” Her slave sense has warned her that, as always, trouble in
this house eventually lands on her back”
This suggests that Parris is quite a dominant and dictatorial man.
A little further into the play the reader is first introduced to Abigail Williams, Parris’ niece, and from the stage directions preceding her appearance we learn that she is seventeen years old, “strikingly beautiful, an orphan, with an endless capacity for dissembling”. A theatregoer would not know any of this so the reader is clearly at an advantage because they are immediately able to form accurate first impressions of this character where as the theatregoer would not be able to.
In page 21 the Putnam’s are first brought into the play and the reader is informed that Mrs Putnam “is a twisted soul of forty-five, a death-ridden woman, haunted by dreams”. Some explanation of this is that she lost seven children when they had not even lived a day so she particularly disliked Rebecca Nurse who had eleven children and twenty-six grandchildren. However, similar to the introduction of Abigail, the theatregoer is only able to go on what they can see and hear so would probably think that Mrs Putnam is a nice, stable, middle-aged woman where as the reader knows better. Mr Putnam’s character is fully outlined in a page-long commentary on page 22. From this the reader learns that he really dislikes Parris, he is “the eldest son of the richest man in the village”, he has a “vindictive nature” and he is a “deeply embittered man”. These character traits are backed up because he even attempted to break his own father’s will. Slightly later, on page 24, we are also introduced to Mercy Lewis, the Putnam’s servant and we are told she is “a fat, sly, merciless girl of eighteen”.
There is another long commentary on page 27 at the entrance of John Proctor. Yet again, the reader is far better informed than the theatregoer and we immediately know how powerful the character of Proctor is. He, like Parris, has a darker side to him that is not immediately apparent from the outside and we find out that he is respected and even feared by the people of Salem. He is also a man with an “unexpressed hidden force” and he appears to be quite dominant, again like Parris, because his servant Mary Warren could “barely speak for embarrassment and fear” when he entered the room.
On page 31 there another long commentary which outlines the character of Rebecca Nurse and her husband Francis Nurse. We learn that the Nurses were very well respected in the village, especially Rebecca who exuded a gentleness and wisdom about her. Some people, however, resented her air of “moral superiority”. The commentary suggests also that the family was quite well established in the village because they owned three hundred acres of land in Salem. The author indicates as well in the commentary that there was a long-standing feud between the Nurses and the Putnams about Mrs Putnam’s brother who was going for the job of Reverend but the Nurses intervened and prevented him from becoming it.
From page 37 to half way down page 40 there is a very long commentary beginning with a description of the entrance of Reverend Hale of Beverly. He is depicted as a “tight-skinned, eager-eyed intellectual” who appears to have extensive knowledge of his cause. We also learn that even though his job is to ascertain witchcraft he has never actually encountered a real witch. The second half of this long commentary gives the reader a lot of information about the Devil and a little about what was happening in Europe at the time. The author links this information back to the situation in Salem which helps the reader understand the play and its roots. The commentary implies that the Devil was used to discipline people because it states that:
“The Devil may become evident as a weapon, a weapon designed and
used time and time again to whip men into a surrender to a particular
church or church-state”
Reverend Hale, slightly later in the commentary, described the Devil as
“A wily one, and, until an hour before he fell, even God thought
him beautiful in heaven”
The reader also learns that even Martin Luther, a German religious reformer, had been accused of alliance with Hell which was exactly what had been happening in Salem. The author then says that he himself had
“No doubt that people were communing with, and even
worshipping, the Devil in Salem”
In Europe it states that:
“There are accounts of similar klatsches…where the daughters
of the towns would assemble at night…sometimes with a
selected young man”
Slightly later it describes how the Church “condemned these orgies as witchcraft”. This, again, is similar to the situation in Salem.
The next commentary outlining a character is found on page 43 where Giles Corey enters the play. He is described to the reader as a “comical hero” and he “didn’t give a hoot for public opinion”. The author also says that he is a “crank” and a “nuisance” but underneath he is “a deeply innocent and brave” eighty year-old man.
At the beginning of Act 3 the author first introduces Deputy Governor Danforth and Judge Hathorne in stage directions. Danforth is described as a “grave man in his sixties” and he is apparently “of some humour and sophistication that does not, however, interfere with an exact loyalty to his position and his cause”. All this information indicates to the reader that he is a fair man, unlike Judge Hathorne who is described as “a bitter, remorseless Salem judge”.
In conclusion, it is apparent just how important the commentaries and stage directions are for a person to understand and fully appreciate the play. They outline to the reader information on each of the characters in the play which the theatregoer would miss. Much of this information tells the reader things about the personality of a character that is not immediately obvious in a production of the play in a theatre or in a film. Also in the commentaries there is background information on the Devil, the Church and Communism which all played major parts in the play. This essay demonstrates how, by reading the play before they see it, a person’s overall enjoyment of the play is increased because they are able to understand what is going on all the time and they also are aware of the background of the play so they are able to clarify anything that confuses them.
