children have died as infants under mysterious conditions, convince the Putnams that evil spirits are at work in Salem. Ruth's condition, coupled with the fact that seven of Mrs. They reveal to Parris that their daughter, Ruth, has also fallen into a strange trance. Putnam, members of one of the prominent families in Salem, enter the room and declare that Betty's illness results from witchcraft. Parris also questions Abigail about her character and the reason why Goody Proctor, who is the wife of John Proctor and a very respected woman in Salem, dismissed her from working as the Proctors’ servant.

He thinks that she and Betty have conjured spells.

Parris says that he saw her and Betty dancing 'like heathens,' Tituba moving back and forth over a fire while mumbling unintelligibly, and an unidentified female running naked through the forest.Ībigail denies that she and the other girls were participating in witchcraft, but Parris suspects she is lying. Parris, distraught and troubled because he knows that Abigail has not been entirely truthful regarding her activities in the woods, confronts Abigail. The town physician, Doctor Griggs, who has not been able to determine why Betty is ill, suggests witchcraft as a possible cause.

Prior to the opening of the play, Parris discovered Betty, his niece Abigail, and Tituba, his black slave from Barbados, dancing in the forest outside of Salem at midnight.Īfter Parris came out of the bushes, Betty lost consciousness and has remained in a stupor ever since. The Crucible begins in the house of Reverend Samuel Parris, whose daughter, Betty, lies unconscious in bed upstairs.

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