Abigail is a seventeen-year-old niece of Rev. Parris. She is malicious, caniving and a vengeful girl, who in an attempt to protect herself from punishment, instigates the Salem Witch trials and leads the charge of accusations. We see in the excerpt, that Abigail has no real regret of conjuring up spirits and will persevere to any lengths to discharge her name of witchcraft. She uses techniques such as ‘sympathy’, and ‘acting’ to address the matter brought up by Rev. Parris. These two techniques are emphasised throughout the play during Abigail’s time in court and while talking to John Procter and the jury.
Reverend Samuel Parris is depicted as weak, paranoid “Do you understand that I have my enemies?” and suspicious in the extract. He instigates the witchcraft paranoia when he finds his daughter and niece dancing in the woods with several other girls. Parris as a result is continually beset with fears that others conspire against him. We see that in the extract even though he ironically does not believe Abigail about doing dancing and witchcraft “I saw it!”,, he perpetuates all deception due to the fact that it is in his own self interest. This does show us the audience, that Rev Parris is not trustworthy as, if he can hide such a sinister thought of such from the community, he maybe holding many others, just to keep as Reverend of the town.
From the characters in this play, I feel Arthur Miller does want the audience to create abstract ideas from them. One character in particular, which is not mentioned in the extract, but is an influential character in the play is John Procter. I feel Miller uses The Crucible to express his views on what was happening in America when the play was written in 1950’s. The ‘Red Scare’ was result of Senator McCarthy wanting to receive public attention, through an anti-Soviet Campaign which searched for people working among others that believed in communist views or someone who might know of such a person became a common act. This crusade itself was based upon non-existent claims that some workers were communists. The hunting down and persecuting of supposed communists were a mere attempt to increase Senator McCarthy’s political base. But just like Abigail Williams, his grip on the situation soon crumbled, leaving him disturbed and dishonoured.
Arthur Miller engages the audience to a large extent, by toying with their emotions and allowing the audience to think about historical context of the play. For example at the end of each act Miller draws the curtain on the girls’ firing frenzy and false accusations of witchcraft against many women in Salem. Leaving the audience with climax at the end of each act enhances the play to be like a soap opera. This ensures that the audience gets deeper and deeper into the storyline. I feel, for a director to produce this play on stage is a huge task. Climatic scenes would have to be dealt with carefully to keep the audience interested, and the detail of the characters thought carefully to produce the full effect of this play. An extract such as the one given to me has to be analysed and such things as, lighting, sound, music, and actor look have to be taken in mind if the extract is to be produced successfully.
One of the main factors that I feel ,would be essential, if you were to produce this on stage is music. Music, is the key to producing the climatic scene in this extract. It can be very versatile and can be made to align with the director’s wants of music. Although already made, music would be an opportunity cost to fresh, new music, especially for this play. Apart from engaging the audience more, music also brings a sense of verisimilitude to the play. It makes the scene look like it is actually happening in reality. This as a result keeps the audience ‘hooked’ onto the scene until a climax occurs near the end of the extract. I would use music in my extract just before Mrs Putnam enters the scene. This is because throughout the extract, increasing amounts of anger between Abigail and Rev Parris has built up.
And to bring music in the scene and stop it when Mrs Putnam enters will result in the audience’s emotions to be dropped and then regained again. This results in music playing with peoples emotions like a ‘yo-yo’. This effect will result in the audience indulging more into the storyline. This is the climax of the extract and to bring in music would make this part of the play more significant, as it shows the makes the audience portray its first feelings for the characters.
Lighting also plays a key role in the production of this play. Spotlights on certain areas of the extract, such as when Abigail and Rev. Parris argue, about witchcraft “No one was naked…”,”I saw it!”, would put more emphasis on that particular moment. This technique singles both parties out, and as a result the audiences glare is on both Abigail and Rev. Parris. This effectively increases the tension and hostile atmosphere between both niece and uncle. Dim lighting will create a dark, sinister atmosphere. This will begin to increase the concentration of the actors, as it will come across as very tense both with an effective story line and climatic scenes.
Both the techniques mentioned will also play a big part on the dramatic irony of the play. The audience knows that Abigail has conjured spirits, but this is oblivious to Rev Parris. As a result of making the dramatic irony stand out, the audience begin themselves to build their own emotion for the characters, and this should last throughout the play.
A big help to the directors is the stage directions given in the book. This enables the actors to be one stop ahead of many people who are just given scripts. This should increase the performance of the acting, and this actively should increase the climax in the extract and play itself.
The look of individuals should be rectified and should allow then looking like men and women in the 1600’s. This is all apart of the delusion of making the play look verisimilistic, as the audience will not only get increased interest in the play, but they will also be able to visualise the historical context of which the play is set in.
In conclusion I feel that this extract does give us an insight on the play itself. Several significant themes emerge early in the play. One of these that Miller develops throughout the act is the capability for gossip and rumours to disseminate throughout the close-knit society of Salem. Miller establishes that Salem is a society in which little information is considered private; there is no line between public and private conduct, for all information is open to suspicion and question. This correlates to the McCarthy hearings, which probed into the lives of the suspected communists for evidence of their anti-American activity, no matter the actual relevance.
A second theme that Miller establishes is the ability of persons to choose whichever position suits their self-interest. Abigail Williams shows the ability to affirm or deny any charge against her, based entirely on whether it serves her needs, while Tituba, when charged with witchcraft, denies it only until she realises that admitting to the crime will save her from further punishment and that accusing others will shift the blame elsewhere. The shift of blame from one character to another will be a recurring plot point, as few characters will accept the consequences of their actions or directly confront the charges levelled against them.
