The Crucible by Arthur Miller - Form and Structure

The Crucible

by Arthur Miller

Form and Structure

In The Crucible all the events flow smoothly from one act to the next. Everything happens naturally from the natures of the characters. The fact that the story isn't contrived, and even more that it is based on a true story is interesting. The result is a very believable play. Throughout each act the action rises to a crescendo and comes to a dramatic climax at the end, and thus ensuring the audience or reader of the play is gripped by the story throughout the whole play.

The incident begins with the girls dancing in the forest and soon escalates into a huge witch hunt. There is sufficient conflict to keep the reader or audience member's interest aroused. There is a great deal of of tension and suspense in the story. It essentially covers basic human instincts and qualities. It depicts the human necessity for survival, and the lengths at which a person will go to save his life, and also the treacherous nature of many.

There is also the idea of honor and truth. Proctor tries to keep his reputation but gives it up to reveal the truth. Through his struggle he achieves righteousness. All these things keep the plot moving. Proctor's relationship with Elizabeth can be seen to grow and mature. He continually grows more pure in Elizabeth's sight until she is able to forgive him in act four. Proctor character also attains a kind of moral supermeminence - He does not want to get involved in the court proceedings in act two but stands up for the truth in act four, and this was reflected by his wife's final statement which we look at the end of act four: "He has his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him" It is understood that Miller's intent in this was to portray the innocence of those falsely accused in the McCarthy trials.

Setting

The play takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during the 17 century. Since this story is based on a true story, the setting is real. The fact that the story takes place during the 17 century is important. The community needed to be superstitious and gullible in order for this incident to actually happen. Also, the event needed to be in a Puritan society to have such an aversion to witches. People in the twentieth and even the nineteenth centuries would be too skeptical about the supernatural to believe the girls. Also, they would be likely to dismiss the act ...

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Setting

Miller's style is very simple, although at times he uses somewhat poetic dialogue (reflecting the idiom of the era in which it is set), such as John Proctor's prosaic verbal impugning of Danforth during the trial in which he delivers a 'speech': "For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I have quailed, and as you quail now", He uses simple sentences and words which are easy to understand. For example he brings out the evil quality of Abigail and the other girls and also the gullibility of the judges, His style is easy to understand and should be in order to be successful as a play. While using the simple style, Miller does not take anything away from the suspense in the plot. The dialogues of his character are like actual speech, very naturalistic. His words are used effectively and does not include anything that is not necessary for making an exciting and enjoyable play. Many clever figurative devices are used, for example, Abigail says that John sweated like a stallion. The writing is very that memorable since it was not really written as prose or poetry in the style of Shakespeare for example.

Theme

The theme of the story was the rising over adversity, and standing firm for the truth even to death. This embodies the 'Crucible' of the title. This is of course the theme for many stories and is always an exciting one. John, in the beginning, wanted to keep distant from the trials. He did not want to have a part, whether good or bad. When Elizabeth was arrested, he was forced to become part of it. He went to court first to set his wife free but after watching the proceedings, he saw that the evil was not only being done to his own wife but many others like his wife. As a result, he worked even harder to free the other innocent people, and in the process got himself arrested. Despite this drawback, he did not give up. He had the chance to free himself if he testified against the others but he realized that this would be wrong, and even though he wanted to free himself, he would not if it meant bringing trouble upon others.

He cleansed himself at the trial, passing through the 'crucible' of this tribulation and stood for what he knew was right and died a righteous person. Though he distanced himself from the church, he became more pure than the common Puritans, dying as a martyr like the original apostles. He learned what truth meant through his suffering. Through Proctor's struggle, Miller displays the struggles within each of our own hearts. Many times we have witnessed some wrong happening to some other person and wished not to get involved. However, sometimes, like Proctor, there might be something that forces us in. Would we quit after only saving our wife like Proctor could have done, or would we go for the entire community as Proctor did?

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