Betty Parris's Power In The Crucible

The Devil influences the villagers of Salem, Massachusetts by using their ongoing fear of him to manipulate their thoughts and actions in a manner to set himself in the highest position by the end of the Act 1. As the Puritans lean toward blaming the Devil for their misgivings and suspicions, he gains control of their thoughts. Ruth and Betty pretend to fall ill after Reverend Parris catches them in the forest with Tituba and other girls, partaking in what is considered to be witchcraft: an act that defies the laws of femininity in the Puritan society. Mrs. Putnam does not buy her daughter Ruth’s act; rather, she sees it as “‘the Devil’s touch”’ which “‘is heavier than sick”’ (13). Believing that the Devil

Abigail Williams is the source of the witchcraft hysteria in Salem. Abigail is first accused of bewitching Betty Parris in the woods one night. She quickly disputes the accusation by saying they: Ruth Putnam, Tituba, Betty Parris, Mary Warren, and Abigail herself, were only dancing despite it also being highly looked down upon. By starting out with this single lie, her story snowballs and eventually leads to the downfall of Salem. By associating herself with Betty Parris and Ruth Putnam, both of which are sick while Abigail is well, Abigail is submitting herself to a fight she can’t win unless she lies.

They will howl me out of Salem for such corruption in my house." After Betty wakening from a nap she had started naming names that she had “saw” when being powered over by the devil. After she had started to rattle off some names then Abigail Williams named off the same names plus more. After they had said the same names Reverend Parris believed the worse. After hearing what had occurred at the Procturs house he started to believe in the witch trials and believed it was happening to man and woman.

The first character that could have stopped the hysteria is Abigail Williams. If she would have stuck to the real story and had been truthful, and if she didn’t accuse Tituba, it could have stopped. Abigail says, “She made me do it! She made Betty do it!” (p. 592).

In the Crucible, there were accusations made of Betty being accumulated with witchcraft. All of a sudden Betty comes up with this sudden illness, and is pretty out of the ordinary at the time. Betty’s first sign of sickness was when she witnessed the girls dancing in the forest and conjuring spirits, Abigail, and the other girls quickly left the scene. Soon Betty is accused of witchcraft for seeing the girl dancing in the forest, and there are seven dead babies. Some of Betty’s symptoms included throwing fits, running small fevers, screaming out in pain, and she would often bark like a dog.

Rumors of witchcrafter flows throughout the town. Blame is being put on Abigail, saying she is a reason why Betty is unconscious. To get all of the towns people off Abigail's back she tells the girls to admit nothing and blame it on random people. Abigail still wants Proctor after their affair , but he warns her off and tells her to stop. As soon as Betty awakes she begins to scream.

Reverend Parris begins to question Abigail about what they were doing in the woods. Betty still could not wake so Reverend Parris sent for Hale. Hale specializes witchcraft things. Hale believe that there is something supernaturally wrong with Betty. When Reverend Parris questions Abigail it he brings up that Abigail was let go by the Proctors and has been re-hired in months.

The father of Betty Parris, Reverend Parris is an overly protective father who is always worried. Then one day he sees his daughter and his niece Abigail and some other girls dancing with a servant named Tituba. He is now even more worried that she does have a connection with witchcraft. If so, then

Abigail Williams: The First True Witch of Salem, Massachusetts “Controlled hysteria is what’s required. To exist constantly in a state of controlled hysteria. It’s agony. But everyone has agony. The difference is that I try to take my agony home and teach it to sing” (Arthur Miller, AZ Quotes).

When Abigail gets caught by Reverend Parris she decides to lie and tell him that they were just dancing and Betty Putman fainted when she was frightened by Parris when jumped out of nowhere. When Mrs. Putnam comes in to talk Parris about the incident that happened before, she says “i’d not call it sick; the devil’s touch is heavier than sick. It’s death, drivin’ into them, forked and hoofed.” she is responding to her daughter Betty not waking up after she fainted and is suggesting that they have Reverend Hale in to inspect her. When Hale comes and talks to Abigail and the other girls that were dancing in the forest she blames it on Tituba by saying that she forced her to do these bad things.

The witches are on the hunt for the innocent souls of Salem with Hale stating, “The Devil is alive in Salem, and we dare not quail to follow wherever the accusing finger points” (Miller 1251). Hale is determined to use God’s mighty hand against the “evil witches”. This shows that Hale is faithful to Abigail’s accusations against the common people of Salem. At first, Reverend Hale is eager to prosecute, but as more innocent people are condemned, his compliance turns into distaste. His dissatisfaction eventually turns into rage when Hale shouts, “I denounce these proceedings!”

He tells Abigail “It must come out—my enemies will bring it out… Abigail do you understand that I have many enemies?” Reverend Parris is more concerned about his own reputation being hurt then Betty not dying. He tells Abigail that his ministry is at stake before he says that he cares about if Betty will be okay.

“Why, it is a lie, it is a lie; how may I damn myself? I cannot I cannot.” Rebecca Nurse, a character from The Crucible, is on the verge of being condemned to hand for witchcraft and is being pressured into admitting her identity. Rebecca is a married women to Francis Nurse. She is a kind, religious woman who has raised eleven wonderful children.

Reverend Parris does not believe this, and the audience knows that the real reason Betty is not waking up is that she is in shock after Parris scared her while she and the other girls were dancing in the woods. Also, the Act One FYI states, “Although the Puritans were forbidden to indulge in supernatural practices, there is ample evidence that suggests that they had an almost obsessive interest in the occult. The public record is full of incidents in which members of the Salem community are reprimanded for practicing palm reading and other methods of fortune telling, even though such activities were considered to be trafficking with the devil.” The context of this passage is that the Puritans went to witchcraft to explain something out of their vague beliefs. Even though all the Puritans believed in witchcraft, their false claim came from the very little, nonsense, and bias evidence they had.

Betty said “I saw George Jacobs with the Devil! I saw Goody Howe with the Devil”(45), despite whether they were innocent are not. The quote shows that Abigail could tell the girls anything and they would say or do it, even if it meant accusing innocent people. In Act 3, the narrator says “she [Abigail] and all the girls ran to one wall, shielding their eyes and now as though concerned, they let out a gigantic scream”(109). The quote shows how much influence Abigail had over the girls, enough to make them act in ridiculous ways, similar to McCarthy 's impact on the government and how much power he had and in this way, Miller used Betty as an allegory for the government under McCarthy’s