The opening lines of Arthur Miller's The Crucible contain mentions of "unnatural things" as an explanation for a mysterious ailment. The early lines of the play draw the audience into the strange and disorienting place where the characters of The Crucible must currently live, where, apparently, one can fall sick without explanation. The lack of understanding that characterizes the conversation between Susanna and Parris intensifies into something even more dark and mysterious as soon as Abigail mentions witchcraft.

This atmosphere of confusion is an ideal backdrop against which growing hysteria and tension begins to impact the characters in the play and the members of the audience. Mysterious goings-on and dark magic are instantly implied in a few choice phrases, and the familiar setting of a bedroom in a house in which these lines are spoken heightens the confusion. Such a room is supposed to be a safe place of rest, but the atmosphere created by these words is too foreboding to feel safe and restful.

The beginn ing of the play portrays a secene of worrying and fear, when Betty Parris is shown bedridden, having had frightening fits and symptoms that are attributed to her being bewitched. The young girls, Betty's friends, who have been playing at black magic with Tituba, a slave from Barbados, are behaving in a secretive and agitated manner, since they are afraid they may be blamed for Betty's condition. Their activities with Titube are forbidden and they are worried about being caught. Ironically, instead of being punished for disobeying or sneaking out late at night, they become key witnesses and court officials in the trials of the townspeople accused of witchcraft.