Crucible Act 1

Before I get started on the blog, I want to say that I was very confused with all that was going on in the Crucible.  I followed a little bit of it, but when all the characters started coming in and talking at once, I got lost with what was saying.  So there may be some things that I interpreted a whole different way than what the actual meaning of a certain text, response, or quote was.
As it starts off, I understand that Mr. Parris is praying for Betty, his ten year old daughter.  She is supposedly deamed to have witch craft, but right away you can tell that it favors Puritan style writing, in that he was praying (Miller 7-8). If the Puritans took the Bible as the exact word of God, and followed it to a "T", than the Puritans would have prayed for help, just as Mr. Parris prayed for help on his daughter Betty. "Reverend Parris is praying now, and, though we cannot hear his words, a sense of his confusion hangs about him.  He mumbles, then seems about to weep; then he weeps, then prays again; but his daughter does not stir on the bed." (Miller 8).  Another quick thing that I noticed is that the government that the Crucible displays is a Theocracy, rule by God through some sort of religious officials.  Understanding that the Puritans wanted to simplify the word of God, they must have had the same type of government as the people and community have in this story.  God was the central focus in both the puritan community and the community of the story.  Everything they did revolved around the central aspect of God.
One thing that I did not quite understand was the whole witch craft topic.  I did not understand as to why they talked about witchcraft so much.  The Bible says not do have anything to do with witch craft and if the puritans took the Bible as how to follow God than surely they would not have had anything to do with this topic.  In Psalms 34:7 it says that "God's angels guard those who honor the Lord and rescues them from danger."  You do not need help from satan, or anything involved with satan, so the Puritans would not have associated themselves with witchcraft.  That is a difference from the people in this story.  Betty, Abigail, and the maid for Parris, and Tituba went out in the forest and associated themselves with witch craft.  That is what the Bible says not to do, therefore that is definitely a difference between them and the Puritans.  I am not sure if the Puritans called anybody for having witch craft, but they definitely did not "do" witch craft.
I was not real fond of Mr. Parris.  I did not like how he conducted himself.  He did not want to put his name at risk by letting everyone know that Betty could possibly be possessed with witch craft. He was focused on himself instead of the health of his daughter.

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

New International Version. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006. Print.