Act One Scene Eight Flashcards
PARRIS Please look at my daughter, sir? We discovered her this morning on the highroad, waving her arm as though she‘d fly.
Tries to fly?
PUTNAM And cannot bear to hear the lord‘s name; that‘s a sure sign of witchcraft.
No-no…Now let me instruct you. We cannot look to superstition in this. The Devil is precise; we must look only for his proper signs and judge nothing beforehand, and I must tell you all, I shall not proceed unless you are prepared to believe me if I should find no trace of hell in this.
PARRIS It is agreed, sir—it is agreed—we will abide by your judgment.
Good then. Now, sir, what were your first warnings of this strangeness?
PARRIS … I discovered her… and my niece Abigail and ten or twelve other girls, dancing in the forest last night.
You permit dancing?!
PARRIS Sssh!
Seven dead in childbirth?
PARRIS What book is that?
Here is all the invisible world, caught, defined, and calculated. All your familiar spirits—your incubi and succubi; your witches, your wizards. Have no fear—we shall find him out if he has come among us, and I mean to crush him utterly if he has shown his face!
REBECCA Will it hurt the child, sir?
I cannot tell. If she is truly in the Devil‘s grip we may have to rip and tear to get her free.
