In Act three of the crucible, how does Arthur Miller create an atmosphere of tension and build to a climax at the end of the act?
In Act three of the crucible, how does Arthur Miller create an atmosphere of tension and build to a climax at the end of the act?
At the beginning of act three we hear voices from the court, of Martha Corey being accused of witchcraft, showing the extent that the accusation have risen to. Proctor brings Mary Warren to the court to tell the truth, that the girls and Abigail were making up everything about the women being witches, so as Proctor can prove his wife's innocence and gain her freedom from jail. During the proceedings, Proctor is forced to sacrifice his name and admit to his affair with Abigail in order to damage her credibility, however his wife, Elizabeth, not knowing of his confession, lies to protect her husband, saying that it was not the truth. When Abigail is confronted about this, she reacts in her usual way, which is to accuse Mary of being a witch herself. Mary can not take the pressure of the accusations and so, to save herself she, copies Abigail in how she gets herself out of trouble, by accusing Proctor of witchcraft, and forcing her to the court in order to overthrow it. Proctor is so angry at the state of the court and his faith, that, at the end of the act, he denounces God as her can not see any trace of divine help in the proceedings of that day. Miller uses this rise and fall of tension throughout the act as a build up of the final, and most dramatic end to the act, where Proctor seals his fate by shouting,
"I say - I say - God is dead!"
Abigail's accusations of witches in the society of Salem, is similar to Miller's own experiences in the 1930's of McCarthyism and the "witch hunt's" for communists in a capitalist country. The rise of communism in the East, which America stove to defeat, caused this rise in paranoia in the late 1940's and early 1950's. Almost any criticism of the government was seen as an declaration of loyalty to the communist ways. In 1956 Miller himself was called before the court to answer charges of being a communist sympathiser, although at this time the power of the committee was waning and so instead of being imprisoned he was fined for Contempt of Congress. Miller began to link the activities of the committee with that of the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692.. The feeling in both cases were, if you don't conform, then you are guilty. Millet emphasises his aim to show,
"The essential nature of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history."
He documents the events of the Salem witch trials, with dramatic licence, using the original records of the court proceedings and other pieces of primary and secondary evidence. The drama is based on real historical events of a Puritan society and its fear of the Devil. They had moved from England brought their ways to the new land, American, were they believed the Devil lived in the woods surrounding their village, which was actually inhabited by the Native Americans. This fear and insecurity lead them to the ways of killing witches to protect themselves and rid their village of evil. The fact that the play was based on real events adds to the tension as we know that innocent people actually suffered from the untruthful accusations. To audiences of Millers time there would have been a great sympathy with the people in Salem as the Americans were suffering the same way under the rule of McCarthyism, where the innocent were accused and sentenced.
Proctor is seen as the voice of reason, though he is sinful, he tries to uncover the girls for what they really were. Throughout the events Proctor stands up for what he believes in and always suspects Abigail of lying and influencing the others as he knows her character. He also never agrees with Parris, the town minister, as he does not see God in the man. This opinion does not change.
Act one - "Proctor : I have trouble enough without I come five mile to hear him [Parris] preach only hellfire and bloody damnation. Take ...
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Proctor is seen as the voice of reason, though he is sinful, he tries to uncover the girls for what they really were. Throughout the events Proctor stands up for what he believes in and always suspects Abigail of lying and influencing the others as he knows her character. He also never agrees with Parris, the town minister, as he does not see God in the man. This opinion does not change.
Act one - "Proctor : I have trouble enough without I come five mile to hear him [Parris] preach only hellfire and bloody damnation. Take it to heart Mr Parris. There are many others who stay away from church these days because you hardly ever mention God any more."
Act three - "Parris : ...since I came to Salem this man [Proctor] is blackening my name."
Abigail also does not sway from her ways. Her and the other girls were caught casting spells in the middle of the night with the West Indian slave, Tituba. After being caught. Betty Parris, Reverend Parris's daughter, becomes as if possessed by the devil, though it is fear which causes her behaviour of lying in a trance, wailing, and behaving in a delirious state of mind.
Act one - "Betty : I want my mama!
Abigail : What ails you Betty? Your mama's dead and buried.
Betty : I'll fly to mama. Let me fly!"
This is where Abigail's crusade against the good women of the village begins. In particular, she wants to get rid of Elizabeth Proctor and she believes that Goody Proctor is the only thing standing between her and John Proctor.
Act one - "Betty : You drank blood, Abby! You didn't tell him [Parris] that!
Abigail : Betty, you never say that again! You will never -
Betty : You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor."
It is because of Abigail that the other girls join in with her. They are scared of Abigail, who threatens them,
Act one - "Abigail : Now look you. All of you. Let either of you breathe a word...and I will come in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it: I saw Indians smash my dear parents' heads on the pillow next to mine...I can make you wish u had never seen the sun go down!"
The lack of compassion as she talks about the death of her parents also reveals something about her character that helps her forget her guilt at sending innocent men and women to the gallows.
Hales Character, changes during the play, for at the start he is there to help with the convictions of those accused and truly believes in all of what is said,
Act one - "Hale : (with a tasty love of intellectual pursuit) Here is all the invisible world, caught, defined and calculated. In these books the Devil stands stripped of all his disguises."
However, by the end of Act three, he condemns the court and the fact that they are taking the word of young girls over everyone else's,
Act three - "Hale : I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court! (He slams the door to the outside on his way out.)"
The beginning of Act three, we only hear the voices from inside the court. As we cannot see what is happening, it causes tension as we are waiting in anticipation to see the first thing which appears. The fact that we are hearing Giles trying to give evidence to prove Martha Corey's innocence and that he is being hushed, causes us to find the court objectionable. Giles is pulled out of the court with force, as he shouts to be allowed to give his evidence. This raises the tension as it is violence against a high authority figure of the court, which may mean that Giles is also punished.
"(The door opens and Giles is half carried into the vestry by Herrick)"
The court house setting also adds to the tension as it is a place where decisions are made and in particular, at that moment, the decision whether someone lives or dies. We can tell that a lot of changes are going to be made in this scene because of Proctors incentive to come and face the court. He plans to uncover the truth and in doing so put an end to Abigail and the other girls childish vendetta the more upstanding members of the community. The fact that they are young, unmarried girls would usually mean they would have no power, but when they find power in their accusations, they cannot stop and are not willing to step back into their usual roles of serving the others in the village. They use their power to get back at their superiors, the ones who usually bossed them around and were in control. This reversal of roles, were the village is at the girls' mercy, adds to the tension as things are not as they should be, and though we can see the truth, the fact that the judges and those who really matter cannot see this causes yet another addition to the tension. The girls have a higher authority than any of the judges as it is only their word and they are ultimately the ones who come up with the verdict.
Abigail retaliates against Proctor, as she can see she is in trouble of being found to be a fake. By accusing Proctor's only witness to their crime, Mary Warren, of witchcraft, destroying her credibility to the courts . As soon as Abigail starts her little act the other girls join in and act accordingly to Abigail's description of what she is pretending to see,
"But God made my face; you can not want to tear my face. Envy is a terrible sin Mary!"
and soon the other girls start adding bits to make the performance more convincing,
"Mercy : It's on the beam! Behind the rafter! . . . Susana : Her claws, she's stretching her claws!".
What Abigail says here really explains what is going on, that somehow Mary is responsible for Abigail's strange behaviour, in their time this would automatically be pinned on witchcraft. This leaves Mary Warren accused, with no way out, as Abigail expands on this statement to make it seem more realistic. Abigail has achieved what she wanted, she has gotten the attention away from herself using her accusations. The tension builds as we don't know what Abigail is going to do next and we know that she is capable of destroying peoples lives.
The Puritan society meant that everything revolved around God, the girls, knowing this, found that the strongest way to act was to accuse people of being against God. It would make them look in a better light as they are doing Gods work by ferreting the evil out of the village. Danforth, Hale and Hathorne believe that God is using the girls to help the village. This constant reference to the Bible and repetition of the puritan beliefs adds to the tension as it shows that they will not doubt the "messengers of God". There is also a moment of humour were Proctor forgets one of the commandments, when he is trying to prove his wife's innocence.
Throughout the whole ordeal Proctor stands as the voice of reason, speaking the truth but not being heard over the tumult of lies. He voices sensible faults to Abigail's accusations. When Abigail sees a yellow bird, Proctor says that he can't see it and asks Hale the same thing even though he is being quieted by Danforth as he is trying to get the words out. He asks Hale because he thinks that Hale is starting to lose faith in the reliability of the court and calls to him for back up and support. He frantically tries to tell Danforth that the girls are just pretending in order to help Mary Warren, other wise he would feel guilty for Mary's fate because he brought her there and told her to face up to Abigail and to tell the truth,
"They're pretending, Mr. Danforth! . . . They're gulling you Mister!"
This again adds to the tension as everyone is shouting over each other and the anger builds. As soon as everyone has been calmed down, once more they begin to yell their accusations over each other.
The tension is built in peaks and troughs to keep the audience on edge. It is first built at the beginning when the characters first come on stage. It is lulled by Hale who asks for calm, and as they discuss the proceedings rationally, it is raised once more upon the entrance of Proctor as Parris claims he is there to overthrow the court. Another raise in tension is when Proctors wife is accused of keeping poppets in the house. Proctor cannot, despite the confession of Mary Warren, convince Danforth that it did not belong to Elizabeth.
Abigail becomes worried that Danforth is starting to believe Proctor and so to strengthen the girls' story she pretends she can feel a cold wind which is freezing her. The other girls pick up the act quickly and can also feel the wind. Proctor knows that they are only acting but cannot convince anyone else, as the girls' have done it so much they start to believe it themselves.
Act three - "Abigail : I - I know not. A wind, a cold wind, has come. (her eyes fall on Mary)
Mary : (terrified, pleading) Abby!
Mercy : (shivering) Your Honour, I freeze!
Proctor : Their pretending!
Hathorne : She is cold, Your Honour, touch her!"
Abigail makes several attacks like this on Mary, when her and the other girls copy everything that Mary says and the one which finally cracks her, the yellow bird story. All these fantasies which Abigail makes up adds to the tension as we do not know what will happen to Mary if she does not confess.
When Mary accuses Proctor she thinks she is doing what Abigail wants her to do but it ruins Abigail's plan to get rid of Proctors wife so she could be with him instead. This is the end of the climax where Proctor is so angry at the injustice of the events and terrified of what with happen to him that in a moment of outrage that seals his arrest and ultimate hanging when he shouts out,
"I say - I say - God is dead!"
In the video the fury of the towns people is shown as they, in a Theocracy, feel very strongly about blasphemy. Proctor has seen the truth as he says that both Danforth and himself are doomed to hell as they have both sinned,
"Proctor : God damns our kind especially, and we will burn , we will burn together! . . . You are pulling Heaven down and raising up a whore!"
Hale has had enough and says he had nothing to do with the court proceedings and the overall verdict and storms out of the court. This is the final climax that Millar was building to the end were Proctor is so angry at Abigail and the court that he doesn't care any more. When he says,
"I say - I say - God is dead!"
He is basically signing his own death warrant as the tolerance for blasphemy in his society was non-existent. Proctor knew this and knew this would anger everyone but he also knew that he couldn't win. The end of the scene ends in chaos, as Hale storms out, The court falls apart, symbolising the less than perfect world of the Theocracy and their entire beliefs, which do not work when people have the freedom to lie and cause such thing as murder to happen legally and with the authorisation of the courts.
I think that the point Arthur Miller is trying to make is that people will only believe what they want to believe. Also, there is not a straight line drawn through right and wrong, how crime and punishment are often influenced by thoughts, feelings and individual ideals. I think he is also trying to say that good doesn't always conquer over evil no matter how superior their principals, intensions or morals are.
Stephanie Moore English - Crucible essay
