To fully understand the story, it is important to have knowledge of the social and historical context.
The Crucible is a play written in the early 1950’s based on the truth of the accusations and trials of witchcraft in Salem around 1692. The main story line of the Crucible concentrates on a group of girls who are believed to have had an encounter with witchcraft. People of Salem were unable to find any evidence of medical illness, which these days we may class as ‘psychosomatic’, so they had no other option but to blame the dramatic change of behaviour of these girls on the Devil or Satan. This led to trials and convictions, hanging and jail sentences. Miller used real data and facts, from past convictions and court records to create characters based on the actual events. He admits however that very little was known of the characters; “They may therefore be taken as creations of my own, drawn to the best of my ability in conformity with their known behaviour”.
In The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses drama to capture the audience in an exciting play based on witchcraft and lies. Although history tells us that the events and the people were real, he develops and manipulates the facts and characters to suit his interpretation of events. Miller uses stage directions to set the scene; he describes the tone of voice as being either loud or quiet to reflect the characters personality or emotion, such as calm, despair, anger, fear etc. Miller is able to manipulate the audience by setting these scenes giving the story a highly charged emotional feel to it. The sets and costumes are used to depict the 1600’s and the attitudes and beliefs of the Puritans. Miller leads us to believe with his descriptions that this was a simple life style and any type of luxuries would be seen as sinful. The direction is excellent in the way it describes the characters tone of voice, the screaming, the shouting and the rising panic as the story progresses.
To fully understand the story, it is important to have knowledge of the social and historical context.
Arthur Miller’s use of stage directions, contribute greatly to the audience’s view on the atmosphere and mood within Act 1. He uses strong language to enlighten the audience, and to add a large amount of creativity and imagination into the opening stages of The Crucible. The beginning of the play starts with the place, date and who is involved, which straight away informs the audience. We are told it is spring, this can signify new life and new beginning but as the reader continues, they are in a dark room, with only a narrow window and a burning candle, which can be used to signify hope. But the gloomy room, bare of furniture also gives a dark, miserable mood. Words such as raw, un-mellowed and rough are used, which indicates un-cared for and violence, which yet again creates a sinister, yet mysterious atmosphere.
As each character is introduced he uses the stage directions to define their movement, expression and feeling. The first character we are informed of is Reverend Parris whom is described as “discovered kneeling beside the bed, evidently in prayer”. This explains a lot about the first character, and will adjust the audiences view on what to expect. When a person is kneeling, they are most commonly begging or in despair, which reflects the current mood of the character. Evidently, meaning clearly, would suggest he is not praying in silence, but out loud, in anguish or disorder. Already a characters personality and mood can be highlighted by one sentence, which Miller has done carefully and intelligently. As more characters are added, you start to see emotion between the characters. Parris’s slave is introduced as “his Negro slave”. This shows, she is thought low of. “She enters as one does who can no longer be barred from the sight of her beloved, but she is also very frightened” again we have an immediate idea of the qualities of our character, the Negro slave, Tituba. Tituba is shown to be a caring, loving but timid woman who shows kindness and warmth, but at the same time she cowers and she frets that the blame is going to land on her back. This illustrates rivalry, conflict and fear early in the play, hinting vagueness and suspicion.
In Act 1, Parris believes he caught the girls dancing in the forest. Abigail retreats in “innocence” and “terror”. Parris accuses Abigail, unwillingly as he is worried about his reputation within the village, as dancing in the forest would of involved witchcraft and interaction with Satin. In the era of when The Crucible was based, religion was a large part of the community, as were the 10 commandments. When Abigail encounters Proctor in Act 1, the stage directions are well chosen and it highlights the relationship between the two feisty characters. Miller describes there actions as; a nervous laugh, winningly she comes a little closer, his smile widening, tauntingly, now softening ect. This affair between Abigail and Proctor will eventually cause great conflict in the village as it is adultery.
Reverend Hale’s role in the play is to originally cure of find the illness of Betty. But instead he is described as “stiring the witchcraft cauldron that is brewing in Salem Village”. Arthur Miller uses words and phrases such as; narrowing his eyes, holding up his hands, surprised, quickly, grasping, rising exhilaration, kindly ect. This describes Reverend Hale’s character well, as he is a do-gooder within the village. Miller emphasises his importance, by making his character loud, expressive yet good hearted. He makes sure the audience is aware of Hale’s importance, by making him a figure to look up to, someone that people can see God in, and by making people confess to him he is showing the power he has.
Parris’s status within the community should be an example to others, but is slowly withering as the accusations of witchcraft within his village and family drag him down. The farmers Proctor, Putnam and Giles, are all below Parris in society. They are the main male characters in the play and because Parris is higher up in society, he remains the loneliest out of the four; this is significant as he knows he cannot cope with all the stress as a single parent and guardian, and a reverend Salem relies on.
As previously written, Hale was confessed to by Tituba. She confessed to seeing Satin towards the end of Act 1. Her confession was dramatic and Miller emphasised this well by using language such as; weeps, sobbing in terror, falls to her knees, frightened, suddenly bursting out, in a fury ect. Influenced by the forgiveness given to Tituba, this is significant as she is setting an example and giving ideas to the girls. Abigail copies calling out accusations, as assumed and for example she shouts; “I saw Sarah Good with the devil!” ect. Scared and confused girls followed in Abigail’s actions and began calling out accusations as well. The girls soon figure that lying, pretending and accusing others, will take the limelight from them and they will soon be seen as victims and witnesses of Satin.
In conclusion, Arthur Miller’s stage directions in the play, The Crucible, create drama and inform the audience about the nature of the society in Salem. He uses them effectively to create instant excitement and effect as well as defining the characters in detail. The characters are however Millers own creation and through his direction they add drama to the story. The language used in the play highlights the lack of communication in its simplicity and distances itself from the twenty first century. The people in Salem lived solely by their religion and were unable to accept anything that may defy their beliefs. It also showed the lies and deceit that people created to protect their own name and standing in society. Arthur Miller has managed to skilfully tell the story according to historic facts whilst adding his own portrayal of characters to attract audiences today.