In Act 3 of 'The Crucible' consider how Miller usesCharacter, language and dramatic devices to create tensionAnd explore the plays social and historical context.
English Literature Coursework: Post 1914 Drama Iram Ali
Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible'
In Act 3 of 'The Crucible' consider how Miller uses
Character, language and dramatic devices to create tension
And explore the plays social and historical context.
The Crucible is the study in the mass hysteria which led to the 1692 Salem witchcraft trials, concentrating on the fate of some of the key figures caught up in the persecution. It powerfully depicts people and principles under pressure, and the issues and motivations involved. At the same time it is also clearly a parable for the events of the McCarthy era in the USA of the 1950s when anyone suspected of left wing views was arraigned for ' un American activities'
'The Crucible' consists of many dramatic acts involving a lot of tension but Act III is significant to the whole play as it involves a lot of dramatic irony and anxiety. Act III is opened with a build up a tension from the previous act where Elizabeth Proctor is accused of witchcraft and taken away by the court. This immediately builds up tension to the next act as the audience wait for the trial.
The structural importance is an important key aspect involved in Act III as it creates tensions and contrasts in with the next event. This creates the right atmosphere for upcoming episodes such as the news of Elizabeth's pregnancy and what influence it could have on her fate. Act III consists of many emotions such as guilt, regression, anger and hope. Each character changes within the act depending on their individual circumstances. Proctor is known to be a good man but then he is forced to admit to adultery, his wife Elizabeth a very honest woman is forced to lie for her husband and Abigail still continues the same throughout Act III with her dramatic character unable to change in her circumstances.
In the opening of Act III Giles, an elderly but honest farmer is being held and forced into the vestry by Herrick, Hale enters and sees the aggravation that this is causing Giles and tells them both to be calm. "They'll be hanging' my wife!" Giles reveals that his wife is to be hanged; this signals tension that a argument is about to come in between some of the characters
Giles's entrance creates elements of suspense and tension. We first see this when he breaks in roaring "I have evidence for the court". His tone and straight to the point language suggests that he is desperate to save his wife despite the fact he is in a court room and his behaviour is not acceptable. The fact that he claims he has evidence builds up tension in the audience as to whether or not this can change the trial.
Judge Harthone, a hard and unforgiving man then enters shouting at Giles for creating such a scene "Arrest him Excellency!" by Harthone's commands we see his superiority. Danforth and Giles then have a disputed conversation where Giles gets pretty upset and he is "beginning to weep" as shown in the stage directions on page 69. Giles's break down shows that he has broken down from anger to weeping from the desperation to save his wife from being hanged by speaking in her defence. "Your hearing lies, lies!" Giles's use of language is very concise and shows that he is not wasting any time by showing respect to the court, this builds up a lot of tension as his behaviour is the opposite to Francis, Giles's approach is very dramatic. The suspense lies within the audience to whether or not his behaviour will have any effect on his wife's trial.
Francis's approach to pleading for his wife is very different; he is calm and polite showing respect to the jury. Francis shocks Danforth as he speaks on his wife's behalf Rebecca Nurse accusing the girls' of "deceiving the court we have proof of it sir, they are all deceiving you". Yet again, this builds up more tension to whether his evidence will save his wife.
The whole episode of Giles and Francis speaking up for their wives' builds up tension and suspense to whether their words or evidence could have an impact on the trial. They are completely on their own fighting for their wives' this shows how hard it was for innocent people to try and prove their innocence back in the 1950's, against people with power like Danforth's.
Danforth continues to question Francis until Proctor and Mary Warren enter to serve as proof for the court that the girls' are frauds. "Did you not . . . sick in bed?" ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
The whole episode of Giles and Francis speaking up for their wives' builds up tension and suspense to whether their words or evidence could have an impact on the trial. They are completely on their own fighting for their wives' this shows how hard it was for innocent people to try and prove their innocence back in the 1950's, against people with power like Danforth's.
Danforth continues to question Francis until Proctor and Mary Warren enter to serve as proof for the court that the girls' are frauds. "Did you not . . . sick in bed?" Danforth is shocked and questions Mary's presence; this also creates tension to whether to what Mary has to say will have an influence on the attempt to expose the girls.
Danforth little questions Proctor about the reasons why Mary Warren was in the court. "I think you must...she "Hale suggests that he should listen to what Mary has got to say. Proctor at first is Mary's spokesman as Danforth questions such as " what will you tell...Warren?" were hard to contradict but then Mary picks up some courage from the people around her and answers herself with her short string of words "it were pretence sir". This immediately builds up suspense as she speaks up and the reader is intrigued by what she has to say, and if it will sway the court. After this, Danforth doesn't know what to do. So he states " indeed not . . .concealment" meaning any lies told will be condemned by the liar, Proctor declares that he understands, " I know that sir" so Danforth in return asks a long line of questions that are again hard to answer without getting him into trouble with the court. This creates tension as anything mis-pharased by Proctor could rise suspicion and manipulate the court. Proctor manages to answer all the questions with clear conscience until Danforth brings in a new issue. "Mr Proctor . . . she is pregnant now". Proctor clearly doesn't know anything about his wife's pregnancy with the reply of "my wife is pregnant!" which is a complete and utter shock to him. Following this, Danforth offers this as a bribe. "We have thought . . . will you drop this charge?" Basically, Danforth is giving Proctor the option to save his wife until she gives birth as Proctors only purpose in the court is to save his wife, which he will be doing by giving into Danforth's bribe but only for nine months or so.
The tension all the way though the questions and arguments has mounted up till this point where John has two choices, to save his wife and leave the courts business alone or to carry on the way he was going and lose his wife and friends. The audience are drawn to John at this point and don't turn away as they no that if they so much as move they could miss an extremely important part of the play. Proctor is taken back by the bribe and knows that he cannot leave the court having just saved his wife; he needed to expose the girls' lies to everyone. Danforth asks him sternly if his purpose is a larger one to which Proctor admits it is.
Danforth asks Proctor to explain his reasons and produce evidence for his claims. Francis Nurse then produces a petition from 91 villagers, that are good landowners or church attenders etc that are respected by fellow villagers, that say that the accused are all innocent. Danforth is surprised by this and says he may look up these people and question them much to Francis' horror as he had promised the people that signed it that no harm would come to them."no old man . . . conscience" Danforth then says that no harm would come to them, if they were all in good conscience when it was signed. This shows that Danforth is being fair about the petition and that those who do good will not be harmed, he is clearly a good man and doesn't want to hurt innocent people
Mary Warren starts crying and Danforth notices. Proctor helps Mary and quotes from the bible, 'Do that which is good and no harm will come to thee'. " John my . . . give him mine" Giles then tells John to hand over Giles deposition, he does so and Danforth is surprised at how well written it is. Danforth asks another set of angry questions to try and catch Giles out but Giles cleverly answers each question and statement but then he brings up that he thinks Putnam is killing his neighbours for their land. Danforth asks for the proof and Giles says he got it from an honest man who overheard Putnam say it but Giles would not name the man, he is therefore arrested for contempt of the court. Giles is then taken away, as he is he tells John to give up because it is no use. This creates dramatic tension as wheter giles telling John to give up will have any effect on John and also whether John's quotation from the bible will prove right in the end. At this point, the audience are in suspense and eager to see what happens in the trail. They have got more than enough to think about with each characters circumstances and their fate.
Danforth in his rage again turns his attention to Mary Warren and again Proctor is Mary's spokesman and Hale sticks up for the innocent and tells Danforth to stop the hearing and let John come back with a lawyer. Danforth then goes into a long speech to try and justify what he is doing and to prove it is all in the name of God. Danforth reads Mary Warrens deposition and orders Cheever to bring the other girls to the court. Danforth is now considering that this claim may be true and questions Mary again but less ruthlessly than before, gradually Mary builds up her confidence and tells the whole truth to Danforth but then some of the girls, the others weren't in court, arrived and Mary falls back into short answers in fear.
Abigail had a hold over the girls and lied to Danforth saying that " goody Proctor...poppet" to which John declared was untrue so then Proctor and Danforth have another long convosation about Mary and the other girls doings. Danforth then tells Mary that if she really was faking it then to fake it for him right there, she could not and as a result the tension builds because the audience and Proctor all wondering what will happen now."it is a...wind" Abby breaks it up and starts to fake being witched by Mary, the other girls follow, Mary gets scared and tries to run out the court to which John gets extremely angry and grabs Abby and calls her a whore many times. Danforth asks him to explain his reasons for calling her this to which he replies, "I have known her". The tension is released and this is the point where John shows he is willing to blacken his name and destroy his reputation to prove that Abigail and the girls were all lying. John is clearly broken by his words and realises fully the extent of what he has done and how damaging they are. This builds up more tension and suspense in the audience as to whether John will admit his adultery to the court." In the proper . . . see it now" John explains his and Abby's affair to Danforth, Danforth receives the story in horror, as he cannot take in all the new issues and starts to believe that the girls were all lying. Abigail can't believe that she is so close to being found out so angrily lashes out at Danforth who then decides to bring Elizabeth into the court to back up what John had said, she is an honest woman so why would she lie - this would prove if the girls were lying or not.
The tension mounts highly as the court proceeds and Elizabeth enters. Danforth gives Elizabeth orders not to look at Abigail or Proctor just him and questions her about Abigail, the suspense is unbearable by the time Elizabeth Is asked the question, "Is your husband a lecher?" a brief silence is held and then she answers, "No sir". Danforth then tells Elizabeth to be taken away again and John calls out to her to tell her that he had already admitted to it. Hale tries desperately to explain why Elizabeth said that her husband didn't commit adultery but it does no good and before he can finish justifying Elizabeth's actions Abigail falls again into a little scene where Mary's spirit is attacking her and the girls. Mary screams at Abby to stop but it does not work, Danforth asks why the girls are repeating everything she says but Mary is so overwhelmed by it all that she feels powerless against them. The brief silence is a important aspect of this episode as it builts up dramatic tension and leaves the audience in a lot of suspense not knowing what Elizabeth will do, lie for her husband or not.
In the play Mary runs away to the sea, which is symbolic of washing away your sins, John calls out to her today to say that god damns all liars but in the play they all stay in the courtroom. John reaches out to Mary and she backs away from him and screams, "Don't touch me-don't touch me!" like he is the devil or evil. This takes Proctor by surprise as Mary carries on, "you're the devils man!" Parris and the girls start screaming, "Praise God!" over and over again and mass hysteria takes over them. This whole episode is creating more and more tension in the audience as it is very dramatic. Hysteria is a key dramatic device used in 'The Crucible'
Mary tells them all of how John made her write in the devils book and that she must help him overthrow the court. She looks at John with disgust and declares her love of God. John then stands in the middle of the courtroom or sea in front of everyone and screams, "God is dead!" This silences everyone for a moment including the audience as the tension that has mounted throughout the whole scene has been added to until breaking point. The silence is kept until Parris screams, "hear it, hear it!" Proctor insanely laughs at the comment and declares all his feelings about the whole trials. He has no respect anymore for the church and trials and shows it when he screams, "You are pulling down Heaven and raising up a whore!" here, Proctor is sticking up for his wife saying that by believing Abigail the court will be raising up a whore, and personifys his wife as heaven satin that you are pulling down heaven. Proctor goes on to say 'it's a whore's vengenance..." This quotation is taken from Act III, when Proctor finally breaks down and confesses his affair with Abigail, after trying, in vain, to expose her as a fraud without revealing their liaison. Proctor knows from the beginning that the witch trials constitute nothing more than a "whore's vengeance" Abigail's revenge on him for ending their affair but he shies away from making that knowledge public because it would lead to his disgrace. This scene, in the Salem courtroom, marks the climax of the play, in which Proctor's concern for justice outstrips his concern for his reputation. This re-prioritization of values enables him to do what is necessary. But he finds, to his horror that his actions come too late: instead of Abigail and the witch trials being exposed as a sham, Proctor is called a liar and then accused of witchcraft by the court. His attempt at honesty backfires and destroys him.
This more or less ends the scene, bringing into the next scene tension and suspense and worries in the audiences mind about Johns mind. " I denounce . . . this court" At the end Hale quits the court as he has lost all faith in it.
Miller wrote this play for two main reasons; one was to show how hysteria takes over people and how different people react to situations posed to them, Scene 3 is the scene where all the hysteria takes place, it bears a lot of resemblance to events of today and throughout the past 100 years. The first main events are the world wars where a hysteria swept through young men and women to sign up for the services or to help out with the war effort; that was hysteria that was used for good but there have been incidents especially in the 1980's with the football riots where hysteria did a lot of damage and cost peoples lives. The play would bear quite a lot of relevance to today's audience especially now as war is pending and people will be feeling a certain hysteria. At the anti-war protests hysteria will have been felt amongst the people building them up to a state of dislike for the politicians involved and the people for war.
Hysteria also brings people to form small minded, bigoted opinions of the things they are against like in the cases of Danforth, Parris and Putnam.
The second reason why Miller wrote this play was because of the McCarthy trials were taking place at the time. These were trials that took place in the early 1950's after World War Two and anyone with leftwing sympathies should be investigated and make themselves known at persecuting public hearings. People were encouraged to inform on those they suspected which may be where Miller got the idea of Abigail from as he had seen what rumours and gossip could do as he was one of the accused in the McCarthy trials. Miller chose the Salem Witch trials to put his play into the context of because like the McCarthy it was a true event that happened in American history. In Salem, Massachusetts in the 17th century the in habitants very much believed in the devil and knew of his powers so thought that all witchcraft should be hunted out. They were puritans, which meant that none of their habits and activities were very strict and no entertainment was permitted. Miller did a lot of research into the inhabitants of Salem then so many of the characters are based on real people their actions however and words were not spoken as Miller made the people his own in the play.
Miller writes Act 3 very cleverly so that the audience know information that the judges do not, this is a way of making the tension and intrigue in the crowd rise. This form of audience participation is used often by great play writers such as Shakespeare even though their styles are completely different it still has the same effect of dramatic tension and makes their plays interesting and exciting for all the members of the audience.
