The corrupt characters in Salem are one way how Miller creates dramatic tension throughout “The Crucible”. Miller describes Salem as a very strict puritanical society, as a result of this it meant that the people of Salem where of different classes to each other. There were some people in Salem who had more power and control over other people in the community, such as the judges in the court and the religious leader of Salem, Parris. The characters of the judges and Parris are irresponsible and corrupt; this causes mischief and tension in Salem. Miller portrays Parris as a week greedy man who tries to blacken a good man’s name. Parris’s ignorance is shown when he hides the vital evidence of him witnessing the girls dancing and conjuring spirits in the woods from everyone in the court. He doesn’t want anyone to know of this because his daughter Betty, and his niece Abigail, where part of the girls who were in the woods and if people knew about his family members dancing in the woods it would ruin his reputation in Salem. Instead of Parris defending the people accused he goes against them and starts supporting the prosecutors. It is a well known fact in Salem that Parris doesn’t get on well with John Proctor. In Act 1 John Proctor is reluctant to go to church because Paris predominantly preaches, “hellfire and bloody damnation”. Parris tries to blacken John’s name by telling everyone in court about how John doesn’t attend church, “such a Christian that will not come to church but once a month”. Parris knows that this comment will especially hurt John’s reputation because the people of Salem live in a strict puritanical society and not coming to church could be related as a sign of the devil’s work. Parris repeatedly tries to assure Danforth that Proctor is not a good man, he uses phrases against Proctor that Danforth would take serious insult to, “they’ve come to overthrow the court, sir!” The judges in the court rooms of Salem are also corrupt. In this play the court is a metaphoric symbol of the title of the play, “The Crucible”, the court is set up to purify the people of Salem from the devil’s work. Miler shows irony in the play, instead of the court “purifying” the people of Salem the court is doing the devil’s work. This is because of corrupt judges such as Danforth and especially judge Harthorne. The judges are prosecuting people for an invisible crime; they have no visual evidence or facts to make a conclusion. Instead the judges’ bully the people accused with their sophisticated language and powerful presence. These corrupt characters with significant power in Salem cause tension because they allow the witch trials to occur and also permit people getting executed for an invisible crime.
The variety of dialect the characters have in “The Crucible” is one way how Miller creates dramatic tension throughout the play. Miller portrays characters who are contrasting to each other such as the characters of Danforth and Giles. Miller describes Danforth as a very well respected powerful strict judge; his characteristics are reflected by the way Danforth speaks. Danforth uses sophisticated dialect; he uses complicated words such as “affidavit”, “procedure” and “contemptuous”. On the other hand Miller describes Giles as an old, unstable unintelligent man. This is revealed when Giles speaks, he uses unsophisticated casual language. This difference in dialect between the characters creates tension for the audience because the audience feels that Giles has no chance in defending himself with words that are merely unable to trouble the intelligent vocabulary of Danforth. The character of Danforth seems to have the ability to intimidate and dominate someone with the intelligence of Giles. This dominance in character creates tension to the audience.
Miller builds up tension in a very dramatic scene were Mary is rooted to the spot when she is asked to pretend to faint by the judges in court. Mary is very nervous and petrified; Miller shows this tension by the way Mary speaks. Mary stutters in her speech, she speaks in a lot of short sentences and repeatedly gets interrupted by other more dominant characters. Miller also shows tension created by speech later on in Act 3 when all the girls repeat Mary’s pleading cries of innocence. The girls repeating everything Mary says builds up an atmosphere of dramatic tension because it is as though the girls are bewitched by Mary’s invisible powers which is in itself ridiculous.
Miller creates tension throughout “The Crucible” with the short size of sentences his characters speak. This type of tension can clearly be witnessed in Act 4 when Proctor and Elizabeth talk together alone. Miller builds up the tension by Proctor and Elizabeth speaking to each other in very short sentences. The audience can recognize it is a very emotional scene; there are many pauses in their conversations which gives it a feeling of unease. The conversation between Proctor and Elizabeth raises the tension greatly as their great love for each other is evident, but Proctor’s infidelity still hangs over them. Out of his love for her, he finally agrees to confess, this gives John Proctor a hero’s image of him sacrificing everything for his beloved family. It is clear that Miller wants to show us a man that dies honourably and nobly despite the fact that he has previously sinned. It is ironic that Elizabeth Proctor should put forward many of the key arguments that prompt John Proctor into accepting his fate. Proctor’s fate is one that captures the audience’s sympathy and takes us to a sad but ultimately moral ending.
The loyalty and integrity of the characters formed by Miller is one way how dramatic tension is created throughout “The Crucible”. In the play Miller creates two types of characters, the good characters and the bad characters. There are many good honest characters in “The Crucible”. Their loyalties are tested by the witch trials in Salem, especially the loyalty of Giles and John Proctor. Miller describes Giles as an old unintelligent man, but the audience recognize his goodness when he refuses to give the names of his friends so they don’t get involved in the prosecutions of the witch trials. Elizabeth describes to John about Giles gruesome death, Giles showed his loyalty until the very end of his role in the play ordering the foul people to give him “more weight” so he can die with honour. There are many parts of the play where the audience sees John Proctor’s loyalty. In the society of Salem John is known as a descent, influential respectful man. In the beginning of the play we learn about John’s affair with Abigail. John is sickened by the sin that he committed and until the end of the play he never forgave himself for his affair. John hated himself for what he did. In Act 3 John looses control of his temper with Abigail when she refers to God, “Oh heavenly Father, take away this shadow!” Miller shows John’s passion for his religion because John is appalled with the insolence of Abigail, “How do you call Heaven! Whore! Whore!” This is one of the tensest parts in the whole play. John out of his complete disgust of the wit of Abigail referring to God after everything she has done makes him absolutely furious. With his statement Proctor knows the significance of what he had said, he has given away his good name, the people of Salem would be disgusted with Proctor, he has given away al his pride and honour, just to save the lives of his trustworthy friends and to preserve God’s good name. The comment by John causes outrage and shock in the court, Danforth is especially surprised, he asks John: (dumbfounded) “In what time? In what place?” John shows his loathing with himself when he replies, “Where my beasts are bedded”. This shows how horrendous he feels his actions where with Abigail; he illustrates it with physical descriptions of him being a “beast”. When Danforth starts to doubt John’s accusation, John being the honourable man he is puts up the argument: “I have made a bell of my honour! I have rung the doom of my good name!” Danforth orders proof from John’s truthful wife, unfortunately Elizabeth lies out of her good will, and Danforth is convinced that John lied to the court despite Hail’s pleading protests of it being “a natural lie to tell”. Proctor is further more embarrassed and enraged when the weak character of Mary turns against him and calls him the “devil’s man”. Mary somehow convinces everyone in the court (except Hail) that Proctor threatened her to go with him and to “overthrow the court”. Danforth is disgusted with Proctor’s idea of overthrowing the court. Proctor now realises that everything he tries to do to defend his friends and family get turned against him, everyone except for Hail is against him and finally he gives into the pressure and immorality, “I say - I say – God is dead!” Danforth orders Proctor and Corey to jail after hearing Proctor’s furious insults to the corrupt people of Salem allowing the ridiculous witch trials to occur. The next time the audience meet Proctor, Miller describes him as a totally different man. Miller gives the audience the impression that Proctor has become a defeated man, “his eyes misty as though webs have overgrown in them”. After John having an emotional conversation with Elizabeth he decides to confess with the judges that he has confronted with the devil. John is very embarrassed with himself confessing to lies when Rebecca enters the scene. John is ashamed with himself because he seems like a weak character in front of his friend Rebecca who refuses to confess too such ridiculous lies. Danforth pleads to John for the names of the people he saw with the devil, John’s loyalty is shown when he refuses to give any names to Danforth, “I cannot judge another. I have no tongue for it”. Proctor is forced to sign the confession with his name but refuses to give it to Danforth because he can’t bare the people of Salem to witness his disgraced name on top of the church door. Proctor doesn’t want to give his name because it would ruin his family’s reputation and honour, “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life!”
The last page of “The Crucible” is where Miller creates the most tension in the play; he uses a mixture of techniques to do this, Proctor’s final dramatic defiance against the court, Rebecca Nurses “almost collapse”, the suspenseful speech directions and Hale’s desperate pleading. Offered the opportunity to make a public confession of his guilt and live, he almost succumbs, even when signing a written confession. His immense pride and fear of public opinion compelled him to withhold his adultery from the court, but by the end of the play he is more concerned with his personal integrity than his public reputation. Proctor still wants to save his name, but for personal and religious reasons, rather than public reasons. Proctor’s refusal to provide a false confession is a true religious and personal stand. Such a confession would dishonour his fellow prisoners, who are brave enough to die as testimony to the truth. Perhaps more relevantly, a false admission would also dishonour him, staining not just his public reputation, but also his soul. By refusing to give up his personal integrity Proctor implicitly proclaims his conviction that such integrity will bring him to heaven, “I do think I see some goodness in John Proctor”. He goes to the gallows redeemed for his earlier sins. As Elizabeth says to end the play, responding to Hale’s plea that she convince Proctor to publicly confess: “He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!” Miller uses speech directions and descriptions of action in the play to create an atmosphere of tension throughout “The Crucible”. In the last page of the play Miller uses speech directions to show how desperate Hail is to stop Proctor from hanging himself, Miller shows him “dropping to his knees” to show his desperation. Hail does all he can to stop Proctor from hanging and surprisingly so too does Parris, this creates tension because even Parris, who hated Proctor, wants the ridiculous hangings to stop because they have gone out of control. Miller describes the beating of the drum rolls to create an atmosphere of suspense, the drum rolls are a gradual sign of the music of Proctor’s heroic yet tragic death.