What clues does Arthur Miller give to the audience to suggest what will happen in the rest of the play?

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What clues does Arthur Miller give to the audience to suggest what will happen in the rest of the play?

Miller’s comments in the overture set up The Crucible quite well. Certain descriptions and words give implicit meanings that do not come through until the end. There are also implicit meanings that do not require the reading of the play such as, “A small window in the room.” This gives a meaning of the things being small and the people being narrow-minded.

Negative words in Miller’s opening comments such as ‘small’, ‘exposed’ and ‘raw’ describe the room as if it is very negative, more like a Puritan society. A Puritan society is when the Christian Church rules over the community and they live in strict morals and laws. The people are narrow-minded and live in a tyrannical state of authority. This suggests that the story may go on negatively as he describes it.

Miller gives actions to Reverend Parris such as “pressed turns on her” and “pointing at Betty” are all angry, malicious and tense actions from a supposed religious man. These are not actions of a calm, wise man if the faith but one of a bag of nerves that may possibly be hiding something that may come apparent later as the storyline progresses.

The audience’s reaction to the first act of The Crucible would be one of shock, intrigue and a sense of it being enjoyable. The actions of Parris would shock the audience while also intriguing them, into what he will do later on, if he is still there. Also the actions of the Putnam’s and Abigail Williams would intrigue them but the child Abigail would give them some enjoyment.

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Miller presents Reverend Parris to the audience in this first act as a reasonably  who is mentally unstable while being very protective about his family. This behaviour could lead the audience to believe that he will do this again later on.

Parris’ language in this scene is sophisticated and short, to the point. This is shown in the stage directions as he is straight to the point and his words are getting shorter as well in his dialogue. Such instances are, “No – no, I cannot have anyone” and “Oh, pray not! Why, how does Ruth ail?” The ...

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