The Crucible - Act 1

The Puritan style of writing was not as obvious to me in this story as it was in some of the stories we read that were in the text book. This whole story was not focused on God and what he was doing for the people but it was pretty much the opposite of that. This act was more about the devil and his doings than God and what he does. The people of Salem were focusing on witch craft and the devil and most of them believed that was why Betty was in the state she was in. She was acting very strange and people had no other explanation for what it was. But, they did not think it was something health related or the physical body like we would think now days. They knew had to do with something spiritual instead. Instead of calling a doctor they called a minister to help save the little girl. Parris did not want to believe the devil was in his home causing this to his daughter. He was a pastor and believed that God would protect him and the ones he loved. He did not want to except the fact that something "devilish" had happened to his daughter. So I guess that does show the Puritan style of writing because they thought that there was a spiritual reason for all the problems going on in Salem. I do not know if I believe it was witch craft or not though. I bet once I get farther into the book I will be able to make my own opinion on what the real cause for this weird business is. When Parris first saw that Betty had gone into her episode he immediately started praying and did not want to stop. He stayed at her bed side and prayed to make her better. Parris really believed that, that would do the trick. The people's faith in God was very strong then. He did not try anything else to help the girl besides just praying. He did not even want to stop to go see the people who wanted to speak with him. He was the village pastor so I assume he was a very popular man among the people. But, he would not stop praying for Betty to become back to her normal self again. The story was also very straight to the point during the actual play parts. The paragraphs added in were a bit confusing to me and I did not really understand what the author was trying to get across. Otherwise, the play is very easy to read and each part flows with the next nicely. I can go through and read it very quickly without thinking to hard about it because of the simple way it was written. That is what the Puritan style is known for, simplicity in the writing and this play shows it. I don't quite understand why the paragraphs are added into the play. I know they give me some of an insight on what the people are like but I think I would be able to know a character and their personalities without the extra writing. But, maybe I'm just being lazy and want to fly through the story. Overall, I am really enjoying the play so far.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.