The Crucible
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The Crucible: Act I
Characters
Reverend Parris
Abigail Williams
Mary Warren
Betty
John Proctor
Thomas Putnam
Mrs. Putnam
Rebecca Nurse
Reverend Hale
Tituba
A small upper bedroom in the home of Reverend Samuel Parris, Salem, Massachusetts, in the spring of they year 1692.
There is a narrow window a the left. Through its leaded panes the morning sunlight streams> A candle still burns near the bed, which is at the right. A chest, a chair, and a small table are the other furnishings. At the back a cdoor opens on the landing of the stairway to the ground floor. The room gives off an air of clean sparseness. The roof rafters are exposed, and the wood colors are raw and unmellowed.
As the curtain rises, Reverend Parris is discovered kneeling beside the bed, evidently in prayer. His daughter, Betty Parris, aged ten, is lying on the bed, inert. His niece, Abigail Williams, seventeen, enters; she is all worry and propriety.
At the time of these events Parris was in his middle forties. In history he cut a villainous path, and there is very little good to be said for him. He believed he was being persecuted wherever he went, despite his best efforts to win people and God to his side. In meeting, he felt insulted if someone rose to shut the door without first asking his permission. He was a widower with no interest in children, or talent with them. He regarded them as young adults, and until this strange crisis, he, like the rest of Salem, never conceived that the children were anything but thankful for being permitted to walk straight, eyes slightly lowered, arms at the sides, and mouths shut until bidden to speak.
His house stood in the “town” – but we today would hardly call it a village. The meeting hose was nearby, and from this point outward – toward the bay or inland – there were a few small-windowed, dark houses snuggling against the raw Massachusetts winter. Salem had been established hardly
The Crucible: Act I
Characters
Reverend Parris
Abigail Williams
Mary Warren
Betty
John Proctor
Thomas Putnam
Mrs. Putnam
Rebecca Nurse
Reverend Hale
Tituba
A small upper bedroom in the home of Reverend Samuel Parris, Salem, Massachusetts, in the spring of they year 1692.
There is a narrow window a the left. Through its leaded panes the morning sunlight streams> A candle still burns near the bed, which is at the right. A chest, a chair, and a small table are the other furnishings. At the back a cdoor opens on the landing of the stairway to the ground floor. The room gives off an air of clean sparseness. The roof rafters are exposed, and the wood colors are raw and unmellowed.
As the curtain rises, Reverend Parris is discovered kneeling beside the bed, evidently in prayer. His daughter, Betty Parris, aged ten, is lying on the bed, inert. His niece, Abigail Williams, seventeen, enters; she is all worry and propriety.
At the time of these events Parris was in his middle forties. In history he cut a villainous path, and there is very little good to be said for him. He believed he was being persecuted wherever he went, despite his best efforts to win people and God to his side. In meeting, he felt insulted if someone rose to shut the door without first asking his permission. He was a widower with no interest in children, or talent with them. He regarded them as young adults, and until this strange crisis, he, like the rest of Salem, never conceived that the children were anything but thankful for being permitted to walk straight, eyes slightly lowered, arms at the sides, and mouths shut until bidden to speak.
His house stood in the “town” – but we today would hardly call it a village. The meeting hose was nearby, and from this point outward – toward the bay or inland – there were a few small-windowed, dark houses snuggling against the raw Massachusetts winter. Salem had been established hardly