In the first act of "The Crucible" I think we see a powerstruggle going on, on diffrent areas in the community. As well as a mixture of fear, confusion and lack of knowledge of the supposed witch-treath sweeping over the village.Powerstruggle as in that the Putmans are trying to get Parris away from his position as minister. This is because they feel that he took the position away from a familiy member. And Abigail is trying to use witchcraft to get John Proctor for herself and away from his wife. She is also using the fact that they did have a sexual encounter to blackmail him. This is something he is trying to put and end to ass he feels guilty.
The main issue of the village is the many disagreements and grudges that are stirring under the surface are causing a lot of problems. Nearly everyone is using the fear of witchcraft to get what they want and ruin something for others in the village. And as we see in the end of act one, the girls start blaming other people, innocent people. They are selfish and way in over their heads.
As the first act goes on we see that nearly every person in the village has a hidden agenda and what those evolve into, we will see in the end.
