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!
– Arthur Miller
The Crucible, Act 1. The act ends in dramatic fashion when the Parris house erupts into a fever of hysteria as opportunistic Abigail displays her power as a puppet master. She has just seen the slave Tituba win praise from Hale for her witchcraft confession. To get herself out of trouble, Abby decides to confess also and shout out the names of women she saw with the Devil. This triggers Betty to rise from her bed and cry out hysterically and name more names. Between them they falsely accuse eleven women of consorting with Satan. From then on Abby is the leader and master manipulator of the group of young girls who provide false testimony to the witch trials. There are considerable parallels between this scene and the false accusations and mass hysteria that surrounded the McCarthy era communist witch hunt.