The first dramatic moment that created tension in Act Three is when Mary cannot faint when Parris asks her to and says ‘I-cannot faint now sir’ (Act Three, page 86). Because of this, the court thinks that they have won the case so the audience think that it is all over for Mary Warren and the girls, especially when Miller put in the stage directions: ‘searching for the passion to faint’ (Act Three, page 86) and, ‘faintly’ (Act Three, page 85). As a result of this, it shows that Mary is worried and she would not know what to do, furthermore, in the play her expression would be scared, therefore reinforcing the fact that she has lost the battle in the court. Also, because Mary says ‘sir’ (Act Three, page 86) it shows he defence in the court- even though her previous actions have been powerful in terms of influencing the people of Salem. As for the lighting in the play for this particular scene, I would have light coming through a window shining onto Mary Warren and Parris as they are the two most important people in the scene. This would highlight them as the main characters so the audience would focus their attention on them and they could see Mary’s expression. I would also have slow music that is gaining pace until the point when Mary says ‘I- cannot’ (Act Three, page 86) then there are a few moments silence and a murmur breaks out in the court. This would build up tension so the audience knows something pivotal is going to happen. Therefore it will still come as a surprise but no tension is lost within the audience.
The second most dramatic part of Act Three is the ‘yellow bird’ episode. The ‘yellow bird’ episode is where Abigail pretends to see a yellow bird on the ceiling of the courtroom and the other girls see it as well, in addition to that, they start to repeat what Mary Warren says. Abigail says ‘Why do you come, yellow bird?’ (Act Three, page 92) This proves that Abigail is not trustworthy and she feels that she has accomplished something, she has cleared her name at the expense of others and she feels powerful and smug. Moreover, the tension is that she could do anything she wants and so that makes her unpredictable. The stage direction for the yellow bird scene are very important because not only does it tell how and what the actors have to do but give is an insight to what they are feeling: ‘horrified, pleading’ (Act Three, page 92) Not only does this say how Mary should say it but what she feels. Thanks to this, ‘The Crucible’ could also make for a good read; as a consequence, none of the tension is lost. Also, there is still light coming from the window but this time pointing at Abigail Williams and Mary Warren because they are the main characters this time. There is still silence because it is tenser that way and the audience may feel that they are in the court in Salem.
One of the most dramatic parts of Act Three of Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’ is where John Proctor gets extremely antagonised and he says things that may cause the court to get very angry. As a result of Proctor saying ‘God is dead!’ (Act Three, page 96) he shows that he has lost all belief in God. On account of Proctor being a religious man, it comes as a surprise to that characters and the audience when he says that. Since there us a quarrel in the court, there is kind of a dramatic irony as that the audience knows that this quarrel is about to lead to something important. When Miller uses ‘laughs insanely’ with Proctor saying ‘We will burn together’ everyone knows that he cannot contain himself and that he has truly gone mad. If I was directing this scene, I would have the light from the window on Proctor, highlighting his importance and there is silence until he says ‘God is dead!’ then loud conversation breaks out in the court to show that something significant has happened.
I think that this act is the most important act in the whole play, this is because of the characters actions have a major impact on the end of the play because Proctor gets sentenced to death as a result of what he said back in the court. As Act Three progresses, the main characters do things that the audience have never expected, therefore they have developed their personality. For example, Abigail is not now trustworthy and because she thinks John Proctor has covered her and so she feels powerful. At the end of the Act Three we as the audience are stunned at what the characters have done. Arthur Miller has made us feel like this because in the way that he wrote it, he wanted to keep the audience on the edge of their seat and to do that he made the characters personalities at the start change throughout the play so he has controlled how the audience feel which is a very effective way to write a great play.
Overall, I think that Arthur Miller successfully creates an atmosphere of tension in Act Three of ‘The Crucible’. This is because he has made me go into a false sense of security with the characters, and gave me a shock at what happened at the end. This act in particular is dramatically intense because the characters personalities get bolder and therefore they become louder- because of this Miller has made an interesting read as well as a brilliant play. Miller has effectively presented his views in McCarthyism in the play as or shows that we are no different to others. However, an audience in the 1950’smay not have liked the play as they all agreed with what the senator wanted and therefore didn’t except his views on the matter.
