“The Crucible”

The language of the play is violent and old fashioned to emphasise the claustrophobia of Salem and people who were all being condemned by everyone else. After the Second World War everyone in America was paranoid about a third world war starting. The Americans thought that some of the people in America were communists. So Miller writes a play that parallels the two events (Salem witch trials, America in 1950, "Communist witch hunts".

The whole play is very dramatic. The play begins in Act 1 with Betty Paris in a trance or a coma and next to her is her father Rev Paris who is so desperate, to get his daughter better, he calls for Rev Hale from a nearby village. The Act concludes with a dramatic last couple of minutes when Tituba cries out she is with the Devil and starts to name others she has seen with the Devil (So her punishment isn't as severe). Then Abigail follows and starts to name others, so she isn't named. Then Betty Paris makes a quick recovery and start' to name others, so she isn't named. The scene ends with Betty Paris going back into a trance.

Act Two is also a very dramatic act. Act Two is set in John Proctor's farmhouse. There is a lot of tension between Elizabeth and John as there has been since John slept with Abigail Williams. Mary Warren, the servant of the house, returns from the court in Salem. When she returns she gives Elizabeth Proctor a poppet, which she had made earlier that day, she also presents Elizabeth with the news she was accused of witchcraft. Then there a dramatic couple of minutes and tension builds when Rev Hale arrives and examines John and Elizabeth. He asks John if he knows his Ten Commandments. When John forgets one of the Ten Commandments (the do not commit adultery one). Rev Hale then expects John of committing adultery, and we know John has committed adultery when he slept with Abigail Williams has done, and he begins to think John is not as religious as his wife. Then the tension in the act falls and there is a short moment of relaxation. But just as Rev Hale is about to leave, and do nothing of the incident, the police arrive and arrest Elizabeth because she was accused of witchcraft. This act ends with John Procter wrestling with Mary Warren because John Proctor is trying to get Mary Warren to accuse Abigail of witchery.

In Act Three there is suspense and reversal. In this act John tries to rescue Elizabeth but by the end of this act the positions are reversed, so John trying to save his wife Elizabeth leads to his own arrest, and John is arrested. Elizabeth is kept in because John swears that he committed the crime of lechery and Elizabeth told her first ever lie saying that he didn't. After they take Elizabeth back John still tries to plead that she is innocent and at first Mary Warren sticks up for John, saying she gave Elizabeth the Poppet, but towards the end of the act Mary Warren turns (this is another dramatic reversal) and goes against John and she shouts out that John is the Devil's man. The act concludes with John being arrested and Hale leaves the court (this is a reversal again because when Hale first arrived he was in charge then he left).

Act Four is the last act in the play so as you would expect there are several different moments of suspense and dramatic scenes and there is also some reversal in this act too. In act four, there is reversal again because Hale returns. This time Hale returns a changed man, he advises lying to save lives. In John and Elizabeth's final scene Elizabeth begs forgiveness.

Two characters that change are Hale and John Proctor. They are both strong characters and the fact they change so dramatically is because of the horror of the Salem witch-hunts. Miller wrote the play because during the McCarthy witch-hunts of the 1950s he was victim to the paranoid reactions of insecure leaders who felt threatened from outside by communism and tried to stop freedom of thought. Salem was a theocracy and felt threatened by independent thinkers and to protect the power base took accusations of children seriously.

One of the most tense scenes is in act two when there is tension between John and Elizabeth. The reason this scene is so dramatic is because the why the tension builds up. The tension and suspense starts when Hale arrives at the proctor's farmhouse. We see that John is nervous about the event from the start when he says nervously "We are not used to visitors after dark, but you're welcome here." The scenes tension starts to build up when Hale tell's the proctors that Rebecca has accused Elizabeth of witchery. He asks John if he knows his Ten Commandments. When John forgets one of the Ten Commandments (the do not commit adultery one). Rev Hale then expects John of committing adultery, and we know John has committed adultery when he slept with Abigail Williams has done, and he begins to think John is not as religious as his wife. Then the tension in the act falls and there is a short moment of relaxation. But just as Rev Hale is about to leave, and do nothing of the incident, the police arrive and arrest Elizabeth because she was accused of witchcraft (the tension then rises).

Terry Thornhill