The audience’s realisation that Abigail has become too powerful for her own good is a well provoked response. As for the character herself: “Abigail enjoys playing God until the circumstances she sets in motion gain enough momentum to escape her control,” (Berardinelli). She is a convincing actress. This is unusual in that the audience already knows it is watching a play, but the actors are acting within the plot. Therefore the audience knows Abigail is lying, yet cannot do anything about it. In Act I she had controlled the girls physically, with a threat of stabbing, but now she controls them psychologically, which is infinitely more worrying. The audience now looks on her accusingly, so the scene is both angering and frustrating. As Abigail continues her performance regarding the ‘bird’, she brings the subject of religion back – “But God made my face…envy is a deadly sin, Mary.” The audience is reminded of the power that organised religion holds over Salem. The reference to ‘God’ shows Abigail is trying to manipulate the judges into believing she is pure and good and that Mary is guilty. This shows up religion to be a dangerous tool, as the people of Salem seem to believe anything that has even vague religious significance. Historically, the scene is an attack on McCarthy supporters and sympathisers. The “yellow bird” idea shows just how ridiculous the whole incident has become, almost like Margaret Chase Smith’s “Declaration of Conscience.”
The scene mainly expresses the pinnacle, then loss of control for Mary and Abigail, but, in a broader sense, the judges have also lost power. They are, like Abigail, the ones who gained power in the beginning because they were chosen to preside over the trials and can condemn those whom they think are guilty. They came to the town thinking they could “save” the people, maybe because they were used to achieving their goals. They didn’t realise the difficult task ahead of them because they were previously accustomed to being in control of the situation. As the audience begins to notice this, the drama increases because the loss of power to such important names is shocking and disorientating. The judges, Mary, and Abigail were all blinded by power and unknowingly allowed it to control them. They were trapped in circumstances that they could no longer escape. Mary wanted to confess and take back control of the situation but found that it was too late. Abigail lost the one thing she wanted because her own plans went out of control. The fear and paranoia took control of the situation and created madness in the village. It is then obvious to the audience, looking on helplessly, that nobody would escape, not even those who helped spark the madness.
Danforth is a good representation of the typical hardworking yet still wrong authority figure. He uses fear to question Mary and the girls, and it seems like he’s threatening them to make them say what he wants to hear. He doesn’t want to hear the truth. If he finds out, then all he stands for is also a lie, and he will lose his credibility and respect. The judges think they are abolishing the devil, but they are really condemning innocent people and sending them to their deaths. To the audience, it seems more like they are doing the work of the devil than the work of God. Even at the end, Danforth realizes how everything is getting out of control when Abigail starts accusing Reverend Hale’s wife. This shows the audience again how out of hand the situation has become and highlights the intensity of the on-stage conflict. It was essentially Abigail who started the air of mistrust in Salem in the first place. However she is guided not by malice, but by a misplaced, somewhat obsessive love. John Proctor, seemingly the noblest man in the play, is an adulterer whose own actions indirectly lead to the tragedy. He is moral only to a point, and his character faults make him easy to identify with to the audience so as to draw them in.
Mary Warren has, so far in the play, been part of the group of girls. It is only now, as she stands separated from the rest of the girls, that the audience sees her attempting to be an individual. This slight change of tone alerts the audience to pay closer attention in this particular scene, so it knows this is a major part of the play. At first, Mary seems pathetic and does not understand. The audience is compelled to sympathise with her, “Abby, I’m here!” but the tension increases as Mary gets more frustrated throughout the scene. Mary’s disbelief towards her friend is apparent through the dramatic stage directions. She delivers lines “on her feet with a spring, and horrified, pleading,” to show the intensity of the situation and this comes through not only in performance but on paper.
As Mary final succumbs to Abigail’s pressure and starts to play along with the display, she shocks everybody. Both Abigail and the audience know she is lying but this is a mental victory for Abigail – she has manipulated the situation enough to drive Mary to “see” the bird too. The audience realises Abigail has gone too far when Mary starts accusing John Proctor of being “the Devil’s man.” This is the ultimate insult yet the court believes everything she says. This is frustrating for the audience; at first Mary had been the accused and could not do anything to defend herself but as soon as she pointed the finger at somebody else, all charges against her were forgotten. Danforth is again shown in a poor light as he practically puts words into Mary’s mouth: “He bid you do the Devil’s work?” It is worth noting that the same was done to Tituba earlier in the play, when she was forced to confess. If the audience were to notice this, the tensity would be heightened but in the hysterical drama of the scene it is easily overlooked. Abigail is now controlling the girls psychologically; through her sly act with the “bird”, and physically through her forceful movements (“she and the girls run to one wall, shielding their eyes…they let out a gigantic scream”). John Proctor joins in with the dramatic hysteria by proclaiming, “God is dead!” This shows that he is still the honourable figure who can see the situation for what it really is – a farce. He means to say that what ‘God’ represents, all that is good and pure, is no more in the village and that the ‘Devil’ might as well have taken over. But, being narrow-minded Puritans, the congregation takes his statement to mean that he is consorting with the Devil and more accusations start. The effect this has on the audience is limited, as tension can only build so much in a scene without the circumstances seeming rather eccentric. Proctor’s short monologue following this statement, in which he accuses the judges of “fraud” and admits the situation was partly his fault for allowing it to go so far, is successful in closing the delirium through irony. It seems he is the only person to give a reasonable opinion in the scene, yet he is cruelly ordered to the jail. The audience is left questioning Proctor’s, and Abigail’s, fate as the scene concludes on a dramatic cliff-hanger.
Arthur Miller knew that paranoia would always be present in the world, whether justified or not, and used this as a theme in “The Crucible” to engage an audience from any background. The main themes – fear and suspicion - could be related to by Miller’s original audience in the 1950’s, who were living under the Red Scare, or even a modern audience under threat of terrorism such as in parts of Northern Ireland. The universally recognised themes are major factors in creating tension in the play, for if the audience did not understand where Miller was coming from then any additional linguistic or dramatic devices would not be fully appreciated. Linguistically, Miller’s use of repetition and varying tone serve to add to the dramatic tension already created by the setting and the well-developed characters. Movement and stage directions play a major part in the play, as is a tendency of Miller, and are used to good effect. Whilst given much guidance from the script, actors and directors are allowed freedom to unfold the scene at the speed they choose and can decide on whether to use such props as the celebrated yellow bird. This artistic discretion is an essential part in the way the play has been presented differently since it was first published, and allows the dramatic tension to develop to full effect within each scene and beyond.
