When Tituba enters the room Abigail immediately puts the blame on her. This shows that Abigail was under a lot of pressure, so much so that she transferred the blame onto the first person that entered the room. Tituba was not expecting Abigail to blame her. She shows this when the stage directions are “shocked and angry” Tituba previously considered Abi to be a loyal and honest person. Tituba has misinterpreted Abigail’s character. Miller increases the tension as the audience sympathises with the slave since her English is bad and she is been tricked into admitting something she has not done. When Abigail mentions the word “blood”, Parris Mrs Putnam and Tituba all repeat it. This reveals that the incident that took place in the forest was not as innocent as was first thought. It shows that in fact it was a lot more sinister. The repetition of this key work creates tension since repetition creates a sense of hysteria. Miller reveals this information to increase the audience’s interest. The characters that repeat the word “blood” are insecure and gullible.
Abigail’s plan seems to have worked better than she originally expected it to. Tituba feels she needs to confess since Putnam and Parris threating to kill her to try to persuade her to confess. This is show when Parris states “ You will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to your death,Tituba!” This clearly frightens Tituba into confessing. An illustration of this is when Tituba’s stage directions say “terrified and falls to her knees” The reason she does this is because she is very frightened and at the mercy of Reverend Hale and Parris, she wishes to keep her life. Miller at this point uses the stage directions to reinforce Tituba’s subservient position in society.
Tituba is manipulated into saying what Reverend Hale wants to hear. Hale questions Tituba if she is a “good Christian woman” This question obliges Tituba to answer positively. It was a no win situation for Tituba, she did not have a choice in her answer since if she answered negatively then due to the nature of a Puritan society, the town would have strongly believed that Tituba was a witch. Resulting in Tituba been hanged. Hale starts asking Tituba a lot of questions in quick succession and Tituba answers them quickly thus creating stichomythia. This sets a quick pace, the questioning spirals out of control and the audience does not take Tituba’s answers seriously since they are evidently forced. The most important question that is asked by Reverend Hale is “When the devil comes to you, does he ever come with another person?” This question is the one that carries on the chain of blaming other people. It is an opportunity for Tituba to accuse someone else, which will dilute the blame that is concentrated upon her. Suspense is created for the audience whether she will accuse another woman in order to save herself. When Tituba blames another women there is a sense of relief on stage. Tituba realises that the only way out is to transfer the blame to someone else. Miller wants to show the audience the similarity of the process of accusations in Salem and his contemporary America.
The rest of the remaining characters seem to take advantage of the situation in order to settle their own inner disputes. Putnam for instance puts Sarah Good into Tituba’s thoughts. This is shown when Mrs Putnam asks “my babies blood?” this is referring to Goody Good. Mrs Putnam believes that Goody Good murdered all seven of her newly born children. When Mr Putnam states “this women must be hanged, she must be taken and hanged!” This strikes fear into Tituba and urges her to blame the person who would be the most believable witch. Therefore it is Tituba’s fear of death that makes her blame another women. She is doing what Abigail did, transferring the blame to someone else. Tituba states that “It was black dark and I-“ Miller uses this metaphor to imply that the truth is being obscured by darkness of people’s hearts (those that stand and watch innocent people being victimised). Tituba mentions Goody Good and Goody Osbourn. As soon as she says this, Mrs Putnam shouts, “I knew it!” Mrs Putnam is now blaming another for her own misfortunes. This reveals that Mrs Putnam jumps to simple conclusions, it also reveals that she is very stubborn and will not change what or how she thinks easily. Miller wants to show his audience not to come to a conclusion about something or someone before you know it is true.
Abigail realises that Tituba has been let off by confessing and Abi wants to be sure that she is not going to be accused of being a witch by anyone. In Abigail’s stage directions it states “she rises and starts as though inspired” Abi then says, “I want to open myself!” The stage directions are Abigail will be “enraptured as though in a pearly light” Miller attempts to create the effect of heaven shining down on Abigail as she is breaking free of the Devil. The lighting dramatises the scene by shining a white light down on Abigail. Her devious side is confirmed but the blame has again been shifted to another.
Betty has now realised that she must confess to save herself from been believed to be a witch therefore killed. She suddenly springs to life and begins a distinctive witch-like chant. This is shown when the stage directions state that the chant soon becomes very “hysterical”, implying that Abigail’s confession has made Betty well again. All the other girls that were involved in the act that took place in the forest now join in with the chanting and the atmosphere soon becomes chaotic with many of the characters now shouting. For instance Parris is shouting “a prayer of thanksgiving” Now Parris’ holy words at this point have no effect on Betty although the characters do not notice. This is evidence by Miller to the audience implying that both Abigail and Betty are not being sincere.
All of the girls dancing in the forest have now confessed in order to save themselves. Act one comes to an end with all girls condemning another innocent women. In the last scene Miller uses stichomythia to create a fast pace which shows the hysterical situation is out of control. Also the accusations are rushed resulting in the audience not taking them very seriously. When the girls are accusing innocent women of being witches they repeat the word “Devil”, which maintains the seriousness of their claims. The way the person that is mentioned first is usually the one who would be most remembered by the other characters but in this case all the people are mentioned to be seen with the Devil therefore making the other characters believe they are witches. Miller’s last device in Act One is when the curtain falls and the girls carry on shouting, with the stage directions “ecstatic cries”. The audience is left in shock because of the sudden end of a fast sequence of events and sudden tension that was built up on the final stages of Act one. The irony and events in act one are only a precursor of the climax in act three.
In “The Crucible” the playwright Arthur Miller uses many techniques to attract and maintain the audiences’ interest. These consist of dramatic irony, which is used since the audience know that Abigail is only accusing members of Salem of been witches in order to save herself. Miller also uses stichomythia, lighting, the stage directions and choice of characters to attract the audience. Miller wants to attract his audience to convey his message to the audience when McCarthyism was at its peak. Miller believed that McCarthyism was wrong, he wishes to show his dissatisfaction with the political situation in his contemporary America. He wants to show the audience not to support
McCarthyism as it is wrong, it is very similar to the situation 300 years earlier in Salem.
