The serious nature of the society can be seen in Act 1, in part of the Tituba’s ‘confession’. Abigail says aloud amongst all the hysteria, ‘she often makes me laugh at prayer!’ The people in the room calm down as they are trying to take this in, but a person mocking prayer is far beyond their thoughts and understanding. This was taken very seriously. In another example, it is noted down how many times a year one comes to church. When Hale first starts to question Proctor he says to him, ‘in the book of record that Mr Parris keeps, I note that you are rarely in church on the Sabbath day.’ As Salem takes this so seriously and the church has a major influence on the people of Salem’s life, Proctor sees this as a very big mark against his name and is quick to defend himself. Proctor slightly rebelled against these rulings and often worked on his land for several days at a time. This made the people of Salem very suspicious of his ways and he was often talked about. Such things indicate people’s expectations in such a society.
The end of Act One shows Tituba’s ‘confession’ and how Miller uses a certain technique of short snappy sentences such as, ‘ I don’t compact with no devil!’ anxiety and the force of God to show the pressure that Tituba is under to confess whether it be true or not. The importance to save her life is much greater, and is the main thing that is forced upon Tituba to make her lie about conjuring spirits. We can tell this where Putnam says, ‘ this woman must be hanged! She must be taken and hanged!’ it is after this point that Tituba realises it is better to make a false confession and let Hale ‘tear her free’ then to die. The irony of this is that it is better to lie in such a deeply religious society in order to save ones life, then to let your life be taken for God, which is the focal point of life’s of Salem’s citizens.
The pressure that Tituba is under is shown in the language used. All the characters involved in this scene are ganging up on her, as she is an easy target because she does not speak their language well and is of another race, a foreigner. She is seen as someone needing to be converted, to become a good Christian woman. Hale uses a lot of religious language as a threat and repeatedly shouts at her with saying’ like, ‘are you gathering souls of the Devil?’ Hale often cuts her off and does not give the ‘guilty’ woman a chance to defend her life, ‘mister reverend, I never –‘. Parris, who thinks rather highly of himself and his authority, takes this as an opportunity to show his slave who really is the master by saying, ‘you will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to your death, Tituba’s!’ This is a devious way of putting pressure on Tituba and threatening her into confessing as it is playing on her fears.
Still using religious language, It is only after Hale and the others have got the confession they were striving for, that they start to back off with the religious threats, and as seeing she is not a witch and still has the chance of being a good Christian woman, they choose to help her unbind herself to hell. ‘We are going to help you tear free’. There are not many stage directions and this scene’s success depends heavily on the self feeding hysteria that seems to grip the characters; a commotion that is not needed but is the fuels the beginning of Salem’s mania.
Another character that uses religion for his own good is Judge Danforth. Danforth uses religious language to gain power. In this quote Danforth uses his words wisely to make Mary feel pressured and unsure of herself. ‘How were you instructed in your life? Do you not know that God damns all liars? (She cannot speak) or is it now that you lie?’ Danforth does this in order to create a sense of his authority to Mary. Danforth feels that he is a representative of God and this is what gives him the power to send people to the jails or send them to their deaths.
‘ It might well be that Mary Warren has been conjured by Satan...If so, her neck will break for it’. Again, this is showing us that Danforth is not afraid to throw his beliefs, weight and authority around.
Religion means everything to the people of Salem. In Proctors accusation against Abigail he is willing to cast away his good name and reputation of a true Christian to save his wife. We can see Miller building up the tension by first setting the scene with a commotion of nonsense which has been built by Abigail, the girl at the heart of Proctors rage. This winds Proctor up and is the fuel to his fire. When Proctor is ignored whilst trying to tell Danforth the girls are merely ‘pretending’, the commotion carry’s on, making Proctors rage at the highest point possible which leads him to his breakdown and confession to the Judges of an affair with Abigail. ‘Without warning or hesitation, proctor leaps at Abigail and, grabbing her by her hair pulls her to her feet. Because the society of Salem takes its lifestyle so seriously this shows us that Proctor is not afraid, and that this might finally prove his love for Elizabeth and prove that Abigail, to him is just a ‘whore’. Apart from showing his devote love for his wife Elizabeth this tells us that something so great as religion and that people will now refer to him as a lecher, can not stand between his love for Elizabeth.
Throughout the play the contrast between light and dark is a prominent feature. In the footnote at the begging of act one Miller has used the image of light “There is a narrow window at the left. Through it’s leaded pains the morning sunlight streams. A candle still burns near the bed... The room gives of an air of clean spare ness.” This symbolizes that everything is alright, there are no bad things happening. Light throughout the play is used to symbolize good. As the story line continues the atmosphere and even the scenes themselves become darker and more sinister, even the weather becomes more glum and depressing. Dark is used throughout the play to symbolize bad. For example, the courtroom is always dark, there are no open windows and no candles. In some cases certain characters bring light into a scene that was dark, like John Proctor. But when he is accused of witchcraft the light that accompanies him became a lot dimmer.
Dramatic devices are used constantly throughout the play. They are apparent in a key scene of the play, which we could call the ‘yellow bird’ scene in Act Three. Abigail uses her strength over the girls to create an imaginary bird, which she claims is Mercy’s spirit trying to attack her face, of course this is not true. Proctor frantically tries to explain to Judge Danforth that this is all pretence. ‘Lies, lies’ he says. This is an example of dramatic irony because we, the audience, are much more aware that Proctor at this point in the play, that it is these such lies that are going to get him hanged. The fact that those who lie are saved and Proctor, whose conscience finally won’t allow him to lie, is hanged, is another example of dramatic irony in the sense that we already sense that being truthful in such a society is the most dangerous thing to be.
Examples of dramatic tension in this scene are the manner in which Mary at first begs (pleading) Abigail to believe that she is doing nothing to harm her. This tension is highlighted by the fact that the girls echo everything that Mary says. In Mary’s frustration, she screams at the girls, (at the top of her lungs and raising her fists) to ‘Stop it!’.
Even more dramatic tension comes later in the scene when Mary, either because she realises that she has to go along with Abigail in order to stop the accusations against her, or because she has been caught up in Abigail’s hysteria, reunites herself as part of the girls’ group and pretends to the court that Proctor has made her stand up to Abigail in order to save his wife. ‘ “I’ll murder you,” he says, “if my wife hangs! We must go and overthrow the court,” he says’. Mary has just caused even more drama by completely overturning the focus onto Proctor and by now transferring all the pressure onto him.
Dramatic irony and tension come together to create what must be one of the most memorable scenes in the whole play, Elizabeth’s only lie. Religion is Elizabeth’s life, she believes wholeheartedly in the commandments and would not dream of breaking them for any reason. Because Proctor is aware of this, he knows he can relay on his wife to back him and prove to the court how evil Abigail is, but Proctor has confessed to the court out of anger that he has ‘known her’. The court now do not know whether they can trust John and what he has to say. In order to prove to them the real Abigail, John preaches how Elizabeth has never lied, and therefore they can get the truth from her. ‘In her life, sir, she has never lied...’.
Elizabeth is fetched from the jail unaware that her husband has confessed to his affair with the vain Abigail and the drama begins again with Danforth questioning Elizabeth. We, the audience and the others in the room, Proctor and Abigail, know of the confession bringing about the irony in the scene. Elizabeth is confused when she arrives, and is ordered not to look at anyone but Danforth, making her nerves and unsure of herself. Danforth states, ‘We are given to understand that at one time you dismissed your servant, Abigail Williams’ Elizabeth agrees and is asked to explain why. She looks at her husband for a clue as what to say, but seems confused and unsteady why anyone would be asking her the nature of her dismissal of Abigail unless they had come into knowledge of the affair.
Despite this, Elizabeth tells Judge Danforth that Abigail dissatisfied her, but Danforth is not happy with this answer and digs deeper. As he does so Elizabeth ‘glances at Proctor for a cue’ but she knows what answer Danforth is looking for and whilst speaking but unknowing what to say she keeps glancing at her husband but is repeatedly shouted at saying ‘you will look in my eyes only, not at your husband’. This is creating tension because we know that whatever Elizabeth says there will be a bad outcome.
As the play comes to a close, Proctor is torn between saving his life and saving his name. He feels that he has lost the battle against witchcraft. He considers his name to be the one thing he has left. ‘I have given you my soul; leave me my name!"’. Proctor would rather die with his name pure and white, then live knowing that he can not live a full life. He does sign the document in which he admits to witchcraft, which makes him seem selfish, but he will not accuse others of witchcraft,’ I have three children – how may I teach them to walk like men in the world, and I sold my friends?’ , which preserves his heroic qualities, nor will he allow himself to be made into an example, ‘You will not use me!...You will not use me! It is no part of salvation that you should use me!’. To himself, he is nothing but a fraud. He is consumed with self-doubt. He has nothing left but his name, it is his name and no one can ever take this from his as it is his own identity and is the only possessions he has left worth having. This is a very emotional scene, Salem’s witch hunt has taken everything from proctor;
‘Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!’.
In conclusion, Arthur Miller engaged the audience to a large extent, and he also manages to get across a historical story at the same time and prove a point. I believe that through extensive character detail he has made it possible for us to understand exactly how the different characters are feeling, and why they behave the way they do. Miller also plays on our emotions by amplifying our own faults through the characters, as in the case of Abigail, using the whole situation to her advantage, and being very manipulative and sly, all of which are characteristics that we do not like in ourselves. For example, Abigail was using the witch-hunt to get back at John Proctor, she wanted he was strong enough to resist her, and in trying to gain his affections, she involved all of the people of Salem. During the play Abigail had one goal, John Proctor and she did not care how she achieved this.
Arthur Miller also puts the audience in a very frustrating position because we can see how wrong and how stupid the characters are being, It is just as if he is putting us in the position of God. The audience would get very angry at the fact that only John Proctor and Rev.Hale can see sense, even though it takes two acts for them to see it.
At the end of each act Miller leaves the play in a state of climax. At the end of act one Miller draws the curtain on the girl’s firing frenzied and false accusations of witchcraft against many women in Salem, act three ends with the dramatic exit of Rev.Hale, “I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court!” Through this approach it always keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. Leaving the audience with a climax at the end of each act allows the audience to toy with their emotions and the ones portrayed in the play.
It keeps the audience swept up in the story line, almost like a soap opera today, where each episode ends with a dramatic last scene, ensuring that the audience watch the next episode. In fact, The Crucible is in many ways parallel to a modern day soap opera, in that its success as a whole depends on how involved the viewers, or audience, become with the characters and the story line. Human psychology is such that to become involved in something, we have to be able to relate to it, in the case of a play, the situations portrayed and the reactions of the characters. Therefore they have to be true to life. This is one of the reasons Miller’s play is so successful.
I also think that the fact that it is based on history, the story is true to time and the story is kept historical even through the language, which adds fascination. The play was not only written to record historical events in Salem but was also written to warn people of modern day witch hunts, such as the McCarthy “witch” hunt. The naming and shaming followed a similar pattern of that in Salem.
The violence in the play is in a mental and physical form; it even makes us reflect after the play has finished. I think Arthur Miller is trying to make us think about morality, group mentality, Puritanism, good/bad and self-interest. The play includes interesting messages about how reasonable individuals can become completely irrational and get carried away when they become part of a mob.
It is also interesting to see how different relationships develop as the plot unfolds. For example, the relationship between John and Elizabeth Proctor goes through almost unrecognizable changes. At the beginning of the play we see their relationship very frosty and cold. On the first introduction of the two characters together this coldness is portrayed to us with Proctor’s declaration of his only intent to please Elizabeth and Elizabeth’s cold acceptance. However at the end of act four we hear the warm and passionate exchange between the two characters as Elizabeth opens her heart to John and although not wishing for him to testify to Witchcraft desperately wanting him to live so he could bring up there unborn baby together. We can see and sympathies with how each of the relationships are being affected by the pressure they are being put under. This, as with the characteristics of the characters, allows us to become even more involved in the plot.
The play is deliberately complex and multi-faceted, and not in plain simple black and white. In my opinion everyone’s to blame, If one person would have seen sense or not added to problem or admitted it was a hoax it would have never happened. If Abigail had not added to the story it would not have happened. If Judge Danforth had not of been so single-minded he would have seen through straight through Abigail’s sweet and innocent routine, and so on. But at the end as in many situations in our own lives no one is completely to blame.
This is the whole point of Miller’s play: that in a society where there is a witch hunt going on false accusations are made and the innocent are bound to suffer.
