‘The Crucible’ deals with witchcraft trial that took place in the 17th century Salem. In the 17th century women didn’t have a high regard in society unlike today. They were meant to keep quiet and out of the way and let the men deal with the situations that occur.
Miller wrote the play set in the 17th century because he wanted to write a play about McCarthyism, which was happening at the time Miller wrote the play. If Miller wrote the play to be set at the present day he would have been convicted.
McCarthyism was an era when Senator Joseph McCarthy led the way for communists in America.
My character was Mrs Putnam. She was middle aged with 3 children. Throughout the scene she reacts with shock and panic, “My babies blood”. When I performed my character I put on a bad back as in the 17th century middle aged women were getting on a bit and would have had injuries.
Mrs Putnam behaves in shock and panic because she cannot believe what is going on around her. First of all Abigail states “ She makes me drink blood”. So Mrs Putnam just hopes in fear that it isn’t her baby’s blood, “My babies blood”.
Then Goody Osbourn is accused of being with the Devil. Goody Osbourn has been midwife for Mrs Putnam 3 times. Mrs Putnam reacts with shock that someone so close to her has been behind peoples back and been with the Devil.
When our group was acting out a scene from act 1, we had Betty lying down asleep in the middle of the stage. The effect of this is that everyone keeps on coming back to the plot, which is McCarthyism. With Betty in the middle of the stage nobody forgets why the characters is there, they all want to find out what is going on and who must be punished, this helps the audience understand the play and keeps them involved.
With Betty in the middle of the stage it improved our performance because it gave us a centrepiece to work around and kept us in a huddle portraying that we were all in fear.
The language of the scene is a mix between old English and Native American.
The language is part Native American because in the 17th century the English had just settled in the US and the only people there before them were the Native Americans so they took over the old English and then picked up some Native American language.
There is also a regional dialect in the writing “ I be innocent”. This is because Salem would have been in a rural area isolated from any other towns or villages, so they had their own style of language.
The themes run through the scene are fear, shock and nervousness.
Fear runs through the scene when talk of people has been with the Devil get mentioned. “ I saw, Martha Bellows with the Devil.” When the characters hear this they react with fear “ The Marshall, I call the Marshall.”
Shock runs through the scene when something out of the ordinary is said, “ Oh, how many times he bid me kill you, Mr Parris.”
“ Kill me!”
Also nervousness runs through the scene for example when Tituba rambles, “ He say Mr Parris must be kill! Mr Parris no goodly man, Mr Parris means man and no gentle man……….. And look- and there was Goody Good.” When she says this all of this it sound like she is making it up because she is nervous.
When we performed the play we wanted to show that it wasn’t from our culture but from another one. So we decided in rehearsals if we wanted to convey this we had to put on an accent from that era and part of the world, this worked well.
We wanted the audience to feel the fear and the shock of the scene when we performed it. This is because you can’t get into the scene if you don’t fell both of these, as they are what the scene is about. So if they did feel the fear and the shock they would of understood and enjoyed the scene more than if they didn’t feel them.
Also we wanted the audience to go away and see what can happen to a small community if something like the Salem witch trials went on and what devastating consequences it can make.
