man for the Salem min-istry was Bayley. The Nurse clan had been in the faction that prevented Bayley's taking office. In addition, certain families allied to the Nurses by blood or friendship, and whose farms were contiguous with the Nurse farm or close to it, combined to break away from the Salem town authority and set up Topsfield, a new and independent entity whose existence was resented by old Salemites. That the guiding hand behind the outcry was Putnam's is indicated by the fact that, as soon as it began, this Topsfield-Nurse-faction absented themselves from church in protest and disbelief.It was Edward and Jonathan Putnam who signed the first complaint against Rebecca; and Thomas Putnam's little daughter was the one who fell into a fit at the hearing and pointed to Rebecca as her attacker. To top it all, Mrs. Putnam - who is now staring at the bewitched child on the bed - soon accused Rebecca's spirit of tempting her to iniquity, a charge that had more truth in it than Mrs. Putnam could know.

It is clear, therefore, that Anne Putnam's resentment was borne not only out of her jealousy with regard to Rebecca's success in raising babies, but also that the Nurses were seen as enemies. Also, with them out of the picture, Thomas could purchase their land at auction once it has been declared forfeit to the state. The Putnams would have killed two birds with one stone.

Miller's ironic concluding note in the above extract asserts that it is Anne Putnam who turned to evil, contrary to her resolute attempts to prove that it was the other way round.

Ann Putnam is a very jealous woman. She holds a grudge against many of the people in Salem. When all of the talk about witchcraft comes to town, she sees her opportunity to accuse one of the people she holds a grudge against the most.

Rebecca Nurse is one of the most respected citizens in Salem. She is kind and has a warm heart. She has been the midwife for Ann for many of her births. Ann has had eight children, and all but one has died at birth. She is angry and jealous. Rebecca Nurse has many children and grandchildren, and Ann is now seeing her chance to make Ann pay. Ann knows that Tituba practices voodoo, so when the hysteria breaks out, she lays the foundations for the accusations of Tituba and Rebecca Nurse.

"Reverend Parris, I have laid seven babies unbaptized in the earth. Believe me, sir, you never saw more hearty babies born. And yet, each would wither in my arms the very night of their birth. I have spoken nothin', but my heart has clamored intimations. And now, this year, my Ruth, my only- I see her turning strange. A secret child she has become this year, and shrivels like a sucking mouth were pullin' on her life too. And so I thought to send her to your Tituba"

Here she is setting up the accusations that she believes that there was a supernatural murder of her babies, and that Rebecca Nurse was behind all of it, using witchcraft.

Anne Putman (also referred to as Mrs. Putnam, Goody Putnam, or Goody Ann) has a massive grudge against Becky Nurse because Goody Nurse has 11 children and over 26 grandchildren (albeit, at a relatively young age), and in contrast Mrs. Putnam has had nine children, all of which have died, except for one girl. Now, that one girl, Ruth has what appear to be petit mals, or seizures, and Goody Putnam is very angry that Becky enjoys the pleasures of motherhood while Ann has seen all her children die. As a result, the upcoming witch hunt will bring everyone and their cousin down. Ann takes that opportunity to hint at the fact that Goody Nurse is a witch and for this reason she says the phrase:

You think it God’s work you should never lose a child, nor grandchild either, and bury all but one? There are wheels within wheels in this village! And fire within fires!

This is basically a direct accusation stating that Becky is protected by a supernatural power to not go through the pains and tribulations that Anne has gone trough.

Mrs. Putnam’s jealousy of Rebecca Nurse stems from the fact that Mrs. Putnam has had many children die in childbirth, while Rebecca Nurse has had no problem bearing children. Ultimately, this leads to the accusation of Rebecca Nurse for witchcraft, for which she is sentenced and hanged. This conflict is laid out from the beginning, when Mrs. Putnam admits that she had sent her daughter, Betty, to Tituba to find out who killed her seven children, who all died in childbirth. Rebecca Nurse, on the other hand, reveals that she has “eleven children” and is “twenty-six times a grandma.” Mrs. Putnam cannot accept that God would be so kind to one person and cruel to another, so she blames her own children’s deaths on witchcraft rather than believing the more rational explanation that they died from natural causes. At first, she places the blame on Goody Osburne, who was midwife to three of those children. Later, though, because of her jealousy, Mrs. Putnam accuses Rebecca Nurse of witchcraft. Frances Nurse reveals this in Act II, when he says that Rebecca Nurse was charged “for the marvelous and supernatural murder of Goody Putnam’s babies.” Though Rebecca Nurse is one of the most respected women in Salem, Mrs. Putnam needs someone to blame, and because Rebecca Nurse has been so fruitful in bearing children, she is an easy target.

Mrs. Putnam has lost seven of her eight children within the first day of their births.  Miller describes her as "a twisted soul of forty-five, a death-ridden woman, haunted by dreams."  She is desperate to understand why so many of her children have perished, and, in her desperation, she sent her one surviving daughter, Ruth, to Tituba, Parris's Barbadian slave, to see if they could conjure the spirits of her dead babies and find out what happened to them.  She is a woman who is very ready to believe in the possibility that witches exist in Salem, and that they have used their magic against her. 

Rebecca Nurse, on the other hand, has been extremely lucky.  She has lost not one child or grandchild to death, and for this reason alone, Mrs. Putnam is extremely envious of her and a little suspicious of her too.  Rebecca is much less willing to accept the possibility that there are witches in Salem, and when she learns that Parris has sent for an expert on witches, Mr. Hale, to find out why some of the local girls are ill, she says,

I think we ought to rely on the doctor now, and good prayer [....].  If [the doctor is baffled] then let us go to God for the cause of it.  There is prodigious danger in the seeking of loose spirits.  I fear it, I fear it.  Let us rather blame ourselves [...] --

Rebecca is calm and kind and devout.  She believes that, if the community struggles, they should look to themselves for the cause of it.  Mrs. Putnam interprets this as Rebecca's judgment on her, and she feels she's done nothing to warrant losing seven babies.  In anger, she cries,

You think it God's work you should never lose a child, nor a grandchild either, and I bury all but one?  There are wheels within wheels in this village, and fires within fires!

Thus, the personal becomes the political for Mrs. Putnam.  Because she needs an answer as to why she's lost seven children, she looks to any possible explanation, and, having exhausted her meager resources, she assumes that witchcraft must be at the root of it.  She is frustrated and grieved, and she vents her pain at Rebecca because Rebecca advocates for reason and medicine instead of an exploration of the supernatural.