(The Crucible) Reading Journal 2 - Act 1 Appearance of Reverend Hale to the End of Act 2

Reverend Hale finally arrives in Salem. Immediately the population has questions about witchcraft, from their wives reading strange books to their children dancing in the woods. In further investigation of the children, Hale questions Abigail Williams who releases the information that Tituba forced her to drink chicken’s blood. Tituba admits to having encountered the Devil, but says that she fought his control. After the incident where Abigail tells everyone that Tituba trifled with the Devil, the girls who were dancing in the forest begin to accuse many others. They claim to have seen the Devil and his helpers. If the accused do not admit to witchcraft they are hung. The townspeople are all buzzing about the events in the court. Marry Warren, a servant of the Proctor household, went against John Proctor’s permission. When she returns from court, she informs John and Elizabeth Proctor of the horrible news. Later they find out from her arrester that Elizabeth Proctor was also accused of witchcraft. The process they use to determine whether a person is hanged or not is illogical. If the person is innocent then they did not commit an act of witchcraft. However in order to keep one’s life that person must plead guilty to their acts of witchcraft. If the population of Salem was Puritans, which they were, then they believe that no one should lie however by setting someone free they are encouraging lying. The Constitution claims that someone is innocent until proven guilty however this is not the case in Salem. It seems that in Salem, the accused is already guilty and has to prove their innocence by saying that the Devil controlled them. Despite the craziness of the events that take place in this book, it is strangely appealing. The interest is in the confusion of Miller’s writing. He writes like this on purpose to help show how confusing the actual events are and why people would actually do these things.