The extract I’m studying lays the foundations for the rest of the play, upon which the story line is built on. It is in the first act and comprehends the first pages of the play. The excerpt shows the audience the first lies told in the play by Abigail. Betty Parris is still unconscious and is thought to be possessed by spirits. Abigail is denying any suspicion of her conjuring spirits. She is opposing against her uncle, saying he has mistaken himself of what he saw in the forest, ‘ You mistake yourself uncle.’ Her Uncle Rev Parris is determined to get to the bottom of this fiasco, due to the fact that his place in society is at stake, and his daughter life is at stake.
From the passage we can see some light shed on the characters. This sticks with each of them throughout the play.
The two main characters in the extract are Abigail Williams and Rev Parris.
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 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, 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 searches for people working among 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 supposed communists were a mere attempt to increase Senator McCarthy’s political base. But just like Abigail Williams, his grapple of 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 one 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 the audience
