Abigail Williams Lines - 1.1

Parris: Betty…little one. Enter Up SL

Uncle? Susanna Walcott’s here from Doctor Griggs.

Parris: Oh. The Doctor? Let her come, let her come.

Come in, Susanna.

Susanna: Aye sir, he bid me tell you.

Speak nothin’ of it in the village Susanna.

Susanna: Aye sir, I pray for her.

Uncle? The rumor of witchcraft is all about. I think you’d best go down and deny it youself. The parlor’s packed with people, sir. I’ll sit with her.

Parris: And what shall I say to them? That my daughter and my niece I discovered dancing like heathen in the forest?!

Uncle, we did dance; let them tell you I confessed it. But they’re speakin’ of witchcraft; Betty’s not witched.

Parris: Abigail, I cannot go before the congregation when I know you have not opened with me. What did you do with her in the forest?

We did dance, Uncle! And when you leaped out of the bush so suddenly, Betty was frightened and she fainted. And there’s the whole of it.

Parris; Now look you, child, I have no desire to punish you, that will come in time. But if you trafficked with spirits in the forest I must know it now, for surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me with it…

But we never conjured spirits.

Parris: Then why can she not move herself since midnight? This child is desperate! It must come out - my enemies will bring it out. Let me know what you done there. Abigail, do you understand that I have many enemies?

I know it, Uncle.

Parris: There is a faction that is sworn to drive me from my pulpit. Do you understand that?

I think so, sir.

Parris: 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…

It were only sport, Uncle!

Parris: 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…

She always sings her Barbados songs, and we dance.

Parris: I cannot blink what I saw, Abigail—for my enemies will not blink it. I saw a dress lying in the grass.

A dress?

Parris: Aye, a dress. And I thought I saw a…someone naked running through the trees.

No one was naked! You mistake yourself, Uncle.

Parris: I saw it! Now tell me true, Abigail. now my ministry’s at stake; my ministry and perhaps your cousin’s life…Whatever abomination you have done, give me all of it now, for I dare not be taken unaware when I go before them down there.

There is nothin’ more. I swear it, Uncle.

Parris: I have fought here three long years to bend these stiff-necked people to me, and now, just now when there must be some good respect for me in the parish, you compromise my very character. I have given you a home, child, I have put clothes upon your back—now give me upright answer—your name in the town—it is entirely white, is it not?

Why, I am sure it is, sir, there be no blush about my name.

Parris: Abigail, is there any other cause than you have told me, for Goody Proctor dischargin’ you? It has troubled me that you are now seven months out of their house, and is all this time no other family has ever called for your service.

They wants slaves, not such as I. Let them send to Barbados for that.

Parris: Then you were conjuring spirits last night.

Not I, sir, not I. — Tituba and Ruth.

Parris: Will you leave me now, Thomas, I would pray a while alone…

Uncle, you’ve prayed since midnight. Why do you not go down and…?

Parris: If she starts for the window, cry for me at once.

Yes, Uncle.

Parris: It is a terrible power in her arms today. (Parris exits)

How is Ruth sick?

Mercy: It’s weirdish, I know not—she seems to walk like a dead one since last night.

Betty. Now stop this! Betty. Sit up now!

Mercy: Have you tried beatin’ her? I gave Ruth a good one and it waked her for a minute. Here, let me have her…

No, he’ll be comin’ up. Now look you, if they be questioning us tell them we danced — I told him as much already.

Mercy: And what more?

He saw you naked.

Mary Warren: Abby, we’ve got to tell. Witchery’s a hangin’ error, a hangin’ like they done in Boston two year ago! We must tell the truth, Abby! You’ll only be whipped for dancin’, and the other things!

Oh, we’ll be whipped.

Mercy: Oh, you’re a great one for lookin aren’t you Mary Warren? (Betty whimpers)

Betty? Now, Betty, dear, wake up now. It’s Abigail. I’ll beat you, Betty! My, you seem improving. I talked to your papa and I told him everything. So there’s nothing to…

Betty: I want my Mama!

What ails you, Betty? Your mama’s dead and buried…

Betty: I’ll fly to Mama. Let me fly!

I told him everything, he knows now, he knows everything we…

Betty: You drank blood, Abby, you drank blood!

Betty, you never say that again! You will never…

Betty: You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!

Shut it! Now shut it!

Betty: Mama, Mama…

Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this— let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it. I saw Indians smash my dear parents’ heads on the pillow next to mine, and I have seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down! Now you…sit up and stop this!

Mary Warren: What’s got her? Abby, she’s going to die! It’s a sin to conjure and we…

I say shut it, Mary Warren!

Hale: Abigail, what sort of dancing were you doing with her in the forest?

Why—common dancing is all.

Parris: I think I ought to say that I-I saw a kettle in the grass where they were dancing.

That were only soup.

Hale: Soup? What sort of soup were in this kettle, Abigail?

Why, it were beans—and lentils, I think, and—

Hale: Mister Parris, you did not notice, did you—any living thing in the kettle? A mouse, perhaps, a spider, a frog? (Parris looks at her)

That frog jumped in! We never put it in

Parris: A frog, Abby!

We never put it in!

Hale: Abigail, it may be your cousin is dying—Did you call the Devil last night?

I never called him! Tituba called him!

Hale: How did she call him?

I know not—she spoke Barbados.

Hale: Did you feel any strangeness when she called him? A sudden cold wind, perhaps? A trembling below the ground?

I didn’t see no Devil!—Betty, wake up, Betty, Betty!

Hale: You cannot evade me, Abigail.—Did your cousin drink any of the brew in that kettle?

She never drank it

Hale: Did you drink it?

No, sir!

Hale: Did Tituba ask you to drink it?

She tried, but I refused.

Hale: Why are you concealing? Have you sold yourself to Lucifer?

I never sold myself! I am a good girl, I, I did drink of the kettle! She made me do it! She made Betty do it!

Abby: She made Betty do it!

Tituba: Abby!

She makes me drink blood!

Hale: You have sent your spirit out upon this child, have you not? Are you gathering souls for the Devil?

She send her spirit on me in church, she makes me laugh at prayer!

Parris: She have often laughed at prayer

She comes to me every night to go and drink blood!

Tituba: You beg me to conjure, Abby! She beg me make charm—

I’ll tell you something. She comes to me while I sleep; she’s always making me dream corruptions.

Abby: She’s always making me dream corruptions!

Tituba: Abby!

Sometimes I wake and find myself standing in the open doorway and not a stitch in my body! I always hear her laughing in my sleep. I hear her singing her Barbados songs and tempting me with—

Hale: God will bless you for your help..

I want to open myself. I want the light of God; I want the sweet love of Jesus. I danced for the Devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book. I go back to Jesus; I kiss His Hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil. I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil.