The Crucible Sparknotes

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The Crucible takes place in Salem, Massachusetts at 1962 and is about the Salem Witch Trials. The Crucible starts with a man named Reverend Samuel Parris. His daughter Betty is comatose. No one knows what is wrong with her. When she began to be comatose, she, his niece Abigail Williams (who lives with him since her parents died from an attack from Indians), and other girls were dancing in a forest with his black slave named Tituba the night before, which Parris witnessed. The town is rumoring that witchcraft was involved. When Parris confronts Abigail about it, she denies everything and says they were just simply dancing. Parris has asked for Reverend Hale, an expert on witchcraft to look at Betty. To make matters worse, Thomas and Ann Putnam …show more content…

A while before, John and Abigail had an affair while she was working at his home and his wife Elizabeth was ill. This led to Abigail getting fired by his wife and led to her going to Reverend Parris’s home. No one in town knows this. During their conversation, John tells her she needs to end the silliness with everyone and that Betty is only just pretending to be ill. Abigail still wants John and tries to flirt with him tough, but John rejects her and shuts her down. She still is determined and tells him they will be together again …show more content…

He is a famous witchcraft expert from a nearby town. Suddenly, Abigail changes her story and suggests that Tituba called the Devil. Tituba, surprised at this, strongly denies it. But when the two Reverends interrogate Tituba, she confesses to witchcraft under this pressure. She accuses several other women as witches in the village, including two women named Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. While Tituba and Abigail are accusing women in the town, several other young girls, including Mary Warren follow Abigail’s lead and begin blaming the women as well. Betty wakes up again and starts screaming when she hears singing outside and we learn she can’t handle hearing the Lord’s name. A crowd rushes into the room to see if she really is under witchcraft. The nurse taking care of Betty, named Rebecca, warns Parris that if they make this a witchcraft issue would cause a lot of problems in the village. She says that Betty’s illness is nothing serious, just a childish act. With all this, it is stirring up a whole load of controversy that would lead to many deaths. All this accusing is making people go on trial for

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