The Crucible Act 1 post

In Act one, we as readers are introduced to the main characters and some extras. We start off by meeting the very serious and shallow Parris, and his eighteen year old neice Abigail. Parris is your typical power hog and he cares about nothing but his power. Abigail, for a loss of better words, is a manipulative whore.We see Abigails lust come out when we meet John Procter, a man in his thirties, and discover their awkward yet sensual relationship. John has a sick wife, and as we learn he has an erotic affair with Abigail during her working period at his home. Going back to Parris, power is a very important them of The Crucible. The story is based around distrubution of power and Procters affair is what drives the whole story. In typical Puritan society, the only person with actual authority is the minister. Considering Parris is the minister, he has the highest concentration of power in act 1 of The Crucible. But as we Parris says "There is a faction that is sworn to drive me from my pilpit" (Miller 10). Parris fears that he is losing power and will soon have lost all his power completely. It is true that his power will be diminished, but not by who he thinks will take it. By the end of act 1, the power of Salem is in the hands of the spirit-conjuring teenage girls of Salem. These "innocent" young women of society gain their unusual power by blaming witchcraft on many older women in society. Do I believe that these women are guilty? Not in the slightest, these girls are just being foolish. But in a religious society such as the Puritan society of Salem, the Devil is not a light topic. Abigail, Betty, Mercy Lewis, and Mary Warren soon become the center of the court room affairs with Abby as their leader in crime. Women, let alone children, in Puritan society had no power or say in typical matters. But with witchcraft in the air, and secret affairs, all of Salems sanity is lost. The lives of many now lie in the hands of a few young, pitiful, vengeance ridden girls. All of Salem better watch it's back because in times such as these, no one is safe.