Mercy Lewis and Mary Warren although both frightened go along with everything Abigail says. This confirms another theme of the play that is how easily everyone in Salem was influenced by the actions of others. The play also deals with sin; there is a dialogue between Abigail and John Proctor over an affair that they had. This is a perfect example of the sinful things that went on in Salem which people chose to ignore. We see Abigail again being very manipulative, she is very beautiful of which she is aware and uses this to get her own way. .
The part with John Proctor in is a good introduction to Act 2 as he tries to.
explain to Abigail that he has put it all behind him. Other characters introduced in this scene are Goody Putnam and Mr Putnam. Goody Putnam encourages her daughter to go into the woods and is then willing to blame someone else for what has happened. We also meet Giles he accuses his wife of witchcraft and like everyone else gets caught up in the hysteria. Two people however, are not as hysterical this is Goody nurse who seems disgusted and reverend Hale who is slightly more determined solve a problem rather than create one. .
The society of Salem is portrayed as a small, isolated, strict and antisocial community. Everyone is related to each other in some way, and everybody knows something bad about somebody else. The town itself is positioned on the edge of an unexplored forest described to be "the last place on earth that was not paying homage to god." The natives (Indians) are just some of the victims of the Puritans persecution.
The people of Salem are plagued by paranoia and it is easy to see why they are so eager to start a witch hunt and "point fingers". We can understand the motives for the witch-hunt by looking at the themes of the play. There is a focus on sinning; people having affairs, performing witchcraft and lying. All of this happens in the first scene and is a good build up to the rest of the play, which has people lying about others, accusing people of crimes they did not commit and in Abigail's case betraying others.
Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, and the movie of the same name have many differences but also many similarities, all of which contribute to the individual effectiveness of each in conveying their central message. ... This scene is never found in the play, we only hear of it through a dialogue in Act 1. ...
