Act 1 Flashcards
(66 cards)
TITUBA: my betty be hearty soon?
Out of here!
TITUBA: my betty not going to die…
Out of my sight! Out of my…
Oh, my god. God help me! Betty. Child. Dear child, will you wake, will you open up your eyes! Betty, little one…
ABIGAIL: uncle? Susana wallcotts here from Dr. Griggs
Oh? The doctor. Let her come, let her come.
ABIGAIL: come in susana
What does the doctor say, child
SUSANNA: Dr. Griggs he bid me come and tell you, Reverend sir, that he cannot discover no medicine for it in his books.
Then he must search on.
SUSANNA : Aye, sir, he have been searchin‘ his books since he left you, sir, but he bid me tell you, that you might look to unnatural things for the cause of it.
No-no. There be no unnatural causes here. Tell him I have sent for Reverend Hale of Beverly, and he will surely confirm that. Let him look to medicine, and put out all thought of unnatural causes here. There be none.
ABIGAIL: Speak nothin’ of it in the village, Susanna.
Go directly home and speak nothing of unnatural causes.
ABIGAIL: Uncle, the rumor of witchcraft is all about; I think you‘d best go down and deny it yourself. The parlor‘s packed with people, sir.–I‘ll sit with her.
And what shall I say to them? That I discovered my daughter and my niece dancing like heathen in the forest?!
ABIGAIL: Uncle, we did dance; let you tell them I confessed it. But they‘re speakin‘ of witchcraft; Betty‘s not witched.
Abigail, I cannot go before the congregation when I know you have not been open with me. What did you do with her in the forest?
ABIGAIL: We did dance, Uncle, and when you leaped out of the bush so suddenly, Betty was frightened and then she fainted. And there‘s the whole of it.
Now look you, child- I have no desire to punish you; that will come in its time. But if you trafficked with spirits in the forest, I must know it, for surely my enemies will, and they‘ll ruin me with it…
ABIGAIL: But we never conjured spirits.
Then why can she not move? This child is desperate! It must come out—my enemies will bring it out. Abigail, do you understand that I have many enemies?
ABIGAIL: I know it, Uncle.
There is a faction that is sworn to drive me from my pulpit. Do you understand that?
ABIGAIL I think so, sir.
Now then - in the midst of such disruption, my own household is discovered to be the very center of some obscene practice. Abominations are done in the forest…
ABIGAIL: It were only sport, Uncle!
I saw Tituba waving her arms over the fire when I came on you; why were she doing that? And I heard a screeching and gibberish comin‘ from her mouth…
ABIGAIL: She always sings her Barbados songs and we dance.
And I thought I saw a dress lying in the grass!
ABIGAIL: A dress?
Aye, a dress. And I thought I saw… someone naked running through the trees!
ABIGAIL: No one was naked! You mistake yourself, Uncle!
I saw it! Now tell me true, Abigail… whatever abomination you have done, for I dare not be taken unaware by those who would see me removed.
ABIGAIL: There is nothin‘ more. I swear it, Uncle.
Abigail, I have fought here three long years to bend these stiff-necked people to me, and now, just when some good respect is rising for me in the parish, you compromise my very character. I have given you a home, I have put clothes upon your back—now give me upright answer. Is there any other cause than you have told me, for Goody Proctor dischargin’ you? You are seven months out of their house, and in all this time no other family has ever called your service.
Enter Mrs. Ann Puttnam. She is a twisted soul of forty-five, a death-ridden woman, haunted by dreams.
No. No, I cannot have anyone. Why, Goody Putnam, come in.
ANN: It is a marvel. It is surely a stroke of hell upon you…
No, Goody Putnam, it is…
ANN: How high did she fly, how high?
No—no, she never flew…
ANN: Mister Collins saw her goin‘ over Ingersoll‘s barn, and come down light as a bird, he says!
Now, look you, Goody Putnam; she never…
Oh good morning, mister Putnam
ANN: Why, that‘s strange. Ours is open.
Your little Ruth is sick?
ANN: I‘d not call it sick, the Devil‘s touch is heavier than sick, it‘s death, y‘know, it‘s death drivin‘ into them forked and hoofed.
Oh, pray not! Why, how does your child ail?