The Crucible Act 1 Part 1 Summary
The Crucible is a tragedy that was written by Arthur Asher Miller in 1953. It is an American play that deals with the superstition of witchcraft and its associated social issues in Salem, Massachusetts. The play has 4 acts in total. In today’s article, the Act 1 part 1 summary of The Crucible and the author’s introduction have been discussed.
Act 1 Summary Division:
I divided the Act 1 summary of The Crucible into multiple parts to provide some ease in reading to the reader:
Summary of The Crucible Act 1 Part 1:
The play opens in the upper bedroom of the respected minister of religion, Samuel Parris, in Salem, Massachusetts. Then, the imagery in this scene has a usual impression of restrictions and unattractiveness as there are no extra and highly elegant items, and all furniture products are quite simple. Well, this imagery is a good example of a pure Puritan domestic room. In the scene, the minister is shown kneeling and praying near the bed of his daughter, Betty, who was lying unconscious. He appears to be confused about the cause of his daughter’s condition. On the other hand, Betty does not even move on the bed despite her father’s weeping and praying.
Then, Tituba appears in the room who is a forty-year old West Indian slave in the house. She appears to be extremely tense about Betty’s condition when she enters her room. As she is a slave, she is accustomed to be held responsible by the family for any trouble that arrives in the house; therefore, she is frightened based on her sixth sense that this can happen in the matter of Betty’s unconsciousness too. When Tituba tries to approach Betty’s bed, she verbally prays for the recovery of Betty. On seeing her, Parris becomes furious and orders her to go away from the bedroom immediately. Tituba becomes frightened at this and moves back at once. Then, Parris holds his daughter’s hand in worry.
Afterwards, Abigail Williams comes into Betty’s bedroom with her friend, Susana Walcott. Abigail is Parris’s orphan niece. She is seventeen years old and is a highly beautiful girl. She is a teenager who has a good capacity for dissembling. Susana was sent a while ago to Doctor Griggs to discover some cure for Betty’s condition, so she tells Parris that the doctor told her that he searched his books but could not find any cure for Betty. Plus, the doctor believes that the reason of Betty’s unconsciousness might be unnatural. Parris becomes horrified at the mention of “unnatural”. Therefore, he negates any possibility of the unnatural cause. Afterwards, Parris tells Susana to go home and instructs her not to tell anyone what the doctor said.
At the instruction, Abigail tells her uncle that the rumours of witchcraft are common in Salem now. He becomes frightened on learning this news because not only Betty might be ill due to the witchcraft but also he has enemies who can misuse these rumours against his position in the ministry. He is fearful that the rumours might make it possible for them to take any action against him. He now appears extremely worried for the sustenance of his position in the ministry.
Owing to the spread of the witchcraft news, the people of Salem gather within the parlour of the ministry. They gather there so that they could confirm whether the rumours are true or not about the practice of witchcraft done by his family members. Then, Abigail suggests to Parris that he should deny the rumours associated with the witchcraft in front of those people. However, her uncle is hesitant to do that because he himself saw his daughter, Abigail, and other girls in the forest while they were dancing. He also witnessed one of the girls who was naked and running in the forest when Tituba was swaying her hands over the fire and creating odd sounds.
Therefore, Parris has a suspicion that the girls were involved in the witchcraft that caused Betty’s pitiable condition. So he provokes his niece to disclose the truth about their involvement in the witchcraft practice that he observed last night. Abigail, being a great dissembler, denies being involved in such practice and states they were playing a safe sport. Plus, the unconsciousness of Betty is caused by the extreme fear that she felt when she saw her father jumping out of the bushes in the forest while they were playing.
But Parris does not believe what Abigail said to him. What he observed last night was enough for him to disbelieve her words. So he tells her that he must know the whole truth before saying anything to the people waiting for his statement downstairs. At this, she asserts that she and the other girls didn’t do anything that night for which they have to face serious consequences. Still, he doesn’t feel satisfied with her response. Then, Parris asks her to tell him why she was terminated by Goody Proctor from her job and was called soiled by her. Abigail refuses the allegation and insists that she is innocent even though none had employed her for several months since she was terminated.
Then, Mrs. Putnam enters the bedroom while breathing heavily. She is forty-five years old and a highly clever and death-ridden lady. She hints at Betty and asks her father whether he knows about his daughter’s high flying over a barn and landing like a light bird or not. Parris is fooled with her statement and feels amazed. He is about to say something to Mrs. Putnam, but Mr. Putnam arrives in the room. Mr. Thomas Putnam is a rich landowner and is fifty years old.
Afterwards, Mr. Putnam approaches Betty’s bed and states after seeing her closed eyes something unusual to Mr. Parris. He says that Ruth’s eyes, who is his daughter, are open while she is unconscious, and Betty’s eyes are closed in her unconscious condition. At this, Parris becomes horrified. Mrs. Putnam tells him that the condition of these girls is due to the Devil’s forked touch, and the devil intends to take over their souls. Mr. Parris refuses any aspect of witchcraft in Salem because of his house although his confidence in his daughter and Abigail is shaken. He requests Mr. and Mrs. Putnam to stop charging his house with such a serious accusation. He says that this accusation is enough for his enemies to plot something against him and make him leave Salem.
In this part, Miller explains some motivations of that Putnam family that caused their inclusion, especially Mr. Putnam’s involvement in the witch-hunt. You will learn about those motivations below so that you could properly understand the character of Thomas Putnam.
Thomas Putnam, the eldest son of the richest man in Salem, is the man who had a chance to battle against the Indians and was deeply interested in the affairs of the church. But Mr. Putnam had many illogical complaints. Even before the beginning of the witchcraft, his unforgiving nature showed itself many times. Only one of his complaints seems justifiable. That is his wife’s brother-in-law, James Bayley, was rejected for the post of a priest despite being qualified and having two-third votes in favour owing to the opposition of a strong faction in Salem for unclear reasons. So to avenge this incident, Mr. Putnam and his brother, John, jailed the chosen minister, George Burroughs, for the amount that the minister borrowed from Mr. Putnam for his wife’s funeral and had already repaid as well.
Another cause of Mr. Putnam’s highly bitter nature is that he tried to break his father’s will so that he could stop his stepbrother from receiving a significant amount of money left by their father. But he wasn’t successful because of the legal authorities in Salem. Therefore, it is clear why this man is often involved in misusing the superstition of witchcraft against the people of Salem.
Plus, one of the biggest tragedies of the family of Putnam is that seven of their children had died within a few hours after their birth. His wife, Mrs. Goody Putnam, has a strong belief that Tituba is the killer of her children as she knows how to speak to the dead people. Mrs. Putnam tells Mr. Parris that she sent Ruth to Tituba in the forest last night to know the reason behind the death of her babies. Then, Tituba conjured in the woods, and Ruth became unconscious consequently. Since then, she has been lying unconscious on her bed with the open eyes as if some unseen power doesn’t let her open her mouth. Mr. Putnam also seems desperate because of his daughter’s condition. He warns the priest that there are some evil spirits that caused their children’s plight.
Upon this warning, Parris confirms his suspicion to be true about the practice of witchcraft related to his family members. He asks Abigail again whether she was conjuring the spirits in the forest or not. She defends herself but accuses Tituba of conjuring the spirits of the babies. Now Mr. Putnam urges the priest to declare what he knows about the witchcraft incident publicly, but the priest is not yet ready to declare this. Then, Mercy Lewis, the maid of Putnams, arrives and tells them the news of Ruth’s slight improvement. In the end, Mr. Parris and both Putnams go downstairs to pacify the gathered people of Salem in the priest’s parlour.
Introduction of Miller:
Arthur Asher Miller was born in 1915 and died in 2005. He was an American playwright, essayist, and highly admired figure of the twentieth-century theatre in America. He wrote many plays during his career. His highly popular plays are All My Sons (1947), The Crucible (1953), Death of a Salesman (1949), and A View from the Bridge (1955, revised the play in 1956). Besides, he wrote the screenplay for the popular film, The Misfits, released in 1961 as well.
Conclusion:
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