What features of the first act of 'The Crucible' are designed to draw in and engage an audience?

Authors Avatar

What features of the first act of ‘The Crucible’        

are designed to draw in and engage an audience?

What features of the first act of ‘The Crucible’ are designed to draw in and engage an audience?

In the first act, Arthur Miller draws in and engages an audience, using several different techniques, such as dramatic irony, the use of language, stage direction and allegory.  It is important that the audience is interested in the first act, because then they will want to watch the rest of the play.  Arthur Miller establishes the different characters to enable the audience to understand the rest of the play.

The name of the play, ‘the Crucible’ is important to catch the potential audience’s attention before they see the play.  People would not necessarily know what the title means and because of this would be interested to find out what it means and what relevance it has to the play.  The word ‘Crucible’ has several different meanings.  One of these is ‘a melting pot’.  This meaning would catch the potential audience’s attention because it would make them wonder what a melting pot has to do with the play.  It is relevant to the play because everyone is ‘thrown into the melting pot’ because anyone could be named a witch.  Another meaning of the word is ‘a vessel in which substances are heated to high temperatures’.  This would also attract attention because it is unusual meaning for the name of a play.  It is relevant to the story because the atmosphere becomes very heated as the characters all start blaming each other.  The most relevant meaning of the word is ‘a severe trial or test’.  This would stimulate people’s interest, because they would want to know who is being tested and why.  This meaning refers to the trials to see whether or not people are witches.

At the very beginning of the play the first thing the audience sees is an unconscious girl, Betty, with a praying man, Parris, kneeling beside her.  The fact that Parris is praying captures the audience’s attention, because it implies that something bad has happened because he wants God’s help.  It also tells the audience that religion is important to the characters because Parris goes to God for help.  It stimulates the audience’s curiosity and they want to find out what has happened and whether it was Parris’ fault that Betty is ill.  Not much lighting is used, and only a narrow shaft of sunlight coming through the bedroom window and a candle flame lights the room.  The fact that it is dark captures the audience’s attention because of the associations with darkness.  It often suggests fear and misery.  It suggests that there is something badly wrong, not just the fact that Betty is unconscious.  A candle can signify hope, and the audience would wonder what it is that the characters have got to be hopeful for.  The play is set in spring 1692.  Spring normally signifies new life, growth, hope and youth, but these things are being shut out in the play.  When played on stage, the light through the window and the costumes that the characters wear would show that the play is set in spring.  This adds interest because it is contradictory.

Join now!

As the play starts people start to crowd into the one bedroom and secrets start to be unfurled.  This gives the atmosphere a busy, hectic and desperate feel.  This draws in the audience because it increases the sense that something bad will happen.  The audience’s interest is captured by all the secrets that start coming out.  They want to find out more about what the girls were doing in the wood and they want to know what will happen between Abigail and John Proctor.  Parris does not seem to know what to do, even though he is a minister. ...

This is a preview of the whole essay