What really happened in the woods? If you believe what Abigail tells her Uncle Parris… It was just Betty and I in the woods. We were just dancing. What Parris saw/questions he has for Abigail I saw Tituba chanting and waving her arms over a fire. I saw a dress. I thought I saw someone running naked through the wood. What Goody Putnam discloses I sent Ruth to Tituba to conjure the spirits of my seven murdered children. (She believes the reason Ruth can’t talk is that the devil has stilled her tongue to keep the deaths unexplained.)

Putting it all together Present in the woods: Ruth, Tituba, Abigail, Betty, Mercy Lewis, Mary Warren (will be very important in the rest of the play) Ruth Putnam is there on an errand from Goody Putnam to ask Tituba to conjure the spirits of her “murdered” children Mercy Lewis: Running naked Abigail Williams: Drinking blood to put a hex on Goody Proctor. Betty Parris and Mary Warren: witnesses In red = girls who are “sick” Abigail is the ring leader and oversees the others with threats and intimidation.

The Proctors; The Nurses; The Coreys Outcasts Tituba Sarah Good Goody Osburn Bridget Bishop Isaac Ward The young girls Abigail, Betty, Ruth, Mercy, Mary Susanna Old Salemites The Putnams Hathorne Authority Figures Danforth Hathorne (Cheever, Herrick) Outsiders Hale Boston Judges Parris Abigail rules over them with fear, manipulation, intimidation Enemies of Old Salemites

John hates himself for having sinned and fallen for Abigail. He resents his wife for failing to forgive him. The rift in their relationship is obvious at the beginning of Act II. Abigail and Elizabeth are mirrors of each other. Each hates the other, wishes the other would go away, or had never existed. Abigail’s ace up her sleeve is the affair, and she’s just crazy enough to use it. Love Triangle “the most perfect shape in literature” Abigail Williams Elizabeth Proctor John Proctor