The historical accuracy of the play has been changed (dramatic licence allowing this to take place), for instance Abigail’s age has been raised from 12 to mid teens possibly because Miller found that if she was younger the audience might have had more sympathy towards her than Miller would have liked it might, also have been hard for the audience to understand how a girl so young could have been so evil and manipulative. It would be hard to understand that Proctor could have had an affair with so young a girl.
The number of girls involved in ‘crying out’ has been reduced and the numbers of judges were lowered and were all symbolised in Hathorne and Danforth.
Act One sets the scene.
It introduces all the main characters and makes you become aware of how the characters feel about each other. There are both light and dark elements both of lighting the idea of devil/Christianity.
The play begins vigorously with the action being set before we find out what actually has happened. Reverend Parris is praying over his daughter, Betty who is in what appears to be a trance. When Abigail Williams arrives, Parris goes downstairs leaving Betty with Abby. Mercy Lewis and Mary Warren arrive and Mary tells Abby that they ought to confesses to witchcraft and be whipped rather than hang because ‘witchery’s a hangin’ error’. Abigail tries to bully them into being quite. From this her true character begins to show. When John Proctor arrives the girls go, leaving Abigail with Proctor alone, as they talk it becomes clear that there has been some form of relationship between them.
When the lord's name is heard being said Betty sits up and screams this, everyone says, is a sure sign of Witchcraft so Reverend Hale of Beverly is sent for. The girls begin to cry out the names of women they have seen with devil.
John Proctor is the central character in the play, he is a, A natural leader, even tempered and not easily led.
Proctor’s guilt about his affair with Abigail Williams prevents him from telling the truth and putting an end to the witch hunt hysteria. Proctor sees himself as a sinner and he thinks that he is unworthy to follow in the footsteps of blameless martyrs like Rebecca Nurse and Giles Corey.
Elizabeth Proctor, the wife of John Proctor has an unshakeable religious belief, loves and feels strong loyalty to her husband.
Act 2 is a complete contrast to act 1. After the noise and bustle of Act 1, Act 2 opens on a rater quiet note a few days after the happenings of Act1 in Proctors house.
We are immediately made aware of the strained relationship between Proctor and Elizabeth. We can tell by the opening of Act 2 that Elizabeth is a loving mother, a strong contrast to what Abbey had previously called her, 'a cold snivelling women'. There is tension between Elizabeth and Proctor, due to Abigail.
Proctor tells Elizabeth that he loves her and she finds it hard to say back, when proctor kisses her she does not return his kiss and Proctor is disappointed ‘A sense of their separation arises’, this stage direction shows the audience that the relationship Proctor had with Abby has put a strain on things and a lack of honesty has arisen between Proctor and Elizabeth.
Tension starts to rise in this scene when Elizabeth asks him why he is not going into Salem he replies ‘I thought better of it since’ he is not going because Abby is there and he does not want to talk to her, when Elizabeth tells Proctor that Mary Warren (their servant girl) has gone to Salem today, Proctor starts to get angry with Elizabeth but holds back a full condemnation of her as he does not want to hurt her. Elizabeth tells John that Mary is an official of the court.
Elizabeth tells John that he must go to Salem and tell them that Abby told him it was all pretence, but John then says to her that he was alone with Abby when she had told him. Immediately Elizabeth loses all the faith she had in him.
John’s indecision to go to Salem is the fact that if he tells people what Abby said to him, he would have to confess to adultery and his reputation, honour and good name would be blackened.
Elizabeth gets suspicious of Proctor being alone with Abby. There is Conflict between the Proctors and Abby. It is ironic that the whole town thinks that Abby is a saint when in fact she’s the cause of all the witch craft troubles.
Reverend Hale then comes in and asks the proctors about there faith in god, he asks Proctor to recite the ten commandments, John ironically forgets the one about adultery.
The act ends on a dramatic note as Elizabeth is arrested and John promising that his wife will never die for him.
In Act 3 there is a lot of confusion taking place. Francis Nurse tries to explain to the court that they are being deceived by Abigail but, the judges are sure that they are not. John Proctor then turns up with Mary Warren who has a sworn statement that she never saw any spirits. Giles Corey says that when he said that his wife read books he was not implying that she was a witch and then proceeds to accuse Putnum of naming people as witches to get their land. Abigail enters with the other girls and Mary repeats the story that she never saw any spirits. Abigail suddenly enters a trance claiming that Mary is witching her. The pitch of the hysteria begins to rise. Proctor then calls Abby a Whore and confesses to adultery, sacrificing both his honour and his integrity. Elizabeth is then questioned about John’s adultery, and lies to save him. This is contrast as Proctor said Elizabeth would never lie. By lying to defend him it actually condemns him.
Again the setting of Act Four is light and dark, parallel with Act One. It is set a while after act three. There is a sense of isolation in prison. Hale and Cheever report that there is breakdown in the community through the imprisonment of so many people.
Abby and Mary steel some money and run away. Hale asks Judge Danforth to pardon the condemned but this is refused. Elizabeth begs with John to confess and save his life, Proctor almost does but the sight of Rebecca Nurse who has refused to give in stops him. There is great tension here. John realises that he has to make a last stand for truth and honour and He and Rebecca are led to their deaths. And with a drum roll this ends the play.
