The Crucible - Act 1

This is the first part of the play, and as such, serves as a build-up to the events that will occur in the play. In this section of the play, it is reported that Parris caught the girls are dancing in the forest, attempting to make a love potion. It also includes the accusation of Tituba, and Abigail and Betty accusing many of the members of the town are accused of being witches.

This Act has the most authorial intrusion of the play. Throughout the act, the author will step in. He will do this either to explain characters, describe other events, either in the past or the future of the play, or, he may even draw direct parallels between the events in the play, and the current events of the time, McCarthyism and anti-communist hilarity. This authorial intrusion in this act is used to transform the story from a historical recount into a Parable, as a reminder of the problems if fear and hilarity remain unchecked. The events that happen in this part of the play also have to do with irony, because although the girls and Tituba where the ones performing the ‘witch-like’ activates, they become the accusers at the end of the act, and others are accused in their place.

It is interesting to view the character foil between Betty and Abigail in the early part of this act. Whereas Abigail admits to having participated in the event and dancing, Betty claims to have been possessed and will not respond to any of the characters.
Within this act, none of the characters act dynamically, with the possible exception of Abigail, who changes from denying that there was any witchcraft going on to accusing others of witchcraft.