This play is set in Salem, a time in the seventeen or eighteen hundreds, when most racial and religious minorities had moved to the new ‘America’. This play in particular focuses in a small Puritan town where religion is held at the forefront of society. In this time acts of God and of the devil were, wholly believed, and in this small town a group of young girls played on this immense superstition for their own gains. That is where the story is set, the girls blamed people they disliked of witchcraft and hundreds of people were burned on false accusations. But this play was in fact written as a reflection of the earlier part of this century, where a senator by the name of Joseph McCarthy played on the American people’s fears of communism to rise to fame. He, like the girls, told the government that he had a list of communists present in the American government, in Hollywood and in most walks of life. He ruined thousands of people’s livelihoods, but never had any evidence against anyone. This terrible time in the 1920’s to 40’s is what Miller wants to really reflect upon in his play.
Abigail is very adept at controlling situations to an extent, helping her own gains while hindering others. This is very well illustrated when she screams ‘Mary’ and changes the whole situation around, from concentrating on her to focusing on the person who accuses her. She also starts to accuse Proctor later on when attention shifts towards her and she is almost exposed, when Proctor admits to ‘lechery’. Its alarming how Proctor changes the situation completely by ‘leaping’ at Abigail, an act of physical violence in desperation that for a moment turns sympathies towards the ‘suffering’ girl and away from Proctor. Abigail is a loan shark in this match, the one with bets all over the place. Whatever the outcome, she will be the one benefiting most from the fight. This simile is quite adept for this situation, as the tension in this Act is almost the same as that which might be present at a fight. Abigail plays this scene, “crying to Heaven” when she thinks its appropriate and handing out threats left and right when that does not work. Some may think that judge Danforth is the one in charge of the proceedings, but it is in fact Abigail who plays Danforth’s emotions, using the fact he sees her as a ‘child’ some times to get to him.
Miller uses these powerful characters, Abigail and Danforth, and their battle for supremacy as a sideline. Danforth’s unending patience and calm always restore some peace in the proceedings, saying ‘this will not pass’, showing that his judgement is required for all things. But instead it is in fact Proctor who is the real voice of reason; he knows Abigail is a ‘whore’ and a ‘pretender’. Danforth is too easily swayed by the theatrics of the girls, asks if Mary ‘witches’ Abigail and has a real look of ‘engagement’, but Proctor fights with his last breath, for his last breath does depend on whether he convinces the judge the girls are fakes or not. His ‘hysterical’ outbreak just before he admits his crime of lechery when he grabs on to Abigail by the hair instantly instigates a collective gasp from everyone. This feat of violence takes the tension up a notch, the tension then increased even further when he admits that he has ‘known’ Abigail, putting his name on the line, diverting feelings of empathy towards himself momentarily, wining a small battle, but not the war.
Silence is a tool of tension. When nothing is said, it is either funny or tense, depending on the situation, and what is said right before. Miller knows the power of a silent moment in a room crowded with people all shouting at one another. When Elizabeth is giving her testimony, and during the interview with Danforth, silence is the main thing that keeps the tension up, for instance when she says ‘she…dissatisfied me’ after a long pause, but the emphasis of this point is up to the actor that plays the scene, since this is a play. This part in the play is arguably the most tense. Proctors whole livelihood lies on what Elizabeth says in the next few minutes. The tension in this part of the Act could be cut with a blunt knife, mainly as a result of Elizabeth’s ‘hesitations’ and ‘silences’ between every question and answer.
Right after Elizabeth’s lie, as Abigail feels things are slipping slowly out of her control she cranks up the hysteria a notch, diverting attention from herself and Proctor to Mary and the ‘supernatural’ again. She screams a ‘weird’, ‘wild’, ‘chilling cry’ that instantly diverts the conversation and accusations. This shift is much like a scene change in a movie, the focus changes almost completely. She starts to play the tension again for her own ends, and the hysteria that arises from this situation to the end is inexorable, and it might have slipped out of Abigail’s hands a bit. She wished to have Proctor as her own but ends up condemning him as well. She is the victor at the end of the war, and she reaps the rewards of the outcome of the fight.
Miller is a master in producing tension on paper, but it also needs to be good, believable acting with excellent direction and timing to pull of the actual tension in a play or movie enactment of this screenplay. As I mentioned before, it is a fine line between dramatic tension and silent comedy.
