In the opening scene of the play, Betty Parris, Reverend Parris's daughter, is lying motionless on her bed while her father desperately prays by her bedside. Betty Parris was dancing in the forest with Abigail and the other local girls the previous night when her father caught them participating in the forbidden act. Ever since Reverend Parris discovered the girls dancing, Betty has been lying inert. Reverend Parris and the other citizens believe that Betty's illness is a result of witchcraft. When Reverend Parris leaves the room, Abigail attempts to wake Betty, who ends up leaving bed and attempting to fly out the window. Betty is not the only girl in Salem with a mysterious illness at the beginning of the play. Ruth Putnam is also inert on her bed, and her parents believe that she has also been cursed by an evil spell.

Chronologically speaking, the play begins after the girls (Betty, Abigail, Mary Warren, and others) have been dancing in the woods at night. Act One opens with Reverend Parris kneeling at the bed while his daughter, Betty, lies on the bed "inert." Parris is a widower. Before any dialogue takes place, Arthur Miller provides a narrative section in which Reverend Parris is introduced and described as a man who "cut a villainous path, and there is very little good to be said for him." When the dialogue beings, Titbua approaches and retreats, asking if Betty is going to be okay. Parris yells at her to leave. There are many references to Betty lying, sick and/or unconscious on the bed after the dialogue begins: 

PARRIS . . . Quaking with fear, mumbling to himself through his sobs, he goes to the bed and gently takes Betty's hand. Betty. Child. Dear child. Will you wake, will you open up your eyes!